Who Needs Math? No You're Never gonna Get it...

Philemon 1-21

Luke 14:25-33

One of my degrees in undergraduate studies is in Sociology. Being a Bachelor’s Degree we never got very far into specific fields, and so took a lot of different classes as far as the different schools of Sociology went.

I did take the extra electives in Criminology however. It cost me a little extra time but it was worth it really. I was absolutely fascinated by it. And, as a perk the advanced class was allowed to take a trip to Moundsville penitentiary. This place is semi-famous if you have ever seen “The Night of the Hunter” with Robert Mitchum, and even more recently it aired in an episode of “Ghost Hunters” on the Sci-Fi channel. It’s really a pretty intimidating place.

Our visit started out as a lark really, but once you arrive at the façade of that imposing Gothic structure you get an immediate sense of seriousness. Even our troupe of giddy sociology majors took on a tone of abrupt silence as we walked through the first gate.

We received the full tour that day. We even sat in one of the small cells, and laid hands on the bars. We even took a short walk over to the prison coal mine that, in its day, was a hand operated shaft mine worked on by the inmates.

Thinking about this experience still brought a little shiver to me as I was reading Paul’s letter to Philemon this week. It may have been that he starts the letter out with “From Paul, who is in jail…” From what I understand Roman run prisons were no picnic either.

There is an ancient prison still around in Rome if you ever get the chance. It’s called the Mamertine Prison, and as it was built in the 300s B.C. it is the popularized incarceration point of Paul and Peter. Sallust, a Roman writer of around 40 B.C. (within a generation or so of Paul and Peter), describes it as being “about twelve feet deep, closed all round by strong walls and a stone vault. Its aspect is repugnant and fearsome from its neglect, darkness, and stench.” Sounds pleasant.

I really have to admire Paul’s tone in the letter after reading that. He’s talking about how dear everyone is and how the ministry of those on the outside encourages him. But, then again, maybe incarceration is making these joys easier to see.

Paul’s real purpose in all this is to ask something of Philemon. Who, as we understand it is a leader of the church in Colossae, in what is now the middle of Turkey. Paul wants him to take back his slave. His slave, who apparently ran away, and from the letter, probably stole from Philemon and who knows whom else. And more than take back, Paul isn’t returning him as a slave but as an equal in Christ. And more than that he wants Philemon to do it as an act of real love and kindness and not something that he is begrudgingly accepting. For a guy writing from prison he sure expects a lot out of people.

Let’s get some more of Onesimus’s story though. I mean, who knows how he met Paul, either by fate, or perhaps he ran away to travel with him, but regardless he lands in the same place and through Paul’s witnessing he has that precious conversion experience. Paul, now having also befriended Onesimus is confident enough in him to send him out to minister on his own, and admits to not wanting him to go because he is such a comfort to Paul. Paul is actively healing the gap between master and slave before our eyes. He begs, he cajoles, and he even tries a little guilt to get Philemon to agree.

In a line that makes Paul’s poor eyesight known to us he write that he will pay back whatever is owed by Onesimus, writes it in the large letters of his own hand.

If I was Philemon I’m not sure I would be too keen on taking Onesimus back. There’s a little hubris in all of us that initially wants to reject those who walk out on us. But hopefully Paul’s poignant joke stuck in his head long enough to have him reconsider.

Oh, did you miss the joke? Well you have to speak Greek to get it, and without the dictionary I would have skipped it as well.

The joke is in Onesimus’ name partly. The name literally means “useful.”

And so, in the letter when Paul is saying that before Onesimus knew Christ he was Useless to Philemon, but now, he is Useful to the both of them for the minister that he could be, there is a certain wry smile in it.

I think it’s funnier if you know Greek.

But the way Paul writes is masterful, much like Jesus’ parables it was a little statement intended to stick out. Maybe hours after reading the letter Philemon is sitting around thinking about Onesimus and the welcome he might receive when suddenly some part of his brain clicks and he gets it… “USE-ful… oh man I get! Ha ha ha ha… Oh that Paul.”

In high school I had a good buddy who lived next to about 400 acres of woodland that we would hike around in all the time. One winter on a warm day there was a creek that was high with snowmelt, and there were five or so dead trees on our side of it. My friend always carried an old machete with him on the hikes and we looked at cutting one down. Without really saying anything I measured out the shadow of one of the trees, and then the shadow of my friend with he was standing there. A few mental calculations and I picked out a tree for him to start working on. After it fell and we worked our way across, my friend commented to me, “Excellent use of trig there.” I was horrified. He stood there smirking because he knew what I was thinking. I hated math. I loathed it. I had only taken trigonometry because I was required to take it, and here I had actually used it in the real world.

