BODY & BLOOD….SKITTLES AND TEA
Mar 27
The death of Trayvon Martin has captured world-wide attention and has caused our polorized nation tp look into the face of racism once again.
Trayvon was a 17 year old African American young man walking back to his father’s fiance’s house where he was staying. He was coming back from a convienence store where he had bought a package of skittles and a can of ice tea. While he was walking and talking on his cell phone to his girlfriend, he noticed a white man who seemed to be following him. He mentioned this to his girlfriend and she told him to run. He told her he wanted to first make sure he was being followed so he picked up his pace…so did the man…Now he knew he was being followed so he took his girlfriend’s advice…and started running.
The man caught up with him and there was a struggle. Witnesses heard the young man screaming for help….then a gunshot….and the scremas ended.
Trayvon lay facedown in the grass….with a fatal gunshot wound in his chest.
He was armed only with a can of ice tea and a package of skittles.
The shooter was George Zimmerman, a self-appointed neighborhood watch captain for the gated community. He had earlier made a 911 call to report a suspicious-looking black youth wearing a hoodie who appeared to be up to no good.
When the 911 dispatcher found out Zimmerman was chasing the boy they told him to stop and wait for their arrival. But he did not take their advice. When they arrived they found the dead youth. Zimmerman pleaded self defence under a dangerously vague Florida law titled
“Stand Your Ground”
The controversial law states that a person can kill someone if there is reasonable belief of a threat.
There has been outrage over the fact that Zimmerman was not even arrested on charges of a possible hate-crime.
The shooting brought back memories of other senseless murders inspired by bigotry, fear and hatred of those “not like ourselves”
Emmett Till was a young 14 year old black boy who lived in the fifties in Chicago but came to visit relatives in Mississippi.. While there, he was dared by some of his firends to whistle at a woman.
The woman happened to be a married white woman.
A few nights later the woman’s husband and his half-brother came to where Emmett was staying, dragged him out of the house….made him carry a heavy weight to the river were they beat him to a pulp, gouged out one of his eyes….then shot him in the head. They tied the weight around him and through his body into the river. It was discovered a few days later. The men were not found guilty but later , after making sure they could not be arrested again for the murder, admitted to it….These men were hailed as heros.
Emmett’s mother insisted on a funeral with an open casket so the world could see what had been done to her precious son. Pictures of young Emmett’s mutilated body were published in black magazines and newspapers, rallying black support and white sympathy across the nation. Many believe it sparked the civil rights movement.
Another murder that comes to mind was the senseless attack on Matthew Shepherd, a young gay man. Two men took him out to a deserted field at night and beat him badly….then tied him to a fence and left him to die. When his body was found there were little tear streams through the blood that matted on his face. He had suffered and died alone.
The world is filled with hate….and hate creates an atmosphere that allows for acts of violence that some pass off as righteous acts ….what they call God inspired justice.
President Obama spoke out about the killing of Trayvon.
“If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon. I think his parents are right to expect that all of us Americans are going to take this with the seriousness it deserves and we are going to get to the bottom of what happened.”
The murders I mentioned remind me of another young man falsely accused of crimes and actions that were said to be a threat to the very fabric of society. His words were anything but violent…..They were words of love and forgiveness. Yet the religious types believed in the Stand Your Ground law and they felt they had reasonable belief of a threat.
So they took matters into their own hands and had him arrested, beaten…then mocked and made to carry his own cross to the place of execution where he was crucified between two thieves.
His name is Jesus. and he stands in solidarity with all who have been falsely accused and wrongfully put to death. In fact his very mission was one of bringing to the world the answer to the problem of hate and violence. ….The cure? LOVE!
Love God and love your neighbor as yourself. As we ponder these wrongful deaths, let us remember the redeeming power of undeserved suffering. All we need do is look at the good that came from Calvary.
Each time we hear of wrongful deaths, such as the shooting of Tayvon Martin, we are hearing echoes of the cross where our beloved savior died . And just as the simple elements of bread and wine took on holy meaning when Jesus blessed them and gave them to his disciples to eat the night of his arrest…..in that same way I believe Jesus is still in the business of making simple ordinary every-day items into sacrament that speak of his love for us.
Thus, we can see in those pictures of young Emmett Till’s beaten abused body laying in that simple casket, the blood soaked body of our Lord as they brought him down from the cross and layed him in his loving mother’s arms.
In the bloody tear-stained face of Mathew Shepherd we see glimpses of the tears that ran down the bloody face of our Savior as he cried out, “Father forgive them for they no not what they do!”
And we can look at the skittles and can of ice tea there at the scene of the killing of Trayvon Martin and see the love of the one who said…. “This is my body and blood given for you.”
And a hoodie becomes the robe that was worn by our precious Jesus…the one the soldiers gambled for at the foot of his cross.
Some may think this heretical but I see it as a way of making fresh statements of the sacrifice of Christ.
This morning we are going to do holy communion differently.
(at this point remove the cover from the communion table)
As we remember the dying day of our Lord Jesus Christ let us approach this table and partake of these elements and let them become for us the body (hold up the skittles) and the blood (hold up the tea) of Christ.
.
HOW GOD BROUGHT OUR SON INTO OUR LIVES
Aug 24“God places the solitary in families and gives the desolate a home in which to dwell;…”
Psalm 68:6 (Amplified Bible)
With all the talk about gay young people being rejected and taking their own life out of desperation and hopelessness, let me tell you a story that has a happy ending.
