Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost: The Pearl of Great Value

Sunday's Lectionary Passages

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it." Matthew 13:45-46 (NRSV)

The Apostle Paul experienced this wisdom of Jesus first hand. In his letter to the Philippians, he rattles off a list of all the things that he used to treasure; his race, culture, religion, status and accomplishments. This passage echoes the above parable.

4 even though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh. If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8 More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.
Philippians 3: 4-8 (NRSV)

As we prepare for worship this Sunday, let's reflect on what we treasure. Let's not just reflect on the obvious things that may interfere with our intimacy with Christ, but also on those things that are much more subtle. Examine the things that are good in your life, the things that we might even consider godly, and even our desires to minister and serve. Why do we treasure these things? Is what we truly treasure of eternal value? All other treasures will turn out to be fools gold and will disappoint and leave us empty in the long run.

May our times of worship, both corporate and personal, be times where we come to know more deeply the true pearl of great value and as a result be willing to let go of all else.

The song Lay It Down by Matt Maher is a good reflection on this subject. The lyrics are below.

Verse 1
Ev'rything I am
Ev'rything I long to be
I lay it down at Your feet

Chorus 1
I lay it down
I lay it down
I lay it down at Your feet

(BRIDGE)
Oh pearl of greatest price
No act of sacrifice
Can match the gift of life
I find within Your gaze
Oh what a sweet exchange
I die to rise again
Lifted up from the grave
Into Your hands of grace

Chorus 2
I lay it down
Lay it down
Lay it down at Your feet

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Hunger

This Sunday's Lectionary Passages

As is often the case, I like to read books that my daughter has recently read. On her recommendation, I recently finished reading The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. This is a fantastic "young adult" fiction series that is being devoured by adults of all ages, teens, and older children alike. The movie adaptation of the first book is set for a March 2012 release. The stories are frightfully violent but I found them to be altogether much more terrifying on another level. The story is pretty much an allegory about our global society. It is layered with all sorts of meanings. At the center of the story is the theme of hunger and bread, the haves and have nots, and the powerful and those on the margins. It is set in the post apocalyptic empire known as Panem (from the latin word for bread). One of the main characters, who is sort of a Christ figure, is Peeta (sounds like Pita), the boy with the bread. The central conflict is between "The Capitol" (The seat of power in Panem) and "District 13," the rebels who begin an armed revolution to bring down the Capitol. Caught in the middle of this conflict are the poor marginalized masses who are simply trying to find their daily bread. The Capitol and District 13 seem to represent two modern day "Caesars" with the Capitol representing Western libertarian free market capitalism and District 13 representing Marxist socialism.

Our new testament lectionary passage this week is Philippians 1:21-30. In this passage Paul speaks of "fighting together for the faith of the gospel." What is at the center of that faith? It is that Jesus Christ is the crucified and risen Messiah who IS LORD! When Paul wrote this he was in prison and facing possible execution by another lord; Caesar and his empire. Some things never change. This world still has its empires and "Caesars." As followers of Christ we bow down to one Lord. We must find our hope, which is the only sure hope, in the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ. But when we begin to bow to Jesus alone and live as citizens of God's kingdom, it will almost inevitably put us at odds with "Caesar." We will find ourselves seriously swimming upstream.

One way that Western Christians have avoided this painful road, is by thinking of Jesus as Lord when it comes to matters of the soul, but deferring to Caesar when it comes to matters of the body. After all, isn't the task of Caesar to care for the bodies under his charge? Isn't it Caesar's task to make sure that people have their daily bread and the job of Christ's Body to take care of people's souls? In other words let the church take care of souls and let the government take care of the body.

There are two problems with that way of thinking. First, our "Caesar systems" have pretty much failed at the task of ensuring that everyone has their daily bread. In fact the endless tug of war between left and right is simply over the best way to accomplish the task. Of course government has a role and responsibility in this area, no doubt, but on the whole our modern day Caesars and their systems continue to fail at the task. Secondly, we slice the Gospel down the middle and throw away half of it when the church leaves the task of taking care of bodies completely to Caesar. The idea that the Gospel is only a spiritual message that saves souls for a disembodied heaven when they die is not grounded in good biblical theology.

God lovingly created all of this world including our physical bodies, our hungers, and the physical world by which we can rightly satisfy our hungers. It was created for our enjoyment. Things were in balance. There was sustainability and enough for all. Enter sin and the fall and we get self centeredness and greed. As a result we get the consequences of scarcity and poverty.

Salvation then is about undoing ALL of the effects of sin and not just spiritual effects. The good news is not just meant to satisfy spiritual hunger, but physical as well. God has always been in the business of salvation of body and soul. It just so happens that our Old Testament lectionary passage this week is a case in point. Jesus announced his ministry by reading from the prophet Isaiah these words:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor.

Now we could spiritualize what Jesus meant by "the poor" all we want but it did not seem as though the early church did. Their gospel was wasn't chopped in half. Take a look at what is described in Acts.

"All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need." (2:44-45) "All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.... There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need." (3:32; 34-35)

I think these early believers understood something very important. Their Lord was Jesus Christ, the bread that came down from heaven. His kingdom was not of this earth where it is about "me and mine." The kingdom of God is about an expansive compassion that embraces both the haves and the have nots and teaches us that it is not about "me and mine." It is a love that it is only fully realized when it is shared in real physical ways. It is about a Messiah who gave his physical body as a sacrifice in order to bring us into the life and love that is found in the Trinity (a perfect community of sufficiency). It is about us giving up what is "ours" (it really isn't ours to begin with), in order that good news of God's compassion is brought to life in real flesh and blood ways. When that happens, the lines between the haves and the have nots, the powerful and the powerless are erased because the haves voluntarily become poor to share with others and the powerful give up their power by cutting any strings that might be attached to their compassion. The Gospel evens the playing field and paves the way for friendship and reconciliation.

