Balancing Act

2 Corinthians 8:7-15

This scripture reminds me of the scripture in Acts 4:32-35 I called the Commonwealth scripture a few weeks ago. The one where everyone puts all their resources together and each person takes only what he or she needs.  This time, Paul is telling the people of Corinth that he wants them to excel, but not at anyone else's expense.  He wants people to be eager to serve the Lord, but balanced in how they live life day to day.  Don't create an unbalanced system where one person has much while another suffers with little.

It is hard not to look at this in economic terms. I mean, when I read this, I immediately think, "Wow, I wish the politicians and the bankers felt this way."  I would love to hear the rhetoric from Washington and Wall Street include the phrase "it is a question of a fair balance between your present abundance and their need, so that their abundancy may be for your need."

But just because our economic structure does not lend itself to that, it doesn't mean that we can't be a family of God who lends itself to such a philosophy.

If we are to create a community that promotes a fair balance, then we are making sure that our abundance is available in circumstances where someone else has a need.  In building terms, it's why it might be great if our building could be more of a community center, since we lack one in the Gunbarrel area.

Here's a thought.  List all the categories of your life in which you have abundance.  Now, list out beside of that a situation where someone else doesn't have such abundance.  The link between those two is the work you must do to create that fair balance Paul speaks of. After you do that exercise for yourself, try doing it for NUMC.  It might be a good first step into what we need to do to move into our vision of embracing the community and sharing ourselves with others.

Comments? Email me or comment below.

Battleship

Mark 4:35-41

This summer one of the blockbuster movies is named after a famous pen and paper game, which later became a board game. Remember "Battleship?" I loved it as a kid... "you sank my battleship!" I loved it when I sank my brother's aircraft carrier, because that was the BIG one. This movie is based loosely on the game, and it has the US Navy fighting a phantom fleet of alien ships.

That is a bit different than the smallish boat that Jesus is on when a storm blows up and scares everyone in the boat except Jesus. This is one of the most famous stories of Jesus. The disciples fear for their lives in the storm and Jesus says, "Peace. Be still" while scolding the disciples for their lack of faith.

Life can be like a fight against alien battleships sometimes, can't it? We don't know what is ahead of us and we can't see the obstacles and the dangers that lie ahead. Life can be like a boat tossed on a stormy sea, too, can't it?  The storm is all around us. The intensity doesn't seem to waver. The waves crash around us and it is easy to lose faith.

"When the storms of life are raging, stand by me. When the world is tossing me like a ship upon the sea, thou who rulest wind and water, stand by me." Lyrics to a great old song that fits this scripture reading.

How do we continue to have faith when we are facing unknown battles ahead? How do we believe that Jesus will create peace in our lives if we just have a little faith?  It is hard sometimes to have faith. But that is what Jesus calls us to do. And we have to believe that Jesus will, indeed, stand by us.

What are the battles you fight that challenge your faith? What do you do when storms rage around you? Email me or comment below.

E.T.

2 Corinthians 5:6-17


Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.



From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!


How do you come 'home' to God right now? Many of us think of 'going home' to God as the moment when we die, but this passage suggests perhaps that it is something different. It is a sort of 'shedding' of our old skin and the taking on of a new one. Like the moment of baptism.


In the movie E.T., an extra-terrestrial being from another planet befriends a young boy.  The journey they take is  a remarkable one as they realize that feeling 'at home' with someone is simply making the effort to know and understand them.  They also learn that always being together doesn't always mean you are in the same place (or on the same planet) at the same time.


What is home to you? Is it a place or is it people? I wrote a blog a couple of years ago now about the Finale song in the musical "In the Heights."  I want to share it with you here. It gets at this feeling of finding your true home. Here it is:

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Home is our Destiny   

 Why does the Finale of "In The Heights," the Broadway musical, always make me cry?  This morning I nearly had to pull my car over because the tears were clouding my vision as I was driving to work listening to the song.

That song is so powerful. It suggests that we are a part of a greater legacy than we can ever imagine. That our lives are intricately connected to the lives of those who have come before us. It suggests that, even though we all get to choose our own way in the world, sometimes our way is chosen for us by those who came before us. We may walk it differently than those who came before, but we are a part of a continuous thread that lasts beyond our time.

