The Day after Labor Day, the most depressing day of the year.

I really loathe this time of year, I mean reallllllllyyyy, loathe. God definitely did summer right, summer in New England is such an amazing time to just go out and live. Nice and warm, long sunny days in stark contrast to what we are rapidly sliding into. Oh yeah, summer days are long, sunny, humid. We’d play basketball on Fridays at the YMCA, there were times when I could literally wring my t-shirt out. But it was a time when you could really live, be out in God’s creation and just go on and on. Winters in New England are days that end, that’s right, come to an abrupt stop at about 4:30pm. Daytime in the summer could go until 9:30pm and then just quietly slide into darkness. Taking summer nighttime patrols on a Coast Guard boat are so peaceful in the darkness, flat calm seas, clear star-filled skies, the ocean is entirely different at night.
In stark contrast the weather in the fall starts to breakdown, sometimes quickly, the crummiest weather by far is the fall. Think “Perfect Storm”, lesser scale, but continuous, every season crummy seas to one degree or another.
My earliest memories of fall started about 11 years old playing midget football, football went on until I was 16. Oh yeah, gotta love it, most practices going into the dark, where the temperature falls, at least, into the forties. Which of course means everything hurts more, hands and feet smashed up, and every so often going into snow.
One fall was definitely my best sea story. The night before we were out until about 1am, the next morning was a Sunday, so with no prior warning the expectation was to sleep in, have a calm quiet Sunday, clean things up for Monday, go home.
Ah yea, not…
Whenever it’s a matter of an imminent threat to life, the SAR (Search and Rescue) alarm rips through the station, the thinking was it could wake the dead, maybe not, but certainly the comatose. Well it went off after we had only a few hours of sleep. Now the night before had been very calm and comfortable, no need for a coat, anything. Well no one had decided to share with a sleeping crew that the weather had taken a turn, a really major turn. So the SAR alarm goes off, all you do is fall out of bed, throw on what clothing that you didn’t wear to bed. At that time of night boots. Shirt, if you still had the stamina to unbutton a shirt and then crash. Running like the Devil is chasing you, gives you only enough time to share what boat to go to. Does not give you time to share the fact that you might want to take more serious outerware, oh well. The tipoff being that you have to get on the 44 foot Motor Life Boat. The “44” is the boat that goes into, at least fifty foot seas, rolls over and comes back up (if necessary, not as a matter of course). Get down to the boat, light it off, get underway, so far so good. Doesn’t look wonderful but still no real understanding of what’s coming up. Hey you have to go out, but you don’t have to come back, as we used to say in the Old Guard.
The station’s in a little cove area; go out a narrow inlet (Hull Gut), then Nantasket Roads out passed some islands and then, open sea and all of a sudden a roller coaster ride. Now in contrast to the much newer boat you see in the picture, the “44” is pretty much open. You can go down below which usually results in immediate sea-sickness, versus on deck which delays it somewhat. So there we are rock-and-rolling, we are in about fifteen foot seas, the sea is crashing over the boat which usually means everyone’s getting hosed down to some extent. The boat is rolling so far side to side, that the communications antennas are actually whipping off of the waves. (Hey we haven’t rolled, so that’s good). I am cold and wet pretty fast and starting to get queasy. There’s four other guys, at least one extra crewman because this is a serious case. Hey, give me credit, two other guys got sick before me, so there we are getting hosed down, leaning over the side, with a boat that was painfully slow. Folks you have not lived until you are hypothermic, having dry heaves and still trying to run a case.
The reason we are on this rock and roll adventure is because a man down in Marshfield decided he needed to move his wooden boat up to Boston to calmer water. He never made it out of the inlet. Another Motor Life Boat was dispatched, that one ended going aground, the boat coxswain, the engineer and another crewman ended up in the water. (This also meant that there were no other boats with heavy seas capability in case something happened to us.) The original man was medevaced, but he was gone, the engineer was medevaced, and the coxswain had no choice but to walk to shore. This left one crewman in the boat, who had only been at the station about a month and was nowhere near qualified to do anything on that boat. (Break-in crew are often taken on cases in order to gain experience and knowledge in order to get qualified.) (I met him again just a few months before I retired, we got to share that adventure, he said he was absolutely terrified during that case.)
We finally get the boat in tow get it to a mooring, get a little together and head back to the station. Still crummy, but not as bad as before. The case started at around 9am and we got back to the station after 5pm. Yea, office hours, but definitely not routine. Eight hours under way, no food, cold, sea-sick, but still that little cocky spring in the step (which was about all I was physically capable of). The Atlantic Ocean thew a lot against us, but we made it down and back. I spent about twenty years out of 29 years at Coast Guard Station Point Allerton. “PA” is one of the most renown stations in the Coast Guard. I read about it in boot camp, before I had ever heard of it. Being a part of that station is to uphold an honored tradition that extends back to the 1870s and I was a proud part of an amazing tradition.
Semper Paratus. I have others, this was definitely the most miserable one. Please check out my short post about the station itself. I would like to write a more detailed history at some time. But when you hear me whining about being cold and really loathing the autumnal season, well this is definitely a part of the reason.

