_

“But God showed His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

 _

When the God of grace is referenced exclusively in terms of love something extraordinary happens. God tends to fall out of the picture. A God, after all, who is reduced to sentiment and generic good will is hardly worth bothering with in any serious way. Perhaps this is why with all the religious noise being made in wide portions of the church today, there seems to be little belief in the God of the Scriptures.

The church has become very good at calling people to affirm one another in whatever lifestyle we have chosen to inhabit. We are scolded endlessly about our lack of inclusiveness. And there is no end of sermonic hand-wringing and beetle-browed finger pointing over humanity’s bad housekeeping of the planet. Recycling and “living green” are the new piety, signs of the new holiness. ‘Have you got your Prius yet? No? You mean you are still driving that gas guzzler? How could you!’ While God has fallen out of the picture, our belief in ourselves has skyrocketed. Salvation will come when we have total affirmation of the neighbor and when we have  established a utopian existence of realized peace and justice – with all the trash picked up.

There is a kind of decadence in this. The God in three Persons who is the subject of the Bible’s witness and the One with which we ultimately have to do, simply falls out of the center. The implications run all over the place. We don’t know who we are and we fundamentally misread the human dilemma. We run around trying to keep the deck chairs in place while the Titanic sinks beneath us.

But the God revealed in the Scriptures simply cannot – and will not -be understood apart from the Cross. Which is another way of saying that the God of grace desires to be known exclusively in Jesus. God is love, to be sure. But God and His love and grace have no depth of meaning apart from the Cross. For on the Cross God defines the issue. He died for you, to save you from sin, death and the powers of evil. For the Cross is the vital intersection where the searing reality of God’s grace in Jesus Christ meets, exposes, overwhelms and forgives the sham and phony pretense of our claim to love anything ultimately but ourselves and our own plans and projects.

Here is love and grace that actually has teeth. This is a God who has gotten down and dirty in the muck and mire of our lives, as real love always does. This love and grace meets us, comes upon us. This is God’s doing, alone, by His grace alone, because of Christ alone. Our fiddling with the world and all its works and all its ways is a hollow substitute for this work of God for us. For the central issue of the Christian faith is not that we must be reconciled to the neighbor or that we must become better managers of the creation. It’s not that these things don’t matter. They just don’t matter ultimately. These are penultimate concerns only. The ultimate concern of the Christian faith is that you and I become reconciled to the One that matters most; the One who out of His sheer love and grace died for our sins and was raised for our justification.

 _

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

_

1 You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

_

You know the scenario. Parents go away for the weekend leaving their two sons at home alone, taking with them the promise that the boys will behave. When the folks are out of sight and out of mind the older of the boys sends out the call that the party is on. Saturday night comes and the house fills up with rowdy kids. Inhibitions evaporate. Bad behavior escalates and property is damaged. Before long the house is a shambles. The younger son pleads with his brother to send everyone home. They promised to behave. What will their parents say? The older boy and his friends dismiss him with taunts and threats. The party goes on.

Suddenly, in the midst of the revelry, their parents walk in the front door. They have returned early. Dread silence and fear grip the scene. Some of the kids bolt, making their escape out the back door into the darkness. Others slink quietly away until the older son is left standing alone facing his parents; they holding a promise given; he, in tears, holding a promise broken.

It is an ominous portent that our age is so utterly devoid of the fear of God. Even in many churches, God has been stripped of the possibility of giving any offense. The radical attack of God’s sovereignty, God’s appearance in the midst of our waywardness is simply too much to bear so we look for God words that are benign, devoid of judgment; words that keep the fullness of God out of sight and out of mind.

The Psalmist brings us into the place of meeting where sinful man and woman are faced with the full reality of God’s presence and power. This is the place which faith inhabits, when the Word of God in all its’ power and might takes hold of us.  ‘Where can I go to escape You?’, he asks. ‘Wherever I go You are there.’ This knowledge is both wonderful and terrible at the same time. Even the darkness, he exclaims, is as light to You, O God. There is nowhere to hide.

