Fake trial

Three days after arriving in the province, Festus went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea. The chief priests and Jewish leaders presented their case against Paul. Appealing to him, they asked as a favor from Festus that he summon Paul to Jerusalem. They were planning to ambush and kill him along the way. But Festus responded by keeping Paul in Caesarea, since he was to return there very soon himself. “Some of your leaders can come down with me,” he said. “If he’s done anything wrong, they can bring charges against him.” He stayed with them for no more than eight or ten days, then went down to Caesarea. The following day he took his seat in the court and ordered that Paul be brought in. When he arrived, many Jews who had come down from Jerusalem surrounded him. They brought serious charges against him, but they couldn’t prove them. In his own defense, Paul said, “I’ve done nothing wrong against the Jewish Law, against the temple, or against Caesar.” Festus, wanting to put the Jews in his debt, asked Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem to stand trial before me concerning these things?” Paul replied, “I’m standing before Caesar’s court. I ought to be tried here. I have done nothing wrong to the Jews, as you well know. If I’m guilty and have done something that deserves death, then I won’t try to avoid death. But if there is nothing to their accusations against me, no one has the authority to hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!” After Festus conferred with his advisors, he responded, “You have appealed to Caesar. To Caesar you will go.” (Acts 25:1-12, CEB)

How many of us have ever been put on trial for our faith?

Not a fake trial, or “we are being persecuted” when we aren’t. I remember about 16 years ago I was teaching a confirmation curriculum at a camp with a bunch of other pastors and I had a shirt that said “This shirt is illegal in 53 countries.” Because it had a cross on it. There were and still are countries where it is illegal to display the cross, and that is persecution. And people in those countries still display crosses, knowing they will be arrested, tried, and possibly killed for those actions.

Would you do that? Paul was willing to die for his faith. He knew God was always with him and the promises were true.

Do you have this faith?

Are you willing to be so bold and outspoken, trusting in what you believe about God and what God is leading you to do, to face trial and possibly death?

I would like to say I am, but I might be wrong.

I pray I would have the faith of Paul to stand in front of accusors and go to death for God.

Know no matter where you are in this, God loves you and will always stand with you.

We need to be bold in our proclamation of love and seek justice for all.

Loving People. Loving God.

Hidden Light

Jesus said to them, “Does anyone bring in a lamp in order to put it under a basket or a bed? Shouldn’t it be placed on a lampstand? Everything hidden will be revealed, and everything secret will come out into the open. Whoever has ears to listen should pay attention!” He said to them, “Listen carefully! God will evaluate you with the same standard you use to evaluate others. Indeed, you will receive even more. Those who have will receive more, but as for those who don’t have, even what they don’t have will be taken away from them.” (Mark 4:21-25, CEB)

Do you light a lamp to hide it?

Do you hide the light of your life?

Sometimes we feel like we can not fully express ourselves to live into who we are because we think society will not accept that. But when you light a lamp and put a basket over it, the lamp goes out or the basket catches fire.

Do not hide your light. Let it shine for all the world to see the beautiful creation you are.

You are part of the image of God and we can not dim that nor replace that.

Shine as your part of God and let everyone see it!

Loving People. Loving God.

Integrity

When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I didn’t come preaching God’s secrets to you like I was an expert in speech or wisdom. I had made up my mind not to think about anything while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and to preach him as crucified. I stood in front of you with weakness, fear, and a lot of shaking. My message and my preaching weren’t presented with convincing wise words but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power. I did this so that your faith might not depend on the wisdom of people but on the power of God. What we say is wisdom to people who are mature. It isn’t a wisdom that comes from the present day or from today’s leaders who are being reduced to nothing. We talk about God’s wisdom, which has been hidden as a secret. God determined this wisdom in advance, before time began, for our glory. It is a wisdom that none of the present-day rulers have understood, because if they did understand it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory! But this is precisely what is written: God has prepared things for those who love him that no eye has seen, or ear has heard, or that haven’t crossed the mind of any human being. God has revealed these things to us through the Spirit. The Spirit searches everything, including the depths of God. (1 Corinthians 2:1-10, CEB)

Paul didn’t come with the best thought-out language or eloquent speeches. He came as himself and spoke about who he was and what Christ has done.

That is how we all should live. Speaking the truth in love and living that way.

Not putting on false pretenses or trying to be something more than we are.

Be who God created you to be and live that way in every aspect of your life.

Show what God has done for you and through you and help others see God’s love for them.

Loving People. Loving God.

Seriously?!?!

