Thursday, May 19th - Yep, I'm a Hypocrite Too...

#thestruggleisreal - Joining in the Hypocrisy

Over the next six weeks, Toni Ruth and I will be preaching a series based on Paul's letter to the Galatians (called #thestruggleisreal).  During this series, I'm going to make every effort to post every day with some brief thoughts on various passages from Galatians.  I hope that you follow along as we look for God's grace in the midst of some very real struggles!

I definitely had one of these shirts

Way back in 1992, as a 15-year-old new Christian, I was learning how to be a part of the Christian youth sub-culture. This meant learning the boundaries - what I should say, watch, read, listen to, and wear.  I never really got too deep into all of that - I listened to DC Talk and Petra, had a few Christian t-shirts and posters, and was able to speak some of the lingo (I was, after all, "on fire for Jesus").  Much of this stuff I learned through becoming friends with my classmates in my high school's FCA program* and not  in my local church. Hewing to a cultural model and observing all of the "codes" was never really my thing.  Besides, they all seemed to have a very Southern Baptist flavor to them - kind of an ill-fit for a lifelong United Methodist.  Not talking junk about my Southern Baptist friends, I'm just not one.

Anyway, what I did pick up on quickly was that one of the WORST things that you could possibly be was a hypocrite.  Maybe a hypocrite wasn't as bad as an atheist, a believer in evolution, or a liberal (the horror!), but it was plenty bad.  One major area of concern for me and many of my Christian friends (who were always kind to me and took their faith very seriously - I'm not making fun), was our witness.  We took our witness very seriously.  It was the reason we wore the t-shirts, didn’t cuss, didn't party, asked our biology teacher about God's role in creation, etc. Besides our own potential moral failings, we were convinced that the greatest enemies of our witness as Christians were hypocrites.**

We weren't without Scriptural warrant.  For example, Jesus uses this word to great effect in Matthew 6 and 23. Paul uses the word once ('hypocrisy' to be exact) and it also carries a lot of weight. Paul's not referring to fake believers or Pharisees - he's talking about Peter.  That took no small amount of courage and perhaps a lot of foolishness as well, which Paul admitted to possessing in abundance.  Technically speaking, "hypocrite" referred to a mask that a performer would wear on stage.  Everybody knew that the mask wasn't the real face of the performer, but to reveal the true identity of the performer would shatter the illusion and ruin the narrative.  In Christian terms, a hypocrite is also a performer who wears a 'mask' and is trying to maintain a fictional narrative (one which usually serves to highlight hypocrite's moral superiority in comparison to others, while keeping the truth well-hidden).  Or as we used to say: they were 'talking the talk' but not 'walking the walk'. 

For Paul, the hypocrisy of Peter and the "other Jews" in Antioch were guilty of acting one way in the presence of the Antioch Christians and acting another way when some of James' guys showed up.  Play-acting. Being deceitful. Being two-faced.  Peter was more than happy to share table fellowship (and likely share in the Lord's Supper) with the Gentiles in Antioch, but refused to do so when those Jerusalem guys dropped by. This made Paul see red.  Paul took community very seriously.  Without unity in the church, there wasn't any hope.  By their hypocrisy, Peter and his friends were threatening the very existence of the church in Antioch.

You might as well lump me in with those guys, too. Like everybody else, I wear my fair share of masks. My 'persona' on Sunday mornings, during pastoral visits, on Facebook - is that always who I really and truly am on the inside?  Usually not.  I'm guessing that goes for you, too.  The more I turn this over in my head/heart, the more I find Tertullian's take on it to be pretty compelling.*** He thought that Paul was overreacting to Peter's actions. Maybe…who knows?  None of us were there.  I do know that before I start slinging around accusations of hypocrisy, I better be honest about my own masks…

*The Fellowship of Christian Athletes.  I probably didn't need more than two hands to count the number of actual athletes in our FCA - I definitely wasn't - but it was the only real Christian club offered by my high school.