“Tolerance” in the church is undermining the integrity and credibility of the church

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Yea, rant alert, I’m not even sure how this is going to come out, but I’ve really felt I have to deal with this. I’m hoping instead of the usual knee jerk reaction of the world that I be given the benefit of the doubt, so try to over come the narrow minded lashback and hear me out. While this discussion was prompted by an “Inc Magazine” article about integrity. The discussion has been rattling around in my head and was prompted by an encounter with at least a couple with whom I have the issue.
(The article at issue is from the “The Art of Strategic Influence” produced by GE Capital, the article is in the Dec 2013/Jan 2014 issue p 8), we good with all the attribution stuff?
“…the factor that often spells the difference between success and failure is ‘strategic influence’. Today, an executive’s strategic influence is not nearly as dependent on authority as it is on integrity, and on the strong ties forged with people inside and outside the organization who respect that executive’s knowledge and point of view and respond positively to them.”
OK, now my perspective in this context, the world seems to think that all the churches should come together, you know the cheesy “coexist” bumper sticker, ya, I know, bumper sticker philosophy. Well frankly that’s where most of these people are coming from, about an inch thick and an inch wide, i.e. do not know from whence they speak. That is an issue of integrity, where does anyone come off throwing their “opinion” around, when they just don’t know what they’re talking about. It’s not a matter of perspective or opinion, it comes down to what is genuine, has integrity. As a proof of that, we have become more detached from God and what He has taught us and we have more dishonesty (think corporate, political scandals of the last thirty years), more corruption, violence on a scale that is becoming out of control, on a scale that was unimaginable even a century ago, warfare in the twentieth century resulted in more death and violence then every century in history, combined. All of this while the world continues to deny genuine belief and worship to God and worship of self, of personal opinion and choice. There is no integrity and no one cares the least about it, it’s my way or no way.
Well that effect extends to those who profess Christ. I’m not saying that they are not genuinely saved in Christ what I am saying is that without any real preparation, they presume to teach and preach on Christ’s behalf and often just don’t know what they’re talking about. At the same time they presume to criticize the established church, because the church won’t recognize their ministry. Ya, sort of like asking the American Medical Association to recognize a guy who with no medical training sets up in the strip mall doing heart surgery. Ya! Really! To that extent. There is spiritual poison in the world, poison that will kill physically and spiritually, that is, it messes up people’s minds and bodies and puts there eternal life in the resurrection in jeopardy. To those who presume to be a pastor, they really don’t care, it’s all about them and what they teach and don’t try to confuse them with the facts.
These little groups are usually the result of one person, maybe a husband and wife or small group and they decide to pull together a group. As far as that goes, great, but then they decide, well with no other background they go ahead and start telling people how they should worship, that it should be about what they want and what makes them feel good and really nothing much in terms of what God wants, what He’s trying to do in people’s lives and how He is trying to make us mature in Christ. Nasty stuff like Jesus’ passion, martyrs, standing up for Christ in a hostile world, well they don’t want that, what a buzz kill! They want a “god” whose there to make them all happy and smiley, gives them what they want, when they want it.
These are people who haven’t put in the time to genuinely learn what God has been teaching His people in His revelation for two millenia, no, they have a better idea and if God wants He can get on board, but they really know what’s best. There is no attempt to lead from a position of preparation and truly being trained to really help people in Christ, creating an environment of respect and integrity, they’ve learned how to put together an organization that is all about people pleasing and God? Well He should just respect that, and the established church should too. I’m not letting the Church off the hook, the liberal/flatline, uhmm mainline church has been caught up in the people-pleasing mode also and has made itself look pathetic and irrelevant, which most of these churches are. Hey, even as a Lutheran, I will give credit to the Roman Catholic church, we may not agree on a lot, but the Roman church has maintained, doctrinal and liturgical credibility, albeit credibility has suffered in other areas. But ya, let’s get over that too, really from business, to government to education to the medical establishment, there’s been enough lack of integrity and credibility to go around. Let me fire back on those who love to quote the Bible but don’t know enough about the Bible to fill a thimble, “let those who are without sin cast the first stone”. Those in any other institution, have at least, if not more, than their share of sin, so get over your bigoted attitude toward the Church of Christ.
Let me cut to the chase, if you don’t put in the time and work to truly become a legitimate Christian leader, pastor, than you have cheated and that is a lack of integrity.
As the writer of the Inc article writes: “It begins with networking, progresses to relationship building and culminates in a strong bond characterized by a high level of trust and respect, to the point where the person values your opinion over most.” These little groups expect the church to endorse their little efforts, they tell me I should trust and respect them, but then give me no basis whatsoever to do so. If you want to truly be what you profess, put in the time, make the sacrifice and continue to do so. There is way too much mediocrity in the world as a whole, why should I lower my standards, compromise all my work and effort to indulge someone’s uninformed opinion?
The lack of integrity of these little groups and frankly many in the flat line/main line church reflects on the credibility of the Christian church as a whole. When the church is raising up men who are genuinely (or should be) concerned with the spiritual health of society as a whole and each individual and when there are a bunch of groups who think it’s all about jumping around, doing people-pleasing productions, just plain “make me feel good”. Groups that make the church, as a whole, look frivolous and irrelevant. Look at society. Do you see a lot of genuine spiritual health? Luther said that a Christian pastor is a “seel sorger” a “soul doctor”, one who is responsible for the spiritual health of those He is called to lead. Is it spiritual health when the prescription isn’t about you and the cancer of sin that’s eating your soul, and it’s about making you happy, simply being a people pleaser? A lot of these people who presume to take spiritual leadership really need to take a hard look and remember that those who teach and preach are going to be held to a higher account at the final judgment. If these people are seen to be frivolous or worse, spiritual poisoning, how can a truly righteous, holy, perfect God not condemn them? Maybe they should get over themselves and submit to genuine Christian discipling. How long will the church tolerate being a joke, because a bunch of people presume to speak for Christ and make us all look like a laughing stock to the world. How long will this damage to the church be tolerated by those who truly want to be disciples of Christ and are indulging and supporting false churches? When will we as leaders in the church take Christian spiritual health seriously instead of as a party and realize the tremendous benefit that we can bestow on society as a whole? How can the church be a positive influence, a credible partner with all the aspects of society, when we do not denounce those who treat being a faithful Christian as just a frivolous party?

