Courage to reflect the character of Christ in us in our place of work

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Being Christian in the world today is becoming more challenging, Jesus said it would be, that those who are faithful disciples would be persecuted by the world. This is a world that thinks that everything is OK so long as you sincerely or some other vague, subjective, in terms of this is what I like, this is what I don’t like. There is very little in terms of critical thinking, it’s simply just a matter of do what you want, but don’t make me uncomfortable. Nothing really matters, everything is completely subjective and when you do make claims for Christianity you usually get snarky responses. I just saw a recent response that claimed that homosexuality and Christianity are compatible. The only thing that is not compatible with Christianity, according to the snarky sources, is not being “nice”. What the snarks seem to fail to grasp is that not everything is nice to everyone. Instead of just getting your knickers in a knot, start thinking and start making some stands on principle. At some point you are going to stop and think and realize how horribly wrong you’ve been and how horribly off course the world has gotten and then you will simply shrink in to despair. You will realize that you’ve let it get out of hand, people have really been hurt (and not just their little feelings) and you have to bear some responsibility. Start to really think about what’s being said and what’s really going on and quit taking the easy way out. Relying on other people’s uninformed and/or incorrect opinions is not a way to think, it’s an easy way to cop out.
I’ve finished highlighting Fr Frederick Nkwasibwe’s book Business Courage
Nkwasibwe finishes with a great summary which I will let speak for itself. Just one comment, we really have to come to terms with the fact that if we are faithful to our Lord, we will bump up against the society around us. That includes the place where we work. We aren’t called to be obnoxious about it, but we’re also not called to be a doormat. If you live in the York, Pa. area and are interested in buying the book, check out Irvin’s Books in West York 2159 White St.
Nkwasibwe summarizes his book: “It is also the courage where the leaders imbued with a spirit of trust, kindness and firmness regard followers adjoined by a diversity of duties as co-workers and friends but not ‘servants’ or slaves. It is the business courage where a mature-faith focused leader assents that his or her views may brand him or her unpopular with certain people, including friends, yet contends his/her voice ought to be gotten when a pro-truth, pro-dignity, pro-equality, and pro-uprightness situation calls for action. Significantly, it is the courage that rebuffs sin with its misery and it is a courage that is keen enough to allow the eyes of the hearts to be enlightened in order to know and love the spiritual truth present in other people. Business courage is that fortitude by which the leader employs a righteous and true friendship-service of authority-based leadership style to treat and relate with the followers as friends and to serve and lead in uncompromising virtue and stable holiness…” (pp 432-433)
So thanks Father, a great study on living out our life in Christ where we work, and how we interact with those around us in a decidedly non-Christian environment.
Wednesday at 10am, we meet to discuss Dr Gene Veith’s book dealing with the same theme. 140 W King St York, Pa. parking available in the back.

Le Tour est finis

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Certainment, It est triste. J’aime Le Tour. OK, seven years of French, that’s all I got. But I really do look forward to Le Tour, (Tour de France, in case you don’t know) It is the premier cycling race in the world. It really is transfixing, getting a tour of France, England (this year) a little bit of Spain, Belgium, the Alps, the Pyrenees, and to see some superb athletics. I was doing a lot of flipping between Le Tour and the Red Sox. It struck me, how a lot of professional team sports are starting to get a little tedious. My biggest beef is the move to video replay. For almost a century and a half we enjoyed watching baseball, pretty much like we did it in the neighborhood sandlot. Today, we have to listen to a long lecture on the rules and wait to find out if we’re going to further delay with a video review. The NFL is so ridiculously over the top with the technology and rules that it has really taken any fun out of the game.
Le Tour works like this, for about three weeks you get on a bike and cycle for about 120 miles a day. You go up incredible heights, you deal with rain, heat, other geographic features. Your bike might develop a mechanical problem, get a flat tire. Do you get a review, or get to whine about it to anyone? No. You may bump the guy in front of you, beside you, you’ve got 195 guys bunched together, stuff happens. Just like in other sports, but in bicycling there’s no opportunity to whine and fuss, you keep going until you get to the end. Whoever gets to the end first, wins. Real easy.
Le Tour is a true test of strength, endurance, technique, tactics and not whining and replays. Triathlon, another individual sport, other sports that are not so prissy and just interested in getting out and doing it. Please, take out all the nonsense in sports. Sure drugs have been an issue in cycling, but that’s being cleaned up. Certainly the team sports have had their own issues with drug abuse, behavior issues, which is also taking the fun out of it.
Let’s get back to having true contests, enjoy the skill, intelligence and challenge of sports and cut out the rest of the nonsense. But to be sure, sports is certainly a reflection of our current culture.

