Blog in Transition

My blog is now posted at http://exploringapprenticeship.com. I will no longer be posting here.

The Trustworthiness of God

Here is the audio of my February 28 sermon, "The Trustworthiness of God," based on Exodus 15:22-17:7. You can stream the audio below or download it here.

Resurrect Me

On this Easter morning, this song by Jon Foreman serves as an appropriate prayer with which to begin the day.

Who Are We Following?

In the last week, television programs, radio talk shows, and the internet have played host to all kinds of arrogant, combative, hateful tirades aimed at those whose political views differ from the speaker or writer. Such an atmosphere unfortunately has become the norm in our society and can hardly be said to be surprising. Sadly, much of the inexcusably hateful chatter I have come across this week has come from those who claim to be followers of Jesus. The name-calling, slanderous slurs, inaccurate insinuations of folks on both sides of the political aisle have been disheartening. The claims by people on both sides that God is on their particular side have been discouraging. Politically charged attacks on philosophical enemies shrouded in prayer language have been disgusting.

Certainly there is a time and place for vigorous, even heated dialogue regarding issues that affect the lives of so many. What is more, there is a time and place for serious disagreement and a time and place to take a stand. But if we follow Jesus, we must never allow our passion for or commitment to a particular political philosophy to lead us to engage in behavior that flies in the face of Jesus’ call to love and pray for our enemies. If we follow Jesus, we must never allow our passion for or commitment to a particular political philosophy to lead us to take the Lord’s name in vain by claiming to know with certainty that God is on this side or that side.

If we truly follow Jesus, we trust that our future is not dependent upon the triumph of big government or limited government. We trust that our future is not dependent upon privatized healthcare or government-run healthcare. Our future is not dependent upon whether Democrats or Republicans control the House of Representatives, the Senate, or the White House. Rather, if we truly follow Jesus, we trust the enemy-loving peacemaker who said, “Seek first God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness.”

O God purify our speech and actions. Help us in our speech and actions to seek first your kingdom and your righteousness. Lead us not into the temptation toward hateful speech and deliver us from the evil of attacking our enemies. Give us the courage not to follow those who spread hatred or incite fear, but to follow Jesus whose love for enemies overwhelms hatred and drives out fear. By your Spirit conform us to the likeness of the Peacemaker, in whose name we pray. Amen.

Praying for Which Kingdom?

It's interesting to pay attention to conversations about prayer. Often it seems as though after many disclaimers about the importance of prayer that transcends Christmas-list-style requests or yard-sale-style bargaining, the conversation will conclude with a Seinfeld-esque, "Not that there's anything wrong with that." I must confess that's how I, too, often conclude conversations about prayer. The truth is, however, that is more than just a reluctant conclusion to my conversations about prayer; the call to honesty compels me to admit that, more often than not, the reluctant conclusion is mostly a way of trying to make peace with my own failure to really practice something more than "not-that-there's-anything-wrong-with-that" kind of prayer.

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The term "prayer" could be said to be an appropriate description of far more human speech than we typically describe with the term, at least insofar as "prayer" often means for us merely requests presented to God. For instance, we don't tend to think of the disciples, as presented to us in the gospels, as particularly prayerful folks. In fact, we tend to view them as novices, given Luke's account of the disciples' requesting Jesus to "teach [them] to pray." But the reality is the disciples could be said to have been prayerful people. They "prayed" to Jesus to save them from the terrifying thunderstorm. They "prayed" to Jesus that they might be able to have a hand in destroying their Samaritan opposition. They "prayed" to Jesus in search of a declaration of their superiority compared to those who acted in Jesus' name but whom the disciples themselves did not know. They "prayed" to Jesus for V.I.P. treatment in the afterlife. They "prayed" to Jesus in hopes of being commissioned to make a last stand against the arresting mob in the garden. It is true that the disciples were novices in terms of the spiritual maturity (or lack thereof) of their prayer lives, but it was certainly not for lack of trying.

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Similarly the term "prayer" could be used to describe far more of the human speech in our own time than we typically describe with the term. Sure the proliferation of books, seminars, classes, and blog posts about prayer might suggest we view ourselves as novices when it comes to prayer. But the truth is we tend to be prayerful people. We "pray" to God to save us from natural disasters and national security crises. We "pray" to God in search of a declaration of our (team's, church's, community's, country's) superiority compared to those we do not know very well or who seem to be quite different than us. We "pray" for V.I.P. treatment in the afterlife, many of us whether or not we believe in any kind of afterlife. We "pray" for opportunities to triumph over those we perceive to be our enemies. The truth is many of us tend to be novices in terms of the spiritual maturity (or lack thereof) of our prayer lives, but it is certainly not for lack of trying.