When I discovered that I was gay and accepted this fact I was in my early twenties. One of the biggest disappointments to me at that time was the thought that I would never be a father. I had always loved children and had longed to be a father. Back in the early eighties when I came out, gay people were not adopting children or having surrogate moms or sperm donors. I had to face the stark fact that I would never know the joys of parenthood. My dreams of having a child evaporated, leaving me with a hollow place in my heart. I had believed strongly that I would have a son one day. I had decided on the name Lukas Allen. I bought a little stuffed lamb for him because his initials would be L.A.M. Lucas Allen McCain. I even wrote to him in my journal.
“Lukas Allen, son, I want you to know that Daddy’s thinking about you today. I loved you before you were even born. I long to take you to the park and play ball with you and swing you on the swings and buy you ice cream. I can’t wait till you arrive! Love, your Dad.”
But as the years went by I gave up on my dream. In my late 30’s I married the man of my dreams. Gary Eddy was the person God intended for me to give my heart to. We had met in college in 1974. He was from South Dakota and I was from Arkansas but in God’s providence we met and became friends. Both he and I were in no position to be in a healthy relationship in 1974. We had not even come to terms with our sexual orientation. The story of how we got together is told elsewhere on this blog page. Suffice to say it is an epic love story.
( By the way, I have finished writing my life story, And God Save Judy Garland, soon to be appearing in a book store near you!)
Anyway, when Gary and I got together we knew we were smack dab in the middle of God’s will for our lives. He moved to Arkansas and we were living a life that neither of us could have dreamed of in our wildest imaginations! We had finally found true love; something neither of us believed we would ever have. Sometimes people would ask us, “Randy, have you and Gary thought of adopting a child? I would say, “Well we are too old at this stage in our lives. We are in our late thirties… Then later the response was … “We are too old. We are in our late forties.” When I turned 50 I had put that little lamb I had bought for my future son in a church yard sale. Every so often I would console myself in the knowledge that as a pastor I had many spiritual children. But to never know what a father feels in his heart for his child or his grandchildren…. Sometimes I would cry over the lost opportunity.
Sometimes your dreams must die so they can be resurrected. The resurrection came when a young man named Bobby came to our church. Bobby had been raised in a very strict Pentecostal home in a small town in Arkansas. This particular church was so conservative they thought most other Pentecostal churches were too liberal. They did not go to doctors when they got sick and they did not celebrate Christmas or Easter because they believed them to be pagan holidays. The church had its own school so the children would not be exposed to any outside world view. Bobby loved his mother very much. She became ill when Bobby was 14 and died at home just a month after giving birth to another boy. She was only 35 years old at the time. This was beyond devastating for Bobby. His father was left to raise 5 boys and one daughter. Bobby was the oldest. A lot of responsibility was placed on him at a very early age. Bobby’s dad remarried fairly soon after his mom’s death out of necessity. Bobby loved his church and volunteered every chance he got to work for the Lord.
Bobby knew he was different. He knew that he was attracted to boys instead of girls. But he wanted to please God and the church so when he was reaching the end of his teen years he got married to a nice young lady he had met at church thinking that this would make him “normal” They were married for six years and had two precious children. When Bobby realized that he could no longer deny who he really was deep down inside he went through a painful situation where the church found out about his sexual orientation. The pastor called him in and told him that he was to not only leave the church but he was also to leave the town and never come back. The divorce and separation from his kids was devastating to Bobby emotionally and spiritually. His own family rejected him. His father told him, “Why don’t you just do us all a favor and go out in the street and get run over by a truck” His siblings would turn their back and shun him when they saw him in a public place. Bobby went through a lot of hell. In his confusion and pain he trampled all his convictions trying to find himself and ended up a broken human being.
That’s when he found the church where I was serving as pastor. He would attend church and volunteer long hours helping with the upkeep of the church and the preparation of food for pot-lucks but he hardly ever smiled. There was such a sad aura around him. He started listening to my sermons on God’s unconditional love and grace. But the message I preached was so radically different from the legalistic rules oriented religion in which he had been raised. I began to wonder if I would ever get through to him that he was adored by God. This poor young man had been so abused by religious zealots that he was having a very difficult time imagining his life as anything but hopeless.
As his pastor I was called upon to walk with him through some very difficult times and during these experiences I began to notice in myself a real desire to protect Bobby and to let him know that he was loved and understood. I shared this with Gary who had also become very fond of Bobby. I told Gary I was beginning to develop what appeared to be paternal feelings for this dear young man. As we prayed, God began to show us that Bobby was kindhearted, gifted, hard-working and talented. He just needed a family to love him and believe in him… and that family was Gary and me. We opened our home and our hearts to Bobby and we have been privileged to watch him blossom as he has discovered how precious he is to his Heavenly Father and to us. My sister Pam adores him and so does my mom. I now introduce him as our son and he tells people we are his two dads. I now know what a dad feels in his heart toward his child. Bobby and I have had many father/son talks and I cherish them all.
