"Here I Stand"

When the great reformer Martin Luther was asked to recant his criticisms of the church at the Diet of Worms, he refused to do so (at the risk of his life, I might add). He is said to have spoken, "Here I stand, I can do no other. God help me. Amen." That makes me consider, are there principles that I would live for (and, if necessary, die for - but I really hope that won't be necessary). The answer is yes (which is good, or else, this would have been the shortest and most meaningless blog in history). About six months ago, I began writing some of these "core principles" down as a part of my participation in the School of Congregational Development. I will share them in an occasional series. The first core principle is a simple one, "God is love." Duh! I know that is an easy one. But, it is essential. Love literally defines the nature of God. It is knitted to the fabric of creation. Love - agape, self-giving, unconditional love - is truly what makes the world go around. It is the force of creation and the moral center of the universe. So, to recap, God is love. For further reading on this topic, I might suggest Genesis 2, or 1 Corinthians 13, or John 4:7-12, 16-21. God is love. Here I stand. Do you stand with me?

"How Shall the Kingdom be Won?"

There is much ado these days about various political issues. Each side assuming that they are taking the moral high ground and that, if the other side wins, Armageddon will surely be upon us. As Bono says, "the left mocks the right, the right thinks it's right..." (if you have ever read my blog, you can probably find the rest of this quote). But, all of this jibber-jabbering has got me to thinking. How shall the kingdom of God really be won? In Matthew 4, the devil tempts Jesus prior to Jesus beginning his public ministry. In the final temptation, the devil offers to give Jesus all of the kingdoms of the world. Jesus can be king. He can be in charge. All he has to do is to say “yes” and he can bring peace and justice to all the world. That would be tempting, being king. You can make all the rules. Feed the hungry. Clothe the naked. Let love rule. Do whatever you want. You can create a just and loving world. But, Jesus says “no.” And the devil – he was mad – so he went down to Georgia.
This raises a question. Why did the devil feel the need to tempt Jesus in the first place? And why did Jesus say no? We cannot just read this story and just say Jesus won – yippee. In this story, I believe, we begin to see the beginning of how the kingdom of God is to be won (at least, how it will NOT be won). And that is why the devil tempted Jesus. He knew that if Jesus were faithful to his mission, it would be all over for him.
Those who think that the kingdom of God can be won in Washington, D.C. or Sacramento, California or (enter your state capital here) are buying into the devil's temptation to be king. But, the problem is, if Jesus was not going to be king, than surely no one on this earth is qualified. Therfore, the kingdom of God must be won another way. But, how? As Bono says, "maybe the distance that grace covered on the cross gives us a clue." The kingdom of God is not a political reality; it is a spiritual one. That is not to say that it does not have real world, even political ramificiations. It does. It must. However, it cannot be won through the political process. A holy end can never be won through corrupt means (which, by the way, is why terrorism conducted by people of any religion will never bring about righteous ends). Only when the church follows Jesus' example and models for the word the self-giving, sacrificial love that Jesus modeled on the cross can the kingdom of God be won. More on this later...

"The Search"

I am proud to be a United Methodist (most of the time) and I will tell you why. A century ago, a well-known and well-respected bishop pronounced from his pulpit and in the periodical that he edited that heavier-than-air flight was not only impossible; it was contrary to the will of God. How did he know that? On what was he basing this conclusion. I don't know. So, it’s a little ironic, I think, when you consider that Bishop Wright, the man that made this bold declaration, had two sons, Orville and Wilbur! Bishop Wright was wrong. Sure of himself, but wrong.
In worship tomorrow morning, we are presenting a short drama where two young people ponder how cool it would be to have a “life map” to guide them. There quandary raises the age-old How can we discern God’s will for our lives and for the church? In the United Methodist tradition (Hence. my aforementioned, albeit somewhat sinful pride), we have a tool that the church recognizes to help determine God’s truth for us. It is called the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. It is a gift to the Methodists from Wesley's Anglican tradition. There are four points on the quadrilateral (hence, the name). The pinnacle, the most important point of the Quadrilateral is the bible – scripture. John Wesley once said, "God himself has condescended to teach the way: for this very end he came from heaven. He hath written it down in a book. O give me that book! At any price give me the Book of God!" Scripture tells the story of God and God’s interaction with humanity. So, the quadrilateral takes as its main focus the interpretation of scripture.
The other points of the quadrilateral serve that end. The first of these is “tradition.”
This means United Methodist, Christian, and even Jewish traditions. What did the bible mean to the people who heard it first, to the people that wrote it. This is important because it teaches us to put our own interpretation of the bible into its proper context. Recognizes the reality that we read the bible in a certain context.
The next point on the quadrilateral is reason. This is a sticky one. By “reason”, I do not mean that we simply ask the question “is faith reasonable?” Because the answer to that question is “no.” We follow a savior that died on a cross. Jesus said, “Because whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and for the gospel will save it.” This is certainly not “reasonable” by today’s standards, but it is the gospel. Reason (from the Enlightenment) refers mainly to the results of cumulative human study into nature, etc. This, too, is very tricky, but it must be a part of the equation.
The final component is experience. This does not mean the experiences of our lives (that would go under the cumulative wisdom of reason). John Wesley’s question about experience went something like this. "Does the witness of God’s spirit bear witness to your spirit that this is true?" This is obviously subjective. But, we do have a standard to measure this by. Read Galatians 5:22-26 to get a quick idea. This is also a tricky one because it I subjective. But, it is a crucial element of discerning God’s truth.
The point of the quadrilateral is not to give us hoops to jump through in order to say, I have done what I must to have my truth considered valid. The quadrilateral works to use the variety of ways that God has used to reveal himself to help us arrive at God's truth. It is a pretty cool thing, and it is one reason that I am proud to be a United Methodist.

