On Extravagant Generosity

For a Christian, generosity is about being unselfish and willing to give or share what one has in order to make a positive difference on behalf of Christ. At the heart of being a Christian is dying to self in order to live for Christ. The Christian life is about putting the needs of others above one’s own needs, while at the same time being humble enough to receive from others. To give and give without receiving is a recipe for burnout. We need to receive with gratitude whatever anyone gives us, while we give what we can to others, so that there is mutual giving and receiving, a constant flow of blessing one to another. And all of this, the receiving and the giving, is done for the purpose of making real and tangible what Jesus declared in his opening sermon, that he came to announce the year of the Lord’s favor. Jesus came that we might have life, and that more abundantly. And the abundant life that God desires for all of us is made possible by the consistent flow of receiving and giving. Freely have we received; freely, we give.
Of course, this is an ideal situation. The reality is that there are some who have an inordinate amount of wealth and a multitude who have hardly anything. There is no economic balance in this world. So, Christians, being the salt of the earth, must be unbalanced in their generosity. We must be extravagant in our generosity for the purpose of having that balance that God desires for His economy. To be extravagant in generosity means to go well beyond what is expected. It is important to stress the importance of proportionality as opposed to how much is given. Proportional giving means giving a portion of what you have. An historic benchmark is the tithe. The actual amount, of course, will vary. One person’s tithe is another person’s walking around money. I will say more about proportional giving later when we look at the teachings of Jesus.
The point I am making now is that a fruitful congregation is one that is extravagant in its generosity, going beyond what is expected as a result of being sacrificial, and unselfish. Not only are we called individually to be unselfish in our giving, but as a congregation, we are called to be unselfish, to make sacrifices regarding what we want so that we can give to ministries outside of our own congregation, apportionments being a key way we do this.
Bishop Schnase tells the story of a finance committee that was struggling with how to pay a bill of $465 due to an emergency repair of the air conditioner. The congregation had already spent all the money allocated to building maintenance. They spent a lot of time stewing over where the money should come from. Should they take money from one budget item to cover this? Should they ask the congregation for a special collection? Should they have a bake sale or dinner? All these solutions seemed hard to pull off. The committee was really struggling with what to do. Then, the finance chair said, “Let’s all just take a time out and be quiet for a few minutes and ask God for guidance on what we should do.” They all agreed and started praying. After a few minutes, the chairwoman said to them, “You know, any one of us around this table could probably write a check for $465 and it would not dramatically impact our lifestyle or financial security.” She pulled out her checkbook and wrote a check out to the church for the full amount. And then she invited everyone else on the committee to do the same. Some also wrote the full amount, while others wrote a check for less. Because of this finance chair’s leadership, not only was the bill for the air conditioner paid, but the church now had an extra $1,695 from the finance committee in which to help launch new ministry initiatives. This is an example of extravagant generosity.

Now, let’s look at three teachings of Jesus Christ that relate to extravagant generosity. The first one is the familiar story of Jesus watching the widow putting in two coins. In this story, we are taught the amount of money given is not as important as the proportion of what is available. The widow, of course, has set the standard way above what any of us could hope to achieve, because she gave all she had to live on. We certainly will not give all our money to the church. But can’t we give a portion? Absolutely. It is our practice to give a proportion of what one has, a percentage of one’s income. The major benchmark of proportional giving is the tithe, which is 10% of your income. For some, that 10% would be $10 a week and for another $100 per week. It’s not how much, it is the proportion that we are to strive to increase. If this year, you gave 4% of your income, this year see if you can do 5%. If you are already giving 10%, see if you can give 11%.
The second teaching we will look at from Jesus comes from the story of the man who built bigger barns. The farmer was blessed with a bumper crop of grain. God had provided so much grain that he couldn’t fit it in his barn. He couldn’t leave the grain outside because it might go to waste. He decided to build a bigger barn. Then, he could kick back and relax because he had more than enough. He didn’t have to grow grain anymore. But God said to him, “You fool! This night, your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” Storing excess wealth is folly because it can be taken from us. Then what will we do? This is why John Wesley instructed his followers to save all they can and give all they can. It is prudent to set some back so that you can care for your needs and that of your family in an emergency. But to hoard wealth is folly. It is better to give your excess wealth away. Not only do you have a say in where it goes, it will also do good, easing the suffering of those who lack.
The third teaching from Jesus we will look at is the parable of the talents. Jesus told a story about a man who was going on a journey. While away, he entrusted his property to his servants. To one he gave ten talents, to another, five, to another, one. One talent would be equivalent to more than fifteen years’ wages of a laborer. So, you see that the servant who was given responsibility over ten talents was caring for a lot of wealth. To the credit of all the servants, they didn’t run off with the money. The first two took the money and invested it with the bankers, doubling their master’s money. When the master got back, and they reported what they had done, they were greatly rewarded because they had responsibly invested the money given to them. But the third servant, who had simply put the money under his mattress, so to speak, was berated for his irresponsibility. This story teaches us that responsible money management is an aspect of being faithful stewards of what God gives us. Money is a resource. And if it is handled responsibly, then much good can come from it. To handle money irresponsibly limits what can be done. So, as an individual and as a congregation, we must be responsible with the money we have in trust, so that this financial resource can be maximized for the benefit of the ministry of Christ in the world.
Extravagant generosity, like all the other fruitful practices of a congregation, is motivated by a deep love for God and for people. We give because God gives. We give extravagantly because God gives extravagantly to us. And we give because we want to make a positive difference in the world, and making a positive difference requires material resources. We give, not because the church needs money, but because as Christians we need to give, and give with joy and gratitude for all that we have received. We give because we serve God, the giver of all good gifts.
I just said that we give not because the church needs money, but because we serve God who gives. Giving is central to the life of a Christian and a practice that assists us in our maturity as Christians. Still, it is also true that the giving of material support is critical to the mission of the church. Look around you. Everything you see in this sanctuary is the fruit of someone’s extravagant generosity. We are beneficiaries of the sacrificial giving of those who went before us. Now it is our turn to be benefactors of future generations. Money isn’t everything. But it is critical. The ministry we can do, the impact we can make, the lives that we can touch, will be either enhanced or will deteriorate based on the money we have available through our giving. Without extravagant generosity, our ministry as a congregation will diminish.

