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       Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because the LORD had descended upon it in fire; the smoke went up like the smoke of a kiln, while the whole mountain shook violently. As the blast of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses would speak and God would answer him in thunder. When the LORD descended upon Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain, the LORD summoned Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people not to break through to the LORD to look; otherwise many of them will perish. Even the priests who approach the LORD must consecrate themselves or the LORD will break out against them.” Exodus 19:16-22

       The first time Moses met God on a mountain, God revealed Himself in a burning bush. Moses could only see God’s backside. When asked for a name, God said only an obtuse “I Am.” Now today, at the foot of the mountain where Moses would soon receive the commandments, God appears only in smoke, thunder and lightning.  What do we make of that?

      Through the years I have heard the hard questions of the faith. Things like, “What happens to babies who die without being baptized?” “Do you have to be baptized to be included in God’s kingdom?” “What will God do to Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims at the last day?”

      Often in the face of such questions, Martin Luther would return to these scenes of Moses’ encounters with God. The Moses who only saw God’s backside, not God’s fullness. Luther would remind us that God only reveals things on His own terms, in His own time. God reveals what we need to know; what we want to know often remains shrouded in mystery. Why?

       Because we are to live and walk by faith, not by sight. We live by trusting in the goodness and the graciousness of God. We trust in Jesus, the God whom we can see, who reveals the essential love of the God whom we cannot see. But that often isn’t good enough for us.

      If you have time, read the rest of the story of Moses on Mount Sinai. After you are reminded of the prominence of the Ten Commandments, skim quickly through the next chapters until you get to the 32^nd chapter. After hearing this long account of God’s conversation with Moses on the mountain, the 32^nd chapter will amaze you when you see what has been going on back at the ranch.

      Aaron and the folks have made themselves a god. They have melted the jewelry which they had received from the Egyptians and have fashioned themselves a golden calf. They made their own god – one they could see and touch and control and take credit for. Impatient at the God whom they could not see, they settled for one of their own making.

      Which God do you want to follow? The God whom you cannot see but can only trust, or the quick fix gods of our own making?

     We can be so restless and impatient. We don’t like to wait – we want answers and action and certainty. We want goodies more than goodness. Jesus tells us to let Him be God for there is no other, to resist the temptation to give answers to questions we cannot possibly know.  And to simply embrace the mysteries of life and walk by faith.  To stick with what we know and give to God the things we do not.  No easy task, to be sure. But a necessary one indeed.

Blessings, Pastor Chris

Once again, the office has had computer issues. Don’t worry, they are solved.  But it reminded me of the horror and hardship reliance on modern technology can bring us when it fails.   Trying to piece things back together on one’s computer.  The cost of installing a new hard drive isn’t measured in dollars but in the loss of data.

Reliance on automatic backup systems can prove disastrous.   As I’ve learned in the past, sometimes our data is being backed up but it the software programs we use to create the data are not.  And, evidently, what I think is really valuable data – like all of the photographs and lesson plans – weren’t valuable enough to be included in the backup process.  Undoubtedly, that is a user error.  I must not have clicked something that I otherwise should have clicked to be backing everything up.

There have been times when I have lost everything on my computer.  It simply vanished into that great vacuum of data in the sky. Poof.  All gone.  I don’t wish this on anyone.  And thankfully, it has not happened to us in a long time.  So you may be wondering why I’m even bringing it up.  Well, it’s because I think I see the message I need to be seeing this season of Pentecost.

The “system” killed Jesus.  The hard drive of the worldly powers that be – the church, the government and the crowd – thought that Jesus was a virus come to wreak havoc on the whole.  He needed to be erased to keep the system going.  But in fact Jesus wasn’t a virus but an entirely different operating system. the original operating system.

Every day we think our  computers are running just  fine, maybe a little slow but basically  functioning as well as we need them to function.  Then suddenly, we come to find out that we were wrong.  It was on its last legs.  Then we have to get a brand new hard drive and  start many things over again.  Some of what we had still remains.  Some seems gone for now.  But clearly, although there are adjustments to be made, we will soon be in a better place today than we were yesterday.

That is my hope for our Sundays after Pentecost.  I pray that somehow we might come to know that the systems that control our lives are not foolproof.  And we aren’t either.  And sometimes something has to crash before things get better.  I pray that the right things crash in your life that there might be room for something brand new to be born in you by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Blessings, Pastor Chris

Download the full August 2010 Newsletter.

Lent is long since gone, as are most likely all our Lenten disciplines.  When we fully engage in the disciplines of Lent hopefully they become not just Lenten disciplines but every day disciplines– integrated into our living spirituality.