We seek to serve God. In that seeking I know there are times in which we believe certain things to be useful and certain things not to be. I’m sure before receiving the letter Philemon was probably grousing about his missing slave. Griping about his usefulness or lack thereof. And he was a leader of the church.

When he received Paul’s letter I’m sure he wanted to say, “Oh Paul, surely not. Surely not him.”

Paul does well in the letter to remind Philemon that he too owes Paul his life for bringing him salvation. He reminds Philemon that he was once a slave as well—a slave to sin and wrongdoing without the grace of Christ. And so have we all been. I identify much more easily with Onesimus than I do with the other characters in this story.

What did Paul say to Onesimus? What was it that cemented their kinship so closely? Surely just the open hearts that a conversion experience brings, but how did Paul empower him to meet his former master on solid and even ground? Did he tell him how to fulfill the promise of his own name?

Jesus was being followed by enormous crowds. Which maybe partly was due to the rumors going around about his making wine and lunch for everyone? I am a little glib about the crowd mentioned here though only because Jesus kinda seems like he is trying to get rid of them.

I mean look at the language he uses. Well, first he turns, and I have this weird image in my head for some reason of a Jesus who is walking around, maybe easily at first in the countryside, and as more and more people keep filling up the crown behind he walks a little faster, and a little faster until he spins around and tells them what is what.

Maybe he knows that in their hearts they aren’t ready to really follow him. Maybe he knows that they really are following him to see something cool happen.

Regardless though the scripture says he turns, and wow. Unloads with both barrels of the shotgun. He says that in order to be a disciple, that is a student of His, you must love Him more than anyone else in your family. And moreover, you can’t even come with Him unless you love Him more than you love your own life.

Do you think that the crowd thinned out a little at this point?

Of course this is a great point. One that we struggle with daily probably. We must not have anything, or anyone else ahead of the place that God has in our hearts. The motives of the family cannot interfere with the directions that we have from God. The emotional pull of the family cannot overcome the emotional blessing of God. And if the family can’t even compete, you can imagine the place the rest of the world has.

Jesus is talking about preparedness. We’re at chapter 14 here and more than halfway through the whole book of Luke. He’s got the cross on his mind already and he knows what the life afterward is going to take. He knows the convictions that becoming an apostle is going to take.

And true to form he tells a story about it.

The stories say, how can you start something so huge as a tower, or something so important as the defense of your city and not be prepared for the reality! If you did people will laugh at you! The city will fall, and there will be no achievement. So then, He says, you cannot follow my teachings unless you give up everything of yourself.

And what are our great projects? How can we raise a family if we don’t study what God wants for us? How can we be a good friend if the Spirit doesn’t lead us in our actions? How can we possibly be a follower of Christ or his teachings if we don’t know or aren’t prepared to deal with the consequences? We cannot.

Jesus wants followers who are going to be useful. And not just useful in the ways that we think we ought to be useful. We think that we have found our niche at times. We think we have the purpose of God all planned out. But God’s purpose for us can change. His gifts can be altered. We may have hidden talents we didn’t yet know we had. Something God had been saving up for a rainy day. And if we don’t constantly keep up with the Will that God has for us, well, then we are salt that’s lost its flavor. We cease being useful. And sometimes we keep plodding away at the same old thing and wonder, gee, why aren’t I as effective as I used to be?

The power of Christ changed a slave into a free Disciple. Onesimus didn’t tell Paul, “no, no, I’m a slave. Maybe I should just try to be a really good slave instead of taking al l the responsibility of being free.”

We need convincing sometimes like Philemon. We think we have a good handle on things. We keep thinking that we have finally got it. We read a passage of scripture and we say that it means this, and this. And true scripture is irrefutable, but we must be aware of the Words the Spirit has for us through that scripture.

There is an oriental proverb of a monk who sits on the end of a road taking the toll for a bridge. He gets bored one day and asks a man crossing the bridge what he saw something down the hill, and the man replies, “Two women doing laundry and a cow standing in a field, and a troop of soldiers.” A while later he asks the same to a boy coming the same direction. The boy replies, “I say a boy and a girl with a kite, which had a long tail and was red like a dragonfly.” The monk is puzzled and asks if he didn’t see the soldiers or the cow or the women washing? “Oh yes,” says the boy, “but they were very ordinary.”