Greed is Good?!?

Any enterprise that fails to account for human sin is bound to fail. That was a recognition that I came to in college. The old adage that "people are basically good" does not define what "basically" actually is. But, given the news today that the federal government is bailing out the loan industry with a buyout expected to be one half trillion (that's t-r-i-l-l-i-o-n) dollars, I think it is safe to say that human sin has once again reared its ugly head (Follow this link for Yahoo article) What sin am I referring to? Greed, with a capital "G." We have let the moneylenders run the temple for so long that we have become dependent on them for our livelihood. But, they have proven (as they have time and time again) that they cannot be trusted. In the movie "Wall Street," Michael Douglas as Gordon Gecko told a group of stockholders, "Greed...is good." His basic premise was that greed is the fuel that runs the engine of the American economy. And that is true. But, it is also true that greed is a sin (one of the seven deadly ones, as I recall). And being a sin means that by its very nature that greed cannot be trusted. Greed makes people lie, cheat, and steal. It makes them loan money to people that aren't ready to borrow at higher than average interest in order to line the coffers. Greed must be kept in check. If not, the temple will be turned over to the moneylenders, and the moneylenders will show their moral weakness - yet again. But, the problem is not with the moneylenders, they are doing only what greed dictates they do. The problem is with us - the people that allow the moneylenders so much power, the people that buy into "greed is good" when we are doing pretty well. But, here is the sad reality. Greed is not good. It is o.k. on its best day. There are virtues that can also drive the economy. Any enterprise that fails to account for human sin is bound to fail.And when our system fails to account for the tendency to greed of the moneylenders, than we are asking for trouble. And that is exactly what we have got.

"Find Your Normal"

Yesterday, we had an awesome panel discussion at our church about AD/HD. It was very enlightening, and even little inspiring. There were a lot of "pearls of wisdom" shared by our panel. I won't recap them all. But, there was one point that I thought was especially important. During the panel, the discussion focused on how do we care for children that are in public schools that seem more concerned with test scores and funding issues than they do dealing with a child with AD/HD? It can be a lonely place. At one point, one of the panelists reminded everyone to "find your normal." What she meant was that, while we must certainly deal with the bureacratic morass that is public education, we as parents get to define what "normal" is in our homes. If my child is a B or C student and that is truly the best they can do, than that is our normal. The point she was making is that so many parents buy into the pressure that the school puts on us to make our children into what the school thinks that they should be. But, that is not how it should be. The school's job is to educate out children. It is the parent's job to raise them. And part of raising our children is to find our own normal. This applies to everyone, not just parents or kids. So, often the church allows society to tell us what our "normal" is. And we go along. Or we do the exact opposite. We find society at every turn until we are ruthlessly engaged in a culture war that really has nothing to do with the kingdom of God. What is our normal? I don't know, for sure. But, I am pretty certain it involves sacrificial, self-giving love. Kind of like what Jesus did on the cross. That's just one option.

"Into the Fire"

Today is the seventh anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and on flight #93. Today is September 11. All across the country, memorials are being held in honor of those that lost their lives and in honor of those who gave their lives in service to the fallen. It is appropriate that we take a moment to remember what happened and, hopefully, to take stock of how we have responded. While the events of 9/11 are tragic, it is important to remember that much good emerged from that day.
Bruce Springsteen's album "The Rising" was the first one that he released after 9/11. On that album, he has a song entitled "Into the Fire" that honors the first responders, the men and women that were running up the stairs of the World Trade Center when others were running down. Bruce writes, "The sky was falling and streaked with blood, I heard you calling me then you disappeared into the dust. Up the stairs, into the fire. Up the stairs, into the fire. I need your kiss, but love and duty called you someplace higher, somewhere up the stairs, into the fire.
Bruce affirms the courage and selflessness of these true American heroes. But, he does more than that. He calls on all of us to live out the values that these folks exhibited. The refrain of the song pleads (or maybe prays), "May your strength give us strength. May your faith give us faith. May your hope give us hope. May your love give us love." In other words, may your selfless love be an example for us as a way to be in this world.
With all due respect to Bruce Springsteen (after all, he is "the boss"), I would like to mention that Christians should already live this value out. Our faith was founded on the sacrificial self-giving love of Jesus Christ. And it is just that kind of love that will win God's kingdom. So, you see, what is important is not just that we remember 9/11. For that is not enough. What is important to remember, and to be changed - not by our anger at the perpetrators - but by the self-giving, sacrificial love that was exhibited for all the world to see. There is no truer witness to the love that God has for creation.