??Forgiveness??

One of the most difficult things we humans struggle with is the issue of forgiveness.  

It is hard to give and it is sometimes harder to receive.  

There are two places in scripture that make my heart sing, with gratitude;  One is the story of Joseph Genesis 50: 15-21.  And the other is is in Luke 23:39-43

15 Realizing that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers said, ‘What if Joseph still bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong that we did to him?’ ¹⁶So they approached Joseph, saying, ‘Your father gave this instruction before he died, ¹⁷“Say to Joseph: I beg you, forgive the crime of your brothers and the wrong they did in harming you.” Now therefore please forgive the crime of the servants of the God of your father.’ Joseph wept when they spoke to him. ¹⁸Then his brothers also wept, fell down before him, and said, ‘We are here as your slaves.’ ¹⁹But Joseph said to them, ‘Do not be afraid! Am I in the place of God? ²⁰Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today. ²¹So have no fear; I myself will provide for you and your little ones.’ In this way he reassured them, speaking kindly to them.(Genesis 50)

Joseph was the one who received evil from his brothers. 

If you remember they threw him into a dried up well to die; because of their jealousy of him.

¹⁹But Joseph said to them, ‘Do not be afraid! Am I in the place of God? ²⁰Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today. 

In the second story is the robber, the evil one, who asked for forgiveness from the Lord hanging, on the cross, beside him. 

As far as we know Jesus didn’t know this man at all, yet he invited him to be with him in paradise forever.

39 One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, ‘Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!’ ⁴⁰But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? ⁴¹And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.’ ⁴²Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ ⁴³He replied, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’(Luke 23)

Now if Joseph and Jesus can display such gracious pardon to people who obviously, by human logic, did not deserve such mercy.  Why is it that you and I make it so impossible?

Clarification:  Forgiveness is not easy to offer.   I have no problem admitting this.

Forgiveness is often given with a long process of praying and considering.  

Think about it this way:  It had been years since Joseph’s brothers had left him for dead.  He had lived another life time since that day. He grew up into a mature man who had experienced all kind of trials. 

That is to say, he had time.  

He had time to think, and pray, and reassess the past.  His forgiveness came with a faith in God’s power to enable him to forgive his brothers.  

Forgiveness often take time. And I don't believe that we can fully forgive without God's help.

As for the robber who hung next to Jesus.  He fully confessed his past.  He made that clear.  And his request to be with Jesus in paradise was an acknowledgement of his faith, in this man, who didn’t deserve to hang next to him.

Jesus forgiveness of this man was the way God works with you and me.

⁴³He replied, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise. 

Today.  

    Right now.  

         You are forgiven.  

               No questions asked.

All God asked for is our acknowledgement of our regret.  

Our “I’m sorry.” 

God doesn’t ask us to bear our souls with all the messy details. He knows already what we have done.

Just our simple recognition of our need for God’s intervention in our lives. Is enough.

How Do You Perceive Jesus?

Once again I am taken by something Cynthia Bourgeault says in her recent book ‘Wisdom Jesus.'

I will cautiously say the she is talking about how the “guilt-inducing theology” has permeated our Christian history. 

And she references, as just one example from, Luke 18 where Jesus tells the rich ruler:

‘How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’ 

Her comment caused my mind to say WOW!  

See what you think.

“…Our only truly essential human task here, Jesus teaches, is to grow beyond the survival instincts of the animal brain and egoic operating system into the kenotic joy and generosity of full human personhood.  His mission was to show us how to do this.” (p.106)

Clarification: 

She uses the word ‘egoic’ which refers to what she calls the “egoic operation system,”…  a grammar of perception, a way of making sense of the world by dividing the field into subject and object, inside and outside — and one of the most important first tasks of early childhood is to learn how to run the operating system…(p.33)  

In my words, she mean the systems of logic, reason and restriction of possibilities. 

I don’t know about you. But as a person who has mentally struggled with the more fundamental take on the Bible, I am just eating up Bourgeault’s more spiritual point of view.

It feels right to me that she is pulled by the Wisdom side, of the Old Testament, which she sees in Jesus.  

She follows a complete opposite path of thinking from  "the guilt-inducing theology:"  An angry God who is always pointing a finger of guilt on our human personhood.

