Come to the Table
This story is not new.
There are two sides. Your side. And their side. Your side is right. Their side is wrong. You wonder to yourself why they believe what they believe. It just doesn’t make any sense. And it’s hard not to see them as monsters. What they stand for will make things worse for everyone. They have such an intractable and yet indefensible position. You can’t understand how any clear-headed person could see the world as they do. Obviously, they are not clear-headed. You feel you have to do whatever is necessary to make things right. Of course, I’m talking about Kaecilius from the movie Doctor Strange. By every stretch of the imagination, Kaecilius is a villain except in his own eyes. Mads Mikkelsen, who plays the character in the film, said something in an interview that stuck with me. Kaecilius doesn’t see it that way. At the presser for the film’s opening he said, “I always play all characters as a hero. I mean, I think we have to look at it that way. The key to any good villain… is that they have a point. It’s not completely crazy what they’re saying. There is a point. Even in Doctor Strange’s eyes he does believe I have a point. Even though it’s for a fraction (of a second), if that.”[1] Everyone is the hero in their own story.
This perspective is important in the waning days of this long presidential season.
Everyone is the hero in their own story. In just a little over two months, it will all be over. All the lying, name calling, accusations, and bitter words will finally come to an end. At least we hope so. After the 2020 election, that wasn’t the case. The hurt, the lies, the attacks that continued after the election culminated on January 6th and we have been living with the consequences ever since. As children of God, we can always hope and pray this time will be different. But even if it is, whichever side “wins” will feel a sense of relief. A sense of victory. A sense that God was on their side. Whoever loses will feel depressed, defeated, and maybe even angry. They might feel Satan himself was working hard against them. And that God’s will was not done. That’s the problem. Both sides think that God is on their side when we know deep down God is on the side of humanity. He doesn’t care who wins. He cares about what we do with the responsibility we’ve been given and how we treat those on the other side. And that’s how we need to look at it. Not as winners and losers but as teammates who disagree. But at the end of the day we all want (or at least we should want) the same thing. To make the world a better place.
How we treat each other and how we come together will say a lot about our faith.
The key is to ask ourselves, “What would Jesus do?” I know it sounds trite, but we can’t go wrong when we model our life on Jesus Christ. If you have a Bible or a Bible app on your phone, please find John 11:35. John 11:35. This is literally the shortest verse in the Bible. If you know much about the history of the Bible itself, you know that there isn’t a uniform way the chapters and verses are assigned. Some verses are extremely long and some are extremely short, but this one is the shortest of all (although according to Wikipedia it is not the shortest when read in the original Greek).[2] I would love to know why whoever assigned the verses to John’s Gospel chose to include only these two words in this verse. Maybe it was because of the impact of this one moment in the life of Christ. Maybe because no more needed to be said. In just two words we understand so much about Jesus. His humanity, his love, and his empathy for all of us. Jesus wept.
But the whole story is much more than these two words.
Earlier, we find out Jesus knows Lazarus is sick but does nothing about it for TWO days. Because we know Jesus and what he can do, we read this and might be a little shocked. After all, he was able to heal a centurion’s son without ever seeing him or visiting him (John 4). If he can do that for a complete stranger, it might seem weird Jesus wouldn’t do the same for this man he knows. But the disciples are relieved. The last time Jesus went to Judea he was nearly stoned to death, and they don’t want a repeat performance. In their minds they probably think Jesus is being prudent or cautious. But what he actually did was wait for an opportunity. He knew he could help Lazarus at any time, but he also needed to help his followers understand who he was – the Son of God. As he approaches the city, Lazarus’ sister Martha hears Jesus is coming. He goes to him and says, “If you had been here, he would not have died.” Jesus hears the pain in her voice, feels her sadness. He comforts her and Martha dashes off to get her sister Mary. When Mary finds Jesus, she falls to her feet crying and says the same thing Martha did, “If you had been here he would not have died.” The grief is palpable to Jesus. He knows this must be the way, but he sees the pain Mary and Martha feel and can’t help but be moved by their sorrow. And he weeps. Jesus doesn’t weep for Lazarus as his family and friends do. He weeps because he empathizes with them. Because he knows the hurt they feel inside. And even if he knows the story will end well, he puts himself in their shoes and know their hurt is real. And then he does the miraculous and brings Lazarus back from the dead. It’s that empathy we seem to be missing in our world today – that ability to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes and understand what they are feeling. We don’t have to agree with them. We don’t have to believe what they believe. But we can be empathic if we choose to be. It’s just that most of the time we don’t choose to be.
Empathy took a nose dive entering the 21st century..
Over a period of 30 years, from 1979 to 2009, researchers found the average empathy score had dropped by 75%.[3] That means 75% of people showed less empathy than they did 30 years before. 75%! In another study of college students comparing empathy before and after the year 2000, it showed a 40% drop after the year 2000. What was most stunning, it wasn’t even hard to fake empathy on the study. The questions were so obvious that anyone who just wanted to SEEM like a nicer person could have easily scored high without even trying.[4] On the survey[5] you’re asked how well a statement describes you, and they give you statements like “I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me” or “When I see someone being taken advantage of, I feel kind of protective towards them.” An empathic person would of course highly identify with those statements. They are SO blatant that it doesn’t even seem to be worth asking and yet 40% of students could not even muster fake empathy. That’s how bad the situation had become. Not only were students less empathic, they couldn’t even pretend to be anymore.
The good news is empathy can be learned.
As evidenced by a recent study after the pandemic by the same team. They found young people today show about the same empathy as did their 1970’s counterparts![6] Our own capacity for empathy can grow too simply by trying.[7] It’s not just an innate trait. It’s something that can be learned with just a little bit of effort. I read an article in TIME magazine that offered four simple ways to help increase your empathy.[8] 1. Stop and listen – take time to really listen to other people. Learn to reflect back people’s feelings. It works. Even when you simply parrot what other people are saying, they often feel heard. And that is something powerful. 2. Ask your barista (or Subway sandwich person or Walmart store clerk) how their life is going. Just engaging other people connects you in different ways and helps you to see them not as stereotypes but as people. Take time to say “hi” to people you don’t know. 3. Read a book. This opens your mind to different thoughts and ideas. Especially when you read fiction books! And 4. Look into people’s eyes. The eyes say a lot about a person and being willing to look in another person’s eyes, creates a connection and can help you to better understand them. It might also feel awkward, but that’s okay.
Everyone is the hero of their own story.
And I’m not saying you need to believe they are right, but simply that if we understand why people think the way they do, we can do something to make the world a better place. Studies have shown that empathic people make better doctors,[9] better leaders,[10] and I’m guessing people you would be more likely to hang out with. I’m also thinking empathic people might be better equipped to lead others to Christ who are very different from themselves. Because the key to helping people find Jesus is to know where they are on the path and we can’t do that if we only see life from our own point of view. We have to get better at seeing others.
One of my favorite episodes of The West Wing is about Ainsley Hayes.
Ainsley is a Republican lawyer in the Democratic Bartlet White House, and Ainsley is very Republican. But President Bartlet decides he wants her in his administration. Despite the arguments from the rest of the staff, he decides he needs to hear the opinions of people who think differently than him and so he invites her to join. Everyone is upset about it, even Ainsley, because this was not how she expected to work for the White House. But she gives it a chance. So when she meets some friends at a restaurant for dinner and they ask her, “Did you meet anyone there who wasn’t worthless?” She tells them, “Don’t say that. Say they’re smug and superior, say their approach to public policy makes you want to tear your hair out. Say they like high taxes and spending your money. Say they want to take your guns and open your borders, but don’t call them worthless. At least don’t do it in front of me. The people that I have met have been extraordinarily qualified, their intent is good, their commitment is true, they are righteous, and they are patriots. And I’m their lawyer.” Often when we dig beneath the surface we realize we’re not truly all that different. We may have our differences ad sometimes those divides are deep, but we can all come to the table together and bring healing to our families, our communities, and our country. We just need to learn to stand in one another’s shoes. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[1] Taken directly from the presser I attended while doing my Disney blog.
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_wept#cite_note-2
[3] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-me-care/
[4] https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/born-love/201005/shocker-empathy-dropped-40-in-college-students-2000
[5] You can take the survey for yourself here: https://umichisr.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bCvraMmZBCcov52?SVID=
[6] https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/24137520/americans-empathy-new-compassion-research
[7] http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/12/opinion/sunday/empathy-is-actually-a-choice.html?_r=0
[8] http://time.com/3562863/5-ways-to-be-more-empathetic/ They actually offered five ways, but one was for the classroom and for young children only.
[9] http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2014/02/25/empathy-the-first-step-to-improving-health-outcomes/
[10] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/douglas-labier/why-humble-empathic-busin_b_6042196.html
More Than Chicken Soup
In the 70’s, they would have called them hippies.