God has different things to show us on the path at different times in our lives. If we cease looking around for things that have changed then we run the risk of becoming useless.

Is this part of what Paul told Onesimus? Surely he spoke as Jesus did of the self-denial and the dedication that becoming and apostle would take. And coming from a group of guys who were imprison for their conviction I’d say that was probably a pretty weighty idea. Nothing like trying to recruit followers while incarcerated for that very belief. “Hey, want to be a Christian?” “Sure! By the way, what are you in for?” “Being a Christian.” “Really… Well, on second thought…”

What Paul said must have overpowered all of that kind of thinking. “Onesimus,” he said, “fulfill your namesake in a way you never thought possible. Become useful to God himself as a part of His wonderful plan of Love and Salvation for this world.” Yeah! All right Paul! He should recruit for the Armed Forces! That guy could sell a furnace to the devil.

And that is a wonderful task with which we are charged. To be useful in the grand design. How many of us long to have purpose? To have a part to play and here is a loving God who has that part. And it’s not just any part, there are no bit or backstage roles to play in God’s plan, each is integral and wonderful in its own way, and by being useful we find ourselves reaping the blessing that God has promised. It’s like part of the acting contract we have.

So as we go out, trying to find our way to be useful to Christ, we must be ready for some cross carrying, be ready to let the personal wants slough off us, and be ready to release those personal issues that stand in our way.

Christ will give us the courage to know what we HAVE to do in our lives to be useful, but the true disciple is one who can do it because of Love. Love like someone who was once in Jail for Christ.

Flight of the freakin Awesome...

I never liked their stand-up that much, but the HBO show is really great... some favorite lyrics...

Foux Da Fa Fa

J: Je voudrais une croissant
J: Je suis enchante
J: Ou est le bibliotheque?
J: Voila mon passport
J: Ah, Gerard Depardieu
B + J:Un baguette, ah ha ha, oh oh oh oh
B: Ba Ba ba-ba Bow!
B: Foux da fa fa
Foux da fa fa fa fa
Foux da fa fa
Ah ee ah
B: Foux da fa fa
Foux da fa fa fa fa
Foux da fa fa
Ah ee ah
B: Et maintenant le voyage a la supermarche!
B: Le pamplemousse (grapefruit)
B: Ananas (pineapple)
B: Jus d’orange
B: Boeuf
B: Soup du jour
B: Le camembert
B: Jacque Cousteau
B: Baguettte
J: Mais oui
J: Bon jour
F: Bon jour
J: Bon jour
F: Bon jour, monsieur
J: Bonjour mon petit bureau de change
B: Ca va?
L: Ca va.
B: Ca va?
L: Ca va.
B: Voila – le conversation a la parc.
B: Ou est le livre?
J: A la bibliotheque
B: Et le musique dance?
J: Et le discotheque.
B: Et le discotheque
J: C’est ci, baby!
J: Un, deux, trois, quatre
B: Ba ba ba-ba bow!
All: Foux da fa fa
Foux da fa fa fa fa
Foux da fa fa
Ah ee ah
Foux da fa fa
Foux da fa fa fa fa
Foux da fa fa
Ah ee ah
F: Ou est le piscine?
J: Pardon moi?
F: Ou’est le piscine?
J: ...Uh...
F: Splish splash
J: ...Uh...
F: Eh...
J: Je ne comprends pas.
F: Parlez-vous le francais?
J: Eh?
F: Eh? Parlez-vous le francais?
J: Uh ....No.
F: Hmmm.
B: Foux da fa fa
Foux da fa fa fa fa
Foux da fa fa
Ah ee ah
Ba ba ba-ba bow!

YouTube... Wach It!

Frodo -- Just the Rap

BRET AND JEMAINE
Yo Frodo, what you doin' wearing the ring?
All powerful jewelry, is that your new thing?
I know it's hard when you're little more than 3 foot 4
Your little ass so close to the floor.
Trying to lead the fellows to the gates of Mordor
The Fellowship!
(Yea the fellowship)
I don't rap about bitches and hos,
I rap about witches and trolls,
just passing on the words of the Elven king,
Wisdom to all
Frodo! Don't wear the ring!