** For the record, I still believe that a Christian witness is a powerful, important thing. However, I've grown to understand that it's less about bearing witness to my moral commitments and more about bearing witness to God's love revealed in Jesus Christ.  The Christian t-shirts of my youth didn't do a very good job of that…

***This might actually be the first time I've agreed with anything Tertullian had to say. Though to be fair, it's not like I've read a whole lot of Tertullian.

Wednesday, May 18th - Christians Shouldn't Argue(?)

#thestruggleisreal - Day 3

Over the next six weeks, Toni Ruth and I will be preaching a series based on Paul's letter to the Galatians (called #thestruggleisreal).  During this series, I'm going to make every effort to post every day with some brief thoughts on various passages from Galatians.  I hope that you follow along as we look for God's grace in the midst of some very real struggles!

It's a typical response whenever Christians fight with one another, especially those belonging to the same denomination or local church.  "Don't fight in public! It will damage our witness - the world needs to see a unified church!"  Apparently, nobody told Paul about this. He was not shy about airing the early church's dirty laundry for everybody to see. By publicly confronting Peter "to his face…before everybody", Paul showed that he wasn't too terribly concerned with how that would impact the wider world's impression of the Church. Paul was more concerned with the Church being consistent in how it dealt with Gentile followers of Jesus.

Since I hoping to keep these blog posts relatively short, I'm going to simply post some random thoughts that have risen for me this morning as I've studied Paul's conflict with Peter at Antioch. 

1. In his commentary on Galatians, Bruce Longenecker briefly discusses some attempts by various early church Fathers to deal with Paul's public confrontation of Peter.  Tertullian thought that Paul was overreacting.  Clement of Alexandria argued that the Cephas in Galatians is not Peter the apostle, but another disciple. Origen, John Chrysostom, and Jerome all argued that the whole thing was staged(!) by Paul and Peter in attempt to bring the contested issues out into the open.  A number of Christian thinkers worked really hard to lessen or even deny the conflict between Paul and Peter.
2. We often do something similar as we think about the early church and its leaders.  For example, Christians throughout history (especially those starting new churches or movements) have made the claim that they are 'getting back' to how things were done in the early church. The thing is, the early church wasn't any holier or unified than the church has been throughout much of its history.  (I'm talking about routine local church conflicts and disputes - not those times when the Church has been truly atrocious, such as the Crusades or the Inquisition).  It's a mistake to think that the 1st century church was free from conflict and disputes and division.  And I'm guessing that they handled the aftermath much like we do: occasionally forgiving, frequently dividing, often holding on to anger, awkwardly trying to clean up the messes we make, pointing fingers, sometimes taking responsibility.
3. Paul's confrontation of Peter at Antioch has the feel of "real life" to it - we aren't told about any resolution. Hurt feelings abound and deep friendships are strained.  There are personal, theological, and political considerations in how both Peter and Paul act at Antioch. And how often do we forget Jesus' command for us to love one another or the teaching of Paul that says that "if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness"? 

That's Galatians 6:1, by the way. It seems that maybe Paul forgot about getting up in Peter's face in front of everybody, telling him that he was a cowardly hypocrite. Sounds kind of like when we talk about how much we love one another and then tear each other down behind our backs or on social media.  Conflict is part of what it means to be humans having differing experiences, differing gifts, differing weakness, etc.  

There are some questions that we might think about: how might the Holy Spirit be at work even in the midst of our conflicts? Since conflict is inevitable, how do we handle fights and arguments while staying faithful to Jesus' command for us to love one another? Where is God leading us to greater humility and loosening our grip on the dehumanizing need to "win" and the insistence on always having our point of view vindicated?

Just a quick note (in an attempt to show that I'm not totally oblivious) - I'm aware that I'm posting this during the middle of a very contentious General Conference. I definitely have thoughts and opinions about all of that, but it doesn't 'fit' very well with the spirit of this series of posts. And besides, I'm hoping to keep these posts kinda short  (relatively speaking - I know I'm long-winded) and any post about my thoughts concerning General Conference would be REALLY long. I'm also trying to keep these posts tightly connected to the sermon series that will be starting at Harrisburg UMC this coming Sunday.