In the 90’s, they were part of the New Age movement. Today, they are thought of as pioneers. The idea of holistic healing sounded esoteric 50 years ago, but over time science caught up with intuition and we know that good health is about body, mind, AND spirit. True healing is about the integration of all three aspects of what makes you…YOU! We also know that when things are not going well in any one of these three areas, our whole self is impacted. When we are depressed or anxious, it can cause upset stomach, poor sleep, headaches, and a variety of other symptoms. Together, these often bring down our spirit and make us feel disconnected. When our bodies are struggling with illness, it can be taxing on our minds and on our souls as we struggle to battle against the whatever’s invading us. And when our spirit is crushed due to heartbreak or fear or stress, it can manifest in both our bodies and minds. The more we learn, the more integrated and inseparable these three aspects of ourselves seem to be.
That’s what makes the mental health crisis in America so devastating.
It impacts more than just our mental well-being but invades every aspect of our lives and the lives of those around us. Today, nearly 90% of Americans believe we are in the midst of a mental health crisis with over 50% of adults saying either they or a family member has experienced a severe mental health crisis personally. Those problems range from suicide to self-harm to homelessness to drug overdoses to name just a few.[1] But even those in crisis don’t always get help, even when they want to. One in four adults said they thought they might need mental health services, but didn’t get them.[2] That’s more than 83 MILLION people.[3] Can you imagine that? The biggest impediments to getting care are probably not hard to guess: cost, lack of insurance coverage, and not enough providers.[4] “Sixty percent of psychologists reported having no openings for new patients…” in the latest 2022 survey.[5] It gets even worse for kids. According to the American Psychological Association, half of the children who have a mental health disorder do not get the treatment they need, and this was before the pandemic.[6] It’s no wonder considering that for every 100,000 people under the age of 18, there are only about 5 psychologists trained to help them.[7] Five. That’s one psychologist for every 20,000 children. And those are centralized in usually urban and suburban areas. Children in rural neighborhoods generally don’t have access to any mental healthcare. Again, according to the APA that’s about 80% of the counties in America.[8] This doesn’t even take into account how mental illness contributes to homelessness or drug addiction.[9] It’s going to take more than chicken soup to solve this problem.
As Christians, we have a moral imperative to heal those who need it.
And that imperative is the same whether we are struggling physically, mentally, or spiritually. If you have a Bible or a Bible app with you, please go to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 10 beginning with the first verse. We’re going to be reading today from Matthew 10:1-8. Now, when this passage takes place, it is still in the early stages of Jesus’ ministry, but already he was doing the miraculous and everywhere he went he did two things – share the Gospel and heal the sick. Share the Gospel and heal the sick. In Matthew 4, soon after he gathers the first of his disciples, the Bible tells us in verse 23, “23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.” In Matthew, we see a real focus on Jesus as healer. From that point in his ministry to the part we’re going to be reading about this morning, Jesus goes on a healing spree. He heals a man with leprosy, a centurion’s servant, a paralyzed man, a dead girl and her mother, two blind men, and a man made mute by demon-possession. He even healed Peter’s mother-in-law! Funny thing, I never pictured Peter being married. But there it is. Anyway, that’s where we pick up in our reading for this morning. Jesus is gathering the twelve disciples together for the first time and sending them out into the world.
1 Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. 2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give. – Matthew 10:1-8
As always, Jesus was ahead of his time.
He doesn’t focus only on the physical needs of those he heals, but he seeks to heal them holistically by bringing together the physical and spiritual at the same time. Listen again to verses 6-8, “Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, PROCLAIM THE MESSAGE: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near (meaning Jesus).’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons….” Proclaim the message and heal the sick. We heard that same theme in Matthew 4 earlier when Matthew tells us that Jesus proclaimed the good news and healed every disease and sickness among the people. And again in chapter 9 where it says in verse 35, “35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.” Healing of both body and spirit went hand-in-hand. Physical healing alone can be a powerful witness to God’s power, but when Jesus healed, he did more than just cure them of their physical ailments. He also brought healing to their souls by giving them the hope we share in Christ. And that is something we as Christians can do in this time of crisis.
When you cast a vote this Fall, I hope you will consider this topic as part of your decision making.
It’s important because some of the solutions to providing better care are beyond our grasp as individuals. But that doesn’t mean we are without tools. Obviously, prayer is a big tool in our tool kit, but the power of presence is often overlooked. You don’t need special training to be a presence in someone’s life. And sometimes just noticing when a person is not behaving the way they normally do is a small but important part in getting them the care they need before it becomes life-threatening. Another way we can help bring healing through presence is through invitation. One of the reasons we have our big events like the “End of Summer Potluck Celebration” and “Cookies and Carols” and the Easter Egg Hunt is to be a presence in our community and let them know we are here for them. But the even bigger reason is for you to have a chance to invite friends and family to come with you to these events and give them an opportunity to feel the loving presence of Christ in our church family. Just last year, the surgeon general declared an epidemic of loneliness and isolation. He said even before the pandemic, “half of U.S. adults reported experiencing measurable levels of loneliness.”[10] A poll by the APA showed that nearly a third of adults reported feeling lonely at least once a week, and 10% say they are lonely every day.”[11] Loneliness, often in the form of social disconnection, can lead to severe mental health challenges. What shocked me was to learn that loneliness can have the same impact on premature death as smoking daily![12] The Surgeon General reported that poor or insufficient connection includes a “29% increased risk of heart disease, a 32% increased risk of stroke, and a 50% increased risk of developing dementia in older adults.” As well as a 60% increase in premature death.[13] But more than that, loneliness leads to other consequences mentally including clinical depression and anxiety. The solution? More connection!
As a church, that is what we do well.
When we are at our best, the church is a community that not only provides social connection but links it to a future hope in Jesus Christ. The healing of mind, body, and soul is helped at least in part by a connection to a healing community like our church. I’m reminded of that famous quote, “the church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.”[14] We are in the business of healing. Sometimes that takes the form of just being here on Sunday mornings and getting your weekly dose of refreshment in Christ. Sometimes we heal through giving, whether that is through donations or through mission projects. And sometimes, it’s just by being here for one another – whether by prayer, in person, or from a distance. I want to encourage you this week to call, visit, or send a card to someone who might be alone and could use the company. Texting is great for people you keep in touch with regularly, but for a really personal touch a call, visit, or personal card is much better. With so many of us suffering from mental issues, keeping in touch can sometimes save a life. Medicine is certainly a blessing, and we have come so far in so little time. Even in my lifetime, cancer was basically a death sentence when I was a kid, and today so many forms are treatable. My kidney transplant would have been so much more rare if I needed it as a child. But the more we learn, the more we understand that healing is a multi-faceted process that involves more than just the body. Let us bring a light to this problem and do what we can to fight it head on. Because sometimes it takes more than chicken soup.
[1] https://www.kff.org/report-section/kff-cnn-mental-health-in-america-survey-findings/
[2] Ibid
[3] America’s population is 333.3 million people according to Google as of 2022.
[4] https://www.apa.org/monitor/2024/01/trends-pathways-access-mental-health-care and https://www.kff.org/report-section/kff-cnn-mental-health-in-america-survey-findings/
[5] https://www.apa.org/pubs/reports/practitioner/2022-covid-psychologist-workload
[6] https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/06/health/youth-parents-mental-health-kff-poll-wellness/index.html
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.
[9] The problem is SO big we really can’t cover it all here. But if you’re interested in the intersection of these issues, Pew did a nice article summarizing it along with possibilities for solutions.
[10] https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2023/05/03/new-surgeon-general-advisory-raises-alarm-about-devastating-impact-epidemic-loneliness-isolation-united-states.html
[11] https://www.axios.com/2024/05/24/mental-health-pandemic
[12] Op Cit. hhs.gov article cited in 10.
[13] Ibid.
[14] While a very famous line who ACTUALLY originated it is highly debated. Augustine of Hippo is often credited but there are other sources that quote other people.
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
I wanted to live in Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.
Who wouldn’t? Specifically, I wanted his house. I loved “Picture Picture,” Trolley, that awesome stoplight he had in his house. I still want one! It just seemed like such a great place to be. Mister Rogers loved EVERYBODY. He thought you were special just the way you are, and he said it every day. And, he wanted me to be his neighbor! It was in his welcome song. “Won’t you please, won’t you please, please won’t you be my neighbor.” Everyday, I would watch that show and loved how comfortable Mr. Rogers would make me feel. He exemplified everything I would want in a neighbor. He was kind. He was thoughtful. And he always made me feel welcome. No matter who you were, if you’re a boy or girl, Asian or Caucasian, Christian or Muslim, Mr. Rogers welcomed you. And that was really the key. It didn’t matter who you were, Mr. Rogers welcomed you no matter what. You were always invited into his home.