You Tube

Hot Lips

Jeremiah 1:4-10

Luke 12:10-17

Jeremiah had a rough time of it. He begins his ministry at the ripe old age of thirteen. As a cause of that there are a lot of youth pastors out there who use the calling of Jeremiah as a jumping off point to inspire young people to take the call of the Lord seriously, and to not take lightly the ministries that they can undertake as young people. And that is a great use of the verse. But it only works if you go no further into the book of Jeremiah. The beginning of the story is great. It begins in jolly old Anathoth where Jeremiah has just come of age and is under the priesthood there, and he receives this special calling, one that the Lord validates and supports. But the later God tells Jeremiah that no one is going to listen to his prophecies. For this reason Jeremiah is known as the broken hearted prophet. His portrait in the Sistine Chapel ceiling is one of stricken grief: Jeremiah sitting with his hand over his mouth, sunken eyes turned down, shoulders slumped.

He does of course do some good. He works with King Josiah for a good long while trying to put the faith of the Jewish nation back in order. But then he starts seeing invasion from the North and the successors to Josiah’s throne don’t want to hear about it. He greets the second Babylonian invasion from the comfort of Jerusalem’s prison.

You have to wonder if, at the end of his life, Jeremiah looked back over it all and thought, “Did I do any good?”

It makes me think of what our goals are in ministry. And, by ministry I mean both the huge over reaching ministry of the Church as a whole and our own private callings in everyday life.

Our callings can come in a wide variety of ways. From a simple tug to do something, to hearing actual voices of instruction. And there are no rules that you get Big callings for Big ministries. One of the greatest ministries I know is a friend of mine that serves in a small Palestinian town. He went there to be the priest as a stopgap measure while they found a more permanent replacement and to date he has been there almost 40 years.

I wonder what Jeremiah thought of when he was called. To be called at a young age we might think that he had all the optimism that comes with youthful endeavors. He has the God given words within him now. He has the power. And yet we look at him later in life and he is lamenting the moral degradation of Jerusalem. In chapter 5 he writes poetry sharing his utter disappointment with the people and her leaders. Jeremiah is the prophet that gets so fed up with things that resorts to brass demonstrations. He wears an ox yoke around his neck walking around the town trying to remind people that they should be tied to the Lord’s purpose. He was willing to do anything to get people to hear the message that he fully believed and knew in his heart.

I’ve been like Jeremiah. Not necessarily have I had my lips touched by the hand of God, but I have felt that desperation in ministry. And I want you to understand that I felt it long before I ever actually started working in the church. I felt it in regard to my ministry and calling as a layperson. I’m sure you all have felt it as well. And I’ve been like Jeremiah and lamented to God, I’ve called out for just ONE good person in a city. I’ve also been angry like Jeremiah. Jeremiah not only rails at his people, but he also cries out at God. There have been times in life when I have been good and angry with God. I know God can take it. I will strike a bet to say that we have all been like Jeremiah.

A lot of the time we do a lot of celebrating as a Christian community, and that is great, but we have to be able to know and bear that there are a host of other feelings that get into the mix when trying to live the life of Christ. I we do nothing but talk about all the wonderful things about being a Christian we tend to think that the other emotions involved are something to be hidden away or suppressed.

That’s why I like the book of Jeremiah. Here was a prophet that served for 40 years and ran the gamut of human emotion. He goes from spunky fresh and excited, to buckle down hard working revivalist, to prophesying outcast, to lamenting angry thunderhead. And it was all ok. It was ok to feel like that. Because through all that Jeremiah keeps the faith. He rails and cries and rips his clothes, but through all of that he is in prayer. He prays angry, he prays sad, and he prays when he is just about ready to give up. He stays in constant communication with his God. He never looses site of where he belongs. (Dumbledore’s Man) That’s loyalty for you.

That kind of loyalty is what Jesus is talking about in the Gospel lesson.

It’s easy to get hung up on this verse. Just the idea of an unforgivable sin doesn’t seem to ring right with what the rest of Christ’s teachings say about forgiveness and what Paul teaches about Grace. The real point of Jesus’ comparison though is this; you can’t be forgiven if you can’t accept the forgiveness.

Forgiveness is an opening of the door. An extending of the bridge across the moat. What has to happen for there to be real forgiveness is for the forgivee to accept what the forgiver is doing.

Say you bash someone’s TV. And you pay for it, and they say that it’s all right and all is forgiven. But you go on paying them for it, and apologizing, and feeling horrible for doing it. Have you been forgiven?

The same thing is going on here. Jesus is simply saying that anything is forgivable. Even cursing Christ Himself is forgivable. But the Holy Spirit, the representation of God, is what is giving the forgiveness. So, if we in our hearts set our minds and life against God, then there can be no forgiveness because we are refusing to accept it. It is our setting our hearts against God that causes us to live an un-forgiven life.