#the struggle is real, Day 2

Tuesday, May 17th - A Gospel for the Gentiles

Over the next six weeks, Toni Ruth and I will be preaching a series based on Paul's letter to the Galatians (called #thestruggleisreal).  During this series, I'm going to make every effort to post every day with some brief thoughts on various passages from Galatians.  I hope that you follow along as we look for God's grace in the midst of some very real struggles!

Acts 10 tells us the story of Cephas (Peter) and Cornelius.  The climax of this story occurs in verses 44-48.  I'll quote it in full here:

44While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. 45The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, 46for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, 47‘Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?’ 48So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.

Peter seems to have made the leap that Paul had also made when it comes to God including the Gentiles in the Way of Jesus.  The big, burning, controversial question that the early church grappled with (well, one of the questions they grappled with) was about who exactly could be a rescued/redeemed/saved follower of Jesus.  The assumption by most Jewish Christians was that any Gentile who wished to become a Christian must first become a Jew and accepting all that came with that.  This included circumcision, which became something of a flash point for the early church. 

After his conversion and period of several years, presumably spend in preparation for ministry, Paul emerges proclaiming a Gospel of grace, teaching that Christians were no longer under the Law.  In other words, Paul taught that salvation did not come from following the Torah, but through the death and resurrection of Jesus.  This was a major shift for the earliest Christians, many of whom saw the Way of Jesus as a fulfillment (and continuation) of God's covenant relationship with Israel, not a departure from it.  In their understanding, there was no salvation apart from becoming a Jew and accepting the way of life God had revealed through the Law.

The church agrees (eventually) to allow Paul to journey into Gentile territory and proclaim a Law-free gospel, albeit with certain stipulations: "…abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication." (Acts 15:29)  Otherwise, Paul and his co-workers are granted the freedom to proclaim the Gospel to Gentiles without requiring circumcision, dietary restrictions concerning Jews and Gentiles sharing table fellowship, along with the other Jewish laws.  This doesn't stop Paul's opponents from stirring up trouble related to this controversy, but it does mean that Paul hits the road with passion and an unshakable sense of mission. 

While we don't argue over whether or not Christians have to follow the Torah in order to receive God's saving grace, 2,000 years later, we are still grappling with rules and requirements.  It's not about circumcision and dietary laws in our time, but we have our own issues to contend with and we still find ourselves struggling with boundaries, lines, and limits of inclusion/exclusion.  

Today, I challenge you to pray for those Christians who you would be tempted to put on the other side of the "fence" - people you disagree with, people who have fundamentally different theological convictions, people who you might be tempted to judge or dismiss.  Pray for God to shape and even transform your understanding, your imagination, and your heart like He did with Peter in Acts 10.  

Tomorrow, we'll see why it's possible that Peter didn't fully make that leap...

#thestruggleisreal Day 1

Monday, May 16th - Paul an apostle…

Over the next six weeks, Toni Ruth and I will be preaching a series based on Paul's letter to the Galatians (called #thestruggleisreal).  During this six weeks, starting today*, I'm going to make every effort to post every day with some brief thoughts on various passages from Galatians.  I hope that you follow along as we look for God's grace in the midst of some very real struggles!

I don't remember exactly when I learned about the difference between a disciple and an apostle, but it was sometime during college. I remember being surprised that I had never been taught the distinction because it really helps in understanding why there was a change in what this group of people was called once we leave the Gospels and head into the Book of Acts. 

Paul spent a good amount of time defending his position as an apostle in the early church.  He does this in Galatians 1, I Corinthians 9, and 2 Corinthians 10.  Paul was facing accusations from opponents about his legitimacy as an apostle.  Understanding what Paul meant when he used the term "apostle" helps us to understand how Paul viewed himself and his ministry.

The word disciple comes from the Latin word discipulus, which simply means "student".  So, the 12 disciples were such when they were with the Teacher.  After the resurrection and before he ascended, Jesus commissioned the disciples (Matthew 28:18-20, John 20:21, and Acts 1:8), sending them into the world to proclaim the Gospel through the power of the Holy Spirit.  As soon, as they were sent, they became apostles.  The word apostle comes from the Greek word apostolos, which means "messenger, envoy". Perhaps more precisely, it comes from the verb apostello, which means "to send".  So, an apostle is one who has been sent with a particular message. 