Last Christmas our associate pastor, Sheryl Myers placed a special gift under our Christmas tree. It was the little stuffed lamb I had sold in the church yard sale. She knew at the time how hard it was for me to give up my cherished icon that stood for the longing to be a dad, so she had purchased the lamb several years ago and had taken it to her kindergarten class for the children to love and play with. When God brought Bobby into our home she brought the lamb back home; washed it, fluffed it and placed it under our family Christmas tree as a sign that God had not forgotten the dream He had placed in my heart. Today Bobby is doing well in his work and as a father to his own children. Oh and I never get tired of seeing him smile with a glint in his eye…and I never get tired of hearing his boyish laughter. I can remember the bruised and broken boy that God placed on our doorstep who didn’t believe in himself…the young man who might have given up in hopelessness when his birth family and church family disowned him. But the scripture from Psalms is so true. “God places the solitary in families and gives the desolate a home in which to dwell”
Tomorrow I will tell you “THE REST OF THE STORY”
GOT ANY ROCKS IN YOUR POCKET?
Jul 11
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This past Sunday I preached a sermon that was inspired by the killing of Osama bin Laden and the “Not Guilty” verdict in the Casey Anthony trial. A member of my church asked me to copy it to my blog pasge so here it is Bob.
GOT ANY ROCKS IN YOUR POCKET
2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman,[a] where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 “No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
JOHN 8: 2-11
We know it so well, we’ve embraced it heart and soul,
this love comes from God.
God is love. When we take up residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us.
If anyone boasts , “I love God,” and goes right on hating their brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, that one is a liar.
If they won’t love the person they can see, how can they love the God they can’t see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both.”
1 JOHN 4:16, 20, 21
This sermon is inspired by two events that recently has gotten much air time on the news channels on our tv’s.
The first was the death of Osama Bin Laden. The second was the recent verdict of not guilty for Casey Anthony.
Now this sermon will not be a popular one with everyone and I understand that. But I feel a responsibility to speak from my heart this morning…a heart that is like yours… sinful…but forgiven….a heart that would like to think it is wholly given over to Jesus but sometimes I find my heart is divided. What I try to NOT do in the pulpit is to stand on a soapbox…politically or selfishly…
I always try to take the high road when bringing the sermon to you each week.
And what I am speaking to you today may come across as somehow political but I assure you…that is not where my heart is this morning.
I come to you with a broken heart.
And these words are spoken after being bathed in tears.
First of all let me start with the night we found out that Osama bin Laden was killed. Gary, Bobby and me were playing a table game…dominoes I believe. We were enjoying ourselves and laughing and just having a relaxing evening…Then Bobby noticed on his facebook that something had just happened that was newsworthy. We turned on the television and there we saw people celebrating in the streets. We then learned that Osama Bin Laden had been killed.
The first images I saw were of a crowd of mostly college students cheering and spilling beer on one another outside the White House, acting like their team had just won a championship. That made my stomach turn
- My heart was heavy… not over the fact that an evil man had been stopped…but that people were dancing in the streets over a man’s death.
- I wrote about my feelings on facebook.
- First I quoted Martin Luther King JR.
- “Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.”
— Martin Luther King Jr. - “ I then quoted from the Bible…
- Do not rejoice when your enemy falls. And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles. Proverbs 24:17
- EZEK. 33:11
- “As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die?”
- This was some of what I said on my facebook page…I cannot rejoice when an evil man is killed.
- The grace of God causes my heart to grieve. I grieve for all those who died on 911. I also grieve for a man that had so much hate in his heart that he could not understand the unconditional love of God. I wish he could have gotten it right. He was a creation of God and I leave him in the hands of a God who grieves his misunderstanding of God.
- I was torn but something felt sad when I observed those celebrating. The Spirit of Grace inside my heart knew this was not the right response. When we sign up to follow Jesus we need to read the fine print….that which is written in red. It sometimes goes against our nature but that is why we need a Savior.
That all happened last May… Then just the other day we have a trial verdict…a trial that became like a circus…. People lining up outside the courtroom…waiting for hours to get a seat in the courtroom…people were glued to the television set watching the day by day coverage of the sad story of a little child losing her life… and the shocking thing was …the mother of this little girl was on trial for the murder of her own daughter.
Sadly, the tragic lives of this dysfunctional family became entertainment for many.
Those in the media had already reached a conclusion….before the jury even voted on a verdict…
The mother was GUILTY!
But then the verdict was announced… Not Guilty!
I watched the news channel as people all over the nation were outraged. One woman screamed…
“You better watch out Casey! You will be hunted down like a dog! She can run but she can’t hide! God will get her!
Then came the voices on the internet blog-fest…
She will have her hell on earth before she gets there. Her life after her release, just might not be the beautiful life she is expecting. If the people of any community she lives in just refuse to forget and treat her as a non-person, she will not have all the attention she so craves and needs in her life. Her private hell can start soon and no violence is needed to make it happen. Just people who refuse to let her have her beautiful life. Now if only our media would do the same.
And another angrily wrote….
Burn in HELL…..Ugly baby killer!!!!”
Once again I was troubled in my spirit.
I have such a hard time with people wishing other people dead….or tortured…
Some were quoting “An eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth! It’s in the Bible!
Well yes…it is in the Bible… yet Jesus turned the religious world on its ear …those who had used that verse for years to justify revenge.
Jesus said, “you have heard it said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth but I say to you… do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.”