Somewhere along the way, we’ve forgotten what it means to be that kind of neighbor.
Instead, we have grown fearful. Fearful of those who don’t look like us, who don’t act like us, who don’t speak like us. Adding to that fear are vicious untruths about immigrants and their effect on society. They are stealing our jobs! They are committing horrible crimes! They are taking over the country! All of these are false. Jobs that are going to immigrants (both documented AND undocumented) are those that couldn’t or wouldn’t be filled by our own citizens. According to the Stanford Report, “Today, immigrants tend to hold jobs that have few available U.S.-born workers, including positions that require advanced education like those in tech and science, and jobs that require very little education like picking crops by hand, washing dishes, or taking care of the elderly…”[1] Another interesting factoid, a study from the Bush Institute found that immigrants on average are more likely to CREATE jobs than native-born Americans.[2] As for pursuing a life of crime, immigrants (both documented and undocumented) were less likely to commit a crime than those of us who were born in America. More surprising? Ousey and Kubrin did a 20-year study on the subject and found that “communities with more immigration tend to have less crime, especially violent crimes like homicide.”[3] Maybe we’d all be better off if more immigrants came to our shores. Crimes by undocumented immigrants also is a falsehood. A study in Texas found that undocumented immigrants were 37.1% LESS likely to be convicted of a crime.[4] As for fears that immigrants are tearing across our borders, our immigration rates now are about the same as they were over 100 years ago. While it’s true there are more of them, as a percentage of the population it’s still about 14%.[5] What’s changed is where they come from. Up until 1920, nearly 90% of immigrants were from Europe. Now, most come from Mexico with Asia and the rest of Latin America coming in second and third.
We have forgotten we are a country of immigrants.
If the original native people of America had treated us like we are treating those now coming to our shores they likely would have been better off. And we would not have had the opportunities for which so many have fought and died. Why does it seem so difficult for us to love our neighbor as Christ commanded? Perhaps the most famous “love your neighbor” passage in the entire Bible. Most people who have never read the Bible will understand the reference. It’s the parable of the Good Samaritan. We’ve heard of Good Samaritan laws. We’ve heard of people who are selfless being referred to as Good Samaritans. But this is where that phrase came from. Luke recorded this story as Jesus told it to the lawyer to make a point – the key to eternal life is in loving your neighbor. The key to eternal life is in loving your neighbor and Jesus was very specific about how to do that.
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” 27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” 28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ 36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” 37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” – Luke 10:25-37
The one who had mercy on him.
That perhaps is the most telling line in the whole story. Then Jesus tells him, “Go and do likewise.” THIS was the key to everlasting life. To love our neighbor like the Good Samaritan loved this man. A total stranger who could very well have been a robber himself was helped by this Samaritan who had no obligation at all to help. That is the level of engagement Jesus expects from those who follow him; to love your neighbor even if he doesn’t look like you, even if he doesn’t behave like you, even if in other circumstances he would look down on you. Love your neighbor. Had the Samaritan walked by like the priest and the Levite, no one would have thought twice. Probably not even the victim lying there helplessly. Samaritans were shunned by the Jews at the time. They were thought of as heathens. They were looked down upon. And yet, this Samaritan not only bandaged his wounds and treated him, but then took him to a safe place and paid for his well-being. He asked for no thanks in return. He simply did what he knew to be right. He loved his neighbor.
Shouldn’t we do at least as much for those in need?
Instead, we talk about border security instead of the land of opportunity. We talk about building a wall instead of how we can help those on the other side of it. It reminds me of Robert Frost’s famous poem, “Mending Wall” in which he writes, “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, / That sends the frozen ground swell under it / And spills the upper boulders in the sun; / And makes gaps even two can pass abreast…” I think that something is God. God is that something that doesn’t love a wall. God created us for community anot for isolation. More than that, God created us to love our neighbor as an example of our love for God. It’s God that doesn’t love a wall. And yet we build them anyways. Sometimes literally. Funny thing. Did you know that there are between 65,000 and 75,000 illegal Canadian immigrants, too?[6] But nobody talks about them. Over a million Canadian nationals are living in the United States right now. But no one is talking about building a wall to the North. We need to consider whether our objections are really about security or about something else much more sinister that is brewing inside.
Nearly every race that has immigrated to America has experienced this prejudice.
So why haven’t we yet learned from our mistakes? People we happily accept into American society had at one time been shunned like all the rest. While we focus today on immigrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries, the focus used to be on the Japanese and the Chinese and the Germans and the Italians and the Polish and…you get the idea. And with every group of new immigrants irrational cries of stealing jobs and committing crimes were raised as unfounded then as they are now. And let’s not forget the Native Americans rounded up into reservations or African Americans brought over as slaves. Is this the same country that claims to stand for Christians values? Is it the same country that has inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, “Give me your tired, your poor, / Your huddle masses yearning to breathe free?” When I served my first church in tiny Washington, GA, we lived in the parsonage on weekends because it was a three-hour drive one way to get there. And in our heavily Christian neighborhood, we had a neighbor who had on his lawn in the middle or rural Georgia a wooden A-frame sign that read, “Mexicans go home.” The only Mexicans in town by the way were the ones that operated the one Mexican restaurant. Was Mexican immigration an issue in this small rural Georgia town? No. But at least one family decided to lash out anyway. It made me so sad. As Thomas Paine wrote, “These are the times that try men’s souls.”[7] It is not in the times of sunshine and daisies we have to test our beliefs, but in the times of shadow and night. It is when it is darkest that we are truly tested as to the mettle of our beliefs. And if we give in to fear now when the world needs us most to be a bastion for hospitality and love, then what good are we as Christians? Can we be the type of neighbor that our childhood friend Mr. Rogers would be proud of? Let us embrace that spirit of love and hospitality that Fred Rogers shared to the children of the world. Won’t you be my neighbor?
[1] https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2022/06/overturning-immigration-myths
[2] https://www.bushcenter.org/catalyst/immigration/collins-immigration-myths
[3] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/29/truth-about-illegal-immigration-crime/
[4] https://www.npr.org/2024/03/08/1237103158/immigrants-are-less-likely-to-commit-crimes-than-us-born-americans-studies-find
[5] https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/07/22/key-findings-about-us-immigrants/
Cradle to Grave
Who isn’t “pro-life?”
That’s the problem with labels. They are deceiving. If you say you aren’t “pro-life” you sound like a monster. Which is why the opposition doesn’t call itself “anti-life.” They call themselves “pro-choice” because who isn’t pro-choice? Especially in America. What kind of monster lives in America, the bastion of freedom and democracy and doesn’t believe in choice? We get so caught up in labels that we often don’t step back to look at what they mean. And sometimes we get so focused on just one thing we ignore everything else. Like being “pro-life.” What does that mean for us as a Christian? Is being pro-life just about abortion? Or from a Christian perspective, does it encompass so much more?
First, let’s get rid of the myth people WANT abortions.
While we might debate whether people should be able to get one or under what circumstances, nobody WANTS an abortion. People aren’t going around, being promiscuous, and saying, “Oh, if I get pregnant, I’ll just get an abortion.” Nobody is saying that. It is a tough decision every woman must wrestle with when they get one and they certainly don’t need the church to alienate them or stand in judgment over them. Most women who get an abortion never had one before (57%), and the number of abortions per year today is lower than it was in the early 70’s right after Roe v. Wade made it legal and a far cry lower than at its height in 1990.[1] This isn’t an epidemic getting out of control. It really is an issue of morality, and we never do well legislating morality.
But as a Christian, being pro-life should be more than your stance on abortion.
It should encompass everything from the cradle to the grave. Here’s how one critic of the pro-life movement who is a pastor put it:
(He said if someone were truly pro-life) “You would want to do more than prevent abortions.
You’d want to prevent hunger and poverty. You’d want to prevent illiteracy and child mortality and forced prostitution. You’d want to prevent racism and bigotry and homophobia. You’d want kids in the “bad neighborhood” to have great schools and teachers just like your kids have there in the “good neighborhood.” You’d want to support single parents and the terminally ill and the mentally ill by helping them carry their oversized burden.
You’d want religious freedom even for people who aren’t Christian. You’d want LGBTQ people to live and work and worship and love as they desire. You’d want people of color not to have to fear law enforcement and not to be disproportionately incarcerated. You’d want fewer guns in the hands of kids and criminals and those with mental illness. You’d want to prevent violence and workplace termination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. You’d want a living wage for all people who work hard, and healthcare for their children that won’t have to replace their daily meals.
I am a person of Life. That is what my faith calls me to be.”[2]
Life encompasses so much more than the nine months we are in the womb.