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It seems to me the challenge at the heart of the quest for a spiritually mature practice of prayer is that we often find ourselves praying for the wrong kingdom. It might be the kingdom of one's personal life. It might be the kingdom of one's business. It might be the kingdom of one's church. It might be the kingdom of one's community. It might be the kingdom of one's country. Or it might be one of the many other kingdoms competing with the Kingdom of God. Each time we "pray" we have a choice to pray for an impostor kingdom or for the Kingdom for which Jesus encourages us to longingly pray.

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We often minimize the degree to which we struggle with this choice we have each time we "pray." To admit we do, in fact, struggle seems to be an admission of weakness or a lack of faith or an incomplete commitment. Yet we would do well to confess just such a weakness or a lack of faith or an incomplete commitment, rather than try to cover up what others often can see more clearly than we. Moreover, if we do not self-critically realize our own struggle to choose to pray for the Kingdom for which Jesus encourages us to longingly pray, we may find ourselves caught in a situation like the one captured in this video, which epitomizes the struggle many of us face day in and day out.

May God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the indwelling Holy Spirit bless us with courage, fill us with strength, and grant us wisdom that we might pray not for our own impostor kingdoms but for the only Kingdom which endures forever.

One Body

Ours is a DIY (do-it-yourself) era. Ours is a technological time. Ours is an independence obsessed society. We’d rather do it ourselves 90% correctly than have a trained professional do a perfect job. We’d rather consult webmd than a trained doctor or Wikipedia than a thoroughly educated, specialized teacher. We’d rather use TurboTax than enlist a certified accountant to file our tax returns.

There are all kinds of benefits to living in this era. Money is saved on labor expenses. Time is rescued from waiting rooms and put back into the lives of patients. Effort toward the goal of increased knowledge is spared and funneled into other areas of life. Time and money are wrested back into the hands of taxpayers as they don’t have to wait as long to get back guaranteed larger tax returns.

But there are drawbacks to living in this age and downsides to living in this era. For the more and more we do ourselves, the less and less we need each other. The more and more we can handle ourselves, the less and less we value the gifts of others. If we are not careful, before long, we have bought into the myth that is independence and autonomy. We don’t need anyone’s help. Training is irrelevant. Expertise is immaterial. Sooner or later we begin to think we can exist entirely on our own.

Such a mindset is harmful enough in our everyday lives. It is even more devastating, however, when it shapes the way we approach the community of faith into which we’ve been reborn as sons and daughters of God. So we devalue the unique gifts of others, content to try to imitate them, even if our best efforts barely come close to others’ worst efforts. In the process, we begin to see others as disposable or replaceable.

Paul will let us have none of that, however. For as one body, every part has a role to play, every component has a function. The minute we forget it, we begin to die a slow death. But in the moments we remember, we experience life like none other.

Quite a Beautiful Sight

Here is the audio of Sunday's sermon, "Quite a Beautiful Sight," based on Exodus 15:1-21. You can stream the audio below or download it here.

Delivered from the Egyptians, Saved from Ourselves

Here is the audio of Sunday's sermon, "Delivered from the Egyptians, Saved from Ourselves," based on Exodus 7-14. You can stream the audio below or download it here.

Jesus or Heaven?

In inviting the first disciples to follow him, Jesus offered no perks, extended no bribes, and promised no tangible rewards. In inviting people to become disciples, we often offer perks, extend bribes, and promise tangible rewards. In fact, it might be fair to say our track record reveals we've prompted more interest in seeking after heaven (offered as a perk, extended as a bribe, promised as a reward) than following after Jesus.

The following "parable" from Peter Rollins's The Orthodox Heretic invites its hearers/readers to reflect upon the nature of their own spiritual journeys: whether they are more interested in seeking heaven or following Jesus. I hope this parable stirs your heart and mind to wrestle with the purpose and meaning of your spiritual journey as it has mine.

You sit in silence contemplating what has just taken place. Only moments ago you were alive and well, relaxing at home with friends. Then there was a deep, crushing pain in your chest that brought you crashing to the floor. The pain has now gone, but you are no longer in your home. Instead, you find yourself standing on the other side of death waiting to stand before the judgment seat and discover where you will spend eternity. As you reflect upon your life your name is called, and you are led down a long corridor into a majestic sanctuary with a throne located in its center. Sitting on this throne is a huge, breathtaking being who looks up at you and begins to speak.