Wow! I guess what I am trying to say is… when I saw people in the streets cheering and partying at the death of Bin Laden…..and when I heard people angry that Casey didn’t get the death penalty….I didn’t feel Jesus would have been happy with these responses.
In his book, “Fall To Grace”, Jay Bakker says this:
“If you wonder whether some attitude or behavior is consistent with grace and its revolutionary implications, try the following thought experiment: Picture the thing that you see Christians doing in the name of Jesus, then substitute Christ (beard, sandals, stigmata and all) thinking and acting the same way.
If it doesn’t seem credible- or worse, if it’s downright ridiculous- the action in question is probably on the wrong track.”
That’s why I tell people I always must filter all the Old Testament concepts of God through the sieve of Jesus. Would Jesus have acted that way? And if the answer is No. then I must question if that was truly God who was speaking or some person’s concept of how God would speak or act.
I was fascinated by a post on the internet that was in response to the Casey Anthony trial verdict…
“Innocent until proven guilty.
Not by the water coolers I hang out around.
This woman was raw meat waiting to be cooked.
And then Tuesday happened.
Not Guilty.
Most of the shock has come from the Christian community.
Who wouldn’t be aghast that the innocent, little, helpless Caylee was sent to her death by something out of her control?
It was a cowardice act however it transpired.
But Casey is not guilty.
The system in which we place our trust found her not guilty.
So then.
What to do now?
What to do after all the tweets and blogs about how she should pay.
What do we do when she walks into your church this Sunday?
What do we do with someone who claims one thing yet the world believes another?
Who is seeking refuge from the world in the arms of our body?
How do you respond?
How should the church respond?
How do you think a church ACTUALLY would respond?
There were many responses to this question….
Luke
a flood of emotions fills my brain and heart when i watch videos or read news stories about this whole situation. if i can be honest, if casey came to my front door and needed shelter my first and initial reaction would be to tell her to go to hell for what she did. but in saying that i know that there have been many people in my life that have wanted to say that to me for the things i have done, and they didn’t. instead they were Jesus Christ in the flesh to me. They listened and cared, and through that I understood grace. We have no idea what she was going through or really anything for that matter beyond what the media is telling us, and yet based on that we sit in our homes (me included) and pass judgment. the right answer is always LOVE. but sometimes its just not always the one you want to use first.
Jessica 7 July
Sigh. I have come very close to saying something about this on the blog or facebook, but have refrained so far because I’m pretty sure it will fall on deaf ears.
But if ONE more person that claims to be a Christian says she should “fry” … I might just have to go punch a pillow or something.
mike 7 July 2011
treat her like every other broken and sinful person in need of a savior. wrap our collective church arms (the arms of the body of Christ) around her and let her know that she’s is a child of god.
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God help us if we all start to receive what everyone else thinks we deserve.
liz 7 July 2011
How did Jesus respond to a woman who was found IN THE ACT OF ADULTERY? That phrase means JUST what it says -in the act. She was guilty. What did Jesus say?
I’m sure we are sitting next to people in our church who have served time in prison. Only Jesus can know the heart.
The many Christians saying ‘Fry her’ – so upsetting. The rocks are in our hands
- Jack 7 July 2011 at 5:34 pm #
This is my thought exactly so I repeat what you said, Liz, and I want to add that Jesus died for every sin and I believe all sin is equal in God’s eyes, therefore, in echo, who are we to cast stones? I simply would treat her as I treat anyone else and I say, welcome Casey Anthony. Please do come to my church this Sunday, let me introduce you to Jesus! The church should be tripping over one another wanting this one in their church, because, like everyone else, she needs Jesus in her life.
amykay 7 July 2011
but why do we have to wait for her to walk through our church doors to give her grace?
do we speak with grace when other speak ill of her now? do we pray for her now, before she asks for it?
- Terry Weaver 7 July 2011 at 2:59 pm #
I would hope she would be welcomed with Love and Grace. She needs more than a bulletin. She needs a hug! I would hope that she would walk away feeling loved by people and knowing that God loves her. I wish we did a better job loving sinners! My sins are just as offensive as hers. My pride and lack of faith are no worse or better than her accused sins. Always amazes me to see and hear Christians be the 1st to judge when we have been forgiven. (wow did you hear that?)
Our pews and pulpits are full of vile sinners. Forgiven. Unfortunately neither Grace or Casey is welcome at most churches. I do hope that somewhere along the way Casey meets Grace…..
I think U2 Said it pretty well..
Grace
Grace, she takes the blame
She covers the shame
Removes the stain
It could be her name
Grace…
It’s a name for a girl
It’s also a thought that, changed the world
And when she walks on the street
You can hear the strings
Grace finds goodness in everything
Grace, she’s got the walk
Not on a ramp or on chalk
She’s got the time to talk
She travels outside of karma, karma
She travels outside… of karma
When she goes to work, you can hear the strings
Grace finds beauty in everything
Grace…
She carries a world on her hips
No champagne flute for her lips
No twirls or skips between her fingertips
She carries a pearl in perfect condition
What once was hurt
What once was friction
What left a mark
No longer stings…
Because Grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things
Grace finds beauty in everything
- You know, all this reminds me of the song by Casting Crowns. Obviously, her home life is as many are dysfunctional. I think she is running, and now she will be running from the ghosts in her mind if she did do this. To much junk in my own trunk to cast a stone…
She is running
A hundred miles an hour in the wrong direction
She is trying
But the canyon’s ever widening
In the depths of her cold heart
So she sets out on another misadventure just to find
She’s another two years older
And she’s three more steps behind
Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?
