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8/6/15

Part Two: Jesus, Bread of Life

Picking up from last week, we see what Jesus was doing in His body so that we might learn how to "be for the world the body of Christ."

“Your Spirit anointed him
 to preach good news to the poor,
to proclaim release to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
and to announce that the time had come
when you would save your people.
He healed the sick, fed the hungry, and ate with sinners."
From the "A Service of Word and Table I," The United Methodist Hymnal, Copyright 1989, The United Methodist Publishing House, p. 9. Used by permission.

This week we will look at the first one: "Preach good news to the poor."

There are at least two troublesome terms in this deceptively simple description of the practice of Jesus. The first is the word "preach." We in "church world" have often assumed that "preaching" equals "give a sermon in church," and so some of us have limited the intended activity here to folks we call "preachers" or "pastors" or "professional Christian leaders" and its timing and place to "the worship hour" on Sunday morning, or maybe to evangelistic crusades and other "extramural" evangelistic modalities (such as radio, television and the internet). But the biblical term behind this word has almost nothing to do with sermons or churches or worship for that matter. The word is "proclaim" or "announce" or "herald the message." It means "get the word out," plain and simple. It's a directive for the whole body of Christ, and primarily in its mission in and to the world.

Which brings us to the second troublesome term: "poor." In some Christian circles, this term often gets translated "lost" or "poor in spirit" (importing Matthew's version of the Sermon on the Mount into Luke's quote from Isaiah), and the whole action thus gets translated something along the lines of "proselytize people who aren't yet Christians like us."

Put the two "church world" readings together, and it looks like televangelists may have the corner on the market. But if we remember these words from their original languages and context in the ministries of Isaiah and Jesus, we get something much different and so much simpler that we all can do it. Make sure that poor people are getting good news from us. We all can do it, but let's think together about how, specifically, we might do it better as the "body of Christ."

"Make sure that poor people are getting good news from us!" What kinds of messages and realities would constitute "good news" for poor people? It's not just food and clothing pantries, or places where folks can get financial help for past due bills, although all of these are indispensable. In my experience in working with community service, the top two pieces of good news poor folks could receive would be about access and connections.

"Access" means jobs that can help them and their families get out of poverty, safe, reliable child care, medical care, and legal help that actually helps, and schools that help their kids perform well. Every single one of these is a real challenge for poor people in the United States.

"Connections" means real, personal relationships with people who are not stuck in poverty and who will stick with them as close or closer than those who are.

Programs that help provide access are a start -- although, frankly, what we need at a community level in most places are not more programs, but better resourcing for and coordination among existing ones.

But programs are not enough. It is ultimately personal connections that see people through and beyond poverty for themselves and their families. If we're serious about being sure that people are hearing good news from us, we'll find ways not only to advocate for social change and fund and improve programs, but also to be personally involved and connected reliably and over time with the lives of people who are poor.

But as we seek those personal relationships, we must be diligent not to do what so many "program solutions" do -- reinforce what those who are poor do not have or cannot do. I don't know of anyone who finds a recitation of personal limitations and deficits to be good news or empowering in any way. Yet that is exactly what so many programs require. People have to prove in writing that they're deeply lacking before any help is given at all.

We have better news -- much better news. God draws near to the poor and blesses them abundantly. We mustn't only say that to folks -- that's no better than to say, "Be warmed and filled." Instead we can come with appreciative questions that help others realize, name, and build on the abundant blessing, the deep giftedness, they have received. And we can believe in these people and their gifts because we have first believed the good news that Jesus proclaimed in the very first beatitude: "Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God."

To proclaim release to the captives.
In the original context of this prophecy in Isaiah, the captives were the people of Judah taken from their homeland and forced into exile in Babylon. "Release to the captives" meant something palpable -- a homecoming for exiles and prisoners of war. Isaiah's prophecy was fulfilled in his day when Cyrus, the leader of the conquering Persian Empire, made it possible for many to return to their homeland. In the time of Jesus, many in Judea continued to experience their entire nation being in captivity to the Roman government, and before that to the Greeks, Seleucids and Persians. When Jesus declared that this prophecy is now fulfilled in their hearing, while some may have interpreted it broadly to mean deliverance from spiritual or other forms of captivity, others may have been looking to Jesus as the Cyrus for that day.