And we don’t do a good job of even protecting that. Did you know our country has one of the highest mortality rates among like nations for pregnant mothers?[3] Out of 10 similar countries, we are ranked 10th and overall ranked 55th. If “life” is so important to us, why aren’t we better at it? We also have by far the highest number of gun deaths than any other economically advanced country. We are second overall in total number of gun deaths at 37,040 behind only Brazil.[4] In the show, The West Wing, Toby Ziegler says, “I do know that if you combine the populations of Great Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, and Australia, you’ve got a population roughly the size of the United States. We had 32,000-gun deaths last year and they had 112. Do you think it’s because Americans are more homicidal by nature? Or do you think it’s because those guys have gun control laws?” Today those numbers are much higher for those countries – a total of 4,072 but the United States still has a gun death total more than 8 times all those countries combined. If we truly want to be pro-life, we must realize its more than just reproductive birth rights. It’s a cradle to grave problem and one we need to pay attention to. At least Jesus thinks so.
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Whatever you did for the least of these.
Jesus cared about EVERYBODY! He cared about people who were homeless; people who were impoverished; people who were in prison; Jesus cared about the sick and those who were food insecure. And Jesus was critical of those who looked down on others, who treated others without regard for human dignity. He overturned the tables in the temple because of the money lenders and merchants trying to make a profit from God in a Holy space. He often criticized the elders and religious leaders for their lack of compassion and rigid ways of thinking. And he warns us, right there in this passage, that if we behave in the same way, we can expect no different. “…[W]hatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.” We need to treat people as God created them. As Children of God. And we need to do more for people. We need to help and love our neighbor. Not stand in judgment of them.
We are all pro-life.
Whether we agree on the legality of abortion is not central to who we are as Christians. We can debate from here to live long day about when life begins and whether legislation works. And you can be a person who hopes for a world without abortion AND STILL be pro-choice. But if we are serious about our faith, we have to do more to love and care for everybody from beginning to end – from the cradle to the grave. We need to work on eliminating poverty, homelessness, and hunger. We need to do a better job of supporting and caring for people in times of trouble like divorce, depression, and illness. And we have to love those who are far from Christ and who may never come to Christ. Our job is to be the farmer who sows the seeds, to do the good work, and let God worry about the seed taking root. If we are to take seriously Christ’s call on our hearts to make disciples in his name, we have to do it from a place of love and not a place of fear or judgment or division. Guard your heart from the things of this world and instead model the love of Christ for all to see. Be an advocate for Life! All life.
[1] According to research done by the Pew Research Group and the Guttmacher Institute. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/03/25/what-the-data-says-about-abortion-in-the-us/
[2] https://www.huffpost.com/entry/white-conservative-christian-friends-i-wish-you-really-were-pro-life_b_12475464
[3] https://www.vox.com/2020/1/30/21113782/pregnancy-deaths-us-maternal-mortality-rate
[4] https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/gun-deaths-by-country ; https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/theres-a-new-global-ranking-of-gun-deaths-heres-where-the-u-s-stands
Life on the Spectrum
Life isn’t black and white.
It’s so easy to label people, but that label is often just one aspect of who they are, and maybe not the most important aspect. And maybe not even entirely accurate. When I was at UCLA, I had a roommate named Wayne who was a really nice guy but could be labeled as racist and if you didn’t know him, you would think it was an apt description. He would often stereotype people and made assumptions about them based on those stereotypes. When we first met, I think he was genuinely surprised I didn’t have a pocket protector or wear button-down, short-sleeved shirts. Wayne had opinions about every ethnicity on the planet and none of them good. If you can imagine a stereotype about Asians, Hispanics, African Americans, or some other ethnicity, Wayne thought of it first. We’d stay up late at night talking about life and he would make the most awful comments about someone based only on the color of their skin or the shape of their face. If you didn’t know him, you’d think he was a hard and fast racist, but the funny thing was, I met most of Wayne’s friends and they weren’t at all what I expected. Instead of the sea of monochromatic faces I expected to find, his friends were a rainbow of different colors. White, black, brown, yellow, red…you name it. I couldn’t figure it out until one day he and I were talking, and he made a comment about “all Asians” and then he looked at me and said, “Except for you, Craig. You’re one of the good ones.” I just said, “Thanks, Wayne.” But in that moment, I knew. I knew what the difference was between me and “all Asians.” Wayne knew me, and because he knew me, I was no longer one of “them.”
“They” are evil.
“They” are what is wrong with the world. “They” are going to ruin things for everybody. But really, who are “they?” If you listen to God, “they” are “us.” When you think about the world from a Christian perspective, there is no “they” because every single one of us is part of the family of God. You don’t have to like them all. You don’t have to agree with them all. They might be that strange aunt who always brings Jello salad to the potluck. But in the end, we are united under this one umbrella of Jesus. We forget that. A lot. I hear pastors and politicians who call themselves Christians saying some awful things about “them.” But those identifiers like race, sexual and gender identity, education, wealth, etc. that we like to use are artificial. They are just things we made up to make life simpler. But at what cost? I think we are seeing that cost play out in the political arena today. We have dehumanized the other into a label and dangerously make assumptions about every person under that label. Democrats, so trapped in their ivory towers, they don’t understand the plight of the common person. They are ruining America. Republicans, so closed-minded and secretly racist, they don’t see what a danger they are to Democracy. They are ruining America. Did I get that about right? Those labels extended to every part of our lives. Race, size, gender identity, sexual orientation – you name it and there is probably a stereotype for it. I actually heard someone on NPR saying trans kids were claiming to be trans so they could compete in sports and have a better chance at winning. That defies all logic. A kid would put themselves out there, subject to ridicule, bullying, and harassment, potentially have their life threatened and at the very least get made fun of and stared at to what end? Win a track and field event? Our fears of the other have grown so large that we don’t even regard them as humans. We don’t think of them as one of “us.” And that’s where we need to begin. We need to stop seeing the world in black and white and instead see it for the rainbow of colors that it is.
Black and white thinking can make our lives worse.
Not just for the people who are the targets of our binary thoughts, but for ourselves, too. It can negatively affect your relationships. It can hurt your self-image. It can hold you back from success.[1] When we talk about living on the spectrum, we usually take it to mean being autistic. But more and more people are using this type of framework to talk about all aspects of life. A concrete example is being left or right-handed. Unless you’re missing a limb, most of us make use of both hands. Only about 1% of the population is truly ambidextrous,[2] but how much we can use both hands varies from person to person. Then there are aspects of who we are that are now being understood as being on the spectrum. Researchers studied narcissism – the tendency to focus on oneself at the cost of caring about others – and found that it is what they call a core “dark trait” meaning something we think of negatively but an aspect that we all have in varying degrees.[3] People tend to think that someone either is or isn’t narcissistic but the truth is there is at least a little bit of it in all of us. It’s what psychologists call a “continuous trait.” Today, gender identity and sexual orientation are understood more and more in this way as being fluid instead of static or binary. People aren’t just straight or gay as we can see from the alphabet soup of sexual orientation. And most younger people today understand intrinsically that gender identity is just as fluid even if that is a completely new concept to older generations. Nothing is truly black or white. Not even the colors black and white. According to Adobe, black and white are just shades and not truly colors. But what’s more interesting, when you create the color Rich Black on Adobe using the color code #000000 the software actually adjusts it to include cyan, magenta, and yellow because to our eyes, it is a darker black than black![4]
It’s time to take off the sunglasses and see the world in all its beauty.
As God intended. God made the world with an abundance of diversity and to God each of us is like a snowflake. All of us are his creation, but all of us are unique beings with our own gifts and graces. I think that’s how God sees us. Not as Asian or White or liberal or conservative. God sees us as Cassie and Craig and Gwen and Red and Lorrie and Marilyn… God sees YOU. Not as a sum of your different parts, but God sees YOU as a whole and complete being. We need to do that more often, to think even of those we don’t know (or don’t like all that much) as people beloved by God so we can set aside our differences, embrace the things we have in common, and get to work making the world a better place. We need to stop feeling threatened by what other people do and instead focus on ourselves and our loved ones and make sure WE are living up to the standards God has set for us. Instead of worrying about what “they” are doing, we should focus on doing right ourselves and not standing in judgment of other people. Paul’s letter to the Romans emphasizes this point. In it, there was apparently a dispute over what people ate. I don’t know if it was in the context of communion or just living styles of different churches in Rome or if Paul was just using this as a minor example, but his point was pretty clear. Modeled after Matthew 7:3-5 where Jesus tells the disciples to pull the plank out of their own eye, Paul the churches in Rome to focus on their own account before God instead of worrying about things that ultimately don’t matter.
Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. 2One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. 4Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.
You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11 It is written:“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’”
12So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. 14 I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean.
17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18 because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.
19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.
22So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. – Selections from Romans 14
Who are we to judge someone else?
