Family, is the church one?

I was reading my devotion today and it talked about how the church is suppose to be a family.  It said, “The concept of church as “family” has lost some of its impact, but this is an accurate portrait of the kind of mutual commitment and affection that God intends for His people.” (page 127 The Book of Days living the New Rebellion).  This got me thinking about a song by Todd Agnew called Family.  You can click here to hear a sample of it.  I love this song because it is load and funky, and speaks truth about how we are to act as the body of Christ…

Here are the lyrics:

Who’s my brother in Nashville, Tennessee?
Who’s my sister in a village in Malawi?
Who’s my lover in Washington, D.C.?
Who’s my neighbor? Who’s my loved one? Who’s my friend?
We are all family
We are all family
If we’re all under one Father, that makes us all brothers
We are all family
Who’s my brother in a different kind of church?
Who’s my sister struggling with her worth?
Who’s my mother, gave me all but birth?
Who’s my neighbor? Who’s my loved one? Who’s my friend?
We are all family
We are all family
If we’re all under one Father, that makes us all brothers
We are all family

We are all family
We are all family
If we’re all under one Father, that makes us all brothers
We are all family

You don’t have to look like me For us to be brotherly
You don’t have to be like me For us to be family
You don’t have to think like me For us to speak intimately
You don’t have to agree with me For us to be family
You don’t have to live near me For us to be neighborly
You don’t have to dress like me For us to be family
You don’t have to speak like me For us to love each other you see
You don’t have to be like me For us to be family
If we’re all under one Father, that makes us all brothers
When it is all said and done, we need to love each other.  Even in our disagreements, even when we do not agree.  Do you always agree with your family, no but when push comes to shove, you are there for your family, and that is what God made us.  We do not have to look alike, or be alike, or agree on everything.  We are family, by our baptism, by our acceptance by God.  We do not get to choose our biological sisters and brothers, and we do not get to chose who to love as our heavenly brothers and sisters.  We are a family!

Expectations

Here is a picture I took yesterday in Round Rock, TX.  We were driving from Argyle to San Antonio, and we stopped here for a break.  I saw this sign and had to take a picture.  The thing that popped in my mind was expectations…

The sign says, “Worst Bar B Q in Texas.”  Let’s set the expectations so low there is no way they can go below them.  How often do we do that with our own lives.  We say we are incapable of doing something.  We can not possibly do that.  But God has said you can.  He has given you the tool and the gifts to do miraculous things.  Live in the light that God has called you and claimed you as His child.  He has gifted you to do things, and claiming you can not does not give worship or praise to God.  Remember that Paul said, “I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.”  You can do it, and God has called you to set the expectations high!

Doubt and the Disciple of Jesus

Many of us heard the story of Doubting Thomas this past Sunday at worship.  Thomas, the doubter.

We all know this story, and we might have even been called  a Doubting Thomas, coming from this story.  Someone who will not believe it without seeing it.  Wasn’t Thomas just being a realist?

I think, and the sermon I listened to this weekend said, Thomas got a bad rap.  Look at the stories.  In the Gospel of John, Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb, and sees it empty and runs back to the disciples, they come running and go in and see the clothes but no Jesus, and go away.  Then Mary who sticks around sees a man, who she assumes is the gardener.  After saying her name, she knows him, her teacher, Jesus.  She goes and talls the disciples, but they are slow to listen.  This is the same in Luke.  The disciples dismiss the appearance of  Jesus to the women as an idle tale.  They have not seen it, so they don’t believe it.  Sound familiar? Thomas said, “unless I see the mark on his hand and place my finger in the hole, and place my hand in his side I will not believe it.” Unless I see it, I can not believe it.  At least Thomas said it.  The other disciples did not say it, but they displayed it.  They showed by their actions that they did not believe it.  They were locked in a room for fear of their life. Did they not remember what Jesus has said to them?  He told them all quite plainly that he would be killed, and that he would rise again. Yet the women came to see them and told them that Jesus was alive, and they dismissed it as an idle tale.  Does this show belief?  All of the disciples doubted.  This is seen in the end of Matthew’s Gospel also.  Verse 28:17 says “When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.”  Now Matthew’s rendition in this translation says that some of the disciples doubted Jesus was there, after all they had been through with him, and all he had told him.  the doubted everything that had happened and that Jesus was resurrected.  But all of that is fluff.  The actual zinger to all of this is, the translation is a supposition. That is, the original Greek does not say “but some doubted.” The original Greek says “and seeing him, they worshipped, but they doubted.” There is no some. The some is supposed from other Greek grammer construction similar to this construction. Is the some suppose to help us?  To feel like a few of the disciples had it together and was not questioning the last 3 years, and the miracle that stood before them? Or does it hinder us into thinking that we need to have it all together all the time, and not question our faith?  Doubt is not the absence or opposite of faith, questioning and doubt are those things that fuel our drive to learn more and be in relationship with Jesus. We all will doubt something about our faith, if not already, sometime in the future.  Do not think less of yourself in your questioning, if the ones picked by our Lord and Savior couldn’t get it together, why do we think we need to have it all together and not question or doubt. Thomas said it out load.  He claimed it for what it was. Thomas is a model for us to see  and use for our faith. Embrace the question, and the doubt, God is big enough to take it…

Fifth Century Communion Hymn

Because for our sake you tasted gall,

may the Enemy’s bitterness be killed in us.