Or does anybody even know she’s going down today
Under the shadow of our steeple
With all the lost and lonely people
Searching for the hope that’s tucked away in you and me
Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?
She is yearning
For shelter and affection
That she never found at home
She is searching
For a hero to ride in
To ride in and save the day
And in walks her prince charming
And he knows just what to say
Momentary lapse of reason
And she gives herself away
Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?
Or does anybody even know she’s going down today
Under the shadow of our steeple
With all the lost and lonely people
Searching for the hope that’s tucked away in you and me
Does anybody hear her? Can anybody see?
If judgment looms under every steeple
If lofty glances from lofty people
Can’t see past her scarlet letter
And we’ve never even met her
Never even met her
God tells us his grace is enough.
Well then that’s the answer.
It’s ENOUGH.
Final Answer.
Casey if you walk into my church this sunday there is a hug waiting for you. I can’t possibly know what actually happened because I wasn’t there. I can’t possbily assume the guilt or shame or fear or regret or frustration you feel…because I’m not you. I have no idea what you are going through, no idea where you have been. But what i can tell you is this…. MY GOD is bigger. He is bigger than any hurdle you face or any valley you’ve found yourself in. He is bigger than the hurts and sins or cruelty of this world. He loves you now, where you are, as you are. Even if the world can’t understand what’s going on, even if I can’t understand, God can and does and will always.
Grace is the FREE and UNmerited GIFT of GOD.
It is not earnable.
I cannot earn it.
Casey cannot earn it.
I am a lost sheep who needs a savior.
Casey is a lost sheep who needs a savior.
Grace is enough… our response should be lived through that statement.
Bill Moore 9 July
God used cold blooded killers to change the world.
Cain killed Able, yet God put a mark on Him so that no man would ever touch Him. He spared Cain’s life.
Moses lost His cool and murdered an Egyptian. He definitely “sinned in anger”. Yet God used him to bring us the BIG TEN and to lead the Israelite people out of captivity.
David lusted after a hot chic, bathing buck naked, (how else do you bathe?)on a house top. He then proceeded to find out who her old man was, plop his butt at the front of the battle lines ensuring his death, so that he could free and clear to get his BATHsheeba on. Yet somehow, He was a man after God’s own heart.
Saul(Paul) was a Jewish zealot who stalked followers of the WAY. Dragging them from their homes he would stand by as men, woman and children were stoned to death in the streets. Angry mobs laid their garments at Paul’s feet as a sign of respect before they teed off with some serious rock action on Stephen’s noggin.
Casey Anothony is arguably a horrible mother and considered by most folks to be complicent in the death of her child…Imaigne what God could do with her. Or for that matter, what He could do with you, or what He HAS done with you?
We view God’s love, mercy and cleansing blood as good enough and powerful enough to wash away our sins. But we would deny that same forgiveness to others.
Holy Spirit, I beg you, give us the eyes to see people as you do, and the ability to love them, as you have loved us.
Start with me.
Wow! Amen Brother!
Always amazes me to see and hear Christians be the 1st to judge when we have been forgiven.
In closing I want to bring to your attention a parable about grace.
It is found in Matthew the 20th chapter Jesus tells this story…
Matthew 20:1-16
The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard
1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went.
“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’
7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.
“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his supervisor, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’
9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’
13 “But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
There were 2 incidents in the Bible where there was a person who got angry at God’s generosity and grace…
First there was Jonah.
Jonah and the whale…remember him?
Well God asked Jonah to go to preach to the city of Nineveh, a wicked city and tell them to repent.
Jonah desides instead to get on a boat going in the opposite direction…well a storm comes up and finally the men realize the storm is because they have a backslidden preacher on their hands so they throw him overboard. A big fish swallows Jonah and so for a few days Jonah is alive in the belly of the fish…I cannot imagine what that would be like…talk about your fishy smells….
But Jonah repents and decides he will go to Nineveh. He preaches that they had better turn from their wicked ways or they would be destroyed!
Well the city does repent and they are not destroyed.
Jonah gets pouty because God didn’t destroy the people.
Jonah was very unhappy about this and become angry. So he prayed, “LORD, didn’t I say before I left home that this is just what you would do? That’s why I did my best to run away to Spain! I knew that you are a loving and merciful God, always patient, always kind, and always ready to change your mind and not punish. Now then, LORD, let me die. I am better off dead than alive.”
The LORD answered, “What right do you have have to be angry?”
Just as in the parable of Jesus God is asking… Why are you angry when I show mercy and grace?
Then the other person who gets angry at God’s mercy is the prodigal son’s elder brother…
You know the story….a wealthy man had two sons and one asks for his part of the inheritance so he can leave and spend it on wild times..and when he is broke he comes back home and the father welcomes him…and gives him a welcome home party….
This does not set well with the elder brother.
Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
Why do people get angry when someone shows mercy and grace to others?
C.S. Lewis wrote a book called The Great Divorce
In it he describes hell as a city populated with people convinced of their own righteousness and sufficiency. He imagines a bus traveling from hell to heaven every day.
