Being the Church Today: Baptism

Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose. 11 For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. 12 What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” 13 Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name. 16 (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.  

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

I find verses 14, 15, and 16 among some of the funniest in all of Scripture.  Paul is stream of conscious trying to recall who he baptized.  Oh, I baptized Crispus and Gaius...that is it!  Oh yes, and the whole household of Stephanas...but that is it!  Apparently, Paul was not that great at keeping records.  But whether or not Paul's list is exhaustive, really is not the point, is it?  The point is that as the Corinthians are arguing over who baptized whom and whether that gives them a claim to fame, power, and authority, Paul wants to be clear that the most important part of baptism is the connection to the cross.

Usually, because we baptize infants, we don't usually make a connection between baptism and the cross.  I have now taken to looking the child in the eyes and saying, "For you Christ was born, for you he lived his life wide open, for you he died and for you he rose again.  May the mystery of this truth be sealed on your heart."  The claim we make, is that in baptism we die and rise to new life.  In the blink of an eye at baptism, this sacrament (a visible sign of God's invisible grace) contains the whole narrative of Jesus' existence.  We enter the water, we die to our old self and as we came out of the water - or it evaporates on our forehead - the story of Christ is sealed upon our hearts.  It takes a life time to live out that story and to explore this mystery.  That is why we make the symbol of the cross on the child or adult's forehead.  I find it incredibly meaningful that on Ash Wednesday, the palms for last year burned to make ashes, trace the exact location of where the water of baptism once claimed us as God's beloved.

Baptism is not a one and done moment.  We continually die and are invited into new life.  Most of the time, we don't talk this way.  We avoid mentioning death.  We don't want to deal with the mortality of these vessels that carry us around.  Yet, we also try to live our lives so that something beyond us remains even when we are not physically present.  I try to share generously with my family...both because I love them and I pray that in some way I can help them grow in new, life-giving ways that last.  Yet, there are moments I am quick to snap or let the stress of my work overshadow the time we have.  While it seems a bit overly dramatic to call those moments of death, there certainly is grief at missed opportunities.  

So, I think part of being the church is remembering and practicing our baptism.  I have always been taken by churches where the baptismal font is right there at the door when you enter into worship. Remember your baptism.  Remember who you are and whose you are.  Remember that those mistakes and missteps of the last week do not need to confine or define you.  Remember, this water is who you really are.  I need that reminder.  Yet, all too often, the baptismal font becomes furniture.  It is set aside and put out only when there is a baptism.  Ideally, the baptismal font would be at the door, the Bible would be in the aisle as a reminder that we are a people grounded in the Word, and the communion table would be at the front as the place where our baptismal promise and the Word of God point toward.

I hope and pray you will spend some time remembering your baptism this week.  I hope and pray it will connect you to God whose love claims you again and again.  I hope and pray this water which wraps around us and is the living stream where we all stand, renews us for the living out of these day.  

Alleluia and Amen.

Being the Church today

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind— just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you— so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:4-9

Over the next few posts, we are going to explore Paul's letter to the church in Corinth.  This was a cosmopolitan, diverse city.  It was a hub of activity.  Politically, they enjoyed a special relationship with Rome.  And before Las Vegas was a blimp on the radar, this was known as "Sin City".  People were wealthy from the pottery and earthenware produced there.  Paul arrived in 50 CE and spent about three years in the city forming the church and building relationships.  

The other initial comment is that when you read one of Paul's letters, we are reading someone else's mail.  I have always wanted to travel back in time and ask Paul directly what he thought of the letters of his included in the New Testament.  I wonder if he might say, "Corinthians, you included the letters to the Corinthians??  You should have read the last letter I sent Crete, that was a masterpiece!"  It is a good reminder when I preach, write, blog, or post...you never know what is going to catch on and have staying power.  As we read this letter, part of the power is that there is truth that can still speak to our life today.  We live in an increasing cosmopolitan, diverse world.  We live in a world of economic inequality, like Corinth.  We live in a world where faith, even though it is 2000 years old, still has challenges and conflicts; we debate and are as divided as we will see the Corinth church was.  So, this letter speaks deeply to our lives and to being the church today.

Paul starts all of his letters (with the exception of Galatians) by giving thanks.  Now usually, we confine thanksgiving to November, when we set out our turkeys and indulge in all things carbohydrate.  However, could you, right now write down a list of ten things you are thankful for?  For me it is:

1. Family

2. God's presence in my life

3. Health

4. The church I serve

5. Friendships that sustain me.

6. Our home

7. Food

8.  Laughter when reading a good book or watching a good movie

9.  The feeling after a four mile run

10.  And the opportunity to share ideas with others...

I could go on, but the point is that starting with thanksgiving is not exactly the way we live today.  I like to think of myself as a realist, which means that hope to be able to see the beauty and brokenness in myself and around me.  But the danger is that once you see the crack in something, it is difficult to stop seeing it or slip into thinking that everything is ruined.  In the coming posts, you will see that there is plenty of brokenness in Corinth.  They fight about everything!!  