Because for our sake you drank sour wine,

may what is weak in us be strengthened.

Because for our sake you were spat upon,

may we be bathed in the dew of immortality.

Because for our sake you were struck with a rod,

may we receive shelter in the last.

Because for our sake you accepted a crown of thorns,

may we that love you be crowned with garlands that never fade.

Because for our sake you were wrapped in a shroud,

may we be clothed in your all-enfolding strength.

Because you were laid in a new grave and the tomb,

may we receive renewal of soul and body.

Because you rose and returned to life,

may we be brought to life again.

Amen

Taken from page 1064 of For All the Saints A Prayer Book For and By the Church Volume III

Donald Miller Book Giveaway and Missional Community – Thinking Out Loud

Donald Miller Book Giveaway and Missional Community – Thinking Out Loud.

One of my former seminary classmates asks a great question about the missional community.  Let’s join in the conversation so we can all become better members of missional communities joined together in the one community of doing mission for God!

Leonard Sweet Quote

“not Law vs. Love but Law of Love. When we lay down the law, Jesus lays down his life. What am I willing to lay down that others may pick up?”

I just saw this quote on FaceBook.  It makes me wonder about why we do what we do, and why we are who we are…

I read another blog in an earlier post today by Leonard Sweet, about why one should stay/become an ordain United Methodist Pastor.  You can find this blog here.  I believe this question could be asked about any denomination. Why are we who we are?

What are we willing to give up, and it has to be something that would be a sacrifice, otherwise it is not really giving something up, that would benefit others?  In what way today have your born your cross?  How will you bear your cross?

Good Friday – Where is the Hope?

I have always wondered why this day is good…

I know all the theological reasons, how Christ had to die to atone for my sins, and all of that, but really, a man died on a tree and we call it good.  Is it like Genesis where God created and calls it good?  How can the death of a man, even when one dies so another does not be good?

The answer is many fold, and one I can not possibly explain, however I can show you the hope of Good Friday in a man named Nicodemus.

Now all of you probably have heard the name Nicodemus. He is the Pharisee who came to Jesus under the cover of darkness to ask him some questions.  Nic thought Jesus was a wise teacher, that is why he came to ask him questions, but why under the cover of darkness, why at night?  Nic was a part of the Jewish High Council and could not be seen asking Jesus questions, people would talk. They would think that Nic believed in Jesus and what the people were saying about him.  What were the people saying about him?

Jesus told Nic that one must be born from above, and Nic could not understand, a teacher of the law, yet does not understand the underlying principle of the faith…

So where is the hope?  Stay with me.  For most of us, this interaction in the 3rd chapter of John is all we remember of Nic.  He came to Jesus got really confused and then disappeared.  Have you seen this?  Some one comes to you and asks you questions about God, and then they are outta here!  You do not see them, maybe they go away confused, or not.  Or have you had people visit the church you attend and then never come back?  Why? Nic left Jesus and was never seen again, right?

Wrong!

Nic shows back up, in the meeting of the Jewish High Council in Chapter 7.  Now the High Council sent the temple guards out to arrest Jesus, but when they find him in the crowd, the crowd is supporting Jesus, so the temple guards do not arrest him.  Nicodemus speaks up and says the law does not convict a person without a trial.  The High Council was convicting Jesus, and Nic took a stand for Jesus.  Did you see it?  The Hope?

Is that it for Nic?  No sir.  One more time in the Gospel of John.  Chapter 19, after Jesus has been crucified, Joseph goes and asks Pilate for the body, and in John’s gospel, Nic goes with Joe.  Here it is!  The Hope of what this all means.

Jesus had a relationship with Nic, and Nic loved Jesus. We see it through his faith journey. First like many of us, he questioned God, and how this thing works.  What can you give me, what do I need to do. Then Nic took a stand for Jesus, all be it a lukewarm stand, but a stand.  He needs a trial, but this one was more public than the last, Nic was approaching the cross, and then finally after Jesus’ death, Nic throws caution to the wind and helps lay Jesus in the tomb from the cross!  He came under darkness, to a public stand (confession?) and then to open adoration by preparing him and caring for him after his death.  If only I could be such a faithful follower! To progress and not regress in my faith…

The hope in Good Friday is in our relationships and doing what God has called us to do!

So this day, Behold the life-giving cross, on which hung the Savior of the world!

What motivates you?

There are a lot of things in life that motivate us.  There are a lot of different things that make us do things.  Anger, misunderstanding, happiness, joy can cause us to do things we normally wouldn’t do.  But what is the motivator that we should allow to drive our lives?

There are other things that sometimes drive us to do and be what we are.  One of the most common things that motivates us to do things is fear.  Others are pride, and greed.  These cause us to do things and be people we do not want to be.

But if we look to what Paul tells us and the Galatians, “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” Galatians 5:6b.

Love is the only true motivator.  So let love permeate your life and be the things that drives you and causes you to be as God has called us to be.