Reflections on Risk-Taking Mission and Service

We begin by asking, “What is mission and service?” Mission and service are projects and on-going efforts that seek to address human needs, to ease suffering and bring healing and wholeness. And this care is offered to people whether or not the people helped will become members of the church. They are helped because they are in need and we can help them. There is no other agenda save alleviating suffering.
By “risk-taking,” we mean addressing the needs of people we don’t know or who are very different from us in the way they look and act, or who perhaps live in communities where we are uncomfortable being in, or who have needs that strain our capacity to meet them. By reaching out to these who are suffering requires more from us than we would find convenient or safe.
So, what is “risk-taking mission and service?” It is reaching out to people we normally do not associate with or whose needs are substantial in order to alleviate their suffering in the name of Christ. A congregation that practices risk-taking mission and service is a fruitful congregation. And like all the other practices we have discussed, the motivation for doing this practice comes from the heart. It comes from a heart that loves God and God’s creation deeply and longs to increase in love.
Perhaps no other congregational practice stretches us in our discipleship. The increase in amount of risk taken on to meet the needs of others, this is where the rubber really meets the road and our faith is proved by our deeds. As Bishop Schnase writes, “The stretch of Christian discipleship is to love those for whom it is not automatic, easy, common, or accepted.” It is our capacity to take risks in reaching out to those who are suffering that reveals how far we are willing to go to love our neighbor.
And who is our neighbor? That’s the question that Jesus answers in one of his best known and loved parables, the story of the good Samaritan. As you may remember, Samaritans were to Jews as the Taliban would be to one of us. They mutually despised each other. And in this story, you have a Samaritan crossing over well-defined boundaries in order to tend to the need of his neighbor, who happens to be a Jew. Just so, we are challenged by Jesus to cross over boundaries if need be in order to tend to the needs of our neighbors. Every person is our neighbor, whether this person is across the street or on the other side of the world.
Jesus also teaches us that we will be held to account for our refusal to care for those around us who are in need. We recall Jesus describing the final judgment, the separation of the sheep and the goats, and the measure of that judgment being whether or not one cared for “the least of these.” It is no surprise to us that as followers of Christ, lovers of God and of God’s creation, that we are called forth to care for those who are suffering, whoever they are and wherever they are. We know we need to do this. But it is not easy for us.
It is not easy because most of us are risk-adverse. Especially when one gets older, the tendency is to conserve because one doesn’t have as much time to recover from mistakes. It’s expected to be risky when you are young and have your whole life ahead of you. The older you get, or, when you have more, either more responsibility or more wealth, the tendency is to conserve and play it safe. We also value the capacity to not be conned or taken advantage of. Plus, let’s face it; when going through economic challenges, everyone tends to hold back and preserve what you have out of fear of not having enough in the future to maintain your standard of living. Prudence reigns supreme and the more immediate response when made aware of the needs of others is, “I can’t help. I have my own bills. I have to take care of my own needs and the needs of my family.” Knowing what we should do, and actually stretching ourselves in order to respond to the need is a real challenge for most of us.
I’m not going to talk too much more about money. That’s next week’s sermon. The focus today is on how far we are willing to go to help people who make us uncomfortable or who live in places that are deemed “unsafe.” Are we willing to take the risk of being misunderstood as a result of helping certain people? For example, are we willing to respond to the needs of illegal immigrants among us? By caring for illegal immigrants, this could bring some controversy our way. But is that a risk we would be willing to take if we are presented with a need from that community that we can address? What if we had the opportunity to meet the needs of prostitutes? Drug users? Pedophiles? People who are trans-gendered? White-supremacists? Who will we risk associating with in order to alleviate suffering? How far are we willing to go to follow the example of Christ, who ate with sinners? Please remember, Jesus did not condone sin. But He did break bread with sinners. He came to heal the sick, to proclaim good news to the poor, to set at liberty the oppressed. And Jesus’ actions stirred up controversy because of who he was willing to touch and heal. How far can we go in following His example?
This is a tough practice. To practice the risk-taking mission and service that Jesus patterns for us requires much from us. It requires first a profound love for God and all people who are made in the image and likeness of God, including prostitutes and pedophiles. To care for people like this also requires a heavy dose of humility and the willingness to be misunderstood and criticized by good, Christian people.
But there are rewards. One is the experience of building relationships with people that we do not understand, and, frankly, are afraid of. Another potential reward is seeing the lives of people redeemed and transformed, of sick people being made well because of what God is able to do through us. Think about it. God wants to heal those who are sick, like prostitutes and pedophiles. But in God’s wisdom, this healing does not happen out of thin air but must flow through the hands of real people. Would it not be a great joy to know that God used you and me to bring healing into the life of someone that society has cast off as a degenerate?
Of all the fruitful practices we have looked at so far, this is the one in which we are in desperate need of grace. There is great need around us. But for many reasons we fail to respond. Are we even willing to respond? We need to ask God to give the grace to respond. We need to ask God to forgive us of our hardened hearts and our tendency to look past the need around us. We need to ask God to give us greater capacity to be self-sacrificial, humble, and courageous in our response to the needs of others, whoever they might be. A church that is practicing risk-taking mission and service is a church that is fruitful because it is extending the ministry of Christ to the downcast and fallen. By the grace of God, may we all grow in our capacity to take risks in service to our neighbors, especially to those for whom loving them is not “automatic, easy, common, or accepted.”
Let us pray. God of love, grace, and mercy, who desires that the whole world might be saved; forgive us for our hardness of heart. Forgive us when we divert our eyes, close our ears, or turn our backs on people who are sick and need healing. Give us grace to separate the condition of a person from who they are as human beings, made in Your image and likeness. Your heart breaks with the suffering that ravages the world. Let our hearts break as well. As Jesus wept over Jerusalem, help us to weep over Cincinnati. As Jesus touched and healed the leper, enable us to touch the modern-day leper. As Jesus was condemned for eating with sinners, let us be willing to be condemned as a consequence of eating with sinners. Finally, O God, make us humble and acknowledge that we too are sinners and in need of healing. We ask this, our Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ our Healer, through the Holy Spirit our Comforter. Amen.