And yet, can we hold onto the truth that Paul starts by thanking them.  Paul starts by saying they are not lacking in any spiritual gifts.  They have everything they need.  We live in a world that not only sees brokenness, but also likes to point that out.  Almost every evaluation I have had says, I need to delegate more or be less hard on myself.  I often want to cry out, "Thanks for that insight, Captain Obvious!"  However, that rarely makes the review go better.  What if you heard from someone, "You are not lacking."  If you are like me, you'd start to list all the ways you see yourself lacking, you'd counter the proposal.  And while I am far from perfect, I do believe God gives us the strength and courage to face what we need to face when we need to face it.  We have the gifts, but we are often afraid to be too vulnerable or that we might fail in order to step out on that wire.

So, was dive into 1st Corinthians, hold onto this invitation to give thanks and the invitation that the church you belong to has the gifts it needs for the faithful living out of today.  

God's blessings and peace ~ 

Maundy Thursday

While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”  Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will never again drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

On Thursday evening, Christians will gather with Christ at the Last Supper table.  We gather not only as individual congregations, we come as a world-wild community; connected through Jesus even though we are divided by language and even understandings.  There is a holy mystery to communion.  A mystery that even though we are many, we are one; even though we are different in important ways, there is a spirit that connects us.  One of the basic ideas that connect us across denominational and national boundaries is that communion is a sacrament ~ a visual sign of God's invisible grace.  Communion becomes a tangible symbol of God's presence, which we sometimes miss in the midst of our busy lives.  Another truth many agree on is that this Thursday is often called, "Maundy" for the Latin word for "Commandment".  At the last supper table, Christ gives the commandment that we love one another.  It is a radically inclusive love from the very beginning.  Christ's love was for one who would betray him; one who would deny him; and many who would desert him.  That kind of love challenges me in countless ways.  I find it hard to love that inclusively and exhaustively.  Yet, Jesus was able to look his friends in the eyes and offer a love that embraced them.  

Then, after talking about love, he went out to the garden.  It was in the garden, Jesus would pray that if it was possible, God would remove this cup...a cup of suffering that would come in the form of false accusations and a cross and even death.  How many of us uttered Jesus' prayer to remove this cup from us in hospital rooms and courtrooms and places we never wanted to find ourselves.  We ask for God to enter into our lives in ways that transform our lives.  Often the transformation does not come in the form of a superhero swooping in to rescue us, but a love...a constant, steady love that gives us strength to get up and go for chemo treatments or to face the person who said or did something that hurt.  

Christ faced all of this...but not before eating with his friends.  I am wondering if one of the ways we prepare for Thursday is to be aware every time we break bread this week.  What if, at each meal, you slowed down.  We live in a fast food culture, where that describes not only the preparation but the consumption of food.  Eating becomes a race rather than an opportunity to slow down and breathe.  This week, every day, every meal, will you practice eating.  That sounds strange because we tend to go on auto-pilot when eating.  But instead of just relying on muscle memory, can every meal this week open you to the opportunity and presence of God?  That might just make every meal an opportunity to encounter and experience God in amazing ways.  That truly would be a sacrament!  I pray you have have an amazing and grace-filled Holy Week.

Blessings ~ 

Note

Over the last few months we have journeyed through the beginning of Matthew's gospel.  I find Matthew to be a fascinating gospel.  I appreciate his intensity and his insistence that our choices matter.  I appreciate he is passionate about following Jesus and that makes a claim upon our lives.

However, Matthew can take energy to read and process and reflect upon...especially in a blog format where there is little give and take.  So, I am going to take a break from Matthew for awhile.  I am sure I will pick him up again sometime in the future.  But after Easter, I am going to switch to reflecting a bit on Paul's letter to First Corinthians and also the book, Love Wins by Rob Bell.  In June, I am going to think and write about the blessings of an imperfect life.  And then this fall, the church I serve will embark on Genesis and the beginning of all that is seen and unseen.

I hope these weekly comments on Matthew have been helpful, especially for those in the church I serve when coupled with sermons on this book.  I trust one day I will pick up where I left off and dwell with Matthew a bit more.  As we enter into Holy Week today, I pray your Palm Sunday parade was filled with joy.  I will post this week on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday too

May God grant you a holy end to Lent this year.

Blessings ~

Worry

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin,  Matthew 6:25-28

Remember the above guy?  He was from a series of children's books called, Mr. Men   In the book, he worries about his roof leaking if it rains...and his flowers dying if it doesn't rain...and when someone takes his worry away...he worries that there is nothing to worry about.  We live in a world where there is a constant undercurrent of worry...or fear...and constant anxiety.  So, just having someone, even Jesus say, "Don't worry."  May not cut it for us.  We may still worry.  After all, there are bills to pay and books to read and children to raise...along with concerns for the earth, economy, and don't get me started if the worldwide shortage of chocolate actually happens!  Choco-geddon would be upon us.  Worry is sort of what we do...we are good at it.

And no, it does not add a single hour to our life...we know it takes hours and precious minutes away.  So, how might we approach worry?