So often this is what happens when times get REALLY tough. Not just stressful, but, hey, I’ve been abandon by God feelings.

Jesus’ very next words speak to this. He talks to us about loyalty in times of trouble. In times of persecution (and remember these are the Jews living under the Romans that he is talking to, they KNOW persecution), but he says not to fear persecution or trials.

He says that the Spirit will give power to those who are the friend of the Lord, and moreover give them strength to bear and words to speak. And this is counting the times of the mildest ridicule to full on martyrdom.

This is what the life of Jeremiah was a witness to. This awesome ideal is what he tasted and fought to hold on to his entire life. This knowledge that God CAN be trusted in the hour of trial. Or the week or the month or the year of trial.

Jeremiah is a real live human being with all our passions and questions and needs. His struggles and pains are clearly evident in his ministry and through that all he keeps in tune with the knowledge that God’s hand has not left his lips. That His presence has not left his side.

And Christ promises the same to us.

And how did Jeremiah keep this vigilance? Through constant prayer. Through down-time with the almighty. Through his awesome Honesty with God! He knew full well that nothing was hidden from God and so daily brought all his gripes and complaints right out there along side of his Joys and thanksgivings. Cause God KNOWS. There wouldn’t be all these promises of aid in times of need if God didn’t expect us to struggle with things all the time! We don’t get demerits in the heavenly book for not keeping our composure drawn up around us in a façade of what we think a good Christian is like.

I have a feeling I know what Jeremiah thought at the end of his life. Looking back at what, to some, might be a kind of failure – it did after all end with the exile of his people—but I think he looked back and was pleased. Because he knew his whole life what was going on, but he knew that the most important thing was for him to be close to God and to do the ministries that he called him to do. And he did it with real emotion and real struggle and real dependence on God.

Jeremiah is not a man of iron. He is a man of emotion and empathy. He cries out because he feels what the people could be. He cries out because he knows the amazing and fulfilling purpose that comes with the True Life God calls us to. And in the midst of these emotions and turbulence he continues to pray and preach to God’s people, because of the strength that is supplied to him.

We all have callings in life. They can change, they can be short or long term. Each member of the body has been given gifts and a call in which to use them.

So, whatever that ministry call is in your life take a note from the life of Jeremiah and while you fulfill that call make it real and earnest. Stand on the promise that God is able and willing to handle our emotion, that He wants us to be real with him before we are perfect before him, and that He can be trusted in our trials.

God can never promise us the life of a perfect Christian, but he can and does promise to attend to us and our needs at every step along the way. And I’ll take that over trying to be perfect any day.

Illustration Friday -- Captain

avast ye! Ha. We all secretly want to be pirates...

Illustration Friday

The Earth Will Kick Your Ass

People seem to think that the planet is like this big puppy that we all have on this really short leash. Because we are I dunno, superior, or God-empowered to "subdue" it or whatever. And I don't mean to get on an "inconvenient" soap-box here, but that kind of thinking is really not right.

Think of the planet like a huge slumbering dragon, who is tolerating all our bad behavior, but only for so long. Because eventually the dragon gets tired of it, wakes up, and eats us.

That's the thing I've always said. People talk about saving the planet, and what we really need to do is save the people. The planet will be fine. Nuclear Holocaust, biochemical plagues, fire, brimstone, whatever. The planet will eventually rekindle (say, give or take a 10,ooo years.) The human beings are going to be the ones who are toast.

That's why i find it utterly hilarious when the earth fights back in small spurts. These are like the grumblings of the dragon. When it rolls over in its sleep and crushes a few houses. Or when, say, millions of rats flee flooding in overdeveloped parts of the world and come tearing through the farmland causing devastation to crops and disease.
Or when, for instance, the ocean currents suddenly change because their temperature has differentiated, and the ocean returns millions of tons of garbage to our beaches that we had dumped into the sea.
That stuff is great. We need more of it. Somehow I think that is the only thing getting through to some people to say... hmmm. Maybe we should really do something before we wipe ourselves completely off the face of the earth. Cause that's the effect of all this. Don't worry about the earth. It's a tough planet. Humans though? We are fragile. And there are a lot of us to feed. And we panic easily. Worry about us. Save the Humans.