But the message of Jesus about deliverance from captivity was not about earthly political regime change. The signs Jesus pointed to for God's deliverance were signs of a Lebanese woman being provided for in the midst of famine, and a Syrian army commander being healed from leprosy, both through Jewish prophets. In this context, deliverance from captivity appears to be much more about intentional initiatives to love and care for enemies -- much like the prophet Jeremiah's admonition to work for the welfare of the Babylonian cities in which the exiles of Judah would find themselves. If enemies become the object of love and care, captivity loses its power.

In his book with Stanley Hauerwas, Resident Aliens, Bishop William Willimon describes a conversation he had with students at Duke University about what a Christian response toward the people of Libya might have been at the time that President Reagan decided to bomb Muamar al Q'adafi's palace. He wrote:

"A Christian response might be that tomorrow morning the United Methodist Church announces that it is sending a thousand missionaries to Libya. We have discovered that it is a fertile field for the gospel. We know how to send missionaries. Here is at least a traditional Christian response."

"You can't do that," said my adversary.

"Why?" I asked. "You tell me why."

"Because it's illegal to travel in Libya. President Reagan will not give you a visa to go there."

"No! That's not right," I said. "I'll admit that we can't go to Libya, but not because of President Reagan. We can't go there because we no longer have a church that produces people who can do something this bold. But we once did."
(From Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989, p. 48).

How, then, practically might we embody what we pray at Eucharist, become the body of Christ that is bold enough to proclaim release to the captives? Certainly ministries of compassion to prisoners of all sorts are in view, as Wesley rightly required of the leadership in the Methodist Societies. But even more to the point will be for us, as congregations and as Christian denominations and systems, to begin to be clear about who our enemies are and offer multiple paths for ensuring that we are extending intentional care toward them. Currently, apart from groups like Christian Peacemaker Teams, I know of few examples of this kind of thinking or practice.

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8/1/15

Part One: Jesus, Bread of Life
Since our sermons for the next four weeks will be focusing on the 6th chapter of John, where we hear so much about the bread of life, I thought I would share a recent article entitled Discipleship Ministries of the United Methodist Church. 

From the Table into the World
In the United Methodist Church, the ritual of Holy Communion is a sacrifice in the form of an embodied prayer offered by the people gathered with and through the leadership of their appointed or ordained presider. In this sacrifice we offer thanksgiving for God's works of salvation in history, join the heavenly chorus always offering thanksgiving and praise, bless God for the life and ministry of Jesus, recall his institution of the sacrifice we now offer, and seek the Holy Spirit's blessing to fulfill the sacrifice -- that we and the gifts of bread and wine may be transformed into the living body of Christ.

"Be careful what you pray" is a common admonition. Usually it is offered as a warning that receiving what we're seeking may bring unexpected and perhaps unfortunate consequences. Here, I turn the admonition into an imperative. Be. Careful. What. You. Pray! Take the necessary care so that what you ask becomes something you, and those who offer this sacrifice with you, may live up to and experience fully.

In the language of the epiclesis in the ritual of the United Methodist Church, what we pray is:
"Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here,
and on these gifts of bread and wine.
Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ,
that we may be for the world the body of Christ,
redeemed by his blood.
By your Spirit make us one with Christ,
one with each other,
and one in ministry to all the world,
until Christ comes in final victory
and we feast at his heavenly banquet."
From the "A Service of Word and Table I," The United Methodist Hymnal, Copyright 1989, The United Methodist Publishing House, p. 10. Used by permission.

Some of what we ask, only the Spirit can do. Only the Spirit can transform bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, and only the Spirit can make that transformation effective in our lives. But part of what we seek here is something we have to do ourselves. While we gratefully seek the Spirit's empowerment to be one with Christ, ultimately it is up to us to work out how we will be "one with each other and one in ministry to all the world." And it is up to us actually to "be for the world the body of Christ."

We have not "become for the world the body of Christ" if the only thing we have done is to have asked the Holy Spirit to make it so. That would be no more than perhaps a lovely wish. To move from wish to reality requires us to establish and maintain relationships, systems, structures, and sometimes institutions whose purpose is to be, build, enable, and expand such "embodiment." Good intentions do not fulfill this sacrifice -- lots of good works do.

But what good works? What kinds of good works help us "be for the world the body of Christ?"