The Sea of Galilee

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This picture is on the side of the Sea of Galilee that Jesus lived on. This is where Capernaum is where Jesus spent over 60% of His earthly ministry. This is where He gave the Sermon on the Mount, fed the 5,000. So much of the Gospels happened in this area, this is where the disciples, except for Judas, were from. It is a very placid area. My fondest memories of Israel are in this area and I can definitely see why Jesus would have spent His ministry in this area.

Slaves obey your masters

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Ya, wow, boy that title will get a reaction, huh?
Paul writes to the Ephesian church: “Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with good will doing service, as to the Lord and not to men.” (Eph 6:5-7)
Wonder how many of you read past the first line. Oh yeah, I can hear the self-righteous, politically correct, the indignation. Reminds me of one of Jesus’ discussions with the self-righteous of His time. We are probably safe to assume that Jesus is talking to either Pharisees or scribes, the really self-righteous types. They get all indignant because Jesus rightly, of course He is God, says “you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” Well… wow wee, “free?!”, we’ve never been slaves. Huh? Slaves in Egypt, captives in Babylon, oppressed by the Greeks and now!? A Roman soldier comes along and tells you to carry his gear for awhile? You better carry it or get the flat edge of a Roman sword across your head. They have been slaves and captives for most of their history and they, like us, have been slaves to sin for ever. (Jn 8: 32-34)
We are all slaves, servants if you feel you must. A “servant” in that time was just a higher ranking slave. Again we need to understand the context, pretty much everyone in the Roman Empire was a slave. You could be a physician, lawyer, accountant, teacher and be someone’s slave. You would be treated well and live a fairly normal life, but you were still owned. In today’s world we are all a servant to someone, that’s not a bad thing, and yes we serve. Phulease, get over this. “I serviced …” If you’re talking about another human being you served them. Your boss, customer, your spouse, child, parent, neighbor. What is so wrong with that. Jesus told us that the “Son of man came to serve and not to be served.” (Matt 20:28) If my Lord is a servant, well you betcha, I’m a servant too. And if I’m the servant of the Lord, Creator and Sustainer of all, well that’s not too shabby.
Paul goes on to write, to serve with respect. Oh yeah, we are all guilty of kavetching about our workplace; boss, associates, customers, hours, pay, on and on. I get it, we don’t all have the ideal situation, very few of us do. But we do have a place where we are productive, we are providing for ourselves, our community. We have the dignity of responsibility, of growing. More importantly we very much serve our Lord in our workplace. We remember that we are in that workplace to serve those around us as if we are serving Jesus, because we are serving Him too. As I’ve written frequently, we spend so much of our life in the workplace, how can we spend so much time and not show ourselves as good servants. As we serve our “neighbor”, how can those we work with/for be served any less by us? We are surely “…with good will doing service, as to the Lord and not to men.” At least we should be.
Let’s be good servants, let’s take pride in being servants. We may not like the guy we work with or the idea that we’re being his servant. But if we are doing it “…as to the Lord…”? Well the rest doesn’t really matter.
Serve! None of this pretentious non-sense of “servicing”, people aren’t cars, they are made in the image of God. Get over your precious little ego and quit thinking it’s all about you and how you’re in control. You know perfectly well that you’re not. When you truly live your life in the knowledge that you serve a perfect, holy, all knowing God, who wants what is best for you, the rest will be easy. Jesus came to serve you and not to be served. I’m not sure I can say that He “liked” it, but He loves us for whom He serves and He continues to serve us in what is best for us. Let’s try to do that in our workplace. Wouldn’t that be a tremendous witness to the Lord and a credit to you, serving the Lord in that way?