Usnavi, the lead character of the show, is all set to take some lottery winnings he inherited and head to his roots in the Dominican Republic.  The lottery-winning matriarch of the street corner they all lived on, a lady everyone called grandma, ‘Abuela,’ wants this for him.  When she dies unexpectedly, he (and all the other characters) are forced to re-evaluate what has true meaning in their lives.

He finally realizes his true destiny is to keep Abuela’s legacy alive on that street corner. If he leaves there, who will keep her voice alive?  “This corner is my destiny”... he says...not the island of his birth, but the corner of Washington Heights where he was formed. His journey, his way in the world, was set in place by others. He wanted to escape it, but it was a part of a bigger-than-life legacy that he needed to keep moving forward. He had to be the standard bearer for another generation.

The way this song gets to me is in the sheer power of recognizing ‘home’ and what that is for us. The ‘home’ in our lives is that force that pulls us, sometimes without our desire or even our recognition, to a place we belong... Home is not necessarily just a place, but also a feeling, a forward movement in time that joins all of our past with all of our future... Home is the conduit between yesterday and tomorrow.

E.T. Phone Home. What do you need to do to 'phone home' as a follower of Christ.  What would look like for you to be 'at home' with the Lord? What would you need to do to be a new creation? Email me or comment below.  

The Dark Knight

Mark 3:20-35

Bruce Wayne: People are dying, Alfred. What would you have me do?

Alfred Pennyworth: Endure, Master Wayne. Take it. They'll hate you for it, but that's the point of Batman, he can be the outcast. He can make the choice that no one else can make, the right choice.—from The Dark Knight.

If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.

Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.—from Mark 3

In Mark 3, Jesus’ family comes to check on him. Because word was getting out about his ministry of healing, he was getting quite popular, and many thought he was out of his mind, that he must be crazy.  The scribes even called his ministry ‘devil’s work.’

Jesus responds to all this by saying “if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.”  A force, whether it be human or supernatural, or perhaps both, is threatening his message by trying to turn everyone against one another.

In The Dark Night triology, you have the forces of evil trying to take down Batman, a force for good, by turning the population against itself.  In the first Dark Knight film, Harvey Dent becomes a hero the people think they can turn to, but he succumbs to tragically becoming a pawn in the Joker’s evil games to “get” Batman.

This Mark text is troubling because it highlights so clearly for us what happens to people of faith.  People of all religions, not just Christianity, often face darkness and evil forces by turning against one another. The message of “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” gets lost and all people end up doing is fighting not the evil that assails them, but fighting one another instead.

Sometimes, it takes a lot of courage to do unto others. It takes a different kind of person to be willing to stand on the margins with people. Like Jesus, people will call you ‘crazy.’ It isn’t easy to love others, that’s why we fight and turn on each other.

How can we be like Jesus, putting ourselves at risk in order to save the world?  What little and big steps could bring about ‘world peace’ in our little piece of the world?  Email me or click the word “comments” below.

Superman

John 3:1-17

Time for Blockbuster month.  In the summer months, movies are billed as "blockbusters" before their release, heightening anticipation that they will actually BE blockbusters upon release. Sometimes that occurs and sometimes it doesn't.  So it is with life... sometimes the build up is such that it lessens the experience.  And yet, that flick of the supernatural, the larger-than-life, the amazingness that the Spirit holds within each of us gives us the opportunity to actually live blockbuster, Spirit-led lives.

This week's lectionary text is from the gospel of John.  John is explaining how Jesus has been sent into the world to save it.  He is explaining how we must all be born from above. He speaks of the Spirit as a force like the wind that comes from unknown places and goes where it will.

I am reminded of the various versions of the blockbuster "Superman."  He comes in from unknown places, and no one knows when he will appear. But the reason he was sent into Metropolis was to save it. He is sent to be a light for goodness and a counterpart to the evil that sometimes ensnares the city.

A comparison of the man Jesus who became the risen Christ to a fictional comic book hero is sure to lead to criticism of 'trivializing' the nature of Christ and his saving grace in our lives.  But that is missing the point.