Those in hell are always welcome to visit heaven. They are met by saints who try to encourage them to stay. Most quickly board the bus for the return trip to hell. The first to return to the bus is a man convinced there must have been a mistake. He’s met in heaven by one of his former employees who was convicted of murder. Terribly offended, he says, “What I’d like to understand is what you’re here for, as pleased as punch, you, a bloody murderer, while I’ve been walking the streets down there and living in a place like a pigstye all these years.”
The saint who was once a murderer freely admits his sin and tries to explain God’s grace, but the man from hell will not listen. He is convinced a great injustice has been done. He complains, “I’d rather be damned than go along with you. I came to get my rights, see? Not to go sniveling along on charity tied to your apron strings. If they’re too fine to have me without you, I’ll go home.” He gets back on the bus.
Someone has said,
“It is our human weakness to elevate justice over mercy when it suits our selfish, emotional needs”
I tell you, I don’t know if Lewis is right in his idea of hell….but living a life of unforgiveness and self-righteousness…is a living hell.
And the party goes on for the prodigals….and those elder brothers and sisters are welcome to join….but the thing that keeps you outside the party is not knowing the passwords…
Forgiveness, love, mercy and grace.
So what if Casey showed up this morning at Open Door?
I say come on Casey… join us here at Open Door. You will find a place of love and forgiveness. You will find a community that will make room for you.
We love you because our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ loves you very much.
To any of you who might be offended by her presence…or might want to tell her to leave…
Just remember how wide we had to open the door for you when you first walked in.
See that is the thing…
We must remember how many times we have been forgiven.
Remember what that one blogger said….
“Always amazes me to see and hear Christians be the 1st to judge when we have been forgiven.”
So when you are tempted to say of someone… “God will get you for that! You may not pay in this lifetime but just wait. God will get you for that! Walter!
Just remember how many times you have needed forgiveness… and stop making God your pit bull to sick on people when you feel they need to be punished.
“For what good is grace- this unconditional love of God- if it is not extended to those who deserve it the least but need it the most?” Phillip Gully
If we could pull the curtain back on your life and mine…. How many times have we sinned and no one knew….How many times I should have gotten caught , but I didn’t
The lies I never got caught in, The lust that no one ever knew about, The hate I never showed outwardly, The jealousy I masked with self righteousness, The consequences of sin I somehow escaped….It is then that I remember the scandal of my own “not guilty” verdict.
One blogger said it well,
“Grace makes me thankful for God’s injustice… that he doesn’t give me what I deserve. We are all guilty of SO MUCH and yet there is one who is willing to take on himself our guilt and shame. Even with the hard proof of my sins, He still finds me not guilty.”
How great a love is that!
The Gay Marriage Debate
Feb 14In early 2005, the governor of the state of Arkansas and a former Baptist pastor, Mike Huckabee, decided to host a large gathering at our local arena to renew his marriage vows to his wife, Janet. They would be doing this to encourage couples to apply for a new type of marriage agreement called “covenant marriage” This legally binding contract would make it more difficult to obtain a divorce. At first, there were going to be over 1000 couples that would renew their vows together, but when the media got hold of the story, they started comparing the ceremony to the followers of Sun Myung Moon. It was decided that only the governor and first lady would actually speak their vows in front of the audience. The ceremony and rally in support of heterosexual marriage would be held the evening of Valentine’s Day February 14.
In the days approaching the event, those opposed to gay marriage, started turning it into a protest against gay marriage. I decided to write a guest editorial for our state newspaper, The Democrat Gazette. I called and asked the editor if I could be the guest writer that week. She suggested that my editorial run the same day as the planned rally. I felt good about this timing. Now the hard part, I had to put down in words what I wanted to say to Governor Huckabee and all the others who disrespected my marriage to Gary. I did not come across as angry and unreasonable, but I wanted to point out to them how wrong and exclusive their beliefs were:
I would like to congratulate Gov. Mike and first lady Janet Huckabee on the renewing of their wedding vows. As a Christian man, I applaud their willingness to commit to a monogamous, loving relationship. I truly believe that one of the greatest joys in life is marriage. The process of finding the right one, popping the question, setting a date and planning the ceremony is an incredibly wonderful experience. The actual moment when you stand before the minister, friends and family, and speak those vows before God is an awesome moment that you remember for the rest of your life.
Being a gay man, I thought I would never get to experience this meaningful moment, but it happened for me on Oct. 16, 1993, I married my best friend, Gary Eddy. We met in 1974, at a Christian college in Missouri. He was from South Dakota and I was from Arkansas. It took us 18 years to finally get together, but it was well worth the wait. He moved here to Arkansas in 1992 and we both felt in our hearts that God had caused our paths to cross. We further believed that God was knitting our hearts together as one. We made the decision to spend the rest of our lives together, supporting and loving one another, sharing our Christian faith together. So we made the plans and we spoke our vows of love to each other: “I vow to you to be a true and faithful friend and companion. I vow to honor you always, to surround you with the comfort of my prayers, to give myself only to you in the act of love’s union. It is my desire that we shall become one heart that beats in worship to the Lord God our creator, that we shall be one in purpose to serve Christ in unity, and that we shall love each other in purity so that the world will see the fruit of God’s spirit coming forth from our union. I will be loyal to you in bad times as well as good times, in sickness and in health, till death part us.” Many who were there that day spoke of how they sensed the hovering of the Holy Spirit in that place as we spoke our covenant of love. That was 12 years ago, but my love for Gary is stronger and more intense today than ever. That is because of the richness that comes only through years of commitment and faithfulness. I am pastor of a church, as was Governor Huckabee, so both he and I know the joy of this experience. As in all callings in life, there are good times and bad times in the pastoral ministry. I am sure that many times when Huckabee was serving as a pastor, as well as in the office of governor, he has thanked God over and over for a faithful mate who stands with him and serves with and alongside him. I, too, have such a spouse. I can remember a very sad time in my ministry when I felt like throwing in the towel. I was facing strong criticism from certain people whose opinions I valued. It was my loving spouse who spoke words of encouragement to me. He assured me that, though others did not, he believed in me and that he knew God had called me to the ministry and that he would support me 100 percent. I am sure I do not have to tell you what that meant to a minister full of doubts about himself and his calling.