If we are "careful what we pray for," we might notice that the prayer we offer already tells us what Jesus himself was doing in his body. After singing the Sanctus, we bless God for Jesus' ministry in words drawn from Isaiah and Luke:
"Your Spirit anointed him
to preach good news to the poor,
to proclaim release to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
and to announce that the time had come
when you would save your people.
He healed the sick, fed the hungry, and ate with sinners."
 From the "A Service of Word and Table I," The United Methodist Hymnal, Copyright 1989, The United Methodist Publishing House, p. 9. Used by permission.

Let's tick these off, one by one, to explore what "being the body of Christ" might mean for us now.

Over the next three weeks, I will share the rest of this article that goes deeper into each of the six things Jesus was anointed to do, and how we might "be for the world the body of Christ?"

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7/1/15

The month of June here in the United States of America gave Christians many opportunities to step back and consider their faith. Many of us are questioning how to live out that faith when society challenges what we believe. I want to offer a few thoughts on living in a changing society.

Many of us here at First UMC, Sealy, have been born into a unique season in history in which our culture is moving from a Christian culture to a post-Christian culture before our eyes. Whatever you think about history, theology or exactly when this shift happened, it’s clear for all of us that the world into which we were born no longer exists. But is that really such a big deal? For most of the last 2000 years, the authentic church has been counter-cultural. The church was certainly counter-cultural in the first century. Historically, being counter-cultural helps the church more than hurts it. We’re at our best when we offer an alternative, not just a reflection of a diluted spirituality.

Researchers agree that most people in the USA are post-Christian, and the question I have is, why would we expect non-Christians to behave like Christians? Why would we expect people who don’t profess to be Christians to:

• Treat everyone like they are a precious creation, created in the image of God?
  
• Wait until marriage to have sex?
  
• Clean up their language?
  
• Be faithful to one person for life?
  
• Pass laws like the entire nation was Christian?
  

Seriously? Why? Most people today are not pretending to be Christians. So why would they adopt Christian values or morals? Now you know that I believe when you follow biblical teachings about how to live life, your life simply goes better. It just does. I one-hundred-percent believe that, and I do everything I personally can to align my life with the teachings of scripture, and I’m passionate about helping every follower of Christ do the same. But, what’s the logic behind judging people who don’t follow Jesus for behaving like people who don’t follow Jesus?

What does this say to those of us who profess to be Christians? What about us, those that want to follow Christ? Well, Paul said you could follow him because he followed Christ, and the Apostle Paul appeared before government officials regularly. Not once did he ask them to change the laws of the land. He did, however, invite government officials to have Jesus personally change them. Paul constantly suffered at the hands of the authorities, ultimately dying under their power, but like Jesus, didn’t look to them for change. Rather than asking the government to release him from prison, he wrote letters from prison talking about the love of Jesus Christ. Instead of looking to the government for help, Paul and Jesus looked to God. Maybe as we follow Jesus and Paul, we will be more like the early church, rising early, before dawn, to pray, to encourage, to break bread. Maybe we will treat others with self-giving love, and even offer our lives in place of theirs. That might just touch off a revolution like it did two millennia ago.

One thing I do know, is that Jesus died for those who do not consider themselves Christians. Yes, Jesus died for the world because he loves it. Judgment is a terrible evangelism strategy. People don’t line up to be judged. If you want to keep being ineffective at reaching unchurched people, keep judging them. Judging outsiders is un-Christian. Paul told us to stop judging people outside the church. Jesus said God will judge us by the same standard with which we judge others. Paul also reminds us to drop the uppity-attitude; that none of us were saved by the good we did but by grace. Take a deep breath. You were saved by grace. Your sins are simply different than many others. And honestly, in many respects, they are the same. People don’t line up to be judged ... but they might line up to be loved. So love people. Especially the people with whom you disagree.

I think there’s more hope than there is despair for the future. The radical ethic of grace and truth found in Jesus is more desperately needed in our world today than ever before. Is the path crystal clear? No. But rather than being a set-back, perhaps this can move the church yet another step closer to realizing its true mission.

So here is what I want you to do… please spend at least as much time praying for the situations in our country and for people you know who have been hurt by them as you do commenting on them. Maybe spend more time praying, actually. That’s what we all really need. And that’s what will move the mission of the church forward.

