Choose

(c) 2014 C. B. Park, all rights reserved.

The kingdom of God is like…

This is our Grappling with the Gospel theme for November.  The stories Jesus has thus far been telling about the kingdom – or reign – or government – of God have been entertaining and confusing.  Today, the kingdom of God is just a little scary.  Bridesmaids being shut out of the wedding…the groom not recognizing them…doesn’t sound fun to me.

Our Divine and Wine group decided that if this parable had been set in today’s culture, the bridesmaids who were wise would have had their cell phones charged and ready. The foolish ones would have decided to play so many games of Words with Friends or Angry Birds that the batteries were shot when the call came that the bridegroom was near.

Whatever the issue – lamps unlit or cell phones uncharged – it all boils down to one word:  Decide.  Or, another word to use might be COMMIT.

Now, I didn’t get this particular fortune in the cookie I had this past Wednesday evening, but I did get it a few weeks ago.  I kept it because it spoke to me.  My fortune said “Punctuality is the first sign of commitment.”  If you don’t add on the obligatory “in bed,” I believe that God can speak through fortune cookies. 

At one particularly stressful time of my life, when I couldn’t figure out why God wasn’t helping me, I got a fortune that said “God helps those who get out of his way.”  I remember actually genuflecting next to the table in response.  This punctuality and commitment thing spoke to me with regard to today’s lessons. 

I know that one reason for this is that I’m working with the diocese to plan our annual convention that happens next week.  We are meeting in Chillicothe, which is a lovely town, but doesn’t have the resources readily at hand that I can count on in a larger venue such as Columbus or Cincinnati.  Deadlines come and go and people found that they could not register on line and began to complain.  So, we eased things off a bit and registered them anyway.

Thank heaven the caterers opted for flexibility.  However, if someone shows up a convention who hasn’t registered, they will have to forage for food. And, they will not be allowed to be a part of the banquet.

This may seem a silly thing to most of you, but it’s not to me, the planner who wants her guests to feel welcomed and loved.  It’s not fair to the vendors who are supplying the food and linens, folding chairs and wifi.  It’s not fair to the staff who are forced to wait until the last minute to print name badges and place cards.  Not only is it not fair, but when people don’t make a commitment, they disrespect the people who are counting on them and have put great labor into making the event a reality.

It reminds me of a quote from John Adams. In a letter to his wife, he wrote “Commitment, Abigail, commitment.  There are only two types of people in this world: those who have made a commitment and those who require the commitment of others.”

With regard to the diocesan convention, I must admit that I have a certain amount of power.  I try to use it for good.  I do my best to vet the service providers so that the diocese is paying the least amount that they have to in order to be a good steward of our resources.  However, I also am the person who assigns people to tables and chairs.  One reason I do this is because I know things about people.  I know that there are members of certain churches who use wheelchairs and therefore need to be seated where they have access.  I know some people have small bladders for one reason or another. They need to have seats near doors – for obvious reasons. 

But, I also know there are places where people would just as soon not sit.  They usually are in the front, where they bishop has easy access and eye contact.  If you want to know who might have just made me angry in the past year – look know further than the front row. 

Just kidding. Well, not really.

Well, it was true for one of my colleagues several years ago.  I must admit….I couldn’t take his berating my beloved Chicago Cubs anymore.  He since repented.  This year, he and his congregation return to midst of the crowd. 

My point, though, is that if the people who really do have special needs don’t register in a timely manner – I can’t fulfill my duty to them because their commitment came too late.  For them – well – there’s always next year.

This small amount of “power” over conventional tables and chairs makes me realize that perhaps God can’t provide for me or for you what God wants to provide if we don’t make a commitment to God’s reign.  It’s not that God doesn’t wish to provide, God does. However, God wishes us to make a clear decision.

Joshua’s statement, “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD,” made it abundantly clear where the Israelites’ commitment needed to be.  His cynicism made it clear that he knew that his people were not making the commitment with the conviction God desired.  