Easy Rider

Luke 10
Galatians 6

One of my good friends had a great grandfather in his family who was a circuit rider. His father still keeps his original saddlebags in excellent condition on display in the living room. His father ended up being a Methodist minister as well oddly enough, so the bags were of special significance.

A circuit rider was the original American Missionary. During the 1800’s, they travel on horseback a path that took them from small town to small town, and in most cases traveled routes that would take them nearly two months to complete. They took the words Luke to heart, taking only what they could carry in a pair of saddlebags as their only worldly possessions. In our society such simplicity of living seems almost unreal.

They led lives of hardship as Peter Cartwright describes auto biographically; “A Methodist preacher, when he felt that God had called him to preach, instead of hunting up a college or Biblical Institute, hunted up a hardy pony, and some traveling apparatus, and with his library always at hand, namely, a Bible, Hymn book, and Discipline, he started, and with a text that never wore out nor grew stale, he cried, 'Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world.' In this way he went through storms of wind, hail, snow, and rain; climbed hills and mountains, traversed valleys, plunged through swamps, swollen streams, lay out all night, wet, weary, and hungry, held his horse by the bridle all night, or tied him to a limb, slept with his saddle blanket for a bed, his saddle-bags for a pillow. Often he slept in dirty cabins, ate roasting ears for bread, drank butter-milk for coffee; took deer or bear meat, or wild turkey, for breakfast, dinner, and supper. This was old-fashioned Methodist preacher fare and fortune.”

It was a hard calling to be that kind of preacher, and still is. In a lot of little Appalachian communities the circuit, or Charge-preacher, is still prevalent. I went to school with a fellow who is now a four-charge preacher, meaning, he has four churches to pastor. Thankfully we are not all called to so hard a life.

Though, sometimes I think we must thrive of difficulty. I was guilty of it so many times in college. Putting off a paper until the last night, as if just writing it wasn’t challenge enough, I needed the added incentive of typing 25 pages in one sitting. There are also times in the spirit however, in which we try to make them harder than they need to be.

One example is in the study of the scripture. I’ve heard students come to me many, many times after having wrestled with certain pieces until it just nearly drives them insane. One of the best pieces of advice I ever read is that, when dealing with scripture, don’t get bogged down. There is a lot going on in almost every one of the passages here, and they are filled with meanings and sometimes social connotations that we just don’t get on the first or second or third or twentieth reading. Instead, we need to allow scripture to be the spiritual beast that it is, and allow it to speak to us. If there is something we might not quite get, there is no shame is setting it aside, letting it rest, and coming back later. Yet, there is some part of us that thinks that if we worked harder at it, thought harder at it we would gain understanding.

There is a story in the lectionary this week about a general in the Ancient Syrian Army. He was used to hardship out on the field. He was used to boot camp, and army rations, and orders that were tough to carry out. The Bible also says that he was used to winning. Now this alone should tell us something about NAY’umun. It tells us a lot about the kind of man that he is. And yet, we can perhaps also imagine the degree to which his leprosy was afflicting him. This is a man who was used to battle wounds and scars and pain that has to go ignored and untreated until the task is finished. And yet, he was so undone by this disease he goes to his King to beg leave to travel down into Israel.

He is granted leave and goes first to the King of Israel, but finds his way to the household of Elisha. He goes there in full pomp, and why not, he has earned his honored rank and title. His chariots and horses go with him and as he comes to the gate of Elisha’s house a servant greets him. The servant gives him a message that if he is to be cured that he should go and wash in the Jordan.

This proved to be too much. Not only was the master of the house not going to meet with him (this is just after he has met with the King remember), he tells him to wash in the Jordan. Which, while it held a lot of significance it was still a river that was used for all kinds of things. NAY’u-mun doesn’t actually come out and say that it’s dirty but I think he implies it as he complains and rails at having to go bath it in.

See, NAY’umun doesn’t want the easy solution. He doesn’t trust it. He thinks it won’t work, that it’s just a waste of time and he is bitter about the trip he took to get there. He is angry with the prophet and angry with himself for being taken in by the idea that his help would come from the Lord.

A knowing servant came and pleaded with him, saying, “What could it hurt?”

But how like all of us is this proud general? How many times in life do we look to the hard road because the easy seems too good to be true? Sometimes the call to personal ministry doesn’t seem difficult enough and so we refuse it or undermine it before we have ever even attempted it.

Christ sent out a call to his Disciples. It’s a simple message. He asks that the disciples bring a message of peace, and the message of His divinity. No enormous messages of intricate faith, no mysteries of the cosmos revealed. Much to their credit they comply with the simple message and meet with success.