Recently, Gary came down with the flu and I was taking care of him. As he lay there on the couch in pain and discomfort, I did my best to comfort him. When he finally drifted off to sleep, I looked at that precious man whom I love so deeply and I was overcome with emotion as I thought of how empty my life would be without him. I reached out and placed my hand on his head and prayed for God to heal him. I also took that opportunity to say, “Thank you, God, for bringing such a wonderful person into my life.” I am a much better man because of Gary’s love for me. This Valentine’s Day, Gary and I also will be renewing our vows to each other. The commitment we have made is the same one my dad and mom made to each other in July of 1946. They raised me to respect the institution of marriage. They showed me by example how to “do it right.” They were together for 54 years, until they were parted by my dad’s death in 2000. My parents taught me that you find the person God has for you and you commit your life to him or her. You cherish and love that person in the good times as well as the bad. You love that person as Christ loved the church. I found that person. I did commit my life to him. I cherish him and thank God for this wonderful, rich experience. My parents called this commitment marriage and so do we. Our thoughts and prayers will be with the governor and first lady as they renew their vows of marriage. Thanks to the governor for the romantic idea of doing this on Valentine’s Day. Gary and I will renew our vows in a more private setting, but our voices will join with Gov. and Mrs. Huckabee as Heaven listens, and we, too, will be thanking God for the gracious gift of marriage.
The Jekyll and Hyde theology
Jan 18I must say that the author, Brennan Manning has saved me from eating myself up with guilt and self hatred. He has done this by introducing me to the God that Jesus came to show us. Listen to these powerful words,
“The tendency in legalistic religion is to mistrust God, to mistrust others, and consequently to mistrust ourselves. ..Do you really believe that the Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is gracious, that He cares about you? Do you really believe that He is always, unfailingly present to you as companion and support? Do you really believe that God is love? Or have you learned to fear this loving and gracious Father? ‘In love,’ John says, ‘there is no fear, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear implies punishment and no one who is afraid has come to perfection in love.’ (1 John 4:18) Have you learned to think of the Father as the judge, the spy, the disciplinarian, the punisher? If you think that way, you are wrong. The Father’s love is revealed in the Son’s. The Son has been given to us that we might give up fear…Abba is not our enemy. If we think that we are wrong.”
To tell you the truth I grew up so afraid of God the Father. I have said it this way; I loved Jesus but I was scared to death of his daddy.
I was constantly involved in this game of trying to be “good enough” What pressure! The church I attended taught that you could be loved by God one minute and hated by him the next. There was this strange Jekyll and Hyde theology concerning God. The Bible says that God is love so that was taught. Yet this God loved us only if we loved Him and did everything He wanted us to do and abstained from everything he commanded us not to do.
He could hold us adoringly in His loving arms one minute and then turn around and gleefully kick us into hell the next. How do you trust such a love? If a couple in therapy are involved in this kind of relationship, the therapist would call it “toxic.”
Brennan helped me see God in a whole new light. The loving Abba he proclaimed was the same Abba “Our Father” that Jesus came to proclaim. “For God so LOVED the world!” How do so many miss this aspect of God?
Brennan says that the question that the gospel (good news) of grace puts to us is simply this, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? What are we afraid of?
Then he lists some of those fears:
“Are you afraid that your weakness could separate you from the love of Christ? It can’t.
Are you afraid that your inadequacies could separate you from the love of Christ? They can’t.
Are you afraid that your inner poverty could separate you from the love of Christ? It can’t.
Difficult marriage, loneliness, anxiety over the children’s future? They can’t.
Negative self-image? It can’t.
Economic hardship, racial hatred, street crime? They can’t.
Rejection by loved ones or the suffering of loved ones? They can’t.
….Mistakes, fears, uncertainties? They can’t.
The gospel of grace calls out, Nothing can ever separate you from the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Thanks Brennan! You have given me hope. Thanks Jesus Christ for showing me the love of my Abba Father. I feel like a bird set free from a cage of legalism! My life has meaning now that it never had before. This God makes sense to me. The other one “not so much”
The year of the Lord’s favor!
Jan 17I am given the difficult yet meaningful task of preparing a sermon each week for my congregation. It can sometimes seem overwhelming. I tell my congregation that they will always hear a positive message of God’s love. I will not preach on hell because I feel they have been through enough hell during the week and the Gospel will be preached at Open Door Church. Gospel means “Good News” It is my belief that the message that Jesus came to bring was one of “Good News”
Listen to Jesus giving his kick off speech for his mission of love…
The Spirit of the Lord is on me
To preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor!”