What is of supreme interest in the story above is what happens next. What did the parents say? What did they do? What were the consequences? For in the final analysis, everything depends upon this. So it is with us. Caught in the act as we are, what is to become of us?

In Christ Jesus the Sovereign One has arrived on the scene, full of grace and truth. This is the terrible, wonderful news of the Gospel. In Christ, the sovereign, electing God has gathered up all the selves of the world in His arms and embraced them, taking them with Him to the Cross. This is terrible because it means absolute judgment on our party going ways! At the same time it is wonderful because, in spite of being caught in the act, our broken relationship with God is restored. God, in His absolute sovereignty has had mercy on us for no other reason than, in His love, He has chosen to do so.

God is obligated to spare no one who is caught in the act. He is God, after all and His judgments are always just. The fact that He chooses to save anyone is a testament to His sheer grace and mercy.

_

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

_

_

“23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs which he did; 24 but Jesus did not trust himself to them, 25 because he knew all men and needed no one to bear witness of man; for he himself knew what was in man.”

It was every politicians dream come true. The groundswell of support was rising. People were abuzz with admiration for Him. The benefits He provided suggested a bright future. If only he were king. He would distribute prosperity to all. They were ripe for the picking.

Sound familiar? Some things never change. Later, John’s gospel reports the incident of the feeding of several thousand people. They came back the next day for more of what they saw as a free lunch program. Jesus was not impressed. “You are only here”, he said, “because you ate your fill.” There is no deeper biblical insight into human nature.

At one point during His earthly ministry the people actually wanted to take Him by force and make Him king. They saw in Him the one who would really deliver the goods. Jesus, sensing the threat to His mission, eluded them.

Have you ever wondered why Jesus consistently refused the adulation of the crowd? After all, wasn’t that what He was after? All he had to do was keep giving away the goodies and they would follow Him anywhere.

If Jesus had given in to the appetites of the herd everything would have been lost. But Jesus knew what is in us. That’s what John observed. Jesus knew that we will seek to make anyone king who promises to keep the free lunch programs going. For what is in us, Jesus knew, is the insatiable appetite of the self – sin. And the sinful self will happily, willingly enslave itself to the highest bidder.

So Jesus rejected the chronically restless masses and the invitation to fulfill their utopian dreams. Instead He went to the Cross.That is why He alone is worthy of our love and faith. For knowing the sin that is in us, knowing our deepest need, our sickness unto death – He did not pander to our grievances and grudges like some scheming power seeker. He did not give us want we want. He gave us what we need. He gave His life for us.

So to all those who think the latest version of the messiah will bring heaven on earth and the flowering of peace and justice, here is the hard truth; the dreams of the politician will not save you. They may, in fact, impose a nightmare of utopian tyranny. And when they die all we are left with is the burdensome residue of their plans and schemes. The ancient psalmist recognized this truth ages ago when he wrote,

“Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.”

The authentic work of peace and justice that Jesus and His Father accomplished happened on a bloody Cross two thousand years ago. That peace comes even now through a living faith in the Crucified One; and the justice of God is fulfilled when sinners are reconciled to God, declared righteous, forgiven and free, by grace through faith, in a life of trust that begins now but will only be perfected in the life to come. 

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

_

Gerhard Frost was among my favorite seminary mentors. He was a master wordsmith with much wisdom to boot. His unique use of language, however, was never an end in itself. His goal was always to bring the grace of Christ into the highest possible relief.

THE ACTION

by Gerhard frost

“…He went about doing good.”

The trouble with Jesus?

He was such a wastrel –

a squanderer of time,

I mean.

He just wasn’t where the action is.

I’d never have traveled with Him;

why we’d never have made it on time!

If Jesus were here, in the flesh, I mean,

He’d miss the action every time,

what with avoiding freeways,

and staying on country roads.

Why He’d arrive at every three-day convention

about noon of the third day,

and at every meeting

just in time for the Lord’s Prayer.