Much like the circuit riders of old, what did they have time for but to bring some of the most basic messages to the common folk of the mountains? It’s very hard to run a sermon series on the finer points of living when you only see a particular church once in every six weeks.

Yet there is something heartwarming in coming to grips with the simple message—and the simple charge.

Paul has something here at the beginning of chapter 6 that is also easy in its simplicity. Instruction on how to deal with the common sinner.

Paul knows that the church is Galatia is a trying church and perhaps in their overzelousness to find and perform the will of the Christ, they have been a little too harsh with some of the brothers and sisters who have been tempted and succumbed. So many things being with good intentions and end up spiraling into a witch-hunt, trying to find someone to blame for it all.

Note too that here, no sin is specified. Paul does this purposefully to exercise the point that action for the person does not change according to the sin. It could be the foulest thing imaginable to man or a casual gray and innocent action. The reply should be the same. We are to approach the brother or sister in a spirit of meekness. Never, never, never in the Bible will there be ascribed an action of superiority when dealing with a weaker believer or outright sinner. The spirit of meekness is one that makes us self evaluate before hand and see with our own hearts our nothingness before the cross. Paul specifically asks for this confession in verse 3. We are to be prepared to bear one another’s burdens, and, in verse 5, we are to realize our own responsibility. This last verse seems at odds with the previous verse as far and sharing burdens goes, but it is talking about our own understanding of taking responsibility for our actions in regard to this sinner. If we meet a sinner with condemnation and rebuke then we will have to bear the burden of those consequences.

And is this really asking so much? The only thing that it denies us is the ability to be spiritual bullies. Lording our own righteousness against someone who has yet to find that peace. And maybe we can say that we would never think about doing that, but I might surprise you to say that the majority of the un-churched wholly expect it from us.

But this is an easy thing. To meet those suffering with sin with open humility and a readiness to help them shoulder the burden of their actions. Be ready to visit, to talk, to smile, and weep.

Jesus sends out the disciples into the very homes of people to share the Good Word with them. I know that whenever we have houseguest there is open conversation. A dinner together, a favorite dessert… I know that the disciples who went out, knew and loved those people they stayed with in openness and humility. Jesus says to approach the mission field like lambs to symbolize that meekness.

And what is there reward? What do they reap from these actions? The submission of the evil sprits plaguing those people. Aside from that they returned with a joy in their hearts. That is the power that comes from this easy way of living.

And even now I know there are some of us who are still skeptical. We still say, surely it must take more than that. If I have peace, and give peace, accept who Christ is, meet sinners with humility and a preparedness to shoulder some of the load… the return on that is joy and power over evil in the Name of Christ? There must be more to it, we say.

And so we invent ritual, we make pomp our shield and traditions our armor. We say, there, this enormous laundry list of actions is what is REALLY required of a Godly life. Now this complex belief system, THAT is what it takes. When the reality just isn’t so.

Hopefully somewhere we hear the voice of NAY’umun’s servant. Who whispers and says, “The answer is easy. Why not just try it?”

We have a real call from Christ. In Luke 10 at verse 1 it makes a point of saying there were 70 disciples sent out. That number has a message. It is the same number that Genesis chapter 10 uses to tell us the generation of Noah’s family, the tribes of the world. It is also the number of men who sat on the Sanhedrin, the ruling council of the Jews.

In this number Jesus is telling us that the message is to go to the entire world, and that we will have the authority to back that message up.

So we receive this call, to seek the world, not all at once; the idea is to get the understanding that what we have isn’t for the select. It’s for every one of our neighbors and co-workers and friends and family and classmates. Additionally we know that we have the authority to back up the claims we make on Christ’s behalf.

Maybe its about time we did something that was easy. Faith becomes another burden to be checked off the laundry list of items we keep. Jesus says that we should be joyful not because we have power over spirits, but because we have received salvation. That understanding can be very freeing in our lives if we allow it to be. It was meant to be. If we can alter our perception of, even our own church family, so that we don’t see a pasty white school marm with a ruler standing over our heads ready to crack us on the knuckles every time we sin, we’ll be better off. Instead, imagine friendly Paul, sitting in our home, listening patiently to our self-examinations, and our confessions, maybe kindly saying, you know such and such is a wrong way to live, will you let me help you with that? Wouldn’t you feel a lot more like confessing?