Here's the interesting thing that I'm not sure occurred to me until yesterday morning while reading Galatians 1 - the word "apostle" indicates both the authority of a designated leader and the humility of an obligated servant.  "Apostle" quickly became a title of authority in the Church.  So much so that it has historically been limited to only that first generation of Church leaders.  We might send missionaries and delegates and servants and evangelists, but we don't send apostles (not in the UMC, anyway).  But, the very word itself indicates that it is a position of humble service.  An apostle is sent by a higher authority with a message that is not their own.  Paul seems to hold these two realities in balance - having authority while at the same understanding that the message he proclaims is not one that he created, having "received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ." (Gal. 1:12)

So, for us today: even though we don't refer to ourselves as apostles, we are still sent into the world (to our neighborhoods, our workplaces, our schools, wherever) to proclaim a message that we didn't invent or create.  We go as students, as disciples - still learning, still growing, still seeking to be present with the Teacher.  We go with a message of grace and salvation that we have been blessed to receive.

So, here's a question as we begin this 6-week journey of looking for God and for good news in the midst of our very real struggles - how are you taking the message of God's love and grace into the world today? 

*ok, so I know this didn't get posted on Monday and that today is Tuesday, but better late than never, right?

Why I'm a United Methodist - 5a

In a previous church where I served, there were two women who invested a great deal of energy and care into the worship life of the church.  They were both exceptionally skilled at organizing all the 'pieces' of worship at a large church and took great care of the worship space.  I learned a great deal working with both of them and watching how attentive they were to the intricacies and subtleties of worship that most people (and even many pastors) simply don't think about.

Shortly after I left this church, the congregation decided to replace the carpet in the sanctuary.  Ever attentive to how to best care for the worship space, these two women suggested that the church purchase some carpet squares to put down during communion to reduce the drips and splatter on the carpet that accompanies serving communion by intinction (each person receives a piece of bread torn from a loaf and then that piece is dipped into a common cup).  Not a bad decision.

The first official service of worship on the new carpet was the wedding of some close friends of ours and communion was part of the ceremony.  Freshly carpeted, the sanctuary was beautiful - including the carpet squares laid down, ready for any crumbs or spills.  The couple had invited several previous ministers to assist with communion and there were many happy reunions that afternoon.  One in particular taught me a lesson about communion and only deepened my love for the Lord's Supper in the Methodist tradition.

One of the aforementioned worship leaders had son, Doug, who was mentally handicapped.  Doug's heart was so kind and joyful - it was always a blessing to see him and his smile.  Doug came forward to receive communion and when he saw one of his former ministers serving, he was so excited that he gave him a huge hug.  The pastor happened to be holding a chalice full of grape juice, which was subsequently knocked around, causing some of the juice to fly out of the cup and onto the new carpet. Not one drop hit the carpet square.

Reason Number 5a - I'm a United Methodist because everyone is welcome to the table to receive the Lord's Supper, which means that everyone has an opportunity  to experience God's hospitality and saving grace in the presence of Jesus Christ.

We can't control God's grace. As Jesus teaches us in the Sermon on the Mount, "for God makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous."  Who are we to put up obstacles in the way of people who are hungering and thirsting for righteousness? I love that in the United Methodist Church, anyone who wishes to come and receive can do so.

We can't limit God's grace.  It is very much a blessing that we Christians don't have the option to determine how much grace people receive. Talk about a disaster. If we're honest with ourselves, we'll probably admit that there are people who we feel are outside the reach of God's grace. If you don't think that applies to you, it's likely that I could list some people or groups, and for at least a couple of them, you'd say there's no hope for their redemption.  I say that because, much as I hate to admit, it's true of me too.  My ability to show and share grace is limited by my lack of faith, my immaturity, my ignorance, my sin, my need to grow in love and understanding. That's not true of God - God's grace knows no limits and God won't be thwarted by our occasional desire to keep people from receiving that grace.