Always late, with time to throw away

on frightened children, blind folks,

and even the demon-possessed.

Even time to pet dogs? Perhaps.

(Though I’ve heard they were despised

where Jesus lived).

Time for sunsets, bird-watchings,

child-blessings, leper cleansings,

and every lost cause, but not for the action –

a most inefficient man –

unless, of course, He was the action,

and still is!

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

_

 _

“For the perishable must put on the imperishable, and the mortal must put on immortality.”

 _

Two kids were building a sand castle on the beach. They worked with determination and purpose but each effort, as they neared completion, came crumbling down. Undaunted they persisted but to no avail. Invariably their efforts failed them.  It was then that another kid came along, saw their dilemma and offered to help. The problem, she told them, was the sand they were using did not have enough moisture.  Moving a bit closer to the water they tried again. This time the sand held together and the castle was built. The kids were delighted and enjoyed the results of their efforts until the tide eventually carried it away.

This story has been played out countless times and points us to something simple yet crucial regarding our lives. Born into this world, each of us must build a life out of the raw material of experience. Yet as we do so it becomes readily apparent that the cohesion and integration of our life’s energies and resources that is required for a meaningful life can be elusive. How many “sand castles” have we built only to find they lack that cohesiveness that pulls everything together. As each day dissolves into the irretrievable past, in some measure all our lives are haunted by failed and misspent efforts  What, if anything, has the power to gather up the debris field our lives and make of its crumbled remnants an enduring edifice?

The forgiveness of sins that is in Christ has that power. Forgiveness follows behind the Christian, cleaning up the debris of the past even as it permeates the present, giving coherence to our faltering efforts, continually freeing us. Forgiveness also comes to meet us from tomorrow, bringing the assurance and the caveat  that the permanence and certainty we seek will be God’s gift to us, but not in this life. 

So, for a little while, we employ the life we have received. We build it out of the perishable ingredients of this world, trusting in God’s grace to provide the purpose and coherency that finally eludes us, until that day when the tide of eternity washes over this old creation and the perishable sands of this life give way to the imperishable love, mercy and grace of God.

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

_

_

“The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

 _

The text above is from the story Zacchaeus, the little man from Jericho who climbed a tree to see Jesus. It’s a good story and you may remember the children’s song based on the incident; “Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he”, etc. 

Zacchaeus was a rich man as a result of his legalized plundering of the people. He was a tax agent of the hated Romans and despised by his fellow Jews. His name must have seemed to them the ultimate irony. In Hebrew Zacchaeus means ‘pure and righteous one.’

As Jesus made His way through Jericho, accompanied by the good citizens of the city, he came upon the little man in the tree. Without hesitation Jesus invited Himself to lunch at the home of Zacchaeus. This would have been a bit like your pastor sitting down to lunch with a member of the mafia. You just don’t associate with these people, let alone break bread with them.

Years ago, when I first came to Newport Beach, my guitar and I showed up every week at a local roadhouse for a blues jam. I played there off and on for a couple of years until the place closed down. One Sunday morning I was approached by a member of my congregation (who has since gone to the Lord) who expressed grave concern that I would inhabit such a place. It didn’t look good and it didn’t reflect well on the congregation, I was told. On the contrary, I replied. What better reputation could you possibly have than the very reputation your Lord acquired? 

Jesus got Himself into all kinds of trouble because He worked the margins. Read the gospels. See for yourself.  He sought out all kinds of disreputable, grungy people who were easy for the respectable folks to forget. It was scandalous that a man who claimed to speak for God inhabited the lives of sinners with such ease. It is important, even crucial to notice that the marginalized and despised ones were the very ones who responded most eagerly to Jesus. All they had known from the ‘religious’ among them was scorn and rejection. In Jesus they found a friend and a love that made possible an authentic renewal of life.

