Moved By Generosity...

A couple of months ago some members from my church community along with myself were doing some mission work in Lexington, NE. During our time in Lexington we were moved by the generosity that we saw in the projects that were taking place in the churches and in the schools. One of the projects that stood out was a back pack program for a local school that was supported by a local food pantry. One of the ladies that was with me was so moved by what she learned, that in the 5 hour drive home had put together a plan for a food pantry for our community back home. Not only was the plan in place by the time we got home, but by the next morning she had already talked with school counselors and local church leaders. That was the first weekend in November. She formed a committee, found a location, started taking donations and the food pantry was open by December, with some early boxes sent out before Thanksgiving. We are looking forward to the official dedication next week. Since its opening, more and more people are hearing about it, and hours of operation have been increased to meet the need. It already has become a wonderful gift to the community.

A couple of weeks ago our 6th 7th and 8th graders got together to participate in the Souper Bowl of Caring. This is a nationwide service campaign that addresses poverty and hunger around the world. I think that many of our youth were surprised to learn that poverty and hunger exist within their very own community. I think that it is often easy to dismiss hunger as something that exists in far away countries. When actually, 35 million people in the United States live in households considered to be food insecure. This is enough people to fill over 500 NFL stadiums. This is staggering, and a strong reminder of the importance and value of our new food pantry as it addresses the most basic human need. Through this valuable resource individuals and families are able to put meals on their tables - providing food for the bodies, relief to the minds, and nourishment to their souls.

Some things have really stood out to me in watching the development of the food pantry. First, is the way in which a need was seen, action was immedialy taken, and support was and continues to be positive and strong. I am truly moved by the generosity in the time, energy, organizational skills, gifts of money and food products given. Now that the pantry is up and running they want to extend the giving power with a back pack program. It is awesome! I am also moved with the ability of this new venture to bring people of all ages, churches, towns, cultures and families together.

It is a beautiful reminder that we have a Generous God - A God who loves to fill our cups of blessing until they are overflowing. God gives to us so generously and by this has provided a pattern of giving for us to adopt - Giving generously out of love! Because of our generous God we can be moved to be generous with our talents and abilities, generous with our time, generous in sharing our learning, generous in our encouragement and praise, and generous in our hospitality.

“If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” - 1 John 3:17-18

I am proud to live and serve in this community. I pray that the community continues in its excitement and support of this wonderful gift. The food pantry has been and continues to be a powerful witness of God’s love working through the loving hearts and giving hands of our community.

Reframing Stewardship: What is your view of the New Year when looking through the lenses of Faith, Hope and Love?

Happy New Year! It is that time of year when people reflect on the previous year and begin to make resolutions for the coming New Year. How often do you make and then keep your resolutions? I have not been very good at it in the past. I can usually get to March and then I lose steam. I wonder if it is because my approach or my attitude could have been different? So, this year I am taking a new perspective, and I have a new attitude. I am approaching the New Year from the perspective of being a Steward. I know, I know...when people, especially people in a church, first hear “Steward” they think Stewardship, and then they think money, and then they get uncomfortable. It is not my goal to make you uncomfortable, but I can’t help it if you are excited about my idea by the time you are done reading this article. So I would like to provide some rationale behind my attitude - mostly because I am going to invite you to be a part this 2012 Stewardship perspective.

Christian Stewardship is given a bad reputation because it all too often means "we [the church] need more money now.” It has even become like a bad word in the “commitee world” of churches. While, money is an important part of stewardship, it goes much further than that. As Stewardship committees pull ideas together for their annual Stewardship drives they often talk about Christian stewardship with the phrase, “time, talents, and treasures.” While time, talents, and treasures are valuable aspects to Stewardship, I think it still goes much further. Therefore, it is the hope and goal of the remainder of my internship in Emerson that I work toward expanding or reframing the understanding of Stewardship to mean so much more for myself and for the people in our community - taking the meaning from Stewardship as “something we do” to “who we are.” Afterall, we ARE Stewards, and we can be excited about this. We are loved and cared for by God, and we are freed to love and care for others. It is a part of the very essence of who we are, and therefore we can’t help but live it daily. It is expressed in faith-filled lives of gratitude, joy, hope, and love.

What does this mean?

Stewardship means “belonging to God" - all that we are and all that we have comes from God - All the gifts, abilities, resources, and opportunities we possess are from the Lord. Whether our work is in the sciences, helping the poor, preaching the Gospel, teaching, farming, or managing a business and/or a household, we are all stewards of the abundant gifts of God. Stewardship entails accepting all aspects of our lives as gift and inviting God into each aspect. God loves us and God cares deeply about how we take care of our bodies, emotions, relationships, environment, work, play, etc. God wants to use everything we have to bring about the Kingdom in our lives and the world around us. “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians. 10:31).

When stewardship is understood as the faithful lifestyle of being a disciple of Christ, emcompassing every piece of our life: What does that look like for you? How does it change the way you view your future? How does it change the way you view the world and Christ’s call to a love based mission in the world? What stories of joy does it bring about? What stories of hope does it bring about?