Reflections on Intentional Faith Development

The purpose of intentional faith development is to mature in the faith. In the letter to the Hebrews, Paul writes: “We have much to say, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” The message is clear. It was Paul’s expectation that Christians train themselves constantly, to grow and mature in the faith, so that they can gain a deeper understanding of the truth. We are to move beyond spiritual milk to spiritual meat. And this maturing process happens through intentional faith development. I think we all know this and have a desire to grow in our faith, not just intellectually but also in our hearts. We want to become more like Christ. We want to have an ever more maturing faith that is richer, deeper, more solid. And we know that this maturing of our faith must be done with intentionality.
Faith development happens in community. As we read the gospels, we see that Jesus primarily taught in a communal setting. Either Jesus was teaching publicly before a crowd, or Jesus was teaching his disciples in a small group setting. Very rarely does Jesus offer one-on-one instruction. Another thing we see is that when Jesus is teaching in public, he often teaches in parables, or in ways that cause the people to want to repent or make some kind of decision about how they are living their lives. But when Jesus was with his disciples in a smaller setting, he would explain the parables. He gave them instruction that was not offered to the crowd. It was at a deeper level. So, in Christ, we see a format for intentional faith development. There is the public teaching and preaching that is evocative and stirs people to make decisions about the kind of life they are living. And there is teaching reserved for a smaller group that provides more content and depth of instruction. In both cases, the teaching takes place in community.
John Wesley followed this pattern in his ministry. He understood the importance of public preaching. He looked for and empowered people to go and preach. Wesley was willing, although it was beyond his comfort zone, to preach out in the fields. There are accounts of Wesley going to coal mines to preach to the miners. His sermons have great content. They are very well thought out. And they lead the hearers to reflect on their lives and make some kind of commitment. Wesley’s sermons and preaching were clearly evangelistic. However, John Wesley also insisted on the critical need for those who want to grow in their faith to be engaged in some kind of small group. These class meetings were designed to hold one another accountable in their daily living, so that personal faith can mature. So, John Wesley, in the formation of what became the Wesleyan movement within the Church of England, was designed to provide connections of small groups, or bands, so that when people are moved to dedicate their lives to Christ as a response to public preaching can have a format in which their desire for faith development can take place. All of this, the public preaching and the class meetings are forms of community. There were no correspondence courses or a guided reading list in John Wesley’s program. For Wesley, faith formation is a communal activity and not an individual pursuit.
Why is community a consistent aspect of intentional faith development, as we see it with Jesus, with the apostles, with John Wesley, and others? There are two reasons why community is important in faith development. One is that community allows for accountability. Again, this is primarily why John Wesley encouraged people who were moved through his preaching to be more intentional in their faith to join a small group. It is in the small group that accountability can take place. We need this accountability in our faith development for a few reasons. One is that when we are reflecting on our lives and on the teachings of Christ and the Scriptures, our ideas or insights can be tested by others. This can help us, that we don’t go too far off the mark when we reflect on our lives and the things of God. Testing our insights with others, or reflecting on our life and on the scripture with others, can guard us from being deluded. It is risky to limit our reading and reflection on scripture and our lives alone. Scripture study and reflection is best done with others.
Not only is it good to study scripture and reflect on your life in community so that you don’t delude yourself, but also because in a group, different perspectives can be brought forward. Various perspectives, and the testing of these perspectives, regarding living the Christian life, can be very rich. Because each of us is unique, we gain different insights on life. We all have something to share which can be of benefit for others. So, faith development in community allows for broader perspectives that can produce a more wholesome faith development.
Another aspect of accountability we get in a small group setting is the support we get to keep with it. Some of us are self-starters and highly disciplined. But for many of us, it is hard to keep working on something if we don’t have others who are counting on us to be there. For example, it is easier to stick with your goal of going to the gym when you have a friend that is going to meet you there and who will call you and ask you where you were if you don’t show up. Just so, intentional faith development, whatever our plan is to make that happen, will be more consistent if we have some others who are going to be checking on us to see if we are doing what we said we would do and will motivate us to keep working at it when the desire to grow in our faith wanes. We all know what it’s like to have an early burst of energy and zeal when we start some process for spiritual growth. But after awhile, the energy subsides and we need a bit more motivation to keep at it. If we don’t have anyone cheering us on, it’s easy to just drop it. But if we are in a group that cares about us, we have a better shot of keeping it up when the motivation wanes.
One reason we do intentional faith development in community is because of the need for accountability. The other reason it is done in community and not alone is because the faith can best be learned in community. We can’t learn forgiveness unless we have an opportunity to forgive other people and be forgiven. We can’t experience grace unless we receive it from others or offer it to others. We can’t love alone, but in community. We can’t grow in our patience unless we are with those who try our patience. We can’t become more humble unless we have the opportunity to practice humility among others. The fruits of faithful living are manifested in community. So, this is why Jesus, the apostles, and our ancestors in the faith designed faith development to happen in community, because it is in community that faith is most effectively developed.
We know what the purpose of faith development is. We know that it is to be done in community and not alone. What is our responsibility as a church in practicing intentional faith development?
A fruitful church offers a variety of high-quality opportunities to gather in community to learn about and practice the faith through caring and nurturing relationships. These could be Sunday school classes. They can be fellowship groups or ministry groups, like United Methodist Men and United Methodist Women, as well as a mission committee, and even the finance committee and the Trustees. They can be short-term studies. In other words, every group in the church, whatever its purpose or responsibility, can be a faith forming group if it is seen that way. Yes, even the finance committee, if we understand that those of us on that committee are practicing our faith and nurturing our faith as we reflect on the financial need of this congregation and discuss together what we must do to bring about financial health to the church. It is a primary responsibility of the church to provide small group settings for intentional faith development. Every group in the church can be that opportunity if those in that group understand it that way. Every group in the church provides an opportunity to develop our faith.
And so, there are many ways to intentionally develop our faith. Again, we turn to John Wesley, who was committed to intentional faith development. He had a list that gives us a good foundation for our faith development. Wesley required all who would be a part of the Methodist movement, to do the following things: attend public worship, hear the scriptures read and preached, receive Holy Communion, have family and private prayer, study the scriptures, and practice fasting or abstinence. All of these activities, that we as United Methodists are called to maintain, are to be done in supportive community. As I said earlier, John Wesley insisted that members of the Methodist movement must be in a class, a small group, whose purpose was to check on each other, to make sure each person is still actively working to grow in their faith. In these meetings, each person was asked to respond to the question, “How is it with your soul?” This is the intentionality that we need so we can develop our faith. As Bishop Schnase says, “By joining a Bible study or class, we place ourselves in the circumstances that are most advantageous for growth in faith.”