So let me move passed all of the details of "what the Bible says,"  and simply talk about the way Jesus presented God to the people he walked among. 

One writer, I think it was Ted Loder, called Jesus a “non-anxious-presence."

Jesus did not display a character of anger, judgment, wrath and/or punishment.

Okay, there was the time he had a tantrum when he entered the temple:

15 Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold doves; ¹⁶and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. ¹⁷He was teaching and saying, ‘Is it not written,

“My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations”?

But you have made it a den of robbers.’ (Mark 11)

However, the major part of Jesus’ life, on this earth, was a model of grace, acceptance, enclusiveness, forgiveness and love for those he walked among.

My purpose in my former Calls, and my purpose now, is to encourage people to know this Jesus/God. 

It just occurred to me that most of the radio and Television theology does not promote who Jesus really was/is.  

And they, unfortunately, get the majority of press in our world.

How very, very sad.

The Call To Follow In Jesus' Footsteps Continues

Here is the deal.  There is one more myth-bubble to pop here.  It is the myth of what Jesus really mean in his teachings and story telling.

Because it is a harsh word Jesus speaks to the crowd. 

He uses words like “hate,” “cost” and “give up all” (you own).

And the listener throws up his/her hands and shouts:  

“It is too hard.”  

     “I cannot live on nothing.”  

          “What you ask is impossible and unrealistic.” 

And the would-be disciple walks the other way.  Not even giving another thought to this crazy person.

One commentator puts it this way:  “Cost is what we give-up to acquire, accomplish, maintain, or produce something.  It involves a measure of sacrifice and perhaps loss or penalty in gaining something.  Cost requires effort and resources…..

Discipleship, we must remember, is a process.  This take time and involves both false starts and modest successes,  as we grow in our faith journeys  to live into the fullness of our humanity and dare to begin to live the holiness that resides in each of us.  As disciples, we learn to face life’s challenges and joys with a spirit of love, hope, faith and peace that leads us to an ever deeper spirituality…..” (Feasting on the Word p.46)

The brain-teaser, in reading the Bible, is that people want to take whatever passage they read literally.  And this gets in the way of how Jesus taught.

Let me try to explain what I think this passage, from Luke, is saying to those who listened to Jesus so long ago.

First of all, lets take the statement:

²⁶‘Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.’ 

Do you actually believe that Jesus — a man who personified love — would want you to hate your loved ones? 

Not the Jesus I believe in. 

Just chapters before this one — Luke 6:27 — Jesus tells his disciples not to hate.

  

The word ‘hate,’ in the Greek and Hebrew, is not an emotional or psychological hatred or anger.  Rather a total commitment that gives absolute priority to Jesus.  Hate is a disowning of evil.  (Theological Dictionary of the New Testament)

Secondly it is not the literal “giving up” — giving away — of everything we have.  

³³So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions. 

The cost of following Jesus is like reconfiguring — rearranging, altering — of what is essential, and of most value, in living as one who wants to live as Jesus lived.

That is why he told the story about the woman, of the street, who washes his  feet with her tears and anoints them with an extremely extravagant oil. (Read Luke 7: 36-50)

Or when he points out the poor widow who put her last two coins in the temple treasury. (Mk. 12:41-44) 

By telling such stories he was trying to move people past the social and economic standards of success and power; to the wisdom of living in less control and more empathy for others.

The Gospels are full of stories that are meant to help us consider a better, more meaningful life.  The Life Jesus models with his every word and movement.

Discipleship is not all of the sudden becoming someone else who magically turns into some perfect being in a moment of time.

The only perfect being was the man whose skin God lived in. 

His name was Jesus.

25 Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and said to them, ²⁶‘Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. ²⁷Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. ²⁸For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? ²⁹Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, ³⁰saying, “This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.” ³¹Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? ³²If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. ³³So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.(Luke 14)

Discipleship -- What Does It Truly Mean?

I am thinking about, what is now being referred to as, ‘old churchy term.’  Terms that have come to be of no real value to those ages forty years old and below.

I am referring to such terms as: sin, sinner, salvation, justification, sanctification and phrases like membership, kingdom of God.

All of these, once important words have somehow lost their relevance, meaning and usefulness. 