God was well aware that there were other gods about – household gods, ancestral gods – and they distracted the people from worshipping the God of Abraham, Rebecca, Jacob, and Moses. God’s desire for God’s people was being thwarted.

For God’s people to live in and further the reign/government of God, they must be committed to that purpose.  God must be their ultimate concern.  Other gods must be cast aside so as not to distract us from our sacred duty.  These gods insist on their place – who are yours?  We all have them.  Are their names ‘Success’ or ‘Security’ or ‘Familiarity’?  Do you call them ‘Sports’ or ‘Politics’ or ‘Social Media’.  These gods distract us because on the surface, they are not evil.  It is our choosing them over the One who has given, and wishes to give us, blessing upon blessing that keeps us from hearing God’s voice calling us, telling us that the bridegroom has come.  Our decisions, not God’s, keep us from fully participating in the kingdom.

Advent is here.  The time is now.

Decide – Commit – to making God’s kingdom the priority in your life and all subsequence decisions will follow thereon. 

This Advent, we are not waiting for God to arrive. 

God is here.

Rather, God is waiting – for us.

Amen.

 (c) 2014 C. B. Park, all rights reserved.

Small word; large meaning

There is a little word that gets used a lot in church circles.  We say it in penitence; we hear it in absolution. We recite it in the ancient creeds; we pray it in various collects.  For a little word, it has many definitions.  It’s also highly corruptible and people try to bend it to their will.  If you haven’t already guessed it, the word is “true”.

We use the word a great deal as an adjective:  “True repentance,” “true God,” “all that is true.”  As an adjective, true can mean:

• ·        consistent with fact or reality,
• ·        real, genuine,
• ·        reliable,
• ·        faithful or loyal, or
• ·        unfeigned, sincere.

These are the definitions one usually attributes to the word “true” when we think about it in a religious context. 

Of course, some religious factions would tend to the use of the word as referring to:

• ·        essential or fundamental,
• ·        rightful or legitimate, and
• ·        exactly forming to a rule or pattern.

And then there are the usages that point more to engineering:

• ·        accurately shaped, fitted, placed, or delivered
• ·        quick and exact in sensing and responding

When I read the collect for today out loud, the words “true religion” smacked my consciousness.  Boy oh boy – that is one loaded phrase. 

Doesn’t every religion want to be the “true” one?  I admit to perpetuating that desire whenever I refer to someone who has converted to the Episcopal Church as one who has found “The One True Faith!”  And, yes, I am being facetious when I do so.

So, what did we really just pray God to do for us?  The other petitions aren’t so controversial: graft in our hearts the love of your name, nourish us with all goodness, bring forth in us the fruit of good works.  It’s just that ‘increase in us true religion’ part that makes me ponder.

That’s when I realized that the definitions of true that would normally be connected to a religious context don’t work as well as the ones that point to engineering.  True religion should be shaped, fitted, placed, or delivered to its context and be quick and exact in sensing and responding.  But, the context – that’s the interesting part.

A colleague of mine reminded me that when you drop a plumb line, a means of finding a true and straight line, that line is only true for you and where you are standing.  Gravity is what pulls the plumb line true.  So, someone who is in Columbus, Ohio, can drop a plumb line but it will not be the same line as someone who drops a plumb line in San Diego, California.  Both people will get a straight line from their perspective, but if you change the vantage point, something amazing occurs.  Plumb lines are at different angles when observed from a global point of view.  What’s true is not the line itself, but the gravitational pull to the center.

As Christians, we need to focus on who is pulling us to our center: Jesus.  To have true religion increased in us, we must allow Jesus and his message to shape, fit, place, and deliver his truth within our context – our world, our country, our communities, our work, our schools, our homes. In doing that, we live out the faith we profess in a real, genuine, and sincere manner.

Paul’s letter to the church in Rome is a blueprint for how to accomplish this.  When we read the epistle, we are confronted with the fact that to be a Christian means seeing our context from a different point of view.  We are to love one another, to outdo each other in showing honor, to rejoice in hope and extend hospitality to people we do not know.