Now Jesus was reading a prophesy from Isaiah when he spoke those words.
If you look up that prophesy found in Isaiah 61 you will see that Jesus stopped in the midst of the prophesy. Isaiah’s version says…
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
Jesus stopped with The year of the Lord’s favor…and it says in Luke that he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down…
As a minister of the good news of Jesus Christ I will stop where Jesus stopped…with the year of the Lord’s favor!
THE SOUL FELT IT’S WORTH (struggling with feelings of unworthiness)
Dec 02Radical change which leads to real growth comes about when we feel the loving affirmation and acceptance of God. This reinforces our own desire to give up self-destructive behavior and to move on to actions and attitudes which bless our own lives and the lives of others. Superficial change and apparent growth comes about when we feel coerced into doing something differently by the threat of punishment or the withdrawing of approval from someone significant in our lives.”
Keith Wright
I think this quote is very true. I have found that this is so true in my personal life. As long as I was taught to fear God and fear losing his love and approval by certain actions, I was constantly tripping up. I felt like Paul in Romans 7. It is what I call Paul’s doo-dah passage.
“ I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.” ROMANS 7:15-23
As with Paul I was caught in that sad vicious cycle of sinning-feeling bad-repenting as fast as I could to avoid God’s punishment- then a few days, sometimes hours, sometimes seconds- until a temptation came along. As a child I was so afraid of losing my salvation that I would practice saying the forgiveness prayer and timing myself to see how fast I could pray the prayer. This was in case I was about to be in a head on collision in a car; I could get out the prayer and be forgiven just in the nick of time for any forgotten sins in my life. You see the way I was raised you could lose your salvation literally at the drop of a hat. If you dropped your hat and this frustrated you and you cursed then you immediately lost your ticket to heaven. My name was being written and erased so many times in God’s “book of life” that I was afraid the paper it was written on was evaporating.
But then I learned that God loves me unconditionally. That fact,; knowing that the one who knows me best loves me most, …WOW! That was life-changing!
I have been told by many that if I preach grace (God’s love is unconditional because his salvation is a gift not a reward) that I will be giving people a license to sin. Some have said I am preaching “sloppy agape.”
First of all, you don’t need a license to sin…you can do it pretty good all on your own with no help from me. Secondly, God’s grace is sloppy! God spreads grace like a seven year old spreads peanut butter. He gets it on everything!
But seriously, when you learn grace it inspires you to live a more full and productive life and to say no to those life destroying habits.
I have heard it described using two dogs as an example: The city dog and the country dog. The city dog is kept inside all the time except when on a leash to go out to take care of business. Now the fear of the owner is if that city dog ever gets a chance to run out the open front door. The city dog, tasting freedom after being so closely watched, takes off and no begging or pleading from the owner convinces him back into the confines of his prison.
But on the other hand you can observe the country dog. There are no restraints on him. There are no closed doors or leashes to go outside….just wide open spaces to run and frolic …. But where do you usually find that old country dog? Laying at the feet of his master right there on the front porch.
When you know that you know that you know you are loved of God you no longer have to be manipulated into doing right. You want to do right.
I once met a middle age woman working as a hostess at a local restaurant. When she found out I was a preacher she said, “I am looking for a church.” Now observing her I could just tell she enjoyed partying and kicking up her heels at the dance club. I thought to myself that she would love our church. But then she asked me, “Are you one of those hell-fire and brimstone preachers?” I assured her I was not. “No, I figure our folk go through enough hell all week long. I preach good news.” To my surprise she responded, “Oh well your church is not the one for me. I need that harsh preaching to keep me in line.”
Well I was amazed at her response. But it makes sense when you think about it. This woman never allows her spirituality to affect her every-day life. She goes out and does a lot of sinning so she can do a lot of repenting on Sunday. She does wrong and then comes to church to get her whipping and then she feels resolved of responsibility. But her life goes on unchanged and the good news of Jesus has not impacted her life.
Brennan Manning says, “Our response to Jesus will be total the day we experience how total is his love for us. Instead of our self-righteous efforts to be good, we should allow ourselves the luxury of letting ourselves be loved. Not after we clean up our act and get all our ducks in a row, not after we have eliminated every trace of sin, selfishness, dishonesty, and degraded love from our resume, not after we have developed a disciplined prayer life and spent ten years in Calcutta with Mother Theresa’s missionaries, but right now, right here…”
Let’s vow to do that today. It will be a life-changing beginning. You see the goal should not to make ourselves into a better person…the goal is to draw close to Jesus and allow his love for us to become a reality. Then we will notice that our life will take on new possibilities…simply because we feel we are worth something.
We are entering the Christmas season. I love the Christmas Carol, O Holy Night. I am particularly fond of the line “Long lay the world in sin and error pining, till He appeared and the SOUL FELT IT’S WORTH!
Paul ends his seemingly hopeless do-dah section with this hopeful affirmation
“What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
Jesus came to show us a God who was over the top in love with us. This gives us worth! We are worth something to God…worth enough that God would put on our tattered flesh just so he could come near to us and embrace us. God is LOVE and God loves YOU! My prayer for you today is that you will feel your worth!
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