Sunday, June 15, 2008

“Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness.” Matthew 10:1

A friend recently mentioned this troubling statistic to me: 83 percent of non-Christians believe that Christians don’t care about them. I’m not sure where this number comes from or how the data was gathered. But it’s troubling nonetheless. Troubling, but perhaps not surprising. After all, Christians have a long history of figuring out how to be insiders. What must we believe? What must we do? How should we look, act, worship? These are, to be sure, important questions for the church to wrestle with in every age. But when we focus on these questions exclusively – when the lion’s share of our passion goes to debating insider issues – we look to the world like a self-absorbed, dysfunctional club. Is this all that God intends for us as his beloved children? Of course not. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus gives power to the people who will one day found the church. The apostles are given authority in his name over all the powers that afflict other people, powers of illness and evil. Jesus does not tell his disciples to go out there and make sure people’s doctrine is up to snuff. That’s important, and it will come later. But first Jesus tells his disciples to go out and show them God’s power and love, so that everyone will know Christians – and the God we serve – by our powerful love.

Monday, June 16, 2008

“And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.” Luke 6:19

This verse comes from the Sermon on the Plain, Luke’s lesser known (and lower elevation) account of Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount. As is often the case when crowds surround Jesus, the people reach out to touch him that they might find healing. And healing they find! The power literally flows from his body. But this isn’t really a miracle story; this is the way that Luke introduces the beatitudes, and the woes that follow. To be healed by Jesus is not an event in itself; it is not the end of the confrontation. What follows the healing we find from Jesus is the power to see and to strive for a life of blessing. This means that we stand in solidarity with the poor and the hungry, with those who weep and with those who are hated. It means that we shun wealth for wealth’s sake; that we do not eat while others go hungry; that we do not seek the world’s praise. To be healed by Jesus – and we have all received the cleansing of baptism and the feeding of communion – is to be driven past our own needs and to those of the world. Being healed by Jesus couldn’t be less of an individual experience. We are healed for the sake of the world.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

“Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.” Luke 10:11

How do you know when you’ve made a difference? How does your witness for Jesus Christ impact people? Does it at all? Are we simply shouting into a void in a world that hears too many voices? The disciples had similar experiences in their early stages of ministry with Jesus. He sent them out to proclaim the gospel and the good news that God’s kingdom was coming near. And everyone believed right away! We know, of course, that that’s just not true. Many people rejected the message, just as many people still do. The good news for us is that our job is not to enact or create the kingdom. God has done and continues to do that. Our only task – both simple and great – is to announce God’s activity in the world. When people accept the message of Christ we bring, we rejoice. And when people reject it, we grieve. But either way, God’s kingdom is coming near to them in our proclamation. Our task is to witness, not control the outcome. Whatever happens, we can rinse the dust off our feet and move on, confident that God’s kingdom will come, and has come, no matter what.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

“There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed.” Exodus 3:2

Yesterday we spoke of the Exodus from Egypt seen from the perspective of the psalmist. But it all began with God choosing a servant to lead the Exodus, the prince-turned-murderer-turned-shepherd who had become an outcast from both societies he once had a stake in. And one day, as Moses was tending the flock, he came upon a sight that must have made him feel he was suffering from extreme heatstroke. He saw a bush that was on fire but not being consumed. And if this wasn’t enough to make Moses scratch his head, the bush started talking to him. Poor Moses! Is this the way the Lord God works, talking out of flaming shrubberies? It sounds like something Monty Python would come up with, not the way the Lord of heaven and earth would ever actually do something. But do something God did. He called Moses, in a bizarre way to be sure, but God’s ways are always a bit disconcerting in our eyes, to say the least. He called Moses and set him a task for which Moses would never have signed up. He called Moses, and used him to be an instrument in God’s saving work. He called Moses, and he calls us, in weird and wonderful ways, to be doers of salvation for the sake of the world. It might not make sense, and definitely leaves us scratching our heads, but so it goes with the graceful work of the kingdom.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

“And we sent Timothy, our brother and co-worker for God in proclaiming the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you for the sake of your faith.” 1 Thessalonians 3:2

The boxes are stacking up in our house quickly. Our lovely and beloved parsonage doesn’t really resemble a living space anymore; it looks like a warehouse. I’m amazed at how quickly the last few weeks have flown by, and by how immanent our departure for South Carolina has become! As the excitement has been building, so have the memories of the wonderful ministries we’ve shared and the relationships we’ve built during the last five years. We are called to new things in our life and ministry, but leaving this blessed community of believers will be hard. But my path now lies elsewhere. Paul experienced similar feelings with the communities he had grown to love. He missed and longed for the Thessalonians but knew his calling lay elsewhere. The Thessalonians, however, were not left out in the cold. The Spirit sent Timothy to be a guide and shepherd to the people. You, too, will soon be receiving a new minister in the gospel, and she or he will bring amazing gifts and passions to the table. I may be the one who’s leaving, but we’re all in for a new and wonderful adventure of shared ministry. Welcome your new Timothy, whoever he or she may be. They will bring gifts and talents you didn’t even know you needed, and help lead you into God’s amazing future.

Friday, June 20, 2008

“Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise.” Psalm 106:47

Remember the Obama flag pin flap from a few months ago. The senator was being attacked because he didn’t wear an American flag pin. To start, I would just say, aren’t there many, many more pressing concerns we should be discussing and debating? Beyond that, however, lies the deeper issue. As people of God, at least, we are not first and foremost citizens of America. We are citizens of the commonwealth our Lord has made for us in heaven and on earth. We are a people gathered from among all the nations, and, far from this being a bad thing, we rejoice at the chance to come together with people who seem different from us on the surface. To have patriotism and pride is well and good if we remember to be a nation that truly leads in this world. But we are not people of flags. We are people of the cross, made new in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and he is the only one to whom we owe true allegiance.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

“I am appealing to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become during my imprisonment. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful both to you and to me.” Philemon 10-11

When we think about slavery, we tend to think about the tragic history of the enslavement of African men and women in the United States. And we need to remember that. We also would do well to remember that slavery existed in many other places in the world, and still exists today. Today the church remembers Onesimos Nesib. Onesimos was born in Ethiopia, and was captured by slave traders and taken from his Galla homeland to Eritrea. He was bought by Swedish missionaries, who freed him and provided him with an education. Onesimos eventually translated the Bible into his native language, Galla, and returned home to preach the gospel there. His tombstone bears a verse from the book of Jeremiah (22:29): “O land, land, land, hear the word of the Lord!” Onesimos was most likely named after the slave Onesimus, as mentioned by Paul in his letter to Philemon. The biblical Onesimus befriended Paul after running away. Paul sent Onesimus back to his owner, but encouraged Philemon to set him free. As a slave, he was useless to everybody because slavery itself is useless. But as a free man, Paul knew that Onesimus could do great good. In the same way, a group of Swedish missionaries knew that a life of slavery for Onesimos Nesib would lead to nothing, but that as a free man he could do great work for God’s kingdom and the betterment of his own people. There are still people in bondage around our world, and we can work to set them free, so that we can all contribute to God’s reign.

Devotions – Year Five – Week Twenty-four

Pastor Dave Lyle