This is completely counter to the “religion of fear and scarcity” that blares at us from our televisions and radios and 24-hour faux news stations.  And, no, I’m not singling out a certain conservative network when I say “faux”.  No one is reporting news in any medium because no one is reporting without a spin factor. 

 
Every story, every article, has had its plumb line of truth draped over some object that skews it away from what is essential or fundamental. And, every agency wants us to drink their brand of kool-aid.  Therefore, for any of us to really know what’s going on, we have to spend hours sifting through stories and court reports on our own.  Because none of us really has time to do that, we settle on whatever makes sense to us from our limited world view.  It’s no wonder that the world is decidedly “out of true”.

The cure for this is for us to respond completely counter culture.  We cannot fix all of this mess. It’s too complicated and the systems are so entrenched it’s going to take years and require the gifts of reconciliation that only a small number of people on this planet possess.  What we can do is pay attention to the plumb line given to us by Jesus and center ourselves in a context of reconciliation. 

Instead of complaining about or cursing politicians, pray for them.  Instead of making excuses for or taking sides in the events in towns in Missouri or Florida or Illinois, weep with the families who have lost their loved ones and with those whose lives have been forever changed because of their actions. 

 
Seek the image of God in the people of Gaza and Israel and Iraq and Syria and everywhere else for that matter. Extend hospitality to strangers by contributing to Episcopal Relief and Development or another world relief organization.  Associate with the lowly as an equal by serving food to a homeless person and then striking up a conversation with him or her.

We must constantly guard against responding quickly and exactly from a perspective of revenge and hatred. This is a stumbling block not only to our own souls but to the souls of others.  Instead, we must respond in love, in prayer, and with affection.  The evil in this world cannot stand up to the love of God.  So, keep your mind centered on those things that are of God and of the love that will eventually overcome all that evil can throw at it. 

And, for heaven’s sake – and yours, watch and read about the events of the day with a mind on the divine perspective.  You’ll stay saner. Trust me.

Who do you say Jesus is?

(c) 2014 C. B. Park, all rights reserved

 

A Baptist, a Roman Catholic and an Episcopalian die at the exact same nanosecond and go to heaven. St. Peter meets them at the gate. He apologizes and says that because of a theological glitch, only one of them can get in since they died at exactly the same time.

“However,” Peter said. “The good news is that Jesus himself is going to conduct the entrance interview to decide who gets in.” So, Jesus comes to the gate and, after apologizing again for the bad theology, begins the interviews.

“Who do you say that I am?” he asks the Baptist.

“Well, the Bible says…”

HONK – “Wrong,” says Jesus. “But thank you for playing. Then he turns to the Roman Catholic.  “Who do you say that I am?” he asks.

“Well, the Pope says…”

HONK – “Wrong.” says Jesus. “But thank you for playing.” Exasperated, Jesus turns to the Episcopalian.  “Who do you say that I am?”

The Episcopalian replies, “You are the Messiah. The Son of the Living God who has come from heaven to save the world from sin.”

Overjoyed, Jesus says to the Episcopalian, “Thank heaven! Come right on in.”

And then the Episcopalian says, “But, on the other hand…..”

Okay…this is a light-hearted poke of fun with today’s Gospel, but Jesus didn’t ask that question lightly.  He was in need of information.  In his world, honor was an attribute with a limited quantity. To be listened to, to make a difference, you must be afforded honor by those who follow you.  Of course, since to get honor for yourself, you would have to be given it or have taken from someone else who had honor.  No wonder Jesus said that a prophet had no honor in his home town.  So, Jesus is checking out his street cred with the disciples. What kind of honor does he possess? Just how dangerous is his mission getting?

Then, he gets personal.  What do the disciples think? Will they buy in? Do they support this amount of honor in him? Is Jesus another John the Baptist? Is he another prophet sent from God to tell them why they are in this mess?

