A Word from Pastor Terry

April Word
-- Posted by Chuck on Wednesday, April 2 2008
How to live in relationship with God?

The entire Bible, from start to finish, can be read as a cosmic narrative or divine drama, telling the stories of God’s efforts—and humanity’s responses—to teach and show us what it means to live in relationship with our Creator. From the idealistic beginnings pictured in the Garden of Eden in the opening of the Bible, to the dramatic events and promises of things to come in the last book of the Bible, it sketches a tale that is awesome in its scope and understanding of the human condition.

The close relationship between humanity and God, illustrated so beautifully by the intimate picture of God walking in the Garden with the man and woman, rested on a couple of simple things. These were “boundaries” or limits placed on humanity by God (“…but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat…”). These were not arbitrary, but essential to maintaining the original, innocent relationship that existed. When humanity reached beyond the limits of this kind of relationship with God, the Divine Drama truly began!!

Cast out of the Garden, and no longer in the original type of relationship with God, humanity wasted no time in figuring out all the many and various ways in which it was possible to damage or destroy relationships with fellow humankind (and continue to damage the relationship with God). You know the saying, “There is nothing new under the sun…” Well, when it comes to sin (i.e. messing up relationships with God and each other), humanity had it all figured out a long time ago!

Onto this stage (“The whole world is a stage…”), God sends Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, and puts into motion events that will lead a people being “set apart” as belonging to Him. Through Moses, God leads these people (now called “the Israelites”) out of slavery in Egypt, through forty years of wandering in the wilderness (learning lessons all the way), and into a land called the “Promised Land.” And all this is just a brief synopsis of the first book of the Bible, Genesis!

As the story continues, we learn that God is not setting apart a special people to be His own to the exclusion or detriment of the rest of humanity. This “People of Israel” are to be shaped and refined and molded by God so that they can show the rest of the world what it means to live in a right relationship with God! They are to show the way, to be a light to the nations. Much of what we refer to as the “Old Testament” tells these stories… stories of David and Solomon, Goliath and Samson, Joshua, Gideon, and a cast of thousands! These are not stories of perfect people living perfect lives as our examples to follow. These are very honest, real, unvarnished stories of imperfect humans trying to live in relationship with God. Early on in the story, God had given the Children of Israel a guide to follow. We call it the “Ten Commandments,” and they are simply the way we are to live in relationship with God AND with each other!

The Ten Commandments
I Thou shalt have no other gods.
II Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord, thy God, in vain.
III Thou shalt sanctify the holy-day.
IV Thou shalt honor thy father and thy mother.
V Thou shalt not murder.
VI Thou shalt not commit adultery.
VII Thou shalt not steal.
VIII Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
IX Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house.
X Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his cattle, nor anything that is his.

But, things didn’t get any better. Sometimes Israel followed the Ten Commandments, more often not. God sent special messengers, called prophets, to warn them and bring them back to the right ways of living in relationship with God and humanity--- and quite often, these very messengers from God ended up dead at the hands of the people. Sometimes God allowed other nations to subdue Israel for a time, in punishment and chastisement designed to lead the people back into proper relationship. But, by the end of the “Old Testament” part of our Bible, things weren’t much better than they had been all along.

Finally, about 2,000 years ago, the plot of the Divine Drama narrows down to focus on a man from Nazareth, of Galilee, called Jesus. His ministry only lasted three years (he was about 33 years old when he died). But this Jesus was the Son of God—fully human, but related to God in an incredibly intimate way…and his purpose was to restore the damaged and broken relationships between God, his Father, and humanity. Jesus would also show the way to heal the perverted, spoiled relationships between humans themselves. First of all, he summed up the Ten Commandments into two simple statements…1. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and 2. Love your neighbor as yourself. It doesn’t get much more clear and simple than that. But humanity was not capable even of these two things. So instead of “rules,” Jesus showed us a “way”—the Way of Forgiveness. He demonstrated this Way of Forgiveness in his life… indeed, he demonstrated this Way of Forgiveness with his very life on the day we call Good Friday. And it was a “Good” day for us that Friday 2,000 years ago. Jesus solved our relationship problem with God, his Father, by giving us his own relationship with God (check out II Corinthians 5:21)! We now stand forgiven before God – not perfect, but forgiven. And we are now able to give that same forgiveness to others… in other words, humanity’s relationship with God is now based on forgiveness given to us in Jesus, and our relationships with each other are now based on the forgiveness given to us in Jesus, as well!