We can't manage God's grace. Blood spills, bodies break, cups tip over, crumbs litter the floor - the body of Jesus and the grace of God goes where we don't plan and where we can't manage.  Thank God.  Otherwise, I might have never received that grace, over and over and over again. I'm glad that somebody welcomed me to the table and I'm blessed to welcome other people in the name of the one who saved me.

Just a quick note - those two women who so effectively organized and arranged worship at my previous church were not trying to control, limit, or otherwise manage God's grace. They simply wanted the new carpet to look nice as long as possible. 

Why I'm a United Methodist, Part 4

When I was 8 years old, my church had a revival.  The 3rd night was designated as "Youth Night" and after the sermon, the preacher called all of the youth and children up to the altar.  I remember kneeling at the altar while the preacher led us in repeating a prayer.  I don't remember the prayer itself, though I'm pretty sure that it was some version of what is known as the "Sinner'sPrayer".  In my young mind, being a Christian meant that you went to church, didn't smoke, didn't drink, and didn't cuss.  I had to go to church, drinking and smoking weren't options at that point, so all that was left as a means for proving or disproving my new-found Christian faith was cussing.  I assumed that if I was in fact a Christian, I'd be physically unable to say a cuss word.  So, for the sake of finding out if my conversion was legitimate, I decided to run an experiment.  After successfully saying the word "s---", I concluded that I was not, in fact, a Christian.  

Sadly, many people (Christians and non-Christians alike) have an understanding of the Christian faith that is not that different from my childhood version.  There are many people who simply believe that being a Christian means being doing 'good things' and not doing 'bad things'.  But God calls us to greater heights than this.  We are called to be holy and through God's sanctifying grace, we are led to this holiness.

Reason Number 4 - I'm a United Methodist because holiness of heart and life is so central to the theology and practice of who we are as United Methodists.

It was liberating for me when I learned that holiness is not about personal moral achievement.  It is grace, a gift from God.  The United Methodist doctrine of sanctification is much deeper and loving than the over-bearing moralism of Christian fundamentalism.  If we look to a Hebrew understanding of holiness, the basic meaning is not moral perfection but 'set-apart-ness'.  In terms of what God does in a person through sanctifying grace, God works in them leading them to a new way of living in the world.  God does not call us away from the world like hermits nor does God set Christians up on some moral pedestal so that we can look down our noses and judge all of "those people".  Rather, God leads us away from the destructiveness of sin, self-absorption, and idolatry to a life shaped by the humble, sacrificial love of Jesus and the indwelling peace of the Holy Spirit.  John Wesley's Covenant Prayer (see below) teaches us that we are set apart not because of our worthiness or moral perfection but to be used by God for the sake of reconciliation and giving witness to the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ.

I am no longer my own, but thine.

Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.

Put me to doing, put me to suffering.

Let me be employed by thee or laid aside by thee.

Exalted for thee or brought low for thee.

Let me be full, let me be empty.

Let me have all things, let me have nothing.

I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.

And now, O glorious and blessed God,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

thou art mine, and I am thine.

So be it.

And the covenant which I have made on earth,

Let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.

I also found it liberating and energizing to learn that holiness is not merely personal holiness.  Methodists have long preached and sought to live out social holiness.  For me, social holiness is not about political reform or moral crusades - it means that God's love revealed in Jesus and made present in the Holy Spirit can actually change things in the world.  Sanctification is not merely an internal transformation in individual disciples but it's also about God using disciples to change things in the world around us.  Christians are to make God's Kingdom visible in how we treat our neighbors (hint: 'neighbors' = everybody), in how we work for justice and peace, and in how we care for hurting, sick, and broken people. 

I love that in the United Methodist Church, we are concerned with both the transformation of a person's heart and life while also working for the transformation of the world through the love of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit.  To see this in action, check out the work of UMCOR.