Postscript: On one of my last visits to the roadhouse two of us were sitting at a table nursing a beer and talking about how much we were going to miss the place. My new friend, who I had been jamming with off and on for months said, “You know, if I had known you were a pastor before we had played together a few times, I wouldn’t be sitting here with you.”  Then, for the next hour or so I listened as he spoke of an abusive childhood, run ins with the law, two failed marriages and a young daughter who he had never seen. For my part, I told him about Jesus. How he never gives up on us no matter how busted up our lives may be and that we may always begin again. As we left that night we embraced. Tears were in his eyes.

About six months later I received a note in the mail. My friend had moved to be near his child, was working at a good job and for the first time in his life, was attending a church. He had also found a local blues bar where he and one of the associate pastors were playing regularly…and taking every opportunity to speak with others about Jesus. You gotta love it!

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

_

_

“Save me, O God; for the waters have poured into my soul. I sink in the deep mire, where there is no standing; I am in the deep waters, where the floods cover me. I am weary of my crying; my throat is dried; my eyes fail as I wait for God…Come close to me and deliver me.”

_

Our Lord Jesus Christ was never too busy to spend time with the sick and those afflicted with pain.  Countless multitudes over the centuries have known His mercy and the comfort of His presence in times of illness. 

He sustains us in moments of desperation and discouragement, when the debilitating effects of illness or pain seem  too much to bear.

The peace of His presence can turn us outward from self-pity and resentment to trust and reliance on His love.

His hand is seen in the skill of the physician and all those whose efforts support the great work of healing.

His own suffering is a reminder that we are not greater than our Master. Yet, we too can pray that God’s grace may prevail even in our suffering.

As in all things illness may serve as a means by which our faith is purified, our eyes are opened to the blessings that surround us and our hearts confirm that we are held in the firm grip of Him who provides daily for every need.

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

_

_

(from Nov. 1st, 2012 Pastor Mark’s blog)

“We always thank God,the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel 6 that has come to you.”

_ 

Today is All Saints Day and it has me thinking about the people who I carry along with me on this faith pilgrimage. Martin Luther is certainly one of those silent companions. And there are many, many more. You have them too. People who have been defining of the faith in some way.

Like Luther, you may carry with you those only known to you from their writings. I have any number of these. People whose reflections on and proclamation of Christ come from generations long passed away but continue to carry me along in times of struggle, joy and confusion.

Perhaps it is the influence of a mother or a father who, along with all the distracting peripherals in life, did not neglect their witness to the Word.

There may have been grandparents and other relatives whose witness to the faith complemented that of your parents, giving it roots and a richer, deeper dimension.

You may remember a Sunday School teacher or a pastor who unfolded the Bible, making it vivid and alive, telling the stories of the men and women through whom God revealed His will, His law and mercy. 

Friends in Christ have been there too; fellow parishoners, confirmations classmates, Bible study companions and others with whom you have shared the faith in worship, witness, learning and service.

I, too, am a silent companion to others. Most of whom are unknown to me. We do leave our mark and we leave it every day. Our words and deeds, spoken and done in the name of Christ, also may be defining for someone. For good, we hope. But we cannot always be sure.

So on this day, as I reflect upon those whom God has given me, through whose witness the calming shadow of the Cross continues to shield from the glare of of life’s turmoils, I offer this prayer;

 Lord Jesus Christ, fall in my footsteps, work Your goodness in my actions and be heard in my voice. Pass me along to others, a silent companion on the journey whose only prayer is to be a simple underline of Your glorious Word.

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

_

  ( this post appeared Tuesday, October 31st  2012, on Pastor Mark’s blog )

_

On this day in 1517, the Augustinian monk Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany.  The theses that Luther penned and posted that day set in motion events that reverberate into our own time. It is not an overstatement to say that Martin Luther has been among the most influencial historical figures of the last 500 years. There was a time when throughout the western world  the Bible was the only book read more widely than Luther’s writings. Think about that.

Luther used the door of the Wittenberg church to post his theses along with an invitation to debate because it was a well-known community bulletin board.  Wittenberg was also full of pilgrims that day who were gathering for the All Saints Day observances and a monk posting a notice would have been unremarkable. As he came and went it is likely that he went largely unnoticed. Unfortunately, unnoticed can also describe Luther in our time.