"My name is Lucifer, and I am the angel of light."

You are immediately filled with fear and trembling as you realize that you are face to face with the enemy of all that is true and good. Then the angel continues: "I have cast God down from his throne and banished Christ to the realm of eternal death. It is I who hold the keys to the kingdom. It is I who am the gatekeeper of paradise, and it is for me alone to decide who shall enter eternal joy and who shall be forsaken."

After saying these words, he sits up and stretches out his vast arms. "In my right hand I hold eternal life and in my left hand eternal death. Those who would bow down and acknowledge me as their god shall pass through the gates of paradise and experience an eternity of bliss, but all those who refuse will be vanquished to the second death with their Christ."

After a long pause he bends toward you and speaks, "Which will you choose?"

What do you think?

P.S. The Orthodox Heretic is currently available at Amazon.com as a bargain book for $8.00. Just click the picture to proceed to the product page.

Villains and Hope

Here is the audio of Sunday's sermon, "Villains and Hope," based on Exodus 5:1-6:8. You can stream the audio below or download it here.

Just Go!

Here is the audio of Sunday's sermon, "Just Go," based on Exodus 3:1-4:17. You can stream the audio below or download it here.

Burn Out Bright

It’s incredible how attached we are to comfort. She will shop at the same grocery store every week for years, but when the store’s management decides to reconfigure the layout of the store so that “everything is out of place,” she will walk out the door and never come back as a way of protesting the loss of her comfort zone. He will go to the same place every morning for coffee and a biscuit, but when others who look different and smell different begin to adopt a similar pattern, he will walk out the door and never come back as a way of demonstrating his displeasure with the loss of his comfort zone.

I guess somewhere along the way we also began to think faith was all about our comfort: So some of us have faith because we long to be comforted by the notion that our past sins have been forgiven. Others have faith because we long to be comforted in the present by a God who will make things easy for us or at least make us feel better about ourselves. Still others of us have faith simply because we long to be comforted eternally instead of punished.

Certainly God is a comforting God, who comforts people in distress. But the God who comforts is also the God who calls people to lives of risky sacrifice and service. Perhaps this is why so often when God calls, the people being called try to come up with all kinds of excuses not to answer. Moses and Jeremiah both say they can’t speak well enough. The people of Israel say they would be better off back in Egypt. Some of the folks Jesus calls say they have urgent tasks to complete before they can follow him.

Sometimes we’re not all that different from those we read about in Scripture who grasped for any possible excuse not to move outside their comfort zones into God’s calling. Sadly the consumer attitudes that lead us to boycott our favorite grocery store or abandon our regular breakfast haunt can all too easily find their way into the church. What’s especially dangerous about this is that we can find ways to spiritualize our excuses and relieve ourselves of taking any responsibility for our own unwillingness to get out of our comfort zones. So they will worship with the same congregation every time the doors are open for years, but when the church’s leadership, called into service by the Holy Spirit and the congregation makes intentional and thoughtful efforts to help the congregation grow in faith and live out their faith, they will walk out the door and tell folks they weren’t being spiritually nourished as a way of expressing their frustration with the loss of their comfort zone.

Sadly we often miss out on opportunities to do God’s will when we latch onto flimsy excuses to stay in our comfort zones. Imagine how different the world would be if Moses had refused to go back to Egypt or if Peter and Andrew and James and John had refused to hop off their boats and follow Jesus. May God give us courage to embrace the opportunities to break out of our comfort zones and let our lives burn out bright to the praise of God’s glorious grace!

Here's a song by Switchfoot which first introduced me to this wonderful way of putting the calling of God on our lives: to "burn out bright."

How might you be able to burn out bright this week?

A Box Office Flop

Here is the audio of Sunday's sermon, "A Box Office Flop," based on Exodus 2:11-2:25. You can stream the audio below or download it here.

Cards

Perhaps it is because the tendency to focus on self is universal. Perhaps it is because the inclination to reshape selfless faith into selfish religion is an inherent part of what it means to be human. Perhaps it is because the propensity to get stuck in our own little worlds is as intrinsic to our identity as our gender or the color of our eyes. Whatever the case, the authors of Scripture, the representatives who speak to God’s people on God’s behalf, and even Jesus repeatedly find themselves in the position of having to remind God’s people what it means to be God’s people.