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5/6/15
Dr. Steve Harper is a Texas native who has been a youth minister, evangelist, pastor, professor, and seminary administrator. Harper is the author of Five Marks of a Methodist. His Five marks include; 1. A Methodist Loves God, 2. A Methodist Rejoices in God, 3. A Methodist Gives Thanks, 4. A Methodist Prays Constantly, 5. A Methodist Loves Others. I love his new article for ministrymatters.com on Holy Experimentation so I thought I would share it with you this month.

HOLY EXPERIMENTATION By Steve Harper
April 2, 2015 

Years ago, I heard Richard Foster say that prayer is to the spiritual life what experimentation is to science. In early Christianity, the monastic communities understood this, and they practiced prayer in an “ask, seek, knock” spirit. We have come to call this kind of praying discernment.

As schools of love, the early Christian communities knew that the principle of love had to be applied, and that it could be done in a variety of ways. So, prayer became the means for deciding what the life of love would look like in a particular location. As one community gave birth to others, these expressions became a rule which gave the quality of common life to the larger fellowship without eliminating the necessity of specification.

Holy experimentation was born in a realization that there is no one-size-fits-all pattern to the Christian spiritual life. It was practiced in a spirit of humility that acknowledged there was no guru who could know in advance of praying what the life of love would look like in every detail. And it was a discernment process which left open the likelihood that even good decisions would need further refinement, including the confession of error and the requisite amendments that get individuals and communities back on track.

We need holy experimentation in our prayer life today as much as ever. We are too much given over to having to get something “right,” which only forces a perfectionism on discernment that is too heavy to bear. The way of love calls for a recovery of purity of intention, which includes the honoring of desire to glorify God while acknowledging that such glorification will always be a work in progress.

This kind of praying is liberating, and in such liberation we always make better decisions than when we feel we must be “right” from the outset. That only puts undue pressure on us, and it erodes our ability to confess where we got it wrong and our need to do further work. Holy experimentation creates a team of respectful colleagues, not camps of resentful competitors. And in that atmosphere, the way of love survives and thrives.

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4/1/15
WHY REJOICE? WHAT DOES EASTER MEAN?  
This Sunday, the Feast of the Resurrection of the Lord, is the Day of Days to celebrate the resurrection of Christ as fully and powerfully as you can. Rejoice with the church throughout the world that Christ is risen, as he said. Rejoice with the newly baptized that they are reborn in him and raised to walk in newness of life. Rejoice at the work of the Spirit who gives life to your mortal bodies and who clothes us with immortality, so that we, too, will be raised with all the saints in the New Creation. Rejoice in the Entrance. Rejoice in the Word. Rejoice around the Lord's Table. Rejoice to be sent into the world to proclaim the Risen Lord. Rejoice! 

Easter is not a day. Easter, or Eastertide, is a season. It lasts from Easter Sunday until the Day of Pentecost, which occurs 50 days after Easter. The season was originally developed as a time for teaching the mysteries of the faith to the newly baptized and to help fledgling Christians to begin discerning their spiritual gifts and offer them through ministries. During Eastertide, we will read several stories of how the resurrected Christ appeared to a number of different people and how those people responded.

The Resurrection is not only about the risen body of Jesus, but also about the resurrection of our lives. As we move more deeply into this season and consider the first story of Jesus’ post-death appearance to his disciples, I want to push past the general and encourage you over the fifty days of Eastertide to explore the resurrection of Jesus Christ in particular, especially in terms of what it means for believers and their ongoing life in Christ.

Christians believe Jesus came to this earth to deliver a message from God that is so true that it applies for all time and is relevant for all people. It is, for us, an eternal message.

And what is this message from God that Jesus Christ came to share? Simply that God loves us.
• God does not want to punish people, but to be reconciled with them.
• God does not want to hurt people, but to heal them.
• God does not want to pass judgment upon people, but to give them grace. 

The amazing good news is God is still sending Jesus to show us we are forgiven people who are acceptable to God. The good news is that because of the grace shown in Jesus Christ, we are acceptable to God beyond our wildest imaginations. We are acceptable, warts and all, with all our failures, mistakes, even intentional acts of harm that we inflict upon others. Nothing we can ever do will separate us from God’s love shown in Jesus Christ. Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.