A “draft for the ages”? Certainly eternal consequences.

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Pastor Jim Driskell

I’m sure you’ve heard the “big news” by now, the first openly homosexual man to be drafted by an NFL team was drafted by the St Louis Rams. I was watching the NFL channel coverage of the draft and you would think a cure for cancer, or getting rid of ref’s entirely and having entire games called by video had just happened. There are about 1,700 players in the NFL at any one time. The NFL has been around since the 1920’s, (albeit with far fewer teams), so conservatively somewhere around 100,000 men have played in the NFL and one of them is finally homosexual. Listening to the coverage you’d think that because Michael Sam is homosexual that this is somehow as Sporting News called it, “A Draft for the ages”. Huh? Not too hyperbolic?

A little context and a lot of this is coming out of the Boston sports…

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Lonlier, Less connected, even in the digital age

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Pastor Jim Driskell

I think we all have intuitivelly understood the following, but I think that the “Barna Group” research organization has articulated what at least I’ve suspected: “…some household structures struggle more than others, singles and divorcees, in particular. “The simple fact is that ‘unmarried America’ perceives itself to be lonelier, more indebted and more aspirational about getting ahead in life than the married cohort of Americans,” Kinnaman says. “While marriage is not a realistic option for everyone, the nation’s continued shift away from marriage as the standard household type to one of digitally connected tribes of ‘friends’ is going to have significant impact on the psychographics of the nation in the next decade.”
He continues: “As a nation, we are embracing the digital revolution and, ironically, we are becoming a lonelier population. While there are many benefits of being participants in possibly the most relationally connected age in human history…