If you really think about it most of them, come out of, and are defined by an ancient way of thinking.   Which today has no relevant meaning to the younger mind.

If I understand correctly, what the younger generation wants, it is not all of the old traditions, and institutions, of the church fathers; but a way to know God/Jesus in very real and purposeful ways. 

Ways in which they can feel that they are making a difference in the crazy world they have inherited from their grandparents and parents.  

A world that to them seems to be reversing itself from all the treasured Christian values and understandings, of what it means to follow Jesus.

If I have one description of the younger mind searching to fit into the old ways it would be: more willing to question.  More willing to be less narrow and more inclusive of those who have been seen as outside of God’s possibility. 

So this morning I am going to make a relatively bold statement — assumption — about Jesus' Call to live as his disciples -- his students -- on this planet earth.   

I make this assumption because I believe that this new generation of Jesus’ followers actually understands the Call correctly. 

Jesus, I believe, was looking for minds that were graving a close relationship with a God who promises to love and accept them for who they are.  

A relationship with Jesus who came to show us a radically different way of living that actually shows us -- models for us -- better ways of being together.

Jesus’ Call to discipleship is a call that takes precedence over all the old rules and earthly securities.

To follow in the ways Jesus, that is his way of being, is a probing and deliberative process where we find our ability to enter the difficult questions about life and living in this very different and diverse world. 

A life, by the way, that in not just informative, but interactive -- not simply a pew-sitting-crowd of church goers. 

It is a life that is involved in reconciliation; bring peace and justice to the entire population of God’s children.    

To be continued.

A reader responds to yesterday’s blog:

“Experiences of comfort and guidance in the words of scripture confirm God’s abounding love and “tender mercies” each day. Words from strangers in times of deep depression point to love of God and caring people. Road of life has its ups and downs. God is on the road with us. Thanks for your meditation today!”

Thanks for entering the conversation.  Your comment about “words from  strangers in times of deep depression point to God.”  Is a perfect example of how it all works.

God uses his children to bring his love into our everyday circumstances.  And often the person that was kind wasn’t even aware that her/his words had such a powerful affect of  comfort for you. 

It is amazing how often it happens.  

As I look back over my ministry, and life before ministry, I can remember others who were grateful to me for things I said or did that help them along their way. 

I think that is what God meant when he told Abraham that he was blessed to be a blessing (Gen. 12:2)

We are all meant to be a blessing to others in God’s name. And we do that in the simple ordinary ways we live, and speak.  

It doesn’t take an elegantly articulate person to be a blessing.

You don’t have to be extraordinarily gifted.

You just have to be yourself.

God does the rest.

The Huge Myth About God continues

I read this passage this morning and thought of what I wrote in my blog yesterday:

12-14 I’m so grateful to Christ Jesus for making me adequate to do this work. He went out on a limb, you know, in trusting me with this ministry. The only credentials I brought to it were violence and witch hunts and arrogance. But I was treated mercifully because I didn’t know what I was doing—didn’t know Who I was doing it against! Grace mixed with faith and love poured over me and into me. (! Tim.)

This passage, from 1st. Timothy 1, speak to another part of the human difficulty of believing that God loves, care and acceptance for those who have live a-not-so-good life.  Those who have made unfortunate choices that they are now ashamed of.

Saul, who became Paul, was one who lived by strictly following the Jewish Law. Not open to anything new.  He was convinced that his job was to eliminate anyone who followed Jesus. 

Here he admitted his flawed life: 

The only credentials I brought to it were violence and witch hunts and arrogance. But I was treated mercifully....

True story:

About six years ago now a young man sat in my office telling me what an “evil” life he had led.  He had treated his wife and children in unforgivable ways. 

He had just returned from a month long detox program for drug and alcohol use.   

Now he was fully atoning for his past; and was asking me to support him in his faith life.  He said he knew that God had forgiven him.  He now needed to forgive himself and feel that his family would forgive him.

The light and joy in his body were so evident.  He wanted to stay “clean” and live a different way of life.

He had hope.

For about a month, maybe two, he was on track.  He was sitting with his wife and children every Sunday at church.  Trying to do things that really matter for others.

It was a good and positive energy he had.