We sometimes speak about the circumstances of life as though they are like a hand of cards that has been dealt to us. As anyone who has played cards knows, as a player you simply have no control over the cards you are dealt; all you control is the way you play the cards. Some hands are stacked with trump card after trump card. Others are full of worthless low number cards. Then there are those hands that are a mixed bag, some good cards and some awful cards. Complicating the analogy is the fact that the quality of the hand depends on the game you are playing. For instance, a hand flush with face cards and spades is perfect for playing Spades but not so ideal for playing Hearts. Then there’s the fact there are different ways to be successful. One could, for example, seek to rack up as many points as possible throughout a hand of Spades by capturing as many books as possible or rack up points at the end of the hand by avoiding capturing any books at all. Regardless of one’s skill, however, what often plays the biggest role in the outcome is sheer happenstance, pure luck; so much depends on the cards you’ve been dealt and the way you play them and the way others play the cards they’ve been dealt.

The Christians James writes were in a situation in which it would have been easy to dwell upon the crummy cards they had been dealt. Everybody deals with a few bad cards, but some of these folks were dealing with poverty, feelings of isolation from other believers, and an environment fairly unwelcoming to their faith. But James, like Moses and the prophets before him, knew that if God’s people get stuck dwelling on the bad hand they’ve been dealt, they will likely neglect one of the major elements of the calling God places on the lives of God’s people: to stand with and support those who have been dealt terrible cards. So James reminds his audience that God desires for them “to look after orphans and widows in their distress” (1:27), that is, others who have been dealt awful hands.

As we survey the hands we have been dealt, each of us can spot cards we wish we could trade. Certainly there are times when the most faithful way we can respond is by begging God to act to change them. But as we have been reminded by the images of the hundreds of thousands of people suffering from the effects of a bad card in Haiti this week, more often the best way to respond is by doing whatever we can to stand with and support others who have been dealt awful hands and to trust God with our own hands.

Who are the "orphans and widows" in your life that God desires you to look after? What are some of the bad cards others they have been dealt? What can you do to stand with and support them as they deal with those cards?

Liars, Traitors, and Saints?

Here is the audio of Sunday's sermon, "Liars, Traitors, and Saints," based on Exodus 1:1-2:10. You can stream the audio below or download it here.

Growing with Jesus

Here is the audio of Sunday's sermon, "Growing with Jesus," based on Luke 2:21-24, 41-52, which kicked off the new year for our church family. In it, I describe several of the tangible steps our church leadership is taking in an effort to help each member individually and our entire congregation communally grow with Jesus "in wisdom and in favor with God and people." You can stream the audio below or download it here.

Fifty-two

Fifty-two weeks ago today Mindy and I were worshipping with the Skyline Church in Jackson, loaded U-Haul parked outside the church building, and as we worshipped I must admit I was a bit distracted wondering what the future would hold. The following Sunday would be our first Sunday to worship in Hohenwald, the first Sunday for me to teach and preach, the first Sunday to begin learning names and corresponding faces.

They say time flies when you are having fun. We have certainly enjoyed fun times with so many, sharing stories over meals, laughing out loud while playing games, singing God’s praises with one voice. Sometimes, though, time seems to crawl. We’ve also had opportunities to weep with so many who have endured not-so-fun times of fretting about surgeries and mourning the losses of loved ones over the last year. Through it all, the Hohenwald Church has come to feel like home to us.

What a blessing it has been to sit in front of J.B. Brown and hear him lift his beautiful bass voice in praise to God. What a blessing it has been to sense the love for our church family in Stephanie Fielder as she shares with us the latest updates on those who are sick and asks us to be sure to keep them in our prayers. What a blessing it has been to witness the dedication and compassion of the ladies who send out cards as a part of the Encouragers. What a blessing it has been to observe the servant heart of Jerry Carroll in action as he chauffeurs several of our members to and from worship. What a blessing it has been to observe Paula Brown and Bill Skelton sharing God’s love with our neighbors in the community through our benevolence ministry. What a blessing it has been to see firsthand the love and care our elders have for each member of this flock.

As we come to the end of our first year of ministry among and alongside each of you, we are filled to overflowing with thanks for the tremendous blessing you have been to us. As we begin a new year of ministry, we are filled to overflowing with anticipation for all that God will do to strengthen and deepen the love and the faith of each of us individually and our church family as a whole. Here’s to fifty-two more weeks of journeying together as the body of Christ, inhabited by the Holy Spirit, to the glory of God the Father!