Don’t we have enough to worry about on our own without getting in someone else’s way? Paul reminds us of what is important and I love the way he says it, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking (and you can insert your own petty argument here), but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval. Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.” When a new idea doesn’t fit within our life experience, our tendency is to deny it or to treat it as “other.” We condemn it, often without considering it at all. And Paul tells us “…whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God.” Today the target of judgment is the LGBTQ community and right now especially transgender kids. I’ve sadly heard Christians condemn their parents or even condemn the kids themselves. And whether you agree or not, I challenge you to hear Paul’s words and then reflect back on other communities Christians have historically attacked as being against the Bible and see where we are now. People of African descent. People of Chinese or Japanese descent. Women. Children. People who had disease. People who were victims of natural disasters. The list is long and sad of how we have condemned these groups and claiming to do so in the name of God. Maybe we should listen to Paul and keep it to ourselves or more importantly, listen to Jesus who told us to pull the plank from our own eye before removing the splinter from another. We have much to learn from each other and when we do so from a place of humility and love, we also share the love of Christ. God created the world in such amazing colors. It would be a shame to limit the beauty of creation with our black and white sunglasses.
[1] https://www.talkspace.com/blog/black-white-thinking-ways-poisons-your-perspective/ ; https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/black-and-white-thinking#risks
[2] https://www.healthline.com/health/ambidextrous
[3] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/darwins-subterranean-world/201601/black-and-white-thinking-in-our-social-worlds
[4] https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/design/discover/is-black-a-color.html
Horses and Water
You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.
How many of you know someone or knew someone who should not be with the person they are with? When I was in college, I had more than one friend in that situation. Almost always a girl. Why? It’s not because women are more gullible or more dependent. It’s because there are so few guys worth it at that age. And I don’t know how much better it gets as you get older. But if you try to tell them how stupid they are for being with that person or if you try to set them up with someone else or if you try to somehow force them to not be with that person, all you’ll do is ruin your friendship. I can tell you from personal experience it just doesn’t work. Even as a parent, you can only say so much. You can point out the facts. You can share from your own experience. But ultimately, your friend or your child or your family member must choose for themselves a better life.
This is true in other facets of life, too.
Addiction comes to mind as the most clear-cut example. Sometimes an intervention works, but if it does it’s only because the person realizes through the intervention how much love and support they have, and it gives them the courage to leave a life of addiction. But you can’t force an addict to stop being addicted. They have to want it for themselves, or it will never last. Torture is another field where forcing someone to do something just doesn’t work. Some people think torture is justified in some situations; sort of a Machiavellian “end justifies the means.” But if you’re trying to get intelligence you can use, you might be surprised to find out torture doesn’t work, regardless of the end OR the means. In the short-term you might get a confession, but the reliability of that confession is suspect – even when the person being tortured WANTS to cooperate! According to Professor O’Mara, an expert in the field, the stress, pain, and fear that comes from torture impairs recall and cognition and can create false memories that the person believes to be true. Torture also encourages lying instead of telling the truth.[1] You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.
But that doesn’t seem to stop us from trying.
I’ve been really disturbed at how some people who identify as Christian have been trying to impose their own agenda thorough politics and using God as an excuse for it. There is a very good reason why the Founding Fathers created the 1st Amendment. It was to explicitly forbid a national religion from forming, while ensuring people had the freedom to worship whoever and however they chose. And they did that because they themselves were often victims of religious persecution. They didn’t want anyone else to have to go through that. It’s one of the primary reasons this country was formed. But more and more we are edging closer to eradicating that line between church and state. In fact, Rep. Lauren Boebert incorrectly said in public that “The church is supposed to direct the government. The government is not supposed to direct the church.” She went on to say “I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk that’s not in the Constitution. It was in a stinking letter, and it means nothing like what they say it does.”[2] I must admit I was pretty stunned how completely wrong she is about all of this. It actually IS part of the Constitution, and it means EXACTLY what it says.[3] But it illustrates how so many Americans completely misunderstood the intentions of the early founders. They specifically did not want a state religion because so many people who came to America were fleeing religious persecution. They didn’t want to be under the thumb of the church, and they saw how bad it could become when a political leader was also de facto the head of the church, and they didn’t want that to happen here. But more and more self-proclaimed Christians are pushing that boundary and are trying to make America an explicitly Christian nation.
Now, is that a bad thing?
No. Our directive from God almighty is to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…” It’s right there in Matthew 28. We call it The Great Commission. Ideally, the work we do as a church would turn the entire world into a Christian planet, worshipping God together. But not so we can win. Not so we can rub other people’s faces in our Christianity. But to provide an opportunity for everyone to know the love of God. Making laws that force people to accept our faith is not what God intended.
Yet that’s exactly what has been happening, now more than ever. The Oklahoma State Superintendent mandated the Bible be taught to all students in 5th – 12th grade as part of their curriculum regardless of their religious beliefs. He also said he plans to make the Ten Commandments required learning.[4] You might not think that’s such a big deal, but would you feel the same if you lived somewhere that forced you to learn the central tenets of Islam or Buddhism or Hinduism? Suddenly it might seem like a big deal. Louisiana just mandated that all state schools must display the Ten Commandments. According to Gov. Landry who signed it into law, he said, “If you want to respect the rule of law, you’ve got to start with the original lawgiver, which was Moses.”[5] First, that statement is false. The original lawgiver was God and Moses’ documents were not the first laws written for a society. Hammurabi preceded Moses by at least 750 years and King Ur created the Code of Ur-Nammu more than a thousand years before that.[6] And second, there’s no proof displaying the Ten Commandments leads to more moral behavior. We hear stories all the time about corruption within the church – child abuse, embezzlement, and adultery to name just a few. The Ten Commandments haven’t stopped humans from being fallible. And that’s just two examples of many that are being introduced in many areas of our country, both big and small. Believe it or not, the Apostle Paul came across this same problem nearly 2000 years ago. At the time of his writing, non-Jewish people (Gentiles) who wanted to become Christ followers thought they needed to become Jewish to truly be disciples. This wasn’t helped by most of the Apostles who also believed people needed to convert to be followers. The biggest obstacle? Male circumcision. A painful process as a baby, it was even more painful for adults who didn’t have anesthesia to help them. But Paul receives a revelation from God and realizes this attitude isn’t God speaking to his people but human beings imposing their own ideas onto God.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3 Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. – Galatians 5:1-6
You didn’t have to follow Jewish law to be a Christian.
But that was the popular thinking of the time. And it’s completely understandable why so many made that mistake. Even Peter who Jesus said would be the foundation of the church believed that to be true. But Paul points out to us and the church what he also told Peter. It is not adherence to the law that made one a Christian. It was, and I quote, “faith expressing itself through love.” To me that is such a beautiful statement. Paul reminds both the Jewish people and the Gentiles, non-Jewish people who wanted to follow Christ, that you didn’t need to follow Jewish law and customs to give your heart to Christ. You simply had to live out your faith by showing the love of Christ to the world around you. In fact, by trying to follow the law as it was given to the Jewish people long ago, you were instead putting form and function above faith and that isn’t what God wanted.
Legislating faith is the easy way out.
You can force people to pray. You can force them to read from your holy book. You can force people to memorize the Ten Commandments. But you can’t make them believe. In fact, likely you’ll do the opposite and statistics prove that to be happening today. The more politicized our faith has become, the more people are leaving in droves. According to a Pew Research study, in 1972, 90% of Americans identified as Christian and that stayed pretty steady until the late 80’s / early 90’s when it started to drop. It went from 90% to 80% in that small window and has been declining ever since. In 2021, only 63% identified as Christian. Meanwhile the number of people who are religiously unaffiliated has gone up during that same timeframe. It was pretty steady from 1972 until the early 90’s at around 5% but today, it’s up to 29% who don’t identify with a religion. We call this group “the Nones.”[7] And it’s not like they’re going to other religions. They’re just not engaging in faith at all. That’s because we haven’t done a very good job of giving them a reason to hang around.
We have to do the hard work again.
Like the early Christians who led by example and out of love, who brought people to Christ in droves, we need to do that again. Christianity was not and should not be a political movement. But it is increasingly become so. We need to reclaim our Christianity. Instead of trying to get the government to force people to adopt our beliefs, we need to do a better job of being better Christians. We need to stop attacking others. We need to find common ground. We need to accept that other people have other beliefs and instead of treating them like “the other” to embrace them and learn from them and trust in God to use us as his instruments to show the world a better way. We need to stop using God as an excuse for our own poor behavior. By leaning on Christ and on Christ’s example for our lives we can change the world again.