After this I looked and there was a door that had been opened in heaven. The first voice that I had heard, which sounded like a trumpet, said to me, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” At once I was in a Spirit-inspired trance and I saw a throne in heaven, and someone was seated on the throne. The one seated there looked like jasper and carnelian, and surrounding the throne was a rainbow that looked like an emerald. Twenty-four thrones, with twenty-four elders seated upon them, surrounded the throne. The elders were dressed in white clothing and had gold crowns on their heads. From the throne came lightning, voices, and thunder. In front of the throne were seven flaming torches, which are the seven spirits of God. Something like a glass sea, like crystal, was in front of the throne.

In the center, by the throne, were four living creatures encircling the throne. These creatures were covered with eyes on the front and on the back. The first living creature was like a lion. The second living creature was like an ox. The third living creature had a face like a human being. And the fourth living creature was like an eagle in flight. Each of the four living creatures had six wings, and each was covered all around and on the inside with eyes. They never rest day or night, but keep on saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is coming.” (Revelation 4:1-8, CEB)

Is this vision supposed to make me feel good?

I read this and think what is going on here? They are covered with eyes? All over and around? And they have 6 wings?

But from this we get hope? Seriously?

It is a vision of what will be in the fulfillment of the kingdom.

The hope for me is in the consistent worship of God. We will just worship God and be in God’s presence all the time in the kingdom. And that beyond any scary creature or image is hope.

Hope is something we can’t see and when we envision it sometimes it may not come out the way we want it to.

Know the promise is real and we will be with God for all time. That is our hope.

Loving People. Loving God.

Trinity Sunday

There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a Jewish leader. He came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could do these miraculous signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered, “I assure you, unless someone is born anew, it’s not possible to see God’s kingdom.” Nicodemus asked, “How is it possible for an adult to be born? It’s impossible to enter the mother’s womb for a second time and be born, isn’t it?” Jesus answered, “I assure you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. Don’t be surprised that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew.’ God’s Spirit blows wherever it wishes. You hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. It’s the same with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said, “How are these things possible?” “Jesus answered, “You are a teacher of Israel and you don’t know these things? I assure you that we speak about what we know and testify about what we have seen, but you don’t receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Human One. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so must the Human One be lifted up so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life. God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:1-17, CEB)

Whoever is born of the Spirit is of God and is born anew.

A new creation with the Spirit of God living in and through them.

God moves us to love the world as God loved it.

Unconditionally.

Know that even when you are supposed to know and understand things, God still loves you when you don’t.

The Trinity and God are not easily understood and work in ways that we humans can’t understand. The most important thing in my opinion we need to know about God and the Trinity is that God in God self is in relationship. There are 3 of them, and living and moving in a dance that brings life.

So when we think we can do this alone, God shows us, it should be done in relationship to others.

Love like God and move in relationships.

Loving People. Loving God.

It will not be easy…

“If the world hates you, know that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. However, I have chosen you out of the world, and you don’t belong to the world. This is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you, ‘Servants aren’t greater than their master.’ If the world harassed me, it will harass you too. If it kept my word, it will also keep yours. The world will do all these things to you on account of my name, because it doesn’t know the one who sent me. “If I hadn’t come and spoken to the people of this world, they wouldn’t be sinners. But now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me also hates the Father. If I hadn’t done works among them that no one else had done, they wouldn’t be sinners. But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. This fulfills the word written in their Law, They hated me without a reason. “When the Companion comes, whom I will send from the Father—the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father—he will testify about me. You will testify too, because you have been with me from the beginning. (John 15:18-27, CEB)

It seems like followers of Jesus want to make us believe that following God and doing what we are called to will be easy. A walk in the park…

But the Bible never says that. We are never told that life following Jesus will be easy. In fact, we are told over and over again the exact opposite.

The world hated Jesus and mocked him and killed him for what he came here saying and doing, so why do we think it will be a walk in the park. But if it is a walk in the park, that park would be Jurassic Park.

Know that Jesus was hated, and you will be too if you follow and speak as he spoke and love as he loved. However, that is what we are called to do.

Love like Jesus. And know that Jesus is always with you.

Loving People. Loving God.

self-centered

But you aren’t self-centered. Instead you are in the Spirit, if in fact God’s Spirit lives in you. If anyone doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, they don’t belong to him. If Christ is in you, the Spirit is your life because of God’s righteousness, but the body is dead because of sin. If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your human bodies also, through his Spirit that lives in you. (Romans 8:9-11, CEB)

Are you self-centered?