I also want to say one quick thing about the groups that we participate in for faith development. Whatever faith development activities we participate in are not primarily about self-improvement. The purpose of these activities is to open oneself up to be shaped and transformed by Truth. Faith development is not about self-improvement. It is about self-transformation, to leave behind the old and become new creatures in Christ, with a renewed mind and a purified and transformed heart.
So, our church as a whole has the responsibility to create many high-quality opportunities for spiritual development. We have individual responsibility as well. It is the individual responsibility of every one of us to connect with a small group for faith formation, and through this, to connect with God so one can be healed. If you are not in some kind of group where you can develop your faith, it is your responsibility to get in one. It is my responsibility, and that of our education team, to try different ways to provide more opportunities for faith formation. There is mutual responsibility, myself and others to provide small group opportunities, and yours to be in a group. What ideas do you have? Perhaps you could start a new group? My goal is that every person in this church be in a small group for intentional faith development. We will produce much more fruit, as each of us intentionally develop our faith, maturing in our commitment, and becoming more and more like God, a people formed in the living Truth revealed to us in Jesus Christ.
Let us pray. We recall in our mind, O God, that scene, when Mary and the others gathered around Jesus to hear his teaching. And Martha, who was busy with other things, asked Jesus to tell her sister to come and help her. And Jesus said, “Martha, Martha, you are busy with many things. Mary has chosen the better part.” We gather here, and in many other settings, to sit before you, our Teacher. Teach us, O Lord. Continue to send us the Holy Spirit, Who leads us into all Truth. By your grace, renew our minds, strengthen our faith, enable us to receive spiritual meat, so that we might be mature and strong Christian men and women, that we might be fruitful servants, for your glory, of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Reflections on Worshiping with Passion

The purpose of worship is to encounter God in Christ through the Holy Spirit, so that God might heal us, change us, transform us, or encourage us. Worship is about connecting to the divine, of being attentive to the presence of God in our midst. And as Moses teaches us, when one is in the presence of God, that person is changed. Moses had a glow that was so bright, he had to wear a veil over his face when he came down from the mountain. By worshiping God, being in the presence of God, we anticipate that something will happen to us. We expect, in the act of worship, to be changed.
To be passionate means to express desire. To do something with passion means to do it with feeling, expressing something deep within. To do something with passion means to do it with soul rather than going through the motions or just being present. To be passionate is to give your all to the moment, with great focus and driven by the need to express yourself. You are fully engaged and caught up in whatever you are doing with passion.
So, passionate worship is being fully attentive, fully engaged, expressing a deep desire to encounter God. A person who is worshipping with passion is giving it their all, their heart and soul, completely caught up in the act of worship, out of a deep longing to connect with God. That deep desire to connect with God lies in all of us, because in that connection we are healed. We want that connection, and worshipping God with passion is what gets us there because we are totally focused and actively engaged in worshipping God.
There are four things that worship is not. First, worship is not a performance. Now, of course, there are some of us up front, exercising worship leadership: myself, the choir, the organist, the lay reader. But we are not performing for you. To perform would be like putting on a show, and you all would be the audience watching us and responding to what we are doing. Our intention as worship leaders is not to perform for you, but to assist you in your worship. To be worship leaders means to lead the congregation into worship. It is not a performance, it is the providing of content, the establishment of a context, the provoking of inspiration, so that the congregation can join us worship leaders in the worship of God. So, worship is not a performance, not the putting on of a show, not something done so that we can be seen and approved by others.
Second, worship is not forms and rituals. The structure of a worship service, the order of worship, the written responses and prayers, the rituals, the saying of the Lord’s Prayer, these are like musical notes on a page. They give structure, form, and content to the service so that everything is done in order and it’s not a wild free-for-all. It is critical to have forms and rituals in worship so that there is a shape, something that we all can work with. But, you know the difference between a musician playing the notes on one hand and making music on the other. There is a difference between a singer singing the notes and making the song come to life. Just singing the notes is not enough. You eventually have to know the notes so well that you don’t even have to look at them anymore. You’re then singing from your heart. Just so with the forms and rituals of our worship; we have to move past just saying the words and following the order so that the worship comes to life, so that we are saying the words and following the order by heart, so that it’s not rote and rigid, but living and vibrant because we have moved from reciting words to speaking them from the heart. That is where worship takes place, when we take the forms and rituals and sing them, breathe life into them, connect the words with our hearts.
Third, worship is not self-focused. Although I understand what people are saying when they judge the effectiveness of a worship service as to whether they have been “fed” or not, I cringe a little when I hear it. Now, of course, we worship God with the expectation that something will happen. We cannot stand in the presence of God and be unchanged. But the focus of Christian worship is God, and not one’s own needs. Yes, we come to worship with needs. We are broken people in need of healing and wholeness. But our healing does not come from focusing on our own wants, needs, and desires, what makes us feel good about ourselves. We don’t want to say we are worshipping God when really we are worshipping our own cultural values and preferences. Again, if we want our needs met in the worship experience, this happens when we forget about ourselves and worship God.
Fourth, worship is not automatic or accidental. It is not a formula, where you do this and this and expect a certain result. And worship is not something that just happens to you as a passive observer. No, to worship God requires preparation and intentionality. We have to prepare our hearts. We have to set aside our worldly cares and focus on God. We have to center ourselves in the worship space. We have to be intentional participants in the worship act and not passive observers hoping to catch something of the holy if we’re lucky. Worship takes effort, attention, and focus. When worship is over, you ought to leave here just a little tired because you have been putting forth some effort rather than sitting here and zoning out for an hour.
So, what is worship? It is an expression of your love and devotion to God. The degree to which you love God determines the intensity of your worship. If you have little love for God, worship of God is going to be a bit perfunctory. But if your love for God is deep and passionate, worship for you will have a bit more significance and intentionality. The intensity and seriousness of your worship experience can be a sign of the intensity of your love and devotion to God.