Out of the blue, I have been struck by the depth and power of confession.

Confession is simply getting honest.  With yourself.  With God.  With others.

            Radical honesty is a hallmark of the Christian lifestyle. Followers of Jesus do not have time for pretending, posturing or spin control. Our lives, not just during Lent, are to be continual honest reflection, repentance and rebirth.  Incorporating this aspect into our daily lives means making a radical commitment to honesty.

Jesus tells those listening to Him in the 8th chapter of John that if they continue to ground themselves in the word – that is, the truth of the scriptures revealed in the teaching of Jesus – they would know the truth and the truth would set them free.

Note that Jesus is speaking here to people who already believed in Him. He is talking to folks who claim to be on His side. But watch their reaction!

They immediately get defensive: “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?”

Sometimes we mindlessly get defensive at the slightest suggestion we have done something wrong. Harboring an inner suspicion of our own lack of value or worth, we bristle when anyone points out a real or perceived error on our part. Sometimes we get defensive because we feel the need to defend ourselves from attack. And sometimes we get defensive because we have something to hide. Which is it here?

Clearly they are being dishonest with themselves. They claim they are already free. What could possibly be further from the truth? Politically, they are vassals of an occupying Roman army. Socially, they are subject to the intense rules and regulations about dietary customs and social interactions of the Mosaic law. Their religious devotion binds them, it doesn’t free them.

If you skip ahead to verse 59 you will see their ultimate reaction to having heard Jesus expose the truth about their lives – they pick up stones to throw at him but he escapes and leaves the temple!

There’s an old line – “The truth will make you free but first it will make you miserable.”  How true it is! Yet if we try to escape the hard work of radical truthfulness, we miss the joy of real freedom.

Dishonesty takes many forms. Little white lies… spinning the truth around a little… shading what we say to protect ourselves, to make ourselves look better, to hide parts of our being or behaviors… stealing… ignoring that which our heart tells us is true – all of these are aspects of dishonesty. It is insidious. It sucks the integrity from our lives. It hollows out our souls.

When we realize the hole that dishonesty has dug in our lives we might need help to get honest again. We could very well need a circle of people who hold us accountable for truth seeking and truth speaking. Those people might be those closest to us. They certainly need to be people we trust.

Together with those we trust and our own radical commitment to be completely, ruthlessly and utterly honest, we can move into a new way of being. We CAN know the truth and that truth CAN set us free.

This July 4^th let us not only celebrate our country’s freedom, but our freedom in Christ as well.

Blessings,

Pastor Chris

Sonora Smart Dodd was listening to a Mother’s Day sermon in 1909 at the Central Methodist Episcopal Church.  She wanted a celebration that honored fathers that were like her own father, William Smart. He was a Civil War veteran, who, upon his wife’s death when Sonora was 16, worked and took care of all six children by himself.

She had enlisted the help of the Spokane Ministerial association, which gave the young members of the YMCA roses to wear to– a red rose to honor a living father, and a white rose to honor a deceased one. Dodd travelled through the city in a closed carriage, carrying gifts to shut-in fathers. She was the first to solicit the idea of having an official Father’s Day observance.

It took many years to make the holiday official. In spite of support from the YWCA, the YMCA and churches, it ran the risk of disappearing from the calendar. Where Mother’s Day was met with enthusiasm, Father’s Day was met with laughter. The holiday was gathering attention slowly, but for the wrong reasons. It was the target of much satire, parody and derision, including jokes from the local newspaper. Many people saw it as just the first step in filling the calendar with mindless promotions like “Grandparents’ Day”, “Professional Secretaries’ Day”, etc., all the way down to “National Clean Your Desk Day.”

A bill was introduced in 1913. In 1916 President Woodrow Wilson went to Spokane to speak in a Father’s Day celebration and wanted to make it official, but the Congress resisted, fearing that it would be commercialized. US President Calvin Coolidge recommended in 1924 that the celebration was held, and a national committee was formed in the 1930s by trade groups in order to legitimize the holiday. Two other bills to introduce the holiday were defeated. In 1957, Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith wrote a proposal accusing the congress of ignoring fathers for 40 years while honoring mothers, thus “[singling] out just one of our own parents” In 1966 President Lyndon Johnson made a proclamation for third Sunday of June to be Father’s Day, but it wasn’t made an official national holiday until President Nixon made a proclamation in 1972.

            WOW!  I find it disheartening to think that folks would actually belittle other folks for wanting to give men equal time and praise when it comes to parenting.  Fathers may often be relegated a secondary role in children’s lives, but they are equally important. And their presence, as well as their absence, is felt in powerful and lasting ways.  While Father’s Day may have been created out of a sense of equality rather than a sense of gratitude, it is important that we honor them, and their role in the formation of our lives and our Christian faith.  Listen to King Solomon’s words to his son.