In every 'salvation' story, there is a noticeable figure who brings unbridled, unassuming, pure goodness to the destructive forces that lurk around us.  It is a literary device, to be sure, but also, for us as Christian people, a very real experience that we have over and over again with Christ's saving grace that sees us through.

Clark Kent could not be more unassuming and less seeking of power or influence.  He is the perfect figure to become a saving force like Superman.  The weak shall be made strong, the meek shall inherit the earth....

What are your thoughts on Superman, from either the comic books or the movies?  How does Metropolis mirror the chaos of the world you see?  Who have been the 'saving graces' in your own life?

Email me or click comments below.

Break the Pinata

Acts 2:1-21

The story of Pentecost. When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.
And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. 

The image of Fire is common for Pentecost. As is the image of wind, and both words, both elements are used in this scripture. But the image I want to focus on this day is that image of the disciples being all together and something coming from heaven and filling up the place!

That is what i love about this Pentecost story.  Last week, we had Jesus ascending and leaving the disciples a final time. They know they must stand on their own and get things done for God. He suggests that he will be with them in a different way. And this week, in this pouring out of the Spirit into the entire house, we have that realized. Jesus resides everywhere among them. Everywhere.  But they still must tap into that Spirit to realize its potential in their lives.

It's like a pinata... that classic childhood game... you have a party decoration and you know inside of it there is something that will make the party even better... candy to shower down among the party goers, but you have to go through the process of accessing it.  In the traditional game, you beat it with a stick. There are less violent pinatas available, where you each pull a tab and one of the tabs will release the goods... the point is, it takes everyone trying together to access what awaits.

That's how we are as a people of faith.  We all can, and certainly have, accessed the Spirit on our own. In the lighting of a candle, in the walking along the shore... But there is something about the power of being together in one place that brings forth the Spirit in beautiful ways.  All of us being together, working together, to access the Spirit.  And feeling that pouring out of love and grace and peace... well, there's nothing like it. When it rains, it pours.

What ways have you sensed the Spirit with you when you are alone? When you are with others?  What would you like to find in a pinata if you cracked it open?

Email me or click the orange comment link below.

Hide and Seek

Acts 1:1-11

Jesus has come to the end of his forty days among the disciples and followers after the Resurrection.  He tells them that the power of the Holy Spirit will come to them and they will be his witnesses to the ends of the ends of the earth. And then, the scripture says, "a cloud took him out of their sight."

Then two men in white robes appeared and, seeing them gazing heavenward, the men say to the followers of Jesus, "Why do you stand looking toward heaven?"


Hide and Seek. Jesus is here. Then he is gone. Then he is here again. Then he is gone.  This is the whiplash narrative of the first followers.  A game of Messiah Hide and Seek. Where would they find or see Jesus next?

What he was trying to get them to see was that he would always be with them, in the power of the Holy Spirit. They need not look skyward, but rather keep their feet planted firmly on the ground and feel Jesus breathing his spirit into their lives, their regular work-a-day lives.

Hide and Seek is fun to play as kids. But it is a little nerve wracking. What happens when you count to ten and look up and are left all alone?  It feels kind of scary, doesn't it? Everyone remembers being the counter and looking up and suddenly you are alone.

And yet, you know, lurking out there somewhere, are your friends, your playmates, the ones who entered into the game with you.  So you seek. You search. You pick up cushions and open closet doors. You do improbable things like open the fridge door... surely no one is in there.  But that's what Hide and Seek is about... turning over every stone in search of those you are in the game to find.

We know we are with others when we play Hide and Seek. Even though that moment of opening our eyes feels frightening, we know others are with us, ready to engage with us again.  So it is with Jesus. We shouldn't think he is gone, whisked away in a cloud while we had our eyes closed.

Jesus is everywhere we look. And so are our communities, our friends, our commonwealth.

We should not allow everyone to remain hidden, rather we should seek out and find those who will help us build our community and keep it strong.

What are your memories of Hide and Seek?  Where was your favorite place to hide?  What do you hide from now? What do you seek?

Email me your comments, or click the orange comments link below.  I'd love to hear from you.