Worship is what breathes life into the community of faith. Primarily public worship on Sunday morning, what we are doing together gives life to us as a community. It is a common experience that shapes our identity as a unique congregation, a small part of the universal body of Christ. Public worship is the lungs and the heartbeat of our community of faith. In worship we encounter God, individually and as a community. We are shaped by God, individually but also as a community through the act of worship. When we worship together, something happens. As a community, we are given fuel which we need to function. We are filled up in worship so we have something to pour out through the week, until we come back to the well to be filled up again.
Of course, it must be said that worship can happen pretty much anywhere. Public worship typically happens in a sanctuary. But public worship can take place anywhere, when two or more gather in Christ’s name. And we must not neglect private worship. Public worship is an extension of private worship. Public worship typically only happens one hour a week. That is certainly not sufficient for a Christian. If worship was understood as dining on spiritual food, none of us would survive if we ate one meal a week. Our daily bread is received by daily worship. We worship privately every day, and come together one day a week, Sunday, in order to celebrate the resurrection of Christ and be encouraged by worshipping with fellow believers. So, since most of our worship life is private, it can certainly happen in places other than the sanctuary. The home, actually, should be considered the primary place of worship, not the church. But, you get the idea. God’s creation provides limitless inspiration for focusing on God and worshipping God’s goodness. So, we must not limit our worship to Sunday morning in the sanctuary. Public worship is an extension of our primary worship life, which is a private affair that likely takes place in your home. In fact, Jesus suggests that when you pray you should go into your closet and shut the door, doing it in secret. “And the Father, who sees what you do in secret, will reward you”, Jesus said.
Finally, worship is the context in which we most likely encounter God in our midst. We know God is always around us. We just don’t pay much attention to this reality because God is invisible and His voice tends to be a whisper in the midst of so much noise. Worship, then, filters out the noise so we can hear the quiet whisper of God within and around us. And when we hear the voice of God, or sense God’s presence, we are connecting to the holy, and that changes us, and heals us. The more we take time to focus on God through worship, the greater the opportunity God has to heal us and make us well.
Quickly, two things I want to share about what the practice of worship requires. First, worship requires effort on your part. Like I’ve said earlier, worship is something you do, not something that happens to you. Worship is the act of focusing on God that requires our intentionality. And the more passionately we focus on God and worship God, the better. Worship is work. It is a participatory activity, and the intensity of your participation relates directly to the effectiveness and fruitfulness of the activity. Like Jesus said, “Knock and the door will be opened.” If you don’t knock, the door won’t be opened. And perhaps a heavy banging may be more effective than a light tap.
Second, public worship requires flexibility and diversity to help people connect to God in different ways. How good it is to know that our worship is primarily a private activity. Privately, we can feel free to do what helps us best connect with God. Publicly, though, the needs of many have to be accommodated the best we can. And that’s where it gets tricky. As United Methodists, we have traditions that have been handed down to us. Traditions are good because they force us to get out of our own individuality and conform to a broader shared experience. Still, people have different tastes and can more easily connect with God in different ways. This is the main reason why we have a traditional worship service and a contemporary service. By offering this variety, we are utilizing the worship leadership we have to provide greater opportunity for people to connect with God than if we only offered one option. And in public worship, not every song and not every aspect of the service will resonate with you all the way through. Again, privately you can tailor your worship experience and utilize resources that resonate with you. But in a public setting, flexibility and generosity is required so that the maximum number of people can participate in some way. We need to be open to the diversity among us and be grateful that whatever part of the service that doesn’t really “work” for us does “work” for others. Again, worship is primarily an activity where we focus on God and not get caught up on the forms and rituals, or the style of music or quality of the singing, playing, and preaching. And remember, public worship must not be the only worship you do. It supplements your primary worship life, which is in private, where you can utilize whatever most effectively leads you into worship. You deprive yourself if your only experience of worship is one hour on Sunday morning.
The bottom line is this: passionate worship springs from an attitude and has little to do with styles or forms. What is done in worship, and the quality of what is done does have an impact. Styles and forms, and the execution of them, do matter. But for worship to be passionate, the key factor is not the quality of the worship leadership but the attitude of the worshipper. One who worships with passion is one who is deeply in love with God and wants to express that love. One who worships with passion is one who anticipates and longs to encounter God, knowing that God will bring healing into their lives. One who worships with passion is one who is putting forth the effort to be attentive and focused on God. Styles and forms only provide a framework and some inspiration for the primary activity, which is all of us actively focused on God and expressing to God our love for Him.
What is your attitude toward worship? What or who are you focused on? What level is your passion? A healthy, fruitful congregation is one where the majority of worshippers are worshipping with passion. Are you one of that number? Let us pray.
God of wonder, we do worship You. We long to be in Your presence. We desire to encounter You so that we can be healed and renewed. We know that You desire that we worship You in spirit and in truth. Give us grace, dear Lord, to worship You with greater passion and devotion, every day of our life. Help us to grow in our capacity to worship, so that when our time on earth comes to an end, we may more fully join with all the saints and the angels, gathered around Your throne, offering up a pure sacrifice of praise. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.

Reflections on Radical Hospitality

Christian life can be described as a set of practices. For example, prayer, fasting, giving, worship, scripture study, witnessing to your faith, these are all practices. A practice is something you do, something you work at, so that you can get better. Micah is in band, learning to play the trumpet. For him to become a great trumpet player, Micah is going to have to practice. And no matter how good a trumpet player he will be, he will always have to practice. It is the same with becoming a Christian. We have to practice. And no matter how great a Christian we grow to be, we never stop practicing.
Doing Christian practices over time makes us into better Christians. We become better servants of Jesus Christ our Lord as we practice the Christian life daily and diligently, with the help of God’s grace.
Churches also have practices. The Christian life is not just an individual matter. It is also a communal matter. Not only are we to practice in order to become better individual Christians, we are also to practice being a better church, so that we can be a more effective body of Christ. These are examples of church practices: radical hospitality, passionate worship, intentional faith development, risk-taking mission and service, and extravagant generosity. A church that does these practices over time becomes a better church, a more effective and fruitful community of servants.