Those who are weeds/tares have chosen to be weeds/tares First St Johns, July 20, 2014

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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 are the good seed of Jesus said … AMEN! It has become trendy even in the circles of Christian evangelicalism to sort of pooh-pooh the idea of Hell. The “how could a “good/holy/loving God”, take your pick, send someone to Hell. Let’s look at today’s Gospel reading. It’s very simple. How someone can ignore the meaning is Bible “cherry-picking”, that is, “I believe and/or take out of Scripture what I “like”, that tired standard of the world, what I “like” is good, what I don’t like is “bad/wrong” and then I make up my own theology. Jesus straight forwardly answers the disciples question: “’The Son of Man’, i.e. Jesus, sows the good seed which is the sons, and daughters, of the Kingdom. Those who are saved, those who are pre-destined by God’s sovereignty to eternal life in the resurrection. The field is the world, that is Jesus has put those who are saved in the world, those who are baptized in the Name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who take the Body and Blood of Jesus, who hear the preached Word, those who are part of the church of Jesus. “The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil.” Jesus goes on to say: “The Son of Man will send his angels and they will gather out of His kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers and throw them into the fiery furnace.” Now we could construe from this phrase, that it is Jesus who is actually making the decision, I don’t know sort of a Santa Claus, who’s naughty and who’s nice kind of thing. He’s not! He has planted His world, He has decided in His sovereignty, and if you want to discuss that word further ask me after worship, but in His sovereignty He knows who is saved. He has given faith to those who have been chosen, they have faithfully acted according to His will, which does not mean perfectly but in our weakness, but they act faithfully to serve Him, to worship Him, to be baptized. They know that they are saved by virtue of His sacrifice, the propitiation/payment that He has made for them on the cross, His atoning death and they are those who are saved. They are the ones taken out of the world, who are judged before the throne to be saved, not by anything they have done, but entirely by what Jesus has done for us and they are placed into the New World, the New Jerusalem in the resurrection to eternal life in Him. Those who have rejected Him, have chosen to live life according to their will, made themselves their own “god” their own idol, have lived according to the standards of the world, they have made their decision and the angels that Jesus sends are only acting according to their will. The “weeds” of the world have chosen to be outside God’s will and therefore are separated into condemnation.
God tells Isaiah: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.” What does that statement remind you of? … The Book of Revelation, Jesus says, “I am the Alpha and Omega”. What does He mean by that? He’s just reciting the Greek alphabet? No! Language has letters, everything is contained in the alphabet, and He is everything from beginning to end. Is there anything that exists that God did not have a hand in creating? No! Therefore He is everything. Jesus refers to Himself as Alpha and Omega in three separate passages of Revelation (1:8, 21:6 and 22:13) Jesus does this for emphasis, that is make no mistake, I am all things, I am the entirety of creation, I make the calls, not anyone else. The weeds of the world, however, have chosen to believe, mistakenly, that somehow they have added to that divine alphabet, that somehow they should be added to that all encompassing everything that God truly is. The wheat has been planted by the Son of Man, He knows His wheat. To use another parable He knows His sheep, He is sovereign, in His sovereignty He has chosen those who will be saved, they are right there planted in the world. The enemy, Satan, has sovereignty over those who have chosen to remain outside of God’s will. They have chosen to exclude themselves. Why? Because they think that they are sovereign, that they make the calls, that they should decide how they live, how that wheat field or that pasture of the world should be and they act accordingly. They don’t necessarily do it to undermine God, they frankly don’t care about God, it’s not about Him, it’s about them. Or they reject God, He didn’t play according to their rules, so for some bizarre reason, they think that they should have the right to have things play out according to their will and they make it clear that God is not welcome and they will decide how things should play out. Either way, they live as if God did not exist or did not matter and as if they matter most. Sound familiar? Yea, that’s part of our confession and absolution. Oh sure, we who are saved can act that way and often do. That is sin! What’s the difference between the wheat and the weeds or tares? The wheat knows that they’ve sinned, they know that they have violated God’s will and as we do at the beginning of every worship, lift up their confession to God, acknowledging that we have sinned against Him and we ask Him for forgiveness. The weeds/tares, they’re attitude is “ahhhh”, this is what I wanted, this is the way it should be and I am what is important and so it should be my way. Is that “good fruit” is that God’s will, is that the way it should be in God’s field, in His flock? No! In our salvation we follow God’s will, we turn to Him for guidance and when we don’t do His will, we lift it up to Him in repentance, ask forgiveness and in His graciousness He gives us forgiveness. We are fully forgiven, we are fully sanctified, fully justified, in summary we are fully saved. Why? Because we were all A-J squared away God-wise and we should be forgiven? No! Because in the crucifixion of Jesus who died for the sins of the entire world, we are forgiven in His sacrifice. We are put back into that relationship that the Father intends to have with us. Because we are not, perfect, sweet, little Sally Sunshines who just follow every rule on the playground? No! Believe me, I do not have people describing me as sweet, peaceful and perfect. But what I am is saved in Jesus. I do continue to grow and am guided according to His will, saved in His sacrifice. I do not try to make myself to be the judge of everything. I trust Him to do that. I’m not some naïve cupcake who decides that everything is beautiful, I know perfectly well that I am in the world and among weeds/tares. Jesus tells me in this passage that it’s not my job to rip the weeds out, I don’t even know who the weeds are. He tells me to be faithful to His will “go therefore and make disciples baptizing in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” No doubt, I will reach out to some who are weeds and they have chosen for themselves to make the world what they want it to be and ignore God’s will. I don’t want that, I would never wish anyone to be condemned, to be and I quote; “thrown into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” We’ve talked about that, they are there because they have chosen to separate themselves from God and so they are separated. They are weeping and as I’ve said, really wailing in anger, gnashing their teeth in anger screaming at God. Why? Yes, because they are in pain, but also because the Father refused to let them be God. “I am a jealous God” God refers to Himself that way seven different times. God makes it clear, I AM God, no one else is and the Father will guard His position without compromise.
He is jealous for His people, that’s a good thing. We like to make that word a negative, it’s bad to be jealous, but I think it’s great. Because the Father is jealous of me, the wheat that He planted, He protects me, He saves me. He loves me so much that He sent His only Son to die for me, so that I can be His possession, a possession that He is jealous of and will not share with anyone or anything else. I’m not a weed, I know who God is and I am His ever lasting child. And so are all of you who know Christ as your Lord and Savior, He is jealous of you. He is God and there is no one besides Him.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Shalom and Amin.

