THE KINGDOM OF GOD TAKES CONTROL

Christmas celebrates the point in time when the Kingdom of God grabbed hold of history and exercised control.  It did so quietly,in God's timing, through the Holy Spirit in the lives of a poverty-laden, humble, young couple in a wretched little country from a village that was not even on the map.  Their faithful obedience to God’s direction meant overcoming the scorn and prejudice of their village.  It included a dangerous journey by the couple to another small village days away with the young lady at the end of her third trimester of pregnancy.  The game plan was nothing less that the unprecedented revelation of Almighty God himself in the form of a newborn baby boy.  The event was prophesied for centuries, but at the time of the event it remained inconceivable, beyond anyone’s expectation and belief.  It took place outside the seats of imperial power, outside of wealth and status, and outside the usual trappings of royal ascendancy.  The Son of God, Jesus the Christ, was born and lived life fully human and fully divine.

The following events for The Son's subsequent thirty-three years never varied from God’s long intended plan.  God took control and remained in control through the faithful obedience of his Son even unto and through death.  God remained in control through the resurrection of the Son, the ascension of the Son to the right hand of God the Father, and the fullness of God as the gift of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers, followers of the Risen Christ. The Kingdom continues today taking control on earth as it does in heaven. It calls us to the same humility and obedience as the couple two thousand years ago who were poor economically, but rich in their faithful response to God’s calling. Glory to God in the highest!

The Kingdom of God is the be-all and the end-all of repentance, conversion, and the new birth. That is of the utmost importance . . . the most amazing individual and social fact of the universe -- the Kingdom of God.   -   E. Stanley Jones

SPEAKING THE TRUTH ABOUT FERGUSON

I've been wanting to write about my thoughts and feelings on recent events in Ferguson, Missouri.  On November 25 (2014), NFL Pro Benjamin Watson, tight end for the New Orleans Saints, posted on facebook his thoughts and feelings.  What he shared resonated strongly with me.  Here's what he wrote . . .

“At some point while I was playing or preparing to play Monday Night Football, the news broke about the Ferguson Decision. After trying to figure out how I felt, I decided to write it down. Here are my thoughts:

I'M ANGRY because the stories of injustice that have been passed down for generations seem to be continuing before our very eyes.

I'M FRUSTRATED, because pop culture, music and movies glorify these types of police citizen altercations and promote an invincible attitude that continues to get young men killed in real life, away from safety movie sets and music studios.

I'M FEARFUL because in the back of my mind I know that although I'm a law abiding citizen I could still be looked upon as a "threat" to those who don't know me. So I will continue to have to go the extra mile to earn the benefit of the doubt.

I'M EMBARRASSED because the looting, violent protests, and law breaking only confirm, and in the minds of many, validate, the stereotypes and thus the inferior treatment.

I'M SAD, because another young life was lost from his family, the racial divide has widened, a community is in shambles, accusations, insensitivity hurt and hatred are boiling over, and we may never know the truth about what happened that day.

I'M SYMPATHETIC, because I wasn't there so I don't know exactly what happened. Maybe Darren Wilson acted within his rights and duty as an officer of the law and killed Michael Brown in self defense like any of us would in the circumstance. Now he has to fear the backlash against himself and his loved ones when he was only doing his job. What a horrible thing to endure. OR maybe he provoked Michael and ignited the series of events that led to him eventually murdering the young man to prove a point.

I'M OFFENDED, because of the insulting comments I've seen that are not only insensitive but dismissive to the painful experiences of others.

I'M CONFUSED, because I don't know why it's so hard to obey a policeman. You will not win!!! And I don't know why some policeman abuse their power. Power is a responsibility, not a weapon to brandish and lord over the populace.

I'M INTROSPECTIVE, because sometimes I want to take "our" side without looking at the facts in situations like these. Sometimes I feel like it's us against them. Sometimes I'm just as prejudiced as people I point fingers at. And that's not right. How can I look at white skin and make assumptions but not want assumptions made about me? That's not right.

I'M HOPELESS, because I've lived long enough to expect things like this to continue to happen. I'm not surprised and at some point my little children are going to inherit the weight of being a minority and all that it entails.

I'M HOPEFUL, because I know that while we still have race issues in America, we enjoy a much different normal than those of our parents and grandparents. I see it in my personal relationships with teammates, friends and mentors. And it's a beautiful thing.

I'M ENCOURAGED, because ultimately the problem is not a SKIN problem, it is a SIN problem. SIN is the reason we rebel against authority. SIN is the reason we abuse our authority. SIN is the reason we are racist, prejudiced and lie to cover for our own. SIN is the reason we riot, loot and burn. BUT I'M ENCOURAGED because God has provided a solution for sin through the his son Jesus and with it, a transformed heart and mind. One that's capable of looking past the outward and seeing what's truly important in every human being. The cure for the Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice and Eric Garner tragedies is not education or exposure. It's the Gospel. So, finally, I'M ENCOURAGED because the Gospel gives mankind hope.”

PUTTING A FACE ON JESUS

I am writing this blog right after Thanksgiving heading for Christmas, but my mind is on needy kids and summer camps.  This past August, I was blessed to be in Phoenix for a truly awesome, unforgettable reunion of Camp O Wood staff.  This Salvation Army camp functioned in the Catalina mountains of Arizona for about 50 years impacting thousands of children until it was sold in the nineties.  The reunion brought back a flood of precious memories of staff and campers for the 150 or so former staff who came from across the country for the event.