We must admit that this is not the kind of Gospel we readily see being proclaimed in word and deed in our culture of individualism. We've exchanged the whole Gospel for lopped off version that is weak. How might we "preach the good news to the poor?" Before we are quick to answer that question with pat answers, I think we need to be reminded of the exhortation of James.

¹⁵ If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? ¹⁷ Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. James 2:15-17 (NASB)

I recently read Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion by Father Greg Boyle. In this book he made a statement that has stuck with me. He said that if we are going to begin to have true compassion for people, we must learn to stand in awe of the burden the poor must carry and stop judging them for the way in which they carry their burden. Perhaps when we stand in judgment over the way the poor carry their burden it allows us to back away from the Gospel. It keeps us from simply being obedient when it comes to following marching orders from our Lord about clothing and feeding. When we stop judging, we can move from callous indifference to sorrow, and then on to empathy, and finally to friendship, compassion, and communion.

What might this look like today? In other words, how can we, as Paul exhorts, live a lifestyle that is worthy of the gospel (Phil. 1:27)?

The more I think about this, the more I am convinced that there is no way except for radical changes in the way in which we live and interact with each other. But to live under the Lordship of Christ is often to reject the ways in which we have bought into and grown comfortable with business as usual.

The next time, we sing about the Lordship of Jesus, let's begin to think about the implications of such a truth. Let's begin to live in ways that reject the Caesar narratives that divide the Body of Christ and keep us from truly proclaiming the whole Gospel in word and deed. That is when our hungers will begin to be satisfied.

Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost: More Dialogue and Less Debate

This Sunday's Lectionary Readings

I was watching a video by John Michael Talbot and was struck by a couple of things he said.

"I think there is too much debate going on, we need more dialogue."

"There needs to be dialogue and even difference, but we don't want that difference to lapse into division."

Keep those two quotes in mind as you read Romans 14:1-12 (our New Testament reading for this Sunday). Then reflect on the questions that follow.

1 Accept other believers who are weak in faith, and don’t argue with them about what they think is right or wrong. 2 For instance, one person believes it’s all right to eat anything. But another believer with a sensitive conscience will eat only vegetables. 3 Those who feel free to eat anything must not look down on those who don’t. And those who don’t eat certain foods must not condemn those who do, for God has accepted them. 4 Who are you to condemn someone else’s servants? They are responsible to the Lord, so let him judge whether they are right or wrong. And with the Lord’s help, they will do what is right and will receive his approval.

5 In the same way, some think one day is more holy than another day, while others think every day is alike. You should each be fully convinced that whichever day you choose is acceptable. 6 Those who worship the Lord on a special day do it to honor him. Those who eat any kind of food do so to honor the Lord, since they give thanks to God before eating. And those who refuse to eat certain foods also want to please the Lord and give thanks to God. 7 For we don’t live for ourselves or die for ourselves. 8 If we live, it’s to honor the Lord. And if we die, it’s to honor the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 Christ died and rose again for this very purpose—to be Lord both of the living and of the dead.

10 So why do you condemn another believer? Why do you look down on another believer? Remember, we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. 11 For the Scriptures say,

“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bend to me,
and every tongue will confess and give praise to God.’”

12 Yes, each of us will give a personal account to God.

Reflection Questions

1. How has worship become a "war" in many churches? How could that war be avoided?

2. How can corporate worship that focuses on the Lordship of Christ, promote unity in the Body of Christ?

Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost: A New Look

Sunday's Lectionary Readings

There is an old picture hanging in my office by my bookshelf. It is a picture of me with my family taken about six or seven years ago. I probably should take it down now because we all look quite different. But I think I enjoy the occasional double take that people do when they happen to catch a glimpse of it while they are on their way back to Pastor Kevin's office. Recently someone took a look at it, and then at me sitting at my desk, and then back at the picture, and then back at me and asked, "Is that you?" I jokingly I gave my standard response, "Yea, that was me when I looked like a Republican." That was me before my hair got shaggy and I let the stubble on my face get out of control. Pastor Kevin often jokes that I take being transformed into the likeness of Jesus literally! Actually, it has nothing to do with trying to look like Jesus and everything with me not liking to shave or cut my hair very often. The fact that my wife tends to like the scruffier me is the only excuse I need to sport this look.

Sporting a look. Style makeovers. New clothing. That is where we will focus this Sunday. Paul tells us, "The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living.... clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ." Romans 13:12 and 14 (NLT)

I often like to pray from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. In the service of morning prayer, there is a prayer petition that says:

Clothe your ministers with righteousness;

Let your people sing with joy.

Every time I pray this prayer, I direct it toward the upcoming Sunday and our worship services. I remember one of the "brothers" at the monastery where we hold our Monastic Retreat telling us that they put on their white robes when they enter the chapel for prayer service as a visual reminder of this very thing. They are covered in the righteousness of Christ as they go to do their work of prayer and intercession.

As worship leaders, we too are ministers. We need to clothe ourselves in the presence of Christ as we do the work of prayer and worship in song. It is more important to prepare ourselves spiritually for the task than to prepare musically (although we need to spend a good deal of time doing that as well). Yes, we need to plead the blood of Jesus to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, but we also need to begin to throw off known unrighteousness like dirty clothes. We then need to put on brand new attitudes that are shared with Jesus Himself. We can then do our work with humility and compassion. We want people to see Christ and not us. That is when we will sing with joy!

How do you clothe yourself with Christ when you are tasked with the responsibility of leading God's people in worship?