[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5325643/#b4
[2] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/28/lauren-boebert-church-state-colorado/
[3] https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-rights/what-does-it-say
[4] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/27/oklahoma-public-schools-bible-teachings and https://www.akronlegalnews.com/editorial/35317
[5] https://apnews.com/article/louisiana-ten-commandments-displayed-classrooms-571a2447906f7bbd5a166d53db005a62
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ancient_legal_codes
[7] To be fair, there isn’t one reason for this drop in Christians and equal rise in the Nones, but this change correlates with the increasing politicization of Christianity. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2022/09/13/how-u-s-religious-composition-has-changed-in-recent-decades/
What Color is Your Christianity?
What color is your Christianity?
We are still about four months away from Election Day and I’m already tired of hearing about politics. And it’s only going to get worse. As we approach November, we will see more ads, hear more on the news, and come across more billboards, lawn signs, and bumper stickers than we can shake a stick at. And yet, how much does it really matter? According to a Harvard/CAPS poll, more than 70% of voters have already decided who they are going to vote for.[1] And while polls are not always a reliable indicator of reality, it sure feels like this one is true. People have already decided months before Election Day who they are going to punch on their ticket, at least when it comes to the office of the President. Pundits have already divided the country into red and blue states and even red and blue people, but I’m hoping that this coming election season, whether you are a Democrat or Republican, you won’t vote red or blue. Instead, I implore you to vote purple.
Purple isn’t just a combination of red and blue (which ironically it is).
It’s also the color we use to associate with Christ. Purple was a hard color to come by in ancient times. It was obtained by the harvesting of marine snails and was very labor intensive so only royalty or those with authority would wear garments with that color.[2] When Jesus was being crucified, the Roman guards mocked him by putting on a purple robe and a crown of thorns and calling him the “King of the Jews” (John 19:1-5). Because of this and because we believe Jesus to be our one true Lord and Savior, we associate purple with Christ. It’s in that spirit Christians all over the country need to approach not just the coming election but everything we do – with a purple lens. Not with partisan blinders but really being open to where God is leading our country and more importantly his people.
And we forget that too often.
We are ALL God’s children. Democrats and Republicans; Black and White; Christians and Atheists; even Dodgers fans and Giants fans – no matter how misguided Giants fans are – are all equal in the sight of God. God doesn’t say to us he only loves you if you do XYZ or believe this or that. God loves you no matter what and then HOPES you make good choices in life. But his love isn’t contingent on that. Even when you mess up big, God still loves you. And that’s what God expects of us. To love those around us even when we don’t share their thoughts and opinions. Maybe sometimes because we don’t share their thoughts and opinions. We’re supposed to be above the political fray. But instead, it looks we are right in the middle of it with everybody else. When we look at the decline of Christianity, it’s not because the world has grown increasingly agnostic. It’s because Christians haven’t done a very good job of being Christ-like. We’ve become known for being judgmental, hypocritical, and too involved in politics.[3] One young man said, “…twenty years ago, when I was looking at evangelical Christianity from the inside, it seemed like a movement bursting with energy to spread good news to people. Looking at it from the outside today, this message seems to have been lost in exchange for an aggressive political strategy that demonizes segments of society.”[4] Who would want to be part of something like that? If you’re tempted to dismiss this as a young person’s hubris, don’t. It has become our reality and it’s very real.
The solution comes from a story about Jesus’ own life.
In this story below, we find Jesus in Jerusalem. It takes place after he chases out the vendors in the temple court. Jesus is appalled they would desecrate the Holy Temple grounds by turning it into what he called “a den of robbers” (Mark 11:17). But it makes him an even bigger target for the chief priests who are thinking of ways to kill him (Mark 11:18). Jesus’ following is growing and growing because they see the power of his words and his teachings. But take a moment and think about that. These are the religious leaders of the Jewish people and they are so twisted up in a knot they ignore one of the most central tenets of their faith – thou shalt not kill. So when our story takes place, they are trying to publicly humiliate Jesus and this is what happens next.
13 Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. 14 They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax[b] to Caesar or not? 15 Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”
But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” 16 They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
17 Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”
And they were amazed at him. – Mark 12:13-17
Jesus is caught in a classic “no win” scenario.
If he tells them to pay the tax, the Pharisees can discredit him by claiming he is saying Rome has greater authority than God! But if he tells them to ignore the tax, the Pharisees can rat on him to the Roman government and telling them Jesus is inciting people to defy the law. Either way he loses. But then Jesus pulls a WOPR. Like the supercomputer in the movie WarGames, Jesus realizes the only way to win is not to play the game.[5] He tells them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” In one fell swoop he upholds Roman authority AND God’s at the same time. But what I really like about his answer is he not only escapes their trap but elevates his argument by reminding them we answer to a higher calling. That while we are obligated to live by the rules of our society, we have a greater responsibility to live our lives as children of God because ultimately our allegiance doesn’t belong to a man or a party or even a country. Our allegiance rests solely with God. We are citizens of the Kingdom of God first and foremost and shouldn’t forget it.
In our contentious times, we need to remember more than ever to treat one another with love.
We rely on the idea of an eye for an eye, but Christ calls us to turn the other cheek. The ministry of Christ is radical and humble. It isn’t arrogant or proud. And that’s who we need to be in this election season. When we vote for a person or a bill, we need to remember to do it with love. If the people around us don’t agree how we think or how we vote, we shouldn’t degrade them but instead pray for them and treat them with respect. We need to see the world through the lens of Christ and analyze the issues and ideas through his eyes. I’m reminded at this time of President Carter who said he was greatly influenced by something he heard in a sermon as a young man. The pastor said, “If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”[6] When thinking about the things that matter most to you, consider yourself neither blue nor red but instead the purple of Jesus.
[1] https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4750545-poll-decided-voters-presidential-election/
[2] https://carnegiemnh.org/born-to-the-purple/
[3] UnChristian by David Kinnaman, p.34.
[4] UnChristian by David Kinnaman, p. 166.
A Twist on American History
How well do you know American history?
I don’t mean the obscure stuff you might need to win Trivial Pursuit or if you can name all the presidents. How well do you know basic American history. In honor of Independence Day, I thought it might be fun to have a little pop quiz. Let’s start off with an easy one.
On what day did the Continental Congress declare independence?
Yes, it was July 2nd. “What?” you might be asking yourself. “Everybody knows it’s July 4th!” Although the Declaration of Independence was dated July 4th, the Continental Congress actually voted for independence two days earlier. It just took them a while to write it up and after that it took over a month to get it signed![1]
Who designed the first American flag?
Most of us grew up believing Betsy Ross did it. According to legend, General George Washington came to Betsy’s house and asked her to make a flag, but there is no evidence to show it ever happened. In fact, another person claimed to have designed the flag and even asked Congress for compensation for it – Francis Hopkinson. But he was told by Congress that the design of the flag had been a collaborative effort.[2]
What did Paul Revere say to warn the colonists about the British?
Well, he might have said many things, but he never said, “The British are coming!” It’s a popular misconception because of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous poem, but since many of the colonists still regarded themselves as British, that phrase would have been confusing. He most likely quietly warned his fellow rebels that the “Regulars” were on the move.[3]
Now don’t be too hard on yourself if you didn’t get those right. Had I not been scouring the Internet for juicy myths of American history, I wouldn’t have got them right either. But it just goes to show you, there are many things we believe to be true that simply are not. And things we believe to be false sometimes are actually true. And then there are things we believe to be true, that at one time WERE true, and are now no longer true. Like whether Pluto is a planet. To my dying day I will believe Pluto is a planet.
People often wonder how history will remember them.
They worry about the legacy they will leave behind. But if these questions of historical “fact” prove something, it’s that we can’t trust history to remember ANYTHING accurately. During your lifetime, you’ve probably believed many things you’ve found to no longer be true. And things we believe are super important now, will be completely unimportant within our lifetime. Jesus talked about the impermanence of life with the disciples and told them to focus on what’s truly important. We find that talk in the passage we’re going to read this morning from Matthew 24:1-2. This small passage comes right after Jesus had been grilled by the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Both groups are quizzing Jesus in the hopes of getting him to make a mistake so they can denounce him as a fraud, but he deftly manages to avoid their verbal attacks and ends up ripping them apart for their own hypocrisy. After that, he walks away with the disciples and that’s where we pick up our story this morning.
Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
Of all the things he could have pointed to, Jesus points to the temple.
Of all of the buildings around them, he points to the house of God and says to his disciples even this one day will be thrown down. Even the house of God will stand in ruins. Jesus wants to make the point that the things of this world will not last. Nothing is permanent except for God and his Kingdom. When I was young and would hear the phrase “the Kingdom of God” I would picture in my mind a huge, shining castle with a sprawling city around it. A literal kingdom. But the Kingdom of God isn’t a place. It lies within God’s people. The Kingdom of God isn’t a place, it lies within God’s people. In the rest of the passage, Jesus encourages them to live faithfully because no one knows when their time will come.