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The Gates of Hell

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We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of God the Holy Spirit. And all those who say “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” said … AMEN.
Jesus and His disciples are in the district of Caesarea Philippi. which is north of Capernaum, in the north of Israel, near the Syrian/Lebanon borders. Look at the cover of your bulletin, this is a temple of Zeus and Bacchus that was built by Philip the Tetrarch of this district. Philip was the son of Herod the Great, one of the few surviving sons. Since both he and his father owed heir titles to the Romans, they were careful to flatter the Romans to keep them happy and Philip built this temple to Roman Gods. Philip wasn’t exactly Jewish, he used his quasi Jewish status when it suited him and likewise switched to Roman “gods” when it suited his purpose. Philip married Salome, you might remember that Salome was the daughter of Herod and Herodias and after she danced for Herod asked for John the Baptist’s head. Yea, these people were more than a little messed up. Philip had enlarged the city and named it after Caesar and himself, which seems a little presumptuous. You can imagine, the Jews in this area hated Philip for his various offenses and saw this temple as a blasphemy, a sacrilege against their Jewish religion and they referred to this temple as the “Gates of Hell”. According to legend, this is where Jesus and the twelve disciples were camping when today’s reading took place. You can kind of picture them sitting around the campfire. Things are starting to come to a head, in the very next chapter the same Peter, with John and James are going to climb a mountain with Jesus and see Him transfigured and God the Father declaring Jesus to be His Son. For those who like to deny that Jesus is God the Son, seems pretty hard to dispute Peter’s confession, Jesus’ confirmation and then the Father confirming His Son. If Jesus isn’t God the Son, seems a big fuss is being made.
There are a few things going on in this passage and they might seem a little random.
Peter has his failures, and they’re pretty huge and he also has his high points, no question this is a high point. No doubt Peter is sure that this Jesus is someone pretty special. But when Jesus says “…who do you say I am”, Peter didn’t seem to hesitate. ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Peter’s saying a few things here and this temple is the effective backdrop of this exchange. You are the promised one. Christ isn’t a name, it’s a title. The Hebrew word Mesi,an is the equivalent word of Christ or cristo,j which means anointed one. According to John MacArthur Mesian in the Hebrew: “refers in the Old Testament to prophets (1 Kings 19:16), priests (Lev 4:5, 16) and kings (1 Sam 24: 6, 10). In the sense that all of them were anointed with oil. This anointing symbolized a consecration for ministry by God. Jesus Christ, as the Anointed One, would be the ultimate Prophet, Priest and King (Is 61:1, John 3:34) … Peter declares his faith in Jesus as the promised Messiah.”1
Peter really stepped up and Jesus proclaims, “Blessed are you Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” Jesus is saying that you are special Peter, God has chosen you to proclaim this, you know who I AM to the depths of your soul. Not because you had some great insight but because the Father chose you to declare that I AM the promised Messiah, the one who is the promised Savior of mankind.
Jesus builds on this, since you know this, I can also declare that I will build my church on your proclamation and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against My church. Church in the Greek refers to those who are called out, the Christian community of saints. Not just this building, or the Lutheran Church, all the saints, all those who are hagios, holy, separated people of Jesus, you.
If you look at this picture again, you might be able to tell that this temple has been carved out of stone, this whole thing is one big rock. So when Jesus says on this rock, on top of this pagan temple is where my church, my people will be. When I was there, hearing the tradition, I could almost see Jesus pointing over His shoulder. You see that big rock, that people here call the gates of Hell, my church is going to be built on this temple to false “god’s” and it will never prevail against My church, My church will always be on top.
I also took from this, that Jesus is making a direct reference to the idea that all false “gods” are of Satan. That all false “gods” are actually demons, evil spirits who have corrupted people to believe that they are “gods”. Jesus is saying that these false “gods” and we know that Satan is referred to as the “god of this world” John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11 will never overcome the Kingdom of Heaven.
In four more chapters Jesus will make His triumphant entry into Jerusalem to establish His victory over the world. He will be sacrificed then, He will die as payment for all of our sins and then will rise again in triumphant victory over sin and death. Sin and death are the very essence of Satan and His demons. They may rule the world now, but Jesus’ promise to His disciples and we are His … disciples, that in the end when it really matters He will defeat Satan and reestablish the world the way that God had created it.
In establishing His church, Jesus begins to empower His church. His church will possess the keys to heaven on earth. This means He has given His church the authority to declare what is sin and bind that sin. No other institution has that authority, only the church of Jesus, which the Lutheran Church certainly is. Our authority is based on Scripture and we bind or loose based on God’s Word. Because of God’s Word, we know what God has already bound, who He has locked heaven against. We are simply declaring what has been bound, and in a sense, enforcing that binding from what God has declared.
The world may try to deny the authority and even the legitimacy of the church, but Jesus has certainly declared the church’s authority in this passage. The church, made up of those who are separated, declared holy, will be those who have not just authority, but also responsibility to be the instrument of God’s will.
To those who ignore the church, deny the church has any real meaning, Jesus is clearly establishing His church. The disciples, represented by Peter, have recognized who Jesus is and that He is the promised One of God. He is the anointed One, anointed Prophet, Priest and King and now Jesus has established His church and declared that His disciples make up that church and they have the authority to represent Jesus. As His apostles, His sent ones they, and us, will do the things that the church is responsible to do, to declare the will of Jesus in the world. For those who think that “worship” is on the golf course or the beach, Jesus is saying these people are my church, they will lead in worship, do the work of the church. Anything else will only be personal preference and idolatry.
Take some time this week to think about how that looks, what does that mean to the world? Certainly it is proclaiming the Gospel, He who died to pay for our sins and who rose to give us the only way to eternal life. It is also going to those who are living a life that rejects Jesus and chooses to only be concerned with their own desires. The church is the institution that Jesus empowered to baptize, to be His instrument to bring people into the Kingdom of heaven. His church has been given the responsibility to offer the life saving Blood and Body of Christ. His church is responsible for preaching His proclaimed Word so that all will be able to hear the Good News of forgiveness and salvation in Jesus. Take some time to think of how that should look to the world as we exercise that authority here at First St Johns.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Shalom and Amin.