 Fast forward.

The year was 1988. I had just arrived at a Lutheran congregation here in California to begin my work as associate pastor for youth and parish education. On the first day of 7th grade confirmation class I distributed a brief, one page set of questions to the kids in order to get a sense of their knowledge of the Bible and their Lutheran faith. One of the questions was, ‘Who was Martin Luther?’ Well over half the class identified Martin Luther as a black man who was killed or had something to do with civil rights. A number of the kids answered that they did not know. Of that group of over twenty kids, three were able to identify Luther as the reformer.

At about the same time I was asked to address a Sunday morning adult class of over 50 people on the subject of Luther. To begin I described the theology of the cross and the theology of glory and asked the group for a show of hands regarding which they thought represented Martin Luther’s theology. Nearly every person went with the theology of glory. Wrong. No wonder the kids were clueless. I went home that morning in a blue funk. Not because I was surprised but precisely because after having already served three congregations in two other states, I had come to expect this.

Now, I am all for dusting off the 16th century once in a while and re-visiting the events of Luther’s life and time. It is important to do so. At the same time, I am more concerned that people today who inhabit the corridors of Lutheran churches, or any church for that matter, have some inkling as to why Luther matters. Because he does.

And he matters not because Martin Luther got everything right but because he points us to what is essential, he points us to the Cross, to Christ where our true salvation is found. Luther read his Bible and there discovered that we have no right or need to say anything or do anything for our salvation. As far as God is concerned, we have nothing to offer. Rather, as beggars in the bread line we can do no other than hold out our empty hands and receive the salvation that God gives on His terms, by grace alone, in the crucified and risen Jesus. 

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

_

_

“Make love your aim.”

_

Many years ago while serving as a youth pastor in Billings, Montana, the high school group asked if I would arrange a canoe trip to the Boundary Waters area of northern Minnesota. One of the young men who made that trip (I’ll call him Ben) was a reluctant participant and only decided to go at the last minute, after much prodding by his parents. Ben was shy, a bit overweight and found it difficult to enter in to tasks with others. He had a tendency to complain easily and it wasn’t long before tensions arose when it became common knowledge that  Ben would be going. Some of the other kids complained that Ben would not do his fair share of the work.  They were concerned that Ben would be dead weight. 

After several long days of travel we pulled in at last to our destination. Two days later our canoes slipped into the water and we were off for ten days in the wilderness.

Canoeing in the Boundary Waters is no walk in the park. Not only is there the constant paddling but there are also many portages where the canoes and gear must be carried overland, between lakes. Sometimes these portages can be a mile or more. During the first few days Ben endured a lot of ribbing along these portages. He usually took up the rear and didn’t carry much. Then it happened that one of the kids, Sandy, twisted an ankle and she asked Ben if he would carry her pack along with his own. Everyone was somewhat surprised when, without complaint or hesitation, Ben hoisted a pack on each shoulder and forged ahead. He carried Sandy’s pack every day from then on.

Something happened to Ben that day. Without being asked he began to offer his help to others in the group. He had a new kind of energy about him. No longer was he the sluggish follower bringing up the rear. The transformation was nothing short of remarkable.

One morning as we prepared to break camp I took Ben aside and asked him what had happened to bring about such a change, such a desire to help. He told me that when Sandy asked him to carry her pack he felt, for the first time, like he was part of the group. And he realized that meant not feeling sorry for himself but pitching in and helping where he could. 

Ben’s new spirit was infectious. Oh, he was still the object of bantering, but now the good will and love that surrounded him was palpable. Ben’s selfless giving became the story of that adventure and it brought everyone to life. He was a little Christ to all of us.

Fulfillment, joy and freedom are the gifts of God that sneak up on you as you go about loving and serving others. Concentrate on yourself and these things will elude you. Make love your aim and you’ll get fulfillment and everything else thrown in. 

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

_