Jesus brings up an important image to us – the impermanence of this life.
We so often focus on things that ultimately aren’t important instead of the things that are – loving one another. Love is the only thing that will truly outlast us. Your name will one day be forgotten or if it is remembered, it will be for something you may or may not have done like Paul Revere or Betsy Ross. What will be remembered will only be a shadow of your true self, a representation of an idea instead of who you really are. For most of us, though, we will as the Bible tells us return to the dust from which we were made (Genesis 3). But the love we share with each other is the one gift that will affect a person’s life long after we are gone. As one pastor recounted, “Strangely enough, it usually catches us by surprise to find that the things others considered most about us is not how successful we might have been, but rather, how much we loved them. But it is in loving others that we best show how we love God.”[4] When our loved ones go ahead of us to God, we don’t think about how much money they made or how powerful they were or how famous they are. We don’t ask how many “employee of the month” awards they earned or how their company earned better fourth quarter profits because of their effort. We are remembered for the love we share and for who we are. That is the legacy we will be remembered for, long after our names are forgotten, it is how we loved and how we shaped the lives around us that will make the biggest difference. A material legacy will never last, but a legacy of love can last forever. A material legacy will never last, but a legacy of love can last forever.
This is something the early church understood well.
And it is one of the primary ways the church was built. Not through buildings with stained glass windows or fancy instruments but with love. A pastor once shared this story with his congregation, “Historians tell us that two plagues swept through the Roman Empire while Christians were being horribly persecuted. The Antonine Plague was the first, a little more than a century past the life of Jesus. The Plague of Cyprian came along a century after that. One document says that in Rome, where a million people lived, as many as 5,000 died per day. The bodies rotted on the streets, adding to the environment of disease and filth. The epidemic filled the people with terror. It was so devastating that when the first symptoms appeared some villages simply emptied out, leaving the sick behind. There was no cure. There was no hope. So they left sick family members in their beds and ran for their lives. But Christians didn’t run. They stayed and brought water to the sick. They fed them. They changed their bandages. They spoke kindly to them. They loved and encouraged them. And they got sick in the process. There’s no telling how many people were saved because Christians served, and there’s no telling how many Christians lost their lives because they stayed behind. But the world is different today because in the middle of devastating despair – we might call it overwhelming darkness – those who followed Christ saw their opportunity to shine.”[5] No one remembers these Christians’ names. No one remembers what they did for a living. No one remembers how much they earned in a year. But it was through these acts of love that more of them are around today.
History is a fickle mistress.
It is often said that history is written by the winners and that is often true. We can’t count on history to record our legacy. We can’t count on it to accurately reflect who we are or even what we’ve done. And ultimately, that’s not important. What is important is how we love others. How we devote ourselves to one another. How we treat one another. Those are the things we will be remembered for. Take time this week to reflect on how we can love the ones in our lives better. How is it we can show kindness to one another? How is it we can be gracious to one another? And let us follow the example of Christ by learning to simply love one another.
[1] http://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2005/nr05-83.html
[2] http://historyplaces.wordpress.com/2014/07/03/think-you-know-american-history-you-may-be-wrong/ and http://history.howstuffworks.com/history-vs-myth/betsy-ross-flag2.htm
[3] http://www.history.com/news/12-things-you-may-not-know-about-paul-revere
[4] http://www.lifeway.com/Article/sermon-building-a-legacy-that-lasts-mark-12
[5] http://www.lifeway.com/Article/sermon-building-a-legacy-that-lasts-mark-12
Love Without End, Amen
Imagine a world where everyone knew they were loved unconditionally.
In that kind of a world, many of the problems we have today would probably disappear. Not all of them to be sure, but being surrounded by people who loved you just as you are and loved you the way you wanted and needed to be loved would be incredible for anybody. If you have a Bible or a Bible app on your phone, please go to 1 John chapter 4 and we’ll begin reading from verse 7. 1 John 4:7. Unconditional love is the greatest gift in the world. It gives you a sense of self-worth, confidence, and assurance nothing else can give you. People spend their whole lives looking for it. By its very definition, you can’t buy it, you can’t earn it, you can’t do anything to get it. It’s the one great equalizer in society because everyone wants it and whether you get it has nothing to do with wealth, fame, or power. In fact, it’s probably the one thing that’s harder to get the more successful you become because you can’t help but wonder if people love you because of who you are or for what you have. But God loves us unconditionally, no matter how much we have or don’t have, no matter how much we do or don’t do – God loves us anyway. If you would please rise as we read from 1 John 4:7-12, and 19-21. Hear now the Word of God.
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
The Word of God for the people of God, and the people said, “Thanks be to God.” Please be seated.
We love because he first loved us.
As parents, we experience the kind of love God has for us most strongly with our children. We feel it right from the moment of their birth. Or even before then. When Cassie was pregnant with Emma, I used to talk to Emma every day. Before bed each night, I’d put my head next to Cassie’s stomach and talk to my little unborn baby girl, telling her about my day, about how I can’t wait for her to come out, and saying “good night.” Sometimes I’d randomly just go up to Cassie’s stomach and just for fun say “Helloooooo in there.” It was probably a bit embarrassing for Cassie, because I’d do it whenever the mood struck – at home, at the mall, in the car – just whenever. One night, Cassie started getting some unusual pains and we rushed to the hospital, worried something had gone wrong. We sat in this cold, sterile intake room waiting for Cassie to get some kind of medical scan done, and I remember holding her hand and just feeling completely helpless. The worst part was when they wheeled Cassie away. They wouldn’t even let me go with her and I sat in this little, tiny waiting room all by myself with Law & Order on the television above me. I remember thinking about how much I loved my little girl who I hadn’t even seen yet except on some fuzzy sonogram, and praying everything would be alright. I had never felt that anxious before. Thankfully, it was just a scare and about seven months later, Emma would come out just fine, but I felt like just for a moment I had a glimpse of God’s unconditional love for us – that deep love of God that reaches out to us even before we realize we need it.
It’s that kind of love John is talking about in this letter to the church.
It’s the love that comes before we realize we ARE loved. In Methodism we call this prevenient grace – the unmerited, undeserved, unasked-for love of God that comes before we even know there IS a God. And it’s this unconditional love that motivates God to send Jesus on our behalf. Not because we behaved particularly well. Not because we did some great deed for God. But because he knew it was what we needed. It’s what we do for those we love. That’s why John writes, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” When John tells us that we need to love one another in the same way that God loves us, this is the kind of love he’s talking about – the unconditional, self-sacrificing, put-yourself-out-there kind of love. We don’t do this because we need to “pay God back” or to balance some kind of cosmic debt. It isn’t love if it requires payment. We don’t do it to store up God’s good will. Again, that isn’t love. Look at what it says in the Gospel of Luke. In Luke 6, Jesus tells the crowd to love their enemies. He says, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.” It doesn’t take any effort to love those who already love you because you expect love in return. Real love is being able to offer it without expectation. To love the way God loves us. When we are able to love like that, we have a deeper understanding of God’s love for us.
Love is essential. When we are loved, we do better in life.
As a father, there is a unique role we play in the lives of our children and a reason God created us to be fathers in the first place. It’s not only a duty, but an honor to be a father. As more research is done, it becomes clearer and clearer that fathers are an important part of a child’s development not just because they are a “second parent” but men specifically interact and behave in ways that help their children become more well-rounded, well-developed people.[1] Studies have shown that having a loving, involved father increases a child’s chance of getting A’s in school by 43% and children are 33% less likely to repeat a grade.[2] 43% more likely to get A’s. Children with fathers who play with them on average have higher IQs “as well as better linguistic and cognitive capabilities,” meaning they tend to be more sophisticated in both speech and thinking.[3] Children with involved fathers tend to be more sociable, exhibit better self-control, were less likely to lie, experience depression, and more likely to engage in pro-social behavior. The more we learn about fathers, the more we realize how important they are. Not that mothers are any less important, but too often in society the job of raising children has fallen on mothers. Take for instance Elon Musk’s recent response to a reporter about balancing his work life with being a father. He doesn’t. “Well, babies are just eating and pooping machines, you know?…Right now there’s not much I can do.”[4] Fathers have a deeper responsibility than society gives them credit for or often expects of them, but not less than what God expects. In Ephesians we hear from Paul that fathers are responsible for bringing up their children in the “training and instruction of the Lord” and are called not to exasperate them. In the letter to the Colossians, Paul writes that fathers should not embitter their children, or they will become discouraged. God places upon fathers an expectation of love and encouragement that is important in how they grow up.
Love is a choice.