But sadly it was too short lived.  His wife was done with him — no possibility of forgiveness there.  And he couldn’t forgive himself.

He went back to his old ways.  

I never saw him or his family again.

His wife did call me a few time after that. Members of the congregation were so loving to her.  Making sure she has what she needed.  She felt so unworthy of their generosity.   However I am assuming that her own shame and confusion got the best of her as well.

I will never know for sure.

And the myth wins the battle. 


People who struggle with their lives most always have this feeling that they aren’t good enough to be loved by God; and probably any body else for that matter.

That is the terrible glitch in this myth.

Unlike Saul, they were just making immature decisions and stuck in unfortunate  behavioral patterns.  This young man and his family were not actively fighting against God.

They were not out-to-get everyone who believed in God/Jesus.  

I happen to know that he and his wife were actively raise in Christian families.  And his wife brought the children to Sunday School regularly.

They were just living unfortunate lives that hurt each other.  As a result shame and guilt kept them from believing in the possibilities of forgiveness, grace, mercy and the love of God in their lives.

It truly is a sad truth about many of the people who seek God’s love.  But somehow never believe its all true for them.

12-14 I’m so grateful to Christ Jesus for making me adequate to do this work. He went out on a limb, you know, in trusting me with this ministry. The only credentials I brought to it were violence and witch hunts and arrogance. But I was treated mercifully because I didn’t know what I was doing—didn’t know Who I was doing it against! Grace mixed with faith and love poured over me and into me. And all because of Jesus.

15-19 Here’s a word you can take to heart and depend on: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. I’m proof—Public Sinner Number One—of someone who could never have made it apart from sheer mercy. And now he shows me off—evidence of his endless patience—to those who are right on the edge of trusting him forever.

Deep honor and bright glory

to the King of All Time—

One God, Immortal, Invisible,

ever and always. Oh, yes! (!Timothy The Message)

A Huge Myth About God

One of the myths, of human understanding, is that if we live well — being kind and good, following all the rules and making wise decisions; that  life will always go well with no major bumps in the road.

The myth enlarges by this addition:  When we live this way — being good — our lives will always be surrounded with peace and harmony.  That God will protect us from all misfortune.

Untrue.

You see, the truth is, as I understand it, God does not promise that we will not stumble and fall.  At least that is not something that I have ever read about in the Bible. 

What God does promise is his guidance and strength -- his loving presence -- as we move in and out of life’s offerings.  

God surround us with his wisdom and comfort as we experience the not-so-nice part of living here on earth.

You see, human life is an excursion, on a road that twists and turns over rolling roads, leading to places we don’t expect. 

Think for a minute of times in your life when impossible circumstances cause you great emotional pain. 

Or times when you suffered physical trauma.  Or lost a dear one to death — sudden or not.

As I look back at my long life these memories pop into my brain:  

Being treated mean, in grade school, by girls I thought were my friends.

Finding out that the love of my life, in my senior year of High School, kissed Stephanie in the Club pool.  I was sure that was the end of my life.

Then, after 24 years of marriage, my husband telling me he didn’t love me anymore. I felt like someone had thrown me on a cement floor and my entire being broke into thousands of jigsaw pieces; and none of the piece fit together.

That was in the spring of 1984, just before entering Seminary that next September.

So you see, no matter how much faith one has.  No matter how hard we try to be as perfect as any human can be.  Awful does happen. 

That is just the truth whether we like it or not.

One of the ways I like to think about this, human truth, is to compare it to the seasons and cycles of nature.  

We have just heard of it in hurricane Dorian; where thousands of people experience unbelievable tragedy and loss.  

Did God cause such disaster?

Some would have you believe that he did. 

I remember in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina destroyed the Gulf Coast.  The comments were that: “God was punishing the people of New Orleans for their sinful behavior."

Really?   

I am sorry, but that is not the God I believe in.

As the book title suggests, "Bad Things Happen To Good People."

What I want you to hear this morning is that God never, ever, lets us go through the unfortunate alone.  He is right there to see us through; offering strength, courage and comfort along the way.

Often in hindsight we can look back and realize that those awful times have helped us to learn, and grow, in some amazingly positive ways.  Even though, at the time, life often seems impossible to bear.