(Photo by Guest Blogger S)

HEAR YE! HEAR YE! Miracles Are Happening!

Luke 1:26–38 (NIV) ²⁶In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, ²⁷to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. ²⁸And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." ²⁹But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. ³⁰The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. ³²He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. ³³He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." ³⁴Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" ³⁵The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. ³⁶And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. ³⁷For nothing will be impossible with God." ³⁸Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.

HEAR YE! HEAR YE! The Lord is with you

HEAR YE! HEAR YE! Do not be afraid

HEAR YE! HEAR YE! You have found favor with God

HEAR YE! HEAR YE! You will conceive and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.

HEAR YE! HEAR YE! Nothing will be impossible with God

These are the announcements from the angel Gabriel to Mary. Up until this announcement, Mary was just an ordinary young peasant woman, living in a remote village. I imagine that when she received this announcement from Gabriel, she was going about her normal daily routine, with no hint that she was destined for this role….And then, the announcement that basically says:

HEAR YE! HEAR YE! Miracles are happening!!

Miracles are happening with you!

And through you!

I think that during this time of year we are in the mood for miracles, and this annunciation contains all the ingredients needed to satisfy the yearning…We have an angel appearing as if out of nowhere, and a virgin learning that she will defy nature and bear a child. To add to all of this, the angel talks about another miracle - a woman well beyond childbearing years is in the sixth month of a pregnancy. The angel is referring to Elizabeth, Mary’s cousin.

Miracles!

And how does it come to be that we have these miracles?….Gabriel answers this with, “Nothing will be impossible with God." These are more than announcements for Mary. These words from Gabriel are announcements for us today.

HEAR YE! HEAR YE! Miracles are happening!!

Miracles are happening with you!

And through you!

I love this narrative in Luke. I love it from the first announcement:

"The Lord is with you!"

I don’t think that it is possible to hear this enough. This narrative is a reminder that we are not going at our lives alone. God planned for Jesus. God specified the circumstances preceding Jesus’ birth, and designed a plan that greatly affected Mary. Well, Gabriel’s words provide a reminder that our lives are not initiated wholly by human effort and intention. Although the details rarely are readily apparent, God takes part in the unfolding of human existence, from before the moment of our conception. God does not control our lives, but God takes part in the unfolding of our lives. And God has plans for us - plans for good and not for disaster, to give us a future and a hope.

HEAR YE! HEAR YE! The Lord is with you!

God bursts into the earthly realm with Jesus, and God continues to break into our lives with the holy all the time. Mary was not at all anticipating this announcement to come her way. We, also, cannot anticipate the ways that God will break into human history - into our history! God’s breaking in, brings new life, AND new possibilities. As Gabriel says about Elizabeth’s own pregnancy, “nothing will be impossible with God.”

As we prepare for Christmas, I think that it is a happy time, filled with excitement and joy. However, as much of a happy time as this season is for some, I think that for many it is an especially hard time of the year, maybe even the hardest. It can be a lonely time, a financially difficult time, a time of worry and sometimes regret. And it may be tempting to imagine that the human predicament, whether we define this as the state of our warring world or the state of our broken lives, can never be healed or overturned.

Yet Luke’s gospel tells us that not only is redemption possible, it has already happened. Because of the birth, life, death and resurrection of Christ, Salvation has already happened! And the holy continues to break into our lives, bringing us new life, and new possibilities.

This announcement of the long-awaited birth of the Messiah also makes it clear that we do not create our own salvation, nor do we have the capacity to imagine the ways of God. Well, since we cannot imagine the ways of God, I think that when we hear God’s astonishing announcement:

Miracles are happening! Miracles are happening with you and with me!

And through you and me!

We are puzzled.

What?

How can it be?

Miracles are happening with me, through me?

I, am a part of God’s working in the world?

Are you sure? Are you sure thats a good idea?

Does this mean more work for me?

How often do we feel unworthy, thinking that there is someone better qualified, someone more articulate, someone better trained, someone with more energy, someone with more time? We sound just like Mary, “How can this be?” I am glad that Mary’s first response was this. I think that Mary’s puzzlement grants us permission to take time to adjust to astonishing news, to question whether or not God’s astonishing promises are for real and to contemplate what it means for us. This is what is called discernment.

When Mary hears this message, her response is cautious at best. After-all, there is nothing overtly special about Mary. She is an ordinary young peasant woman, living in a remote village far from the busy religious center of Jerusalem. Yet Gabriel announces that God has found favor with her. God chooses Mary because she has nothing - she is a young girl in a society that values men and maturity. Later Mary writes a song of praise and identifies herself as lowly and poor. In other words, not one who is favored in the human realm, but God has shown favor with her.

Well, through our baptisms we are children of God, and God has found favor with you and me as well.

So what does this mean for us?

I think there is a tendency to think that leading unassuming lives in out-of-the-way places isolates us from the extraordinary. Well this theory is totally debunked by Mary’s surprise visitor. The selection of Mary to be