Do you think only about yourself? Or are the needs of others central in your mind?

When Christ lives in us, through the Spirit we are focused on others and look to fulfill their needs before our own.

Think of others, and stand for Justice.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

What do you think about?

So now there isn’t any condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. God has done what was impossible for the Law, since it was weak because of selfishness. God condemned sin in the body by sending his own Son to deal with sin in the same body as humans, who are controlled by sin. He did this so that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us. Now the way we live is based on the Spirit, not based on selfishness. People whose lives are based on selfishness think about selfish things, but people whose lives are based on the Spirit think about things that are related to the Spirit. The attitude that comes from selfishness leads to death, but the attitude that comes from the Spirit leads to life and peace. So the attitude that comes from selfishness is hostile to God. It doesn’t submit to God’s Law, because it can’t. People who are self-centered aren’t able to please God. (Romans 8:1-8, CEB)

We live by the Spirit. The Spirit guides us to not think about ourselves.

So if your thoughts are on what you will get from something, then you are not living by the Spirit. When we live according to the Spirit we are focused on other people and not ourselves. We see all people as a part of the Imago Dei and know it takes all of us to make that image.

We look out for others.

We lift others up.

We work for justice for all.

Love like Jesus. Live in the Spirit.

Loving People. Loving God.

Afraid

It was still the first day of the week. That evening, while the disciples were behind closed doors because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities, Jesus came and stood among them. He said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. When the disciples saw the Lord, they were filled with joy. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you don’t forgive them, they aren’t forgiven.” (John 20:19-23, CEB)

What is something you do because you are afraid of how people will respond to you?

Do you hide your true self because you believe society will not accept you?

This past Sunday was Pentecost, the day Christians celebrate the giving of the Holy Spirit, to empower believers to be bold in their proclamation of love and acceptance by God of everyone. And yet, is everyone welcome?

It seems interesting to me that this passage and this post comes on Harvey Milk Day.

Harvey Milk was an activist, organizer, and the first openly gay man elected to public office in the country as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in the late 1970s. Harvey Milk came out and started organizing against discrimination of gay and lesbian business owners in the Castro District of San Francisco, and against the Briggs Initiative (this was an initiative on the California state ballot in 1978 that would have banned gays and lesbians from working in California schools). Milk was responsible for passing gay rights ordinances for the city of San Francisco and served eleven months in office before he was assassinated on November 27, 1978, along with San Francisco Mayor George Moscone. We celebrate Harvey Milk Day on his birthday, May 22.

Harvey was someone who spoke what needed to be spoken and did what needed to be done even in the face of fear.

Are you able to do that?

Can you speak love in the face of hate?

Can you be the voice of reason in the face of hate?

Will you be in a locked room, or out speaking truth in love?

Loving People. Loving God.

Body

Christ is just like the human body—a body is a unit and has many parts; and all the parts of the body are one body, even though there are many. We were all baptized by one Spirit into one body, whether Jew or Greek, or slave or free, and we all were given one Spirit to drink. Certainly the body isn’t one part but many. If the foot says, “I’m not part of the body because I’m not a hand,” does that mean it’s not part of the body? If the ear says, “I’m not part of the body because I’m not an eye,” does that mean it’s not part of the body? If the whole body were an eye, what would happen to the hearing? And if the whole body were an ear, what would happen to the sense of smell? But as it is, God has placed each one of the parts in the body just like he wanted. If all were one and the same body part, what would happen to the body? But as it is, there are many parts but one body. So the eye can’t say to the hand, “I don’t need you,” or in turn, the head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.” Instead, the parts of the body that people think are the weakest are the most necessary. The parts of the body that we think are less honorable are the ones we honor the most. The private parts of our body that aren’t presentable are the ones that are given the most dignity. The parts of our body that are presentable don’t need this. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the part with less honor so that there won’t be division in the body and so the parts might have mutual concern for each other. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part gets the glory, all the parts celebrate with it. You are the body of Christ and parts of each other. (1 Corinthians 12:12-27, CEB)

We all are one body.

We all are the image of God.

We do not see God without all of us. For all of us are a part of the body. Some are parts we see like eyes, nose, ears, hair, hands, and arms. Others of us are parts we don’t see like wisdom teeth, liver, stomach, heart, and intestines. We need all these parts to make the body work and no one can say that some other part doesn’t belong. And those that aren’t in front are the ones that have more dignity.

We need everyone to make the body work and we can not say who is in or who is out.

Divisions are human made. They do not have any holding in the Body of Christ.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.