Today marks the beginning of a five week series on these five practices. The catalyst for this series is that as a district we are emphasizing these practices, using the insights of Bishop Robert Schnase in his book Cultivating Fruitfulness. When Charge Conference comes up in a few weeks, this will be the focus of our time together. So, this wasn’t just my idea, it’s a concerted effort by all the churches in our district to turn to this theme. It will be good for us as a reminder of what we are to be about doing, the purpose of our being a church. And we will discover over the next few weeks that, as a congregation, we are doing these things. These practices are not unfamiliar to us at all. My hope is that through this series we will be encouraged to keep doing what we are doing and improve what we are doing, so that we can stretch ourselves more and grow, to become more effective servants of Jesus Christ our Lord. To grow as a musician, what you practice needs to become more difficult so you can grow. So it is with our Christian practices, individually and collectively. We need to challenge ourselves in our practice so that we can grow and be effective. Hopefully this series will inspire you to stretch yourselves in your participation in these church practices, so that our church will grow and be more fruitful, by the grace of God.
The first practice we will reflect on is radical hospitality.
Imagine what it is like to enter a church as a stranger? You first have to find your way in the building. Where’s the bathroom? Where’s the sanctuary? You might wonder if there is anyone there you might know. You may wonder where would be a good place to sit, hoping you don’t take someone else’s seat. And you wonder what’s going to happen during the service. Will anyone say “hi” to me? You tend to be paying great attention to what’s going on around you to pick up non verbal cues, the body language of others, so you can tell whether you are welcome or being held at arms length. And, when you enter into a space for the first time you notice things that become unnoticeable as time goes by: the smell, the neatness of the space, the lighting, and the behaviors of the more colorful people that are present. Coming in to a strange place is a little confusing, lots of questions, a little uncertainty, it’s slightly uncomfortable.
Now think about how you might respond when you see this stranger enter into the sanctuary? How might you approach that person? It would seem that the best body language to have would be a smile, and not one of staring at and sizing up. Introducing yourself may be a good thing to do. And then maybe before asking questions like, “Who are you? Where are you from? Why are you here?” You could say, “Do you have any questions about the service or can I help you find anything?” It’s helpful for us to try to get into the shoes of a stranger, to imagine what we might be feeling or wondering about, so that when we have the opportunity to meet a stranger, anywhere, not just in church, then we can respond more effectively to what they need. Not to mention the biblical teaching that when we entertain strangers, we may be entertaining angels without knowing it.
But if you are like me, sometimes it is hard to even see strangers, or visitors. There have been a few Sundays where during joys and concerns, someone who has been ill a long time is present and asks to speak, and it’s the first time I notice they are here! It is surprising, when you become so familiar with a place and the people in it, that those you don’t come into immediate contact with become almost invisible. We have our regular seat. We participate in worship. We head out. And unless we are intentional about scanning the room, we can easily not know all who are here. Just look right past them. It’s a strange thing. Many people have said that the loneliest place can be in a city, surrounded by people you don’t know. People can walk right past each other all day long. It’s possible for us to look right past each other even in this worship space if we aren’t attentive. I know this from personal experience, because I’ve done it.
There’s something else that needs to be said about visitors to our church. Visitors come to our church because they are looking for something and they feel our church might have something they need. Depending on the person, it takes a lot of nerve to enter a church where no one knows you. That’s one reason why a vast majority of newcomers to a church come because someone invited them. People just showing up, of course, happens. Most people don’t have that kind of courage. If we want more people in our church, the main way that will happen is by you inviting someone to come with you.
What are visitors to our church looking for? Perhaps they are looking for answers to faith questions. Maybe they are looking for solace and peace in the midst of their stress filled life. Maybe they are lonely and are searching for a community where people will know their name and genuinely care about their welfare. Maybe they are here because something is stirring in their spirit. They feel that God is pulling them toward the church. And they have driven by this building for quite some time, and every time they drove by, they had this inner voice saying, “You need to visit there.” And finally, they make that visit. There are a number of reasons why someone visits a church. But it is not by accident. It’s not because they were wandering aimlessly down the sidewalk and thought to just stumble in on a Sunday morning. It’s safe to say every visitor of this church intended to be here.
So, visitors come here in need of something. They believe, or at least hope, that we have what they are looking for. Do we have it? Do we have the capacity to help them search for the answers to their faith questions? Do we provide that peace, a sanctuary, from the stresses of life? Can we be that community where a stranger’s name is known, and that person is cared for? Could it be that God actually leads people to us? Believe it or not, we have something that people are looking for. We do have something to offer. God does meet the needs of people through us.
But also, visitors have something that we need. They remind us that we are not here just for ourselves, but that we are a part of a wider community. They come with a fresh perspective, not burdened by the past troubles, issues, and history of this church. They have life experiences to share and new gifts to offer. Visitors add to the vitality of our community. Truly, when visitors come to us, we should see them as precious gifts sent from God.
The truth is, we need each other. We need the familiar and the stranger, those that have been dear friends for years and those who can become new friends, so that as a community we can be more whole, more diverse, more vibrant. We are less than we can become without new people among us. New people have need for spiritual community which we can offer. This is what hospitality, then, is about. It is about enabling interdependence, giving and receiving. We have something to offer the visitor. The visitor has something to offer us. Mutuality, interdependence, community, all of this is characteristic of a healthy and vital church. The practice of hospitality helps to nourish mutuality.
Hospitality as a Christian practice does not have to be limited to people who visit the church. Hospitality can be something that is offered to anyone out in the community. What happens when a new family moves into your neighborhood? Or you have a new co-worker? Or you find yourself having to interact with someone you don’t know?
In the end, radical hospitality is a matter of the heart. It is an attitude and behavior. It’s much more than simply being polite. It is how you look at the stranger. It is seeing the stranger not as a threat, but as a gift; not someone you need to keep at a distance, but someone you ought to get to know; not someone you have to do something for, but someone who has something you need. What is your attitude toward people you don’t know? How you answer that will go a long way in shaping how well you practice hospitality.
So, what can you do to be more hospitable? A healthy church is a church that practices radical hospitality. That practice is not about warm handshakes, coffee and cookies. It is not a program or the job of a committee or the ushers and greeters. It is an attitude. And each of us should have a similar attitude toward the stranger. What is your attitude toward strangers? How do you see them?