Is he the One to lead them away from Roman oppression?  Then Peter speaks, as usual without pondering for just one moment over the consequences of his actions.  “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”

Right answer, Peter.  Thank you for playing.

Who do you say Jesus is?  Do you use words like “Personal Savior” or “Son of God” or “Messiah?”  Do you say he is a prophet? a rabbi? a teacher? a physician?  All or none of the above? The problem in today’s context is that these titles or labels for Jesus have become institutional jargon that means nothing.  They no longer carry honor.  We have to go more deeply to connect to Jesus these days.  What are the actions that lie beneath those titles or labels?  What does it mean to be Messiah? to be a personal savior? Is it like a personal trainer?  A life coach? Maybe. Maybe not.  What matters is that we sell Jesus short by reducing his identity to something that can be printed on a business card.  Jesus is not his job description.  

(hint, hint – neither are we)  

If Jesus asked me today who I say that he is, I couldn’t answer in 140 characters or with a lovely photo scene on Instagram or Facebook.  Jesus is a relationship.  And relationships are messy and, well, complicated.  Good relationships are full of love and at the same time laced with tension. Sometimes Jesus is a big brother who protects me; sometimes he is the mother who feeds me. Sometimes, Jesus is the provocateur who forces me to widen my thinking and challenges my presuppositions and assumptions, just like he was challenged by the Canaanite woman.  Sometimes, I’m the Canaanite woman challenging him.*

Who I – who you – say Jesus is can only be a first step on our journey.  Remember our friend Peter?  After his verbal blurt, Jesus doesn’t pat Peter on the head and say “Good job, Rocky, now it’s Miller Time.” No. He says, “On this rock I will build my church.”  To further his ministry and mission, Jesus is putting all his faith in the testimony of a less-than-perfect human being.  The reward for recognizing Jesus for who he is – for affirming his relationship with him – Peter is now responsible for building the community further.  This is our reward, our privilege, as well.

Jesus may feel like MY big brother, but a relationship with Jesus isn’t just a personal one.  We have to share him.  If things aren’t already messy enough, we have to be in relationship with all the other people who claim him as a “personal savior.”  When Peter declared Jesus to be the Son of the Living God, he actually encapsulated what Jesus had been teaching: that God is for everyone.  It’s no wonder we just want to worship him and be done with it.  Following Jesus is work.

Following Jesus means looking hard at the examples he set for us: Listening to and engaging people in ministry without looking down on them; touching people who are sick; taking time to pray and honor the Sabbath; being challenged by but not getting defensive with people of other faith practices.  All of this requires much more from us than being ‘nice’ and showing up once a week for an hour or so. Because we believe he is what we say he is, and that confession compels us to follow his example, Jesus requires of us a 24/7 commitment. A Christian is always on call. (And you thought this was reserved only for clergy!)  What might that look like?

 

A friend of mine, a nurse at a local hospital, told me one time that she had a particularly difficult patient on her floor one day.  One of the staff told her that she wouldn’t tend to the patient because of the person’s behavior and language.  The staff member was wearing a gold cross.  My nurse friend could have approached this situation from a supervisory point of view, but she didn’t.  Instead, she took the staff member aside and asked if the gold cross was indicative of her faith as a Christian.  The staff member said yes.  That’s when my friend said, “Then, go do what a Christian would do. God do what Jesus would do. Take care of the patient because he is a child of God.  He’s just having a temper tantrum at the moment.”

On the other hand, it might look like the EfM mentor I recently met who welcomed back into her class a woman who had had a stroke and wanted to finish her 4^th year.  Even though she wasn’t able to speak, the mentor and her group made a space for the woman so that she could be in community as she began to heal.

On the other hand, it might look like a dad coaching a soccer team and teaching the kids more than just the game.  Coaches have the opportunity to teach the rules, but they also teach about disappointment and how to recover from loss, and how to win gently, upholding the honor of the opposite team’s members and coaches.

On the other hand….well, you tell me.

Amen.

*Bishop Price commented: “Sometimes?”

(c) 2014 C. B. Park, all rights reserved