I don’t need church to believe!

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Don Merritt's avatarLife Project Blog

I’ve heard people say things like that often, how about you?  It’s an interesting idea, don’t you think?  I believe, so why should I have to deal with church…?

It is true when people say that they can worship God when they are all alone in Nature.  As a matter of fact, worshipping alone in Nature can be quite inspiring; a person can gain insight by having that experience, and I must say that I endorse it.

Consider this: Belief, worship and following Jesus are not the same thing.  Arlington 9413 063

It is true that I don’t need anybody else to believe.  I came to belief all by myself, in fact.  Belief normally brings a person to some sort of worship, and yes we can, and should worship God when we are alone.  Now we come to following Jesus; is that a solitary activity?

When Jesus commanded His disciples to follow…

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Looking for an Excuse

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Don Merritt's avatarLife Project Blog

There’s an old saying about excuses. OK, well maybe it isn’t all that old, but it’s a pretty good one, at least I think it is a good one. True it isn’t famous or anything… fine, you got me, but it is what I say about excuses:

When you’re looking for an excuse, one is as good as another.

That night, the Jewish authorities were looking for an excuse to kill Jesus, and they really weren’t all too choosy about their excuse as long as everyone could keep the story straight; after all this guy was pretty popular.

Mark 14:53-65

Parallel Texts:  Matthew 26:57-68; Luke 22:54, 63-65; John 23:24

Jesus on trial before the full cast of Jewish authorities: Can you imagine anything more ridiculous? The Son of God actually on trial before a group of corrupt hypocrites cowering behind their fancy robes, their meaningless earthly positions, desperate to maintain…

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Herr Pastor

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Just so you know, this is a pejorative remark. The Lutheran Church came about due to the writing, preaching and other activity of Dr Martin Luther in Germany in the 1500s. The basis of his teachings started the Reformation that separated the Christian into, as it were, reformed/Lutheran/however else it worked out, from the Roman Catholic Church. The “Herr Pastor”, (German) is meant to convey an idea of strictness, pompousness, even severity by the pastor.