Let us pray. O God, when we look through the scriptures, we see how often you revealed yourself as a stranger. You were the three wayfarers that had a message for Abraham. You taught us that when we welcome the least of these, we welcome Jesus. You led Paul to teach that we should offer hospitality to strangers, for some have entertained angels unawares. We confess that we often are reserved toward the stranger. We are often shy and uncomfortable around people we don’t know or don’t look like us. Forgive us when we look past the stranger. Forgive us when we keep strangers at arm’s reach. Shape the attitude we have toward the stranger, that we might see them as the precious gift that they are, for we are all made in Your image, and we are all here for a reason, and we all have something to share. We offer this prayer in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God, now, and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Life on the Road

Reflections on Hebrews 4:12-16

When someone says to you, “I love you,” how does that affect you? Doesn’t that cause you to look into your heart so you know how to respond? You may ask yourself, “Do I love that person?” Or, you may ask, “Do they really love me?” I remember when my fellow pastors first met with our district superintendent, Rev. Stearns, and he said to us, “I love you.” I never had a D.S. say that to a gathering of clergy. It took me aback. It was a little awkward. He loves me? Do I love him? What he said caused me to look at my own heart. Such can be the power of words. They can strike us to the heart.
So it is with the word of God. Paul writes that the word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword that divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow. The word of God is able to judge the intentions and thoughts of the heart. The word of God is truth. God’s Truth is not relative. It is something that we must contend with and respond to. So, when we hear Jesus saying to us, “You did not choose me, but I chose you,” we have to respond to that. What does it mean, that I didn’t choose Jesus, but Jesus chose me? Just take a minute. Let that settle in. Jesus said, “You did not choose me, I chose you.”
The word of God is like a two-edged sword that judges the thoughts and intentions of our hearts. When we allow the word of God to enter in to our minds and hearts, something should happen. There should be a piercing, a stirring within, rumination on what we are hearing or reading. And along with that is the acknowledgment that we stand naked before God. No secrets. We don’t know very much about God, but God knows everything about us. There’s another piercing truth to mull over. God knows the inner recesses of our hearts. God knows every one of our thoughts and intentions. Should this not give us pause?
It should. Because, as Paul continues, the day will come when each of us will give an account of our life. Our thoughts, our words, and our deeds, the good and the bad, will all be laid before us one day when we stand before God. What will God see? Certainly, for all of us, it will be a mixed bag. None of us will come out smelling like a rose.
And so, we need a savior. We need an advocate. If God is the judge, we need a lawyer. Or, in the language of the church, we need a priest. A priest is someone who stands before God on our behalf. The priest is a sort of intermediary, or an advocate. For the Jews, during the times when there was a Temple, God had appointed for them that they have priests who would do their assigned work, receiving the offerings of the people and then sacrificing those offerings on their behalf. And once a year, the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies, to represent all of the people before God, asking for the cleansing of sin of all the people.
The work of the high priest entering the holy of holies for the annual plea that God cleanse all the people of the stain of sin is a symbol of another high priest, whose name is Jesus. By his own blood, Jesus offered up the sacrifice that cleanses the sin of all people for all generations. That is what happened at Calvary. But, the work of Jesus is not done. When he said on the cross, “It is finished,” Jesus was talking about the destruction of the power of death. It did not mean that Jesus was going to sit back and wait until the time comes for him to return as judge of the heavens and earth. No, Jesus is still active.
Jesus is our high priest. None of us can stand before God, for God is holy and nothing corrupt can stand before Him. We cannot stand before God by ourselves. We need to stand behind someone else, someone who is incorrupt, who can stand before God on our behalf. That someone is Jesus. And Jesus, the God-Man, is standing before God interceding for us, representing us.
And since we have Jesus standing before God on our behalf, Paul says, let us hold on to our confession. What is that confession? It can be as clear cut and simple as saying “Jesus is Lord.” No one can say that except by the help of the Holy Spirit. Our confession can be stated in various creeds, either the Apostles’ Creed or other affirmations of faith. Paul is telling us to hold on to what the church has received as truth. Jesus is representing us. Let us not forsake him who will never forsake us.
The temptation does come, from time to time, to quit. Life can be a long and weary struggle at times. Sometimes, life becomes a real burden. Prospects don’t look good. We sometimes relate to the psalmist who cried out, “For I was envious of the arrogant; I saw the prosperity of the wicked. All in vain I have kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all day long I have been plagued, and am punished every morning. When I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I perceived their end. When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in my heart, I was stupid and ignorant; I was like a brute beast toward you. Nevertheless I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me with honor. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire other than you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
Yes, living the life of a Christian at times can be a struggle. We can become weary in doing good. We can become frustrated with ourselves, for try as we might, we continue to stumble, we continue to do the things we don’t want to do and fail to do the things that we know we should do. Sometimes, it may seem our Christian journey is similar to wandering around in a wilderness, and the temptation besets us to give up.
But we must hold on to our confession and trust that although life can be weary at times, that there is an end point, the Promised Land of rest. Eventually, we are all going to get there. And when we do, our life will be laid out before God and we will be judged. What will God see?
This thought may cause us to want to give up again. But that would be folly, because right now, the throne of judgment is the throne of grace and mercy. Jesus stands before the throne, and He knows what we are going through. He is sympathetic because He has experienced every temptation that we have and will experience. He’s been there. He knows how tough life can be, and how hard it is. Just because Jesus didn’t sin doesn’t mean it was easy for Him. Being fully human, Jesus knows what it’s like to be human, save sinning. So when Jesus prays for you and me, He prays as one who understands how hard it is. And so Jesus pleads to God on our behalf to have mercy on us. And Jesus, being righteous, offers an effective prayer. God answers that prayer. And God is merciful to us. And Jesus asks God to give us grace so that we can live a righteous life. And God answers that prayer too.
So, we can come before the throne of God, and we should regularly, both in public worship and privately, so that we might receive mercy and grace. Now is the time for us to receive this mercy and grace, so that we can become more righteous, so that we can live a better life, so that we can receive the strength we need to press on for the prize that awaits us. There is no good reason for us to quit in the journey of our life in Christ. God is our refuge and strength. We can receive mercy and find grace to help in our time of need. And we can come before the throne any time we want. Certainly, this is why we come to worship here, to receive God’s mercy and grace. But it doesn’t have to be only in this building that we come before the throne. It is as simple as whispering the prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.”