The Salvation Army’s camp ministry, over sixty camps across North America, is devoted to lovingly impacting the lives of children mostly from the inner cities of the nation. In this case, so many kids that came to Camp O Wood, boys and girls, were from homes where the father was absent and the mother was exhausted from trying to keep it all together.  Kids in these home environments missed out on the quality of family life that we may sometimes take for granted.  Discussions with an adult of life’s joys and challenges were rare.  Affirmation of kids' personal worth was equally rare.  Then . . .

Then they came to camp.  For so many, they came with ideas of God that were unfocussed and/or distorted. They could not imagine a God as a Father who was transcendent (mighty, Creator of the universe, all powerful, all knowing, present everywhere) and yet full of loving kindness, caring, and compassion.  They encountered a quality of life that was different than home.  Camp staff were more than friendly.  They were loving and kind, sometimes with tough love, but nevertheless they seemed to care.  That became clearer and more profound as the camp period progressed.  The faith of the staff was being lived out in campers daily lives as love.  Galatians 5:6 was a reality, “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love.”  In that love, campers could begin to imagine a God who loves.  Jesus put a face on God the Father.  Camp staff put a face on Jesus.

My son is now 32 years old.  He's ministering in the context of a Salvation Army community center in Seattle.  When he was about thirteen, he came to me with a problem not knowing what to do.  He wore a WWJD bracelet.  I said to him, “Well what about the bracelet.  What would Jesus do.”  He said, “I struggle thinking about What would Jesus do.  But instead I think – what would Auntie Marilyn do?”  For my son at that age, Auntie Marilyn put a face on Jesus.  That’s what camp did for thousands of campers over all the years and especially for those kids who returned to camp summer after summer.  That’s what I love about the memories knowing that I played a small part in putting a face on Jesus who puts a face on a loving God our Father.

GIVING THANKS FOR BOTH / AND

Give thanks to him who made the heavens so skillfully. 

His faithful love endures forever.

Psalm 136:5

This one verse is loaded with poignancy!  It speaks of the transcendent One who made the vast expanse of the heavens, so vast it is beyond our comprehension.  He is the God who transcends our imagination far above our greatest capacities to fathom even the most superficial appreciation of his nature.  Yet we know from our own experience and the testimony to himself by which God reveals his nature in his Word:  "His faithful love endures forever."  The psalmist’s proclamation contrasts God’s transcendence with his immanence.  Though lofty above imagination, he is so personal, near, and intimate in his love for us.  It is a love that is pure, sacrificial, life-giving, and enduring in its faithfulness.  Is God only transcendent, sovereign and too distant for us to really know and to be known?  Or is God truly immanent, so immanent that he is really just an imagined reflection of our own understanding of our selves projected onto “god”?

The truth is conjunctive, both/and.  We find it in Scripture and summarized in the first two statements of the Apostle’s Creed:

1.     I believe in God, Almighty, creator of heaven and earth,

2.     And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord

The psalmist captures the both/and again in Psalm 8:1,3,4 – “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth . . . When I consider the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, or the son of man that you care for him?

We are reminded of the conjunctive (both/and) of Jesus, both one hundred percent human and one hundred percent divine, transcendent with the Father and immanent now through the Holy Spirit, so far above and exalted, so close and immeasurably more loving than we could ask or imagine.

The psalmist in the lead psalm above (136:5) who speaks of the conjunctive of God’s transcendence and immanence, his remoteness and intimacy, strikes the only chord of our hearts that is possible calling us to “GIVE THANKS!” 

O Lord, our thanksgiving spills over in to praise.  You are both/and . . .

 We give thanks to you.  In all your unimaginable power and might,

you faithfully  love us with an everlasting love!  Amen

THE TIE THAT TRULY BINDS

In Christianity across the world too often there appears to be irreconcilable differences, tensions, and hostilities between the many versions of the Christian faith.  Love of neighbor and unity in Christ are too often difficult to find.  However, when Christians are regularly tortured and martyred in the most oppressive, dangerous parts of the world (Pakistan, northern Nigeria, Somalia) those distinctive differences don't seem to matter to those doing the atrocities.  A Christian is a Christian and believed to be an infidel worthy of death.  In the worldwide Christian community of faith, where's the unity in Christ and the tie that truly binds?  What is the foundation of our faith irrespective of the differences that seemingly divide?

Over the next few weeks, Christendom, the holy, catholic (universal) church in all its glory, will celebrate God the Father’s great gift. Conceived by the Holy Spirit, it is the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ. Glory to God!  Anticipating once again the unity of all believers in the great celebration we call Christmas, this is a good time to revisit the central teachings of the Christian faith, those teachings that are ascribed to by all Christian, at all times, everywhere.  To do so, we have a resource that clearly summarizes the essential truths of our universally  shared faith, The Apostles' Creed.

We need not wait to recite this historic statement as part of our collective worship.  We can recite it and meditate on it devotionally in our quiet, personal time with God we reserve each day. We may also engage it in our small group fellowship or family devotional time together.  Every word and phrase of this means of grace comes directly from Scripture.

Engaging the Apostle’s Creed at this time of year, personally and communally, makes sense.  In the celebration of Christmas, we participate in a world-wide common confession of faith with the great mosaic of brothers and sisters in Christ including Methodists, Baptists, Catholic, Pentecostals, Salvationists, Calvinists, nearly two billion of the faithful that make upon the universal Body of Christ.

The Apostles’ Creed is the common articulation of the tie that binds our hearts and souls together in a global love response of joy and glory to God.  It does more than unite us in our faith in our Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  It binds us to the multitude of saints gone before us over the millennia in a glorious witness of God’s grace and faithfulness.

Read and meditate on the Apostles’ Creed this Christmas season.  To access it just Google: The Apostles’ Creed.  Prepare to be blessed by God as you join the universal celebration of Christmas in affirming the truths we hold so dear to our common faith.  Thanks be to God!  Glory to His name.