Being Liked or Being Respected? First St Johns Church August 17, 2014

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https://soundcloud.com/jim-driskell/risk-is-there-really-risk-with-godwma

We make our beginning in the Name of God the Father and in the Name of God the Son and in the Name of the Holy Spirit and all those who know that it really isn’t about the risks we take for the Kingdom of Christ, it’s about faith in Him said AMEN!
Risk Management has become one of those compelling corporate buzz words of the last generation. There is all sorts of “risk analysis” that goes into a decision of any consequence, this determines the risk versus the reward. The higher the risk, the higher the reward, but the higher the risk also means the higher chance of failure, more chance of loss.
Corporate America today is very much aware of the risks, part of risk management is the realization that all risk cannot be avoided. The old saying, “if it’s easy anyone can do it”. Corporate America is very much aware that it’s primary mission is about shareholder satisfaction, that is making money so that it can pay dividends to those people who own stock in that corporation. If shareholders/stockholders are not making money, they will sell their shares, possibly for less than they paid for them, and at some point the company will run out of money because no one wants to invest and it will go out of business. Risk aversion cuts both ways, if you don’t take risks you will eventually fade out of existence, if you do take silly risks you are likely to explode out of existence, neither is a desirable outcome.
The church, for the last century, has become very risk averse. I have a degree in Business Management I worked in corporations for twenty years, I’ve interacted with businesses across the spectrum, so I think I say the following with some authority. The church has become much too concerned about pleasing man and not so much about pleasing God. The church is very different from any other kind of organization. Why do you think that is? Do I have “stakeholders” that I’m responsible to? You betchum, many of you here today put so much of your lives to make this church what it is and I do have to respect that. But who is another “stakeholder”? Yeah, the big one, in the end we all answer to Him. He is the ultimate Chairman of the Board, He is the One we are all responsible to. Remember the Judgment Day, you think your boss asks you tough questions. I try to remember that on Judgment Day, as a pastor I’m going to get some really tough questions. Take a moment and think, is God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit what we would think of as “risk averse”? No! Read the Bible! The Bible is a history of crazy stuff. People in the world look at the Bible and they say “this stuff is crazy, I could never buy into this”! But God says “my ways are not your ways” and He demonstrated that all through the Bible. Look at all the craziness, it starts with Genesis and goes right to the end. Who asks an 80 year old man, Abraham, to pick up and leave to go to a place hundreds of miles away that he’s never heard of. And then tells him, you are going to have a son and your descendants will be like the stars in the sky. Then waits another twenty years to make it happen. That’s just crazy talk!
Soren Kierkegaard was a Christian philosopher, in the 1800s, he began a movement called existentialism. Even in his time and up to now, he was considered to be a little crazy, but, in seminary we still study Kierkegaard. Listen to what he says about risk:
“Marry and you will regret it. Do not marry, and you will also regret it. Marry or do not marry, you will regret it either way. Laugh at the stupidities of the world and you will regret it; weep over them and you will also regret it… Whether you trust a girl or do not trust her, you will regret it either way. Hang yourself and you will regret it. Do not hang yourself and you will also regret it… This gentlemen is the quintessence of all the wisdom of life … My wisdom is easy to grasp, for I have only one maxim and even that is not a point of departure for me … My maxim is not a point of departure for me, because if I made it a point of departure, I would … regret it and if I did not make it a point of departure, I would also … regret it … The point is that I do not stop now, but I stopped when I began. My philosophy, therefore, has the advantageous characteristic of being brief and irrefutable.”1 The story of the Bible is a history of crazy stuff, of being “counter-cultural” in the time it was happening and now. In other words, God acting contrary to the expectations of man.
God sends His only begotten Son, the Son leaves the glories of heaven and chooses the humiliation of life in a gritty, nasty, time with equally gritty, nasty people. He has come not to scold them or chastise them, punish them, which He would have been perfectly justified and capable of doing. He doesn’t measure the risk, have extensive council meetings pouring over spread sheets, checking out the current conditions. He puts all of the “risk management” aside and in His sovereign plan decides: “I have compassion for these people, they have no other way to cope, they have put themselves outside of God’s sovereignty and have left themselves with no way to ever be saved. I have to take the risk of rejection, of ridicule, of being marginalized and I have to live the perfect life for them. That in itself would have been enough, but contrary to any rational plan He also decides: “I will be a sacrifice for My people, I will be the bridge to the Father, the answer to the question, ‘how does the sinful and unrighteous be reconciled to the completely, holy, righteous and sovereign Lord of all? I will endure suffering, torture and death to make the payment for their sins and be their Lord and their righteousness. Do I do that by telling them and demanding of them and making them pay their sin debt to me? No! I come to serve them and be their Savior.” Nuts right? Taking the risk that these people would be led to come to God, these people who reject God day after day to satisfy their own petty wants and jealousies.
It was strongly suggested by our Congregation President that I do a sermon on prayer. Well first, I want to make one of my principal bosses happy, right? Second, you don’t have to hit me over the head with no tire tool to get me to preach on prayer. I would like to think, by the grace of God, that I am all about prayer. Why would Mrs Hollinger think that preaching on prayer is necessary? Because her perception may be that not enough prayer is going on around here. We have a prayer room downstairs that, well I could throw a handgrenade in their anytime, and no one would get hurt. We have a prayer group attended by a mere handful. We have a prayer breakfast that, well, ditto. Most people don’t pray. Why? We are taking a risk. We are coming before the Almighty Creator and Sustainer of everything and hoping that we can lay before Him all of our wants and desires and He’s going to jump right on that and give us all that we want, like some genii in a bottle. Well maybe God won’t hear me. I can’t take that risk, I have to jump right in and take control, what I want has to happen, the way I want it to happen. Really? Maybe we haven’t checked lately and forgotten whose church this really is. But there’s another risk and oh I’m not sure I want this. Maybe God’s going to get all counter-cultural on me. Like He did with Abraham, Moses, Elijah, David, Jeremiah, Paul on and on. This might be uncomfortable for me. People might ask you “what are you crazy people doing at that church?” Elijah’s an interesting guy, he was called the Prince of the Prophets, but if there’s a winner for craziest he would be it. When we pray, we have to pray in a way that is God pleasing, not man pleasing.
Do we want to be respected or loved? Machiavelli says respected. Why? Sebastian Marshall opines that to be loved is fickle, a feeling that we can turn off and on. Respected however, is more predictable and is externally based. In terms of the world we need to be respected in our faith in Christ, that is what matters now and forever. But our Savior says it is about love, for our brothers and sisters in Christ and for a Savior who would die for us. Paul was respected by the world, although he would have seemed a little crazy, but he was loved by his brothers and sisters. He took risks that led to a life that by our standards was hard, as did the Roman brothers that he wrote to in today’s lesson. He risked all for his Lord and it ended by him losing his head. But because of his faithful service, the Holy Spirit used him to bring millions to faith, to plant the church of Christ all across the empire. God risks all for His people, He did so through our Lord Jesus Christ. We, however, risk very little and in the end, we realize that it’s not really about the ‘risk’ we took. Why? Because it was the Father who was taking the risk on a people who are fickle, are more concerned about being loved and not about loving. It is about the faith that God gives us. Yes, there is risk, but in faith in God? No not really.
So let’s cut all the “risk management” blah-blah. We aren’t a corporation, we are the priests of the all mighty God. Priests who have been empowered for two thousand years to have only the faith of a mustard seed in order to move mountains, but spend way too much time worried to death that we might be crushed under that mountain. We aren’t called to be stupid, maybe, in the eyes of the world, we are called to be a little crazy and to be more concerned with what the Father’s plan is, then what our risk analysis tells us.
Take some time and really think about what Kierkegaard says, we may have regrets, but we don’t want those regrets to be that we were unfaithful to the Father when we could have been a little crazy to the world, a good and faithful servant to Him who saves us. Journal about it, do you have regrets? Maybe, but did you in the end do what was necessary to glorify God? Then the other regrets, they don’t matter.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Shalom and Amin.