Now I will grant that some pastors of past no doubt deserved the jibe. However in the interest of “people pleasing” versus being a minister of Christ, it has taken on the meaning of any pastor who is the least bit assertive or makes a serious stand and outreach for Jesus. It’s another example of why the church really isn’t taken very seriously, if a pastor makes a serious stand, he will usually find that even fellow pastors will tend to pooh-pooh, no less the general public.

My point, let’s support and encourage our pastors, especially when they stand up and teach genuine Christianity and maybe we ought to start holding accountable those pastors who really don’t take the ministry seriously. They need to know it is about teaching Christ and Him crucified and not falling all over themselves not to offend. Jesus said we would offend, we need to live up to what He said and not worry about the “everything is beautiful” types.

Dr Luther used to refer to pastors as “seelsorger”, it literally means “soul healer”. What the world needs more than anything is soul healing in terms of Jesus. Your pastor should want to be your soul healer, to be led by the Holy Spirit in order to heal you in the grace, salvation, the propitiatory act of Christ for you. Help him out and encourage him in that, instead of expecting him to pat you on the head and tell you everything’s just spiffy, when you, and he, both know it isn’t.

Article on my ordination, four years ago

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Since it’s been four years this week, I thought I’d post this article from the York Daily Record.

Church’s new pastor teaches Scripture, kickboxing
By AMY MARCHIANO
For the Daily Record/Sunday News
Updated: 08/03/2010 09:57:59 AM EDT# Comments

The Rev. James Driskell is kissed by his wife, Marge, after she placed his vestments on his during his ordination and installation Sunday at First Saint
The Rev. James Driskell is kissed by his wife, Marge, after she placed his vestments on his during his ordination and installation Sunday at First Saint John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in York. Driskell served an internship at the church, and the congregation chose him to be its next pastor. Driskell also teaches kickboxing lessons at the church. (Daily Record/Sunday News – Paul Kuehnel)
In his new role as pastor of First Saint John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in York, James Andrew Driskell’s mission is to save.

And maybe to teach some butt-kicking from time to time.

Driskell, 51, spent more than 20 years in the U.S. Coast Guard and the Coast Guard Reserves, retiring in 2005. He also has 20 years of experience in the financial industry.

Driskell, of Brockton, Mass., was ordained and installed Sunday as pastor of St. John’s in front of about 75 friends, family, congregation members and area clergy members. He replaced the Rev. Gene Reichel, interim pastor since the retirement of the previous pastor two years ago.

Driskell recently graduated from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Mo. As part of his requirements, he did an 11-month internship at St. John’s.

In March, the congregation chose Driskell to be pastor, Reichel said.

Along with his prior role as vicar, Driskell started kickboxing lessons at the church. “It’s really a community outreach thing,” he said.

Lessons are held 3 p.m. Thursdays at the church. Youths and adults participate, with attendance varying, he said.

The last session was held in February before he went back to seminary. The next session might be held next week, he said.

Taking care of your body is a way to honor God, he said.

“Everything we have is God’s. God gave it (your body) to you for a reason: to keep it healthy,” Driskell said.

Driskell, who was baptized in a United Methodist church in 1986, said he “really didn’t become a Christian” until he was 25.

The Rev. Dr. Jon Diefenthaler, president of Southeastern District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, said after ordaining Driskell that the disciple Andrew led other people to Jesus.

“That’s what you have been doing here in this place. Lead others here to be Andrews. Lead them to Jesus,” he said.

During the laying-on of hands by clergy members, the Rev. Rob Barclay said Driskell should adapt the Coast Guard motto to fit his new role: “that of saving souls, not just lives.”

After the service, church member Tammy Cahoon said she was glad that Driskell is the new pastor. “I like him a lot. I think he’s going to be a good asset to this church.”

Herod the Great, the King of Israel, placed there by the Romans, was without question one of the greatest builders in Israel’s history. The reason he is called “Great” is for the many buildings, built during his reign. Israel has no real port on to the Mediterranean. Herod built this mostly to accommodate the Romans. It is a very Roman city with aqueducts, coliseum, made to be a very contemporary city of the time.