“When I was a boy in my father’s house, still tender and an only child of my mother, he taught me and said, “Lay hold of my words with all your heart: keep my commands and you will live. Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or swerve from them.  Do not forsake wisdom, she will protect you; love her and she will watch over you..Listen my son, accept what I say and the years of your life will be many. I guide you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths.  When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; when you run you will not stumble….My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. Do not let them out of your sight.  Keep them within your heart…for they are life to those who find them and health to a man’s whole body.  Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Per away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.”  Proverbs 4:3-27

Happy Father’s Day!

Blessings,
Pastor Chris

            WOW!  I find it disheartening to think that folks would actually belittle other folks for wanting to give men equal time and praise when it comes to parenting.  Fathers may often be relegated a secondary role in children’s lives, but they are equally important. And their presence, as well as their absence, is felt in powerful and lasting ways.  While Father’s Day may have been created out of a sense of equality rather than a sense of gratitude, it is important that we honor them, and their role in the formation of our lives and our Christian faith.  Listen to King Solomon’s words to his son.

“When I was a boy in my father’s house, still tender and an only child of my mother, he taught me and said, “Lay hold of my words with all your heart: keep my commands and you will live. Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or swerve from them.  Do not forsake wisdom, she will protect you; love her and she will watch over you..Listen my son, accept what I say and the years of your life will be many. I guide you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths.  When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; when you run you will not stumble….My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. Do not let them out of your sight.  Keep them within your heart…for they are life to those who find them and health to a man’s whole body.  Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Per away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.”  Proverbs 4:3-27

Happy Father’s Day!

Blessings,
Pastor Chris

In sports they call it “mailing it in.” “Mailing it in” is what happens when very gifted athletes don’t try very hard. They don’t play their best. They just show up and expect that good enough will be good enough. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it isn’t. The fans are never satisfied when the best players mail it in.

There is a subtle difference between fate and destiny. “Fate” is rooted in a deterministic way of looking at life. Everything that happened was preordained to happen and there is nothing that anyone can do to change it. Oedipus was consigned to fate; he had no choice in the matter. It was inevitable that he would kill his father and end up blind. Many Christians misunderstand “God’s will” or “God’s plan” in a fatalistic manner.

The trouble with that (among many other troubles with that) is that it can lead Christians to “mail in” their spiritual lives. We can listen to verses like these from Isaiah and conclude that it doesn’t matter much what we do. “God’s thoughts are higher than ours” so what point is there in trying to discern God’s will for our lives, at this point in time, with the future wide open before us?

These verses tell us to trust in God’s Word – that it won’t return empty but will “succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” Taking that too far, thinking fatalistically, leads to mailing it in. Who cares if a Christian listens to God’s Word or not, if everything is already “in the cards”? Why ought a pastor pour time, energy and passion in preaching the absolute best sermon they can on any given Sunday if all that is needed is just showing up, mailing it in? Just let the Word do its work. Yuck.

Destiny is a little different than fate. Destiny is rooted in relationship. Destiny says that we have been gifted with distinctive gifts and that our lives are about discovering and living out those gifts. Life is going somewhere and our task is to discern where and do our best to get on board. From a Christian point of view, our ultimate destiny, our final destination, is life with God – but this isn’t a “sweet by and by” destination, it is a destination we taste today that will be fulfilled in eternity.

So – yes, God’s thoughts and ways are higher than ours, but God invites us to call upon, seek direction from, and listen to Him. And yes, God’s Word will accomplish what it will, but we are players in God’s working all of that out. We are players, not pawns, real people, not robots.  God’s work – our hands.

“Mailing in” the Christian faith is not good enough. It isn’t good enough for us, it falls short of the good God intends for us. But more importantly, it isn’t good enough for the world around us. We can’t just throw our arms up in the air, call everything “God’s plan” and fail to show up for our neighbor. Instead, trusting in God’s ultimate goodness, day after day, we are called to do the absolute best we can at whatever we do, for the good of the world. We’re called to play to win, in the best sense of that word.

And so in this Easter season we thank God for the promises He speaks anew to us. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.  Jesus proclaims to us that, although God will always be a mystery to us, He still draws near to us in ways that help and guide us. The empty tomb reminds us that we can trust God’s holy Word and know that it carries God’s loving intentions for our lives. The scars on Jesus’ hands, feet, and side propel us to give our best as we live out our destiny to love and serve God and all God’s children. Amen.

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