Bosses you’re called to serve those who work for you.

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Bosses are favorite whipping boys, or girls. It’s tough as, Gene Veith points out, to be a boss, at least it should be and especially a Christian boss. Most bosses have people they supervise, but they are usually responsible to someone else too. So they have a duty to serve their boss as they would serve Christ, as discussed in an earlier post. In Ephesians 6:9 Paul puts it to “masters”: “And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening; knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him”. (KJV)
Calls to mind marriage vows. Ideally, the wife is to respect her husband, and the husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church? How did Jesus love the church? He suffered and gave His life for the church in a very graphic and dreadful way. There’s no middle ground, for anyone. Do it to the death or not at all.
There were more protections in the Roman Empire for slaves than what we would normally assume, still masters could make life very difficult for slaves and while it might cost them some money, a slave could die with only slight notice or consequence. As a husband serves his wife up to the death, sometimes a boss has to serve his/ her employees to the extreme in order to be a Christian boss that exemplifies Christ.
A master is to remember that he has a Master too. As Dr Veith points out, a master should see Christ in his “servants”. Do you really think it’s a good idea to abuse Jesus in your servants? Since we will all be held accountable, we should remember that we will be judged according to how we treat anyone and especially employees.
I’ve had my share of bad bosses in the private sector, it was an experience that hung over me at work, I took home with me, and I’m sure I wasn’t the most pleasant husband and father. It often seemed as if you were walking on a tightrope, while walking over eggs.
Having said that, while it may seem to be a sweet deal to be the boss, it’s difficult to do it well. It’s even more difficult as a Christian. We have to be Christ in all our roles. Are we going to do it as well? No. But as a boss/master, we have to do our best to witness to those who report to us who Christ is. This doesn’t mean, necessarily, some kind of evangelistic discussion (but if the opportunity arises, there might be risks, but you might be showing someone eternal life). It does mean not giving people an excuse to disregard Christ because their Christian boss was not a Christlike boss.
If your boss is trying to live out Christ in his workplace and his role, support him/her, do what you can to encourage. He/she might not be your favorite person, but don’t you have a duty to love your brother or sister?
I know this is short notice, but let’s talk about it tomorrow, Wednesday, 10am at First St Johns 140 W King St, downtown York, there’s parking right behind the church.