Love isn’t just a feeling. Love is a choice. We shouldn’t love our children just when we feel like loving them. We shouldn’t love them when they deserve it. We shouldn’t make them earn our love. We should love them simply because they are our children. But what we SHOULD do and what we DO do are not always the same. Ultimately, love is still a choice as evidenced by the unfortunate number of fathers out there who are not involved in their children’s lives. One in four children live in a fatherless household.[5] 48% of those see their children less than once a month. 31% say they don’t even call or email once a month.[6] We choose what’s important in our lives. We choose who to love and how to love even if it’s only ourselves. It is a choice we make moment by moment just as God constantly chooses to love us despite our rebelliousness. And just as we are loved by God, we must also choose to love our children so that when they explore faith for themselves, they have an idea of what it means to have a loving God in Heaven. It’s hard to imagine a loving Father above when ours is absent. Love is a choice. And God chooses to love us everyday. We must choose to love also.
We don’t always realize the importance of the role we play in the lives of our children.
Academically, socially, and spiritually, too. How involved a father is in the faith life of their children influences greatly the future faith of their children as well. Fathers who go to church regularly have a greater impact on the future of their children being in church than their mothers. In fact, if a father goes to church regularly with their mother, 75% of their children will still be in church either regularly or irregularly as adults. If a father doesn’t go to church but the mother does only 39% of their children will go to church at all, with only 2% being regular attenders.[7] As a father, we have a greater responsibility to our children’s well-being than we often think. We influence not just their life here, but their eternal life as well. On this Father’s Day, I want to encourage you to show your unconditional love to the people important in your life. Encourage, embolden, and love your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren so that they may know not only your love but the model of love God has for them.
[1] http://www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/parenting_roles/the_involved_father.aspx
[2] http://www.thefatherhoodproject.org/10-facts-about-father-engagement/#_edn7
[3] https://www.zerotothree.org/resource/the-daddy-factor-how-fathers-support-development/ originally from childwelfare.gov
[4] https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-unique-power-of-dads-in-childhood-development-during-a-pandemic-and-beyond/
[5] http://www.fatherhood.org/media/consequences-of-father-absence-statistics (interestingly this number has gotten better over the years! Not that long ago it was 1 in 3!)
[6] http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2011/06/15/a-tale-of-two-fathers/ (hopefully these numbers have improved over time, but I couldn’t find a more recent study of male parental involvement like this one)
[7] http://www.christianpost.com/news/fathers-key-to-their-childrens-faith-51331/
What Makes You Beautiful
When I was a little boy, I had a favorite stuffed animal named “Tiger.”
I know. Not incredibly creative. I could have named him “Tony,” after all I loved Frosted Flakes (still do actually) or “Tigger” after Winnie-the-Pooh’s friend, but nope I named him “Tiger” and it stuck. Tiger went with me everywhere. I loved that doll. Now, mind you, Tiger wasn’t the best-looking doll on the block. He wasn’t the biggest or the fluffiest. He was just two pieces of patterned cloth sewn together with synthetic fiber mashed inside. Did any of you have those kinds of dolls? Half of the stuffed animals I had came from a pattern at the local fabric store. Today they are much more sophisticated and intricate, but I’d still choose Tiger any day of the week because he was mine. As kids do, I gave him the same birthday as me. Even after I was “too old” for dolls, I’d still pull him out and wish him happy birthday and give him a big ol’ hug like the old days. I kept him, thinking one day I would pass Tiger on to my child, and when Emma was around three I did just that. That was a significant moment for me. To be able to pass down a treasured keepsake from my past to my daughter was so meaningful. The first time she slept with it felt so special. Side note: Want to hear something funny? At that point I had owned Tiger for over three decades, but when I handed it to Emma I discovered something. Tiger wasn’t a tiger at all. Tiger was a lion! It was the most orange lion you’d ever seen, but there was no mistaking it. Tiger wasn’t a tiger. The mane should have been a dead giveaway. I don’t know how that fact escaped me all those years, but there you go. I’d love to show Tiger to all of you so you could see for yourself, but someone else in our family liked Tiger, too. Our golden retriever, Luke who played with it as any big dog would. Tiger didn’t survive the experience. All that was left of him was a scrap of cloth. Cassie was so nice about it and was like, “Well, maybe you could keep the cloth.”
Tiger had a good life as far as stuffed animal go.
But to most people, he was just an ordinary doll. Not all that remarkable. If you put him in a pile with other stuffed animals, he probably wouldn’t have gone first. Or even twenty-first. But he was special to me. And I’d have picked him first every time. Whether he was a lion or not. I imagine God feels the same way about each and every one of us. No matter what kind of “worth” the world puts on us, no matter how the “world” would judge us, God sees beyond that and loves each and every one of us. We’d all get picked first. And isn’t that really all we want? To know we matter. And you DO matter. In fact, there is passage after passage in the Bible telling you that you matter. We will share some of those together today. We all probably know the most famous verse of this – John 3:16. 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. That God was willing to give up the life of his son for us, that God was willing to die a mortal death so that we would come to believe in him is a striking example of just how much God loves us. How often would we give up OUR lives for those we didn’t love? From John 15:12-17 – 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other. There is no greater love than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. Which is exactly what God has done for us. And I love another part of this verse. “You did not choose me, but I chose you…” God loved us first. God took the first step. We didn’t do anything to merit God’s love or earn God’s love, but instead God chose us – to create us, to love us, to be there for us. God chose. We didn’t make God love us. God loved us first. Which is exactly what John wrote in his first letter to the church. From 1 John 4: 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. You didn’t earn God’s love. God gave it freely. God wants you and God loves you for no other reason than God DOES! And even if you reject God, God is still waiting for you. To me, that is probably the most powerful evidence of God’s love – his eternal patience with us. As it says in 2 Peter: 8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. If you didn’t matter to God, why would he wait?
God IS love!
The Bible doesn’t give us straight answers about a lot of things – the Internet, space travel, invitro fertilization. But about this it is very clear. God is love. It tells us in many ways, but in 1 John 4 it says it specifically in verse 16. God is love. We only know what love is because it is a part of who God is. God is the living embodiment of love. Our ability to love; our ability to be loved; all of it is a gift of God. And God chooses to share it with us. God knows we are flawed, that we drift away, that we make poor choices from time to time (and sometimes more than that), but God waits because God loves. I had a friend who once thought she wasn’t good enough to be loved by God. That she had done too many things wrong in life to be forgiven, but nothing could be further from the truth. God’s love and grace and mercy is endless. As it says in Romans 8:38-39: 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[b] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 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.
There is only one thing God asks of us.
To love one another. It’s in my favorite verse of the Bible. John 13:34-35:34 “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.” Love one another. It’s Jesus last command before he dies on the cross. And by the way, it isn’t conditional. If you don’t do this doesn’t mean God will stop loving you. It’s just that God wants us to show the same kind of love he has given us to other people and that way more people will come to know God’s love for themselves. Don’t hoard it all to yourself. God’s love is like the bottomless fries at Red Robin; there is no end. The best way to honor Christ, to give meaning to his sacrifice, is to love one another as Christ loved us. This week, go out into the world and do something to make this a better place to live. Show the love of Christ to someone without any hope or expectation of getting something in return because let’s face it, you’ve already been given the greatest gift in the world – the love of God. Be the incarnation of Christ to someone who needs it. Send a card to an old friend. Pick up the phone and call your mom or your dad or your sister you haven’t talked to in a while. Connect with someone online you haven’t seen in a while or just give a random compliment to a stranger. Pay for a cup of coffee for the guy behind you at Starbucks or McDonald’s. Think of something creative to show the love of Christ for those around you. Here’s a good one. Compliment a stranger on how they look. Don’t make it creepy. Say something nice about their shoes or their hat or the design on their shirt. Studies show that it makes people feel better than we expect, but also makes us feel good in the process.[1] Doing good feels good. For everybody.
I love the song “What Makes You Beautiful” by One Direction.
It’s all about a guy telling a girl she’s more beautiful than she realizes. And I think most of us feel like that from time to time; that maybe we aren’t as beautiful as we’d like to be or as we once were or as we could be. Maybe it’s what’s inside that feels ugly or unworthy. But let me tell you that you underestimate yourself. God loves you and believes in you. He sees the true beauty within, even when we don’t see it ourselves. If he didn’t why would he wait for you? Why would he love you unconditionally? Especially when we so often are ungrateful and ignore him in our busy lives. But his love is truly everlasting. We should take heart and be encouraged by God’s great love and know we are wanted and valued. My stuffed animal Tiger may not have been much to look at, but he was everything to me. God feels the same about you. Regardless of what you think you look like or if you think you’re worth it, have confidence that you are the most beautiful and most desirable being inside and out to God. Let that knowledge fill you with the confidence you need to share God’s love with those around you.
[1] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/evidence-based-living/202109/the-psychology-compliments-nice-word-goes-long-way
Craig's Corner 