Hard work is a definite virtue. But sometimes Christ intends the easy road for us to follow. Our anger and our pride can get in the way of that, but the cleansing that is there for us to receive is worth us letting go of those false gods. Only then can we accept the easy call that Christ has for each of us, the call to go to people, some who will be brothers and sisters in the faith, and some, who will be strangers to God, but people and therefore His Children. But to go to them, and meet them with humility, share their burden, and renew the acceptance of Christ.

That is the kind of easy living that is going to lead us into a life of daily joy and empowerment in the Spirit; that kind of easy living makes the church a stronger place for being able to meet one another with real burden-sharing humility. And more than those, it creates a life that lives actively in the Salvation that God has provided for us.

America!

It seems like in the past few years there have been a lot of, well, let’s say disgruntled people, in our country. There has been the staunch divisions seen and revisited a hundred times. The feelings of unity that the country might have shared at one time seems shattered, and now as the National Holiday approaches I hear whisperings that we don’t have much to celebrate this year.

In places all over the country we hear either the hard-liners, who believe whatever the government says patriotism, and the depressing embarrassment of those who might claim to be Canadian when traveling abroad.

More than a hundred years ago there was written a song that has the power still to bring a tear to those patriots who will really sit and listen to it. “American the Beautiful” was written by Katherine Bates and in 1895 first published by The Congregationalist. Following 9-11 Dan Rather quoted the last verse of the song and nearly burst into tears on air.

It’s a great song, and maybe instead of being overtly proud of the mistakes our country has made, or terribly embarrassed by our grand successes we can all unify and look at the verses for what they are. A message of hope.

Bates was living in the gilded age, but there were tragedy enough even in her time. True she was a Wellesley girl, but she writes in a time in which there have been horrible train wrecks, the Homestead Strike claimed American lives and left families thrown out into the street, Lizzie Borden had been brought to trial just the previous year, and not long before that was the Wounded Knee massacre.

Surely a woman living in such troubled times as these couldn’t have been able to see the beauty in the country around her. And yet she does, with such piercing clarity that a century later we read her words and are taken in by the verse.

In the first verse she relates the physical power that the country has. She wrote this taking a cross country train trip and was inspired by what she saw. And yet, she reminds us that the most beautiful part of the country is the brotherhood we share. The crown of all we have that is good.

The second speaks of pilgrims, but not those who landed on the rock I think. Instead, these are the passionate pilgrims who make a way through the wilderness. The pioneers of action and social view who make plain the path we need to take. And the confirmation is in the self control they must exercise, because the path is not for person gain or liberty, but the Liberty of all the nation’s people.

Verse three reminds us of the heroes that prove their belief and faith in what the country was founded all. All races and all creeds have died for the causes of the nation, and as the songs goes, if they love this country and love mercy more than their own life, then they are truly our most noble children.

And then the fourth. And this is the hardest I think, especially now, having suffered on our native soil, we have come out of our heady belief in our immortality, to see the reality of our fragility. We are no longer un-dimmed by human tears, and yet, this verse’s integrity is in tact.

The last verse begins, speaking about the patriot dream. That is the intangible thing, that goes beyond, that, as she says, sees beyond the years. She talks of Hope.

And that is what makes us beautiful. What makes America Beautiful, is that amazing ability we have to hope. She had it even in 1895, when there were trains exploding and people dying, and massacres, and crazy murders – she still sat on that train and was inspired by her nation, and by the people that dwell in it. She looked at all the squalor and filth and said, “ah, but look what we could do.” And she wrote verse that still strikes to the core of us.

We teach our children in school that the American flag is a symbol. That the colors stand for Courage, for Purity, and for Justice; that might not be quite right. The flag stands for the Hope of those things. The Flag doesn’t promise that beneath its shadow you will, without a doubt, find those things.

Instead the Flag says, “Here are our hopes.” When we are at our best this is what we endeavor to do. This is what we wish for our whole nation. These things above all else. These are the ideals we will fight for, these are the dreams we will instill in our children, and our children’s children.

This holiday I hope that no matter what our political affiliation, no matter who’s man or woman is in the political offices, no matter what our varying stands on all of the turbulent issues at hand right now, we can all take a day to relive the Hope that Bates captures. No matter what you think of the country, put out a flag in pride for what it stands for. Raise it will all your heart behind it with the understanding that we can all stand together on Hope that someday, “beyond the years,” we will look at cities that truly do gleam without corruption or pollution or selfishness and know that the time for our tears is over, and the time for Brotherhood has arrived. Hope with me, and work for that hope, “from sea to shinning sea.”