Kidron Valley, site of the judgement?

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This is the Kidron Valley. It is located between the city of Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives.
I was fascinated with the incredibly hilly and rocky soil in Israel in general and Jerusalem was no exception. You also have a little idea of the distance between the Mount of Olives, where Jesus and the disciples frequently retreated to and to Jerusalem proper. The gold dome in the foreground marks the location of the temple. This was the center of Jewish religion during Jesus’ time and where they visited frequently. You get an idea of the distance of the walk, while walking down and up hills over really rocky soil.
They are hard to make out, but all the stoney structures are tombs. The valley was a popular area to bury the dead perhaps because of the legend that said this was where Messiah would appear and judge in the final judgement. Legend has it that the people buried here would be at the head of the line for judgement.

Wired by God, for God

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Interesting how you can hear of the Higgs-Boson particle (yeah, I know what?). The so-called God particle from a year ago, published all over until reporters and editors found out what it really meant, then not so much yada-yada.
But when genuine scientific findings are made confirming over and over how, not only are we designed, but how the entire universe is designed, well that doesn’t get any newspaper ink.
Case in point, the recent “Leadership Journal” (Summer 2014) which goes into detail as to how our brains can be or are wired to be receptive to God.

Leadership Journal develops this rather extensively and it goes into some heavy detail, which I will attempt to lighten. I’m going to do a few blogs on this so that I can digest it betterand hopefully spew it out to you somewhat intelligentyl . I would like to add that if you are in ministry or any kind of lay leadership you really should get Leadership Journal it’s just an outstanding publication.

John Ortberg points out that our brains are wired so that “mostly our behavior does not consist of a series of conscious choices. Mostly, our behavior is governed by habit.” (p 21)
We usually think in terms of “bad habits”, which we all have much too much of. Ortberg points out: “Habits are enormously freeing. They are what allows my body to be driving my car while my mind is planning next week’s sermon.” Yea, right, texting on my phone, shaving, applying makeup, eating a big sloppy burger (not my imagination, I’ve seen each in real life). Point is, there is so much we do in life that doesn’t require us having to make a deliberate action, much of what we do is habit and happens because of conditioning.
“But sin gets into our habits. “…what Paul meant when he talked about sin being ‘in our members.’ He was talking about human beings as embodied creatures – sin is in the habitual patterns that govern what our hands reach to and where our eyes look and words our mouths say. Habits are in our neural pathways. And sin gets in our habits. So sin gets in our neurons.” (p 21)

Quoting St Paul “…there is nothing good in our sinful nature.” Ya, I know a little harsh, but let’s face it, we have developed a lot of bad habits. “Paul is a brilliant student of human life who knows that evil, deceit, arrogance, greed, envy and racism have become ‘second nature’ to us all.” Harsh? Ya, but true. Even our best qualities when you hold them up to the perfection of our God, then ya, our “bad” habits are much more obvious and our good habits, at best, ho hum.

Ortberg notes that our willpower is just not going to cut it. Let’s face it, we try to do it alone and usually we are back to the races. “…acquiring new habits through which we can receive power from God to do what to do what willpower never could.”

Ortberg’s next line is compelling because there has been a long standing belief that the physical really doesn’t affect the spiritual. The physical is certainly about the mind. Is there really any doubt that when we abuse our body it affects our mind. I doubt that anyone would seriously question that physical abuse, bad diet, drugs, lack of exercise, affects the mind, certainly affects the chemical composition of the mind. Couldn’t the physical/mental attributes of the mind, if they are abused, affect our spiritual outlook? Trying to separate the physical/mental/spiritual is just a false paradigm. As Ortberg notes: ” Neuroscience has helped to show the error of any spirituality that divorces our spiritual life from our bodies.”