By the way, I still do my best not to cuss.  But if I do, I'm pretty sure that grace abounds…

In invite your feedback - why do you belong to your church?  What do you love about your church?  And, I kindly ask for no negative comments about the United Methodist Church or any other denomination.  Make sure your words give grace to those who read...

Why I'm a United Methodist, Part 3

My journey, like almost everybody's journey, has been somewhat circuitous, turning this way and that, with ups and downs and a few places when a wheel went off the road a little.  There have been and continue to be mistakes - wrong turns, potholes, occasional fender-benders.  I'm going to stop with the traffic metaphors, I promise.  Through all of my miscues, mistakes, and mess-ups, I'm still here with a beautiful, loving wife, two awesome kids, and a vocation that I love deeply.  Some of that is the result of hard work, some good choices, and a lot of help from other people.  But mostly, I'm where I am - I'm who I am - because of God's abundant, awe-inspiring grace.

If you spend any time studying about Methodism and if the material you're studying is any good, it won't take long at all to realize that God's grace is the beating, loving heart of United Methodist theology.  We are a people soaked in, supported by, and suffused with God's grace.  I love this about my church!

Reason Number 3 - I'm a United Methodist because God's grace is so central to the theology and practice of who we are as United Methodists.

I should probably give an illustration here or tell some pertinent story about grace, but the examples are too many, the instances too abundant.  Every time I step into the pulpit or counsel a hurting person or baptize a child or bless the communion elements or preside over a funeral I do so only by the power of God's grace.  That God is willing to use me in those ways amazes and astounds me.  After all, I know me.  I know the things I've done (or not done), the things I've said (or not said), and God help me, all the things I've thought.  And God knows all of that stuff and then some.  Stuff I don't remember or didn't even realize.  And yet God still calls me to preach and teach and serve.  I tell ya, that's grace.  My favorite line in any praise and worship song is in Chris Tomlin's song Indescribable: "You've seen the depths of my heart and you love me the same." 

I love the Methodist "way of salvation", which is one way to describe how we understand God's grace.  We typically talk about grace in 3 (or maybe 4) forms: prevenient, justifying, and sanctifying.  If you're feeling like 3 doesn't cut it, you can add convicting in there also, between prevenient and justifying.  I love that these forms of grace work in unison to cover the whole of our lives.  A Wesleyan understanding of grace sees God's loving, gracious activity in our lives not only in isolated, individual moments - it's more like grace is woven through the tapestry of our lives, woven throughout from the beginning. 

God's prevenient grace goes before us.  I think back over the course of my life and I see God's fingerprints all over the place.  Even in moments of struggle, pain, or loss, God was at work all along the way, leading me by His grace.  I trust that you can say the same thing about your life as well.  God's grace still goes before me, God's fingerprints are still all over the place, even when I don't recognize them. 

There are times when we become aware of that grace, of God's loving presence and we accept for ourselves the gift of that grace.  There was a moment in my life (Sunday, November 28th, 1992 to be precise) when God's grace and love became real to me in a way that it had not before.  In this moment, I experienced God's justifying grace and it really did feel like my heart was "strangely warmed".  I didn't run to the altar, I didn't shout or cry, I didn't actually say anything - but everything changed.  God began a work of transformation in me that is still ongoing.  I felt that my sins were forgiven, that God loved me, and I became conscious of that Story that I was written into at my baptism.  I experienced and understood the love and mercy of Jesus in a profoundly new way and I'm still feeling the ripple effects of that moment of justifying grace.

That moment began a process/journey of what we Methodists call sanctification, which is God's grace at work in us, perfecting us in love.  When we are justified by God's grace, that's not the culmination or end of the story - it's only the beginning!  I love that about being a United Methodist!  God is still working on me, still shaping me through the Holy Spirit.  What I love about the United Methodist understanding of grace is its vibrancy - all three 'forms' of grace are always present.  It is not ultimately a fixed system or progression, as if the Holy Spirit is bound to some predictable script.  God's grace is alive and dynamic, always present and available. 

In invite your feedback - why do you belong to your church?  What do you love about your church?  And, I kindly ask for no negative comments about the United Methodist Church or any other denomination.  Make sure your words give grace to those who read...