So, brothers and sisters in Christ, “let us make every effort to enter that rest,” the rest that is the Promised Land. The doors to heaven have been opened to us by Christ Jesus. We are now on our journey through the wilderness, laboring to walk on the narrow path, surrounded by temptation and danger. We are not alone. Jesus never stops praying for us. Trusting that, let us hold on to our confession, and never grow weary in doing good.

But What About Them?

Reflections on Mark 9:38-50

“But what about them?” That’s the question that John asked Jesus, and people in the church have always asked. So and so is ministering in Christ’s name, but he isn’t one of us. Do they have the right? Do they have the authority? Are they leading others astray? Are they competing with us for the same person?
I confess, I’ve been a part of that. I have my own prejudice against certain ministers of whom I question their integrity who are ministering to a lot more people than I am. Perhaps you have done the same thing. It is a subtle form of religious bigotry, to either dismiss or actively undermine others who are ministering in Christ’s name who do not fit with our theology, tradition, or way of doing things.
We have to avoid and abhor this sort of attitude toward other Christians, pastors, and churches who minister in Christ’s name but who don’t belong with us. First of all, to be in ministry at all is a challenging thing. It gets Satan’s attention. The Evil One never stops seeking to undermine and disrupt ministry. Why should we assist the devil by piling on? We need to encourage anyone who is trying to minister to others in the name of Christ, not help the devil by running them down or discouraging them.
We must also avoid this attitude because it does not build up the body of Christ but tears it apart. The hand cannot say to the eye, “I have no need of you.” The church, to be whole and healthy, needs everyone who is seeking to serve God and minister to others. How does dismissing or trying to prevent or undermine the ministry of another person or church help build up the body of Christ?
Finally, we must avoid this attitude because the truth is no one can minister in Christ’s name without the grace of God working through that person. If people are being ministered to, are drawing closer to God and maturing in Christ as the result of someone’s efforts, for us to dismiss or oppose that person is equivalent to opposing God. And that is a losing proposition.
So, when Jesus was confronted with one of his disciples revealing a bigoted attitude toward someone who was ministering in Christ’s name but wasn’t “one of them,” Jesus is very magnanimous by saying, “Whoever is not against us, is for us.” In other words, if a person is not explicitly an enemy of God, then they should be treated as a friend. Jesus does not say this other person is correct in all matters. Jesus is not saying the disciples have to take this person in as “one of their own.” Jesus didn’t say, “Go and be like them or do what they are doing.” Jesus is simply saying, “Leave them be, and be grateful that people are being healed.”
Jesus then goes on to talk about being careful that one does not cause a person who is weak or young in the faith to stumble. Jesus refocuses the disciples’ judging spirit in a different direction, not on “others,” but on themselves. And Jesus makes it very clear, as we saw last week, that He takes very seriously the care of those who are young, or vulnerable. Like last week, Jesus said that when you welcome a little child, you welcome Him, and the One who sent Him. This week, Jesus says that a person that causes a little one to stumble should desire to have a millstone tied around their neck and be thrown into the sea, because what God is going to do to that person is much worse than that. This should get the attention of all of us. Jesus makes it very clear, He is less concerned about who is authorized to minister in His name and more concerned that people who are weak in faith do not lose their faith.
And one way people who are not grounded in their faith can lose their faith is when they see disciples, committed Christians, casting aspersions on other Christians. Divisiveness is a scandal. A new Christian is not going to understand all the nuances of doctrinal differences and reasons why some Christians do things this way and some another way. They aren’t going to know why there are all these different denominations or ways churches are organized. What they see is that Christ changes lives through people. And if they see someone, or some church, where people are coming to Christ, a new Christian is not going to get hung up over that, but are going to naturally give thanks to God. But when they see other Christians run down or dismiss another church or another person just because they aren’t “one of us”, that causes the new Christian to be confused. “How can this person or this church be wrong if people are coming to Christ?” And that confusion may cause someone new in the faith to lose their faith. And when that happens, where will God’s anger be directed?
A healthy community safe for those who are weak or new in faith is a community where there is love and charity for all, and where there is a spirit of support and encouragement for the ministry of other churches. A healthy community is one that is secure in its own identity, heritage, traditions, and understandings of God, and feels no need to run down other churches in order to feel secure about itself. A healthy community is one that appreciates and celebrates the church of Christ that is diverse, and yet united by one Spirit, one Creed, one Eucharist. A healthy community can say about others, “Yes, we are not a part of that church, they are not one of us, we have our ways, they have theirs, but we are all ministering in the name of Christ, and God is working through them like God is working through us. Glory to God!” This is a healthy attitude that Christ desires for His Church.
For those within the church who do not hold this attitude and try to infect a community of faith with a spirit of divisiveness and religious bigotry, Jesus instructs: “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off, for it is better to enter the kingdom maimed than have both hands and go to eternal punishment.” This is a teaching about internal discipline. We are not to judge others who are not a part of our fellowship, but we must hold each other accountable and cut off those who would seek to poison our fellowship, not out of hatred or animosity, but for the sake of the community, and especially for those who are weak in faith.
Consider, you discover that one of your eyes is diseased. To keep that diseased eye in your body would lead you to a painful death. But to have that diseased eye removed would allow you to live well for many more years. Although it is painful and not a pleasing thing to do, because you would want both of your eyes, but for the sake of your whole body, you must have the diseased eye removed. It is of this spirit that we watch over one another in love and, if need be, cut off those among us who are harming the whole body. What a difficult thing. It is an action that requires much discernment and hesitancy. By God’s grace let it never be. But Christ is clear. A healthy community is critical for the protection of those who are weak in faith. Rigorous internal discipline must be there, and we all must make every effort to build one another up.
It is a difficult struggle. God knows this. And it is a battle to maintain a healthy community of faith because the Adversary never tires in disrupting our fellowship. God is gracious, and full of mercy. God can heal every wound if we turn to Him in repentance and humility. May the Holy Spirit continue to work among us and within our hearts, that we might grow in our love for God, and for all whom God loves, that there would be increasingly among us a spirit of unity in the bond of peace, for the sake of the least of these and for the glory of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.