I say AMEN! There are many belief systems that try to make it just about the spirit, that the body is just a husk. POPPYCOCK. Gnosticism, an heretical Christian belief tries to make the material evil, the spiritual, as it were, good. That when the spiritual separates from the physical then it will be hunky-dorey. That attitude has infused itself through orthodox Christianity. the image of spirit beings sitting on clouds in heaven. Certainly physical beings can’t sit on clouds, but the question is; is heaven the end? Eastern religions believe that once we get it right, we leave the evil of the bodily and the material world and then (yippee, skippee), we become some sort of ethereal being and then drop into the ocean of all ethereal beings where our ethereality (no I doubt seriously that’s a real word) merges us with the universe. Again, yippee, skippee.

Why the gratuitous sarcasm? God created the material and He pronounced it good. This also includes our body which He intended to be perfect, incorruptible and eternal. Where else could it have come from? Unless the rapture happens tomorrow, our body will give out and we will, in the spiritual, be in the presence of the Lord. But again, is that the end? No! Not by a long shot. At the final judgment we will all be restored to physical bodies, those who are in Christ, the “Lamb’s Book of Life” will proceed from the judgment to the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem will be the world as God had intended. No doubt, it will be much like the world that we left, but it will be restored to perfection, it will be familiar but it will be restored to a perfection that we can’t imagine. Certainly we will be restored to our physical bodies, again, the way they were intended to be before we messed them up with our sin. These bodies will be strong, healthy, immune to injury or damage. We were made by God to be both physical/mental/spiritual and we will be restored to eternity perfectly in all aspects of our being.

In the meantime we will continue to discuss how the physical/mental changes our spiritual outlook as we continue to affect the mental by our habits old and bad or new and good. OK, at least hopefully.

In the fullness of Time

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Dr Paul Maier became one of my favorite authors and I didn’t even realize who he is. Come to find out that he is a Vice President of the Lutheran Church, he has been a history professor at Western Michigan University and he’s written historical novels about Pontius Pilate, Christians in Rome during Nero’s reign, a novel describing how things might be if Jesus’ Body was ever discover, “A Skeleton in God’s closet” and other novels that I just haven’t gotten to yet. I’m not really a big novel reader, but all of Dr Maier’s novels were just excellent and one of my life goals is to make sure I read all his novels.
But he is also more than capable of writing non-fiction and another book you need to read if you are at all interested in Christianity, Christian history, Christian apologetics, or being a Christian, you have to read “In the Fullness of Time”. This is a look at historical Christianity and provides concrete affirmations of Jesus and the disciples in history and of the experience of the Christian church.
It has often been noted that God could not have picked a better time for His Son to come into the world, that would most effectively reach many people under conditions that would facilitate that spread.
Dr Maier puts this whole concept succinctly in the following paragraph:
“Paul’s famous comment that the Nativity happened ‘in the fullness of time’ is usually interpreted to mean that God had a good sense of timing, since conditions prevailing in the Mediterranean world could not have been more favorable for the spread of Christianity. The Old Testament had predicted the birth of a Messiah for centuries, and the Greeks had given their world a universal language through which Jesus’ message could spread easily and quickly. The Roman empire had organized the whole Mediterranean basin into one vast communications network, almost perfectly geared to foster the spread of Christianity, since its missionaries could travel from city to city without fear of piracy at sea or brigands by land. Rome had also spread the welcome blanket of peace across the world, the “Pax Romana”, a time in which the new faith could thrive.” (“In the Fullness of Time” pg 24)
One could certainly make the case that God set up the conditions to send His Son into. In today’s parlance you might say that God set His Son up to succeed. It only makes sense that God had every intention of making sure that the church established by His Son would be given every opportunity to spread to all mankind. Well it certainly has. In the beginning Christianity spread to all the points of the empire. God picked the perfect time and conditions in order to enable His disciples to move as easily as possible to spread the Gospel. He took a man, Saul of Tarsus, who was remarkably equipped, incredibly motivated. He met Saul on the road to Damascus, knocked him off his donkey and made it abundantly clear what His plans were for Paul.
You could make the case that God could probably have not picked a better person than the Apostle Paul to utilize the conditions that God, no doubt, created in order for Paul to, probably, go all the way to Spain to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ.
There is no doubt in my mind, that it was God’s intention to guide the world to reach the place where the incarnation of Jesus Son of Joseph, Son of David, Son of God to come into the world and begin the process of restoring our relationship with Him. Is there any doubt that He would have done it in the most effective way possible?
Dr Maier’s book is a treasure trove of how the sovereign will of God has shown up all through history and no where more striking then in Bethlehem, in Israel, in the reign of Caesar Augustus. The featured picture shows the place where God started it off, the birthplace of Jesus. It’s plain that all this happened and it happened for a reason. That God, Father, Son and Spirit, worked in concert to make all this happen in order for us to have every opportunity to know salvation in Jesus Christ.