Easter Sunday, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, is God’s affirmation of the Way of Forgiveness as the way to be in relationship with him and with the rest of humanity. We are Easter people, learning the Way of Forgiveness for ourselves, and for each other.

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Edition: May 2007 Word
Writen by: Pastor_Terry
Posting Date: Monday, April 30 2007

Every month a multitude of newsletters, flyers and magazines from a variety of organizations cross my desk. Most receive a quick "once over" glance, in order to see if anything jumps out as unusual or important, then are gently consigned to the circular file from whence there is no return. Recently, however, one had an article that caught my attention, as it called for its members to bring only the best of themselves to their gatherings. I was intrigued, but also had reservations, as I thought about this simple statement. What would church be like if all of us committed to bring only the best of ourselves to all of our gatherings?

The idea was intriguing, as it would mean NOT bringing complaining, gossip, backbiting, foul moods, etc., to any of our gatherings. It would mean we would come ready to worship God and serve our neighbors in the Name of Christ, to learn and share and grow as Christ-followers. It would mean "doing" I Corinthians 13! (You know, "Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends." All that stuff!). As intriguing as the idea was, my reservations had to do with the apparent corollary that if I was not having a good day (or week, or year) I should just "suck it up" and put on a mask, not showing my hurts or weaknesses or struggles to others. We already do this in so many areas of our lives, and there is a real temptation to do this at our church gatherings. This does not seem like a very "genuine" and Christian way of relating to each other. But I finally realized that such "faking it" is NOT what a commitment to bring only the best of myself means!

To bring only the best of ourselves to our gatherings means to bring our genuine, true selves… even if we are "genuinely" hurting, tired, questioning, or just not having a great day. But it means NOT letting these feelings control the way we relate or talk to any other member of our gatherings… it means that all of our gatherings are "Safe Places" where critical attitudes or judgmental or hurtful statements are not heard… where a person who is hurting can acknowledge that hurt without lashing out at others, and receive the benefit of the best that the others have to give. This is what the Apostle Paul was talking about when he wrote to the church at Philippi… "If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus…" (Philippians 2:1-5a).

This kind of commitment to each other, to bring only our best to our gatherings, will often be just a matter of reminding ourselves to do so. But there are times when this won’t be enough… we are both "Saints and Sinners" as Luther reminds us over and over, and some days the "Sinner" in us has the upper hand. Then it is a matter of getting real with God (confession) and believing that the grace of Jesus Christ, earned through His life and death and resurrection, and given to us in our baptisms, is stronger than the "Sinner" in us! Sometimes it means ACTING in a loving way without FEELING loving!

That is OK. I Corinthians 13 (the "Love Chapter") isn’t about FEELINGS… it is about ACTIONS. St. Paul knew was aware of the great truth that "feelings follow actions," i.e., ACT the way you want to FEEL… and the feelings will come.

(The same principle is in effect in the familiar passage found in both Luke 12:34 and Matthew 6:21, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." First, put your treasure where it should be, and then your heart will follow! This is just the opposite of our culture’s mentality of "I’ll give what my feelings lead me to give." The Scripture tells us that we make decisions to give, then our hearts will follow, i.e., we will value what we invest in. If we invest in the Kingdom of God with our time, talents and treasures, our hearts will follow and also be invested in the Kingdom of God.)

Commit to bring only the best of yourself to any and all of our gatherings, big and small. Realize that this is a GIFT that we give each other. This is a gift that is in short supply in the world around us, and will reflect the light of Christ into our world.