First I think we need to acknowledge that it s normal and natural...probably would be abnormal if we didn't worry occasionally about somethings.  

Second, is there a way we can invite or listen for God's wisdom on that issue? 

If I am worried about a sermon or something at church is there someone else, along with God, I can turn to and listen to?  I think often worry and fear isolate us.  We feel lonely, like no one understands.  So, if we can invite others and listen for God in stillness that is good.

Third, stillness!  That is one way to face worry head on.  Sit in quite and just be.  So often worry activates that part of our brain to stay in perpetual motion...as if we can outrun worry.  So, slow down.  Usually the worries are still there after a few minutes.

Finally, look to creation.  It is good to remember we came from dust and to dust we shall return.  We say that not as some depressing fact, but that we are made of divine DNA that makes up everything seen and unseen.

To be sure, those four steps may not alleviate worry forever...but it may just remind us that God is God and we are not...which is a good starting place for all of us.

Blessings and peace ~

Looking Deep Within

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  Matthew 6:19-21

This is another one of those passages that is so much more than good advice.  I think about the things I treasure:  my family, my health, watching a good movie with my family, a bowl of ice cream, my job...and truly those are things that warm the cockles of my heart.  Are any of those things necessarily bad?  I don't think so.  I don't think Jesus is trying to suggest that we need to pray and read the Bible while volunteering to feed the hungry twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.  We have sometimes made those activities synonymous with God.  Or perhaps more to the point, we compartmentalize.  Those are the things we do to connect with God...what we do on Friday night, well let's not get too personal here.

Paul Tillich once wrote that no one is really an atheist, everyone has something or someone at the center of his/her heart.  Maybe it is fame or fortune or family or that new car I just test drove.  Tillich was picking up on Jesus, that where are treasure is...there our heart is...and where our heart is...is where God longs to be.  I don't think it has to be either/or.  God is big enough to allow space for others.  I can engage God while talking with my family.  I can hear God as I run down the road.  God is interested in our whole life.  But I also realize that somethings are fleeting and fading (or that moth and rust can consume).  Which is why, we need to embrace the present moment for the treasure it is.  

During this season of Lent, what are you treasuring right now?  What brings you joy?  What is challenging you in a good way?  Where are you letting go of what once was a treasure?  That last one is a more difficult question.  I often find it difficult to see that life has changed and so the way our still speaking and creating God is changing too through the seasons of our life.  I pray in this final full week before Holy Week, you will ponder the treasures in your life.  I pray you will notice God.  And that you will treasure these words, holding fast to God and not just the things in our life.

Blessings and peace ~ 

What to do Part Three

And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  Matthew 6:16-21

There are moments when reading the beatitudes that it is easy to nod our heads and think, "This just sounds like good advice."  But there is a difference between good advice and good news.  Advice can be "taken into consideration," which usually for me means, I am going to do something else.  Good advice plays into cultural common sense and doesn't challenge us.  The "good" part of advice is that we tend to agree.

Good news on the other hand can radically change our lives.  It takes us and pushes our comfort zones to places we'd prefer not to go.  And I believe, we never quite grasp the good news.  We might be grasped by it.  Fredrick Buechner is fond of saying, the gospel is always bad news before it is good news.

Here Jesus is saying don't put on airs or make a production out of your spirituality.  In our world of individualism, it can be easy to turn our faith into a kind of "God and me" spiritual improvement program.  There is nothing wrong with that per say...but I think the gospel's claim is bigger and bolder than just about me, myself, and I.  Jesus uses the word, 'hypocrite'.  Which we tend to be as someone who says one thing and does another.  But in Jesus' day, hypocrite meant actor.  Are we acting the role of faith?  Are we pretending on Sunday morning that God is at the center of our lives, only to leave that behind like the bulletin in the pew for the usher to pick up after the service?  Now I do sometimes think you need to fake your way through something as a way to make your way through.  There are moments when I am exhausted, but have a visit.  So, I take a deep breathe, smile, and try to practice active listening.  And the grace of the whole thing is, that usually in the blink of an eye, God grants me energy and attention that I was lacking.  

The real challenging part of this passage is storing up treasures.  As I said in the last post, I am now in my 40s.  Is my pension that the church pays storing up treasure?  What about our savings account so I can trade in my car?  What about my cupboards where I just put away my groceries?  Those questions challenge me.  See what I mean that the gospel can be bad news before it is good?

I don't think there is one easy answer.  We may feel defensive about those kinds of questions, want to justify that we earned it or that God wants to see us happy.  Both of which are truth.  But...but...are we also storing up for a rainy day?  Sure I am.  Therein lays the rub...and therein lays where I believe faith can still speak truth.  It does not need to be either or.  I am not going to cash in my pension and go help the poor.  At least not yet.  But maybe I can worry less about that and more about those who have no savings at all.  Maybe I can be more open to the grace of God.  A grace that is not just good advice, but can alter and ultimate save my life to live a new way.  May it be so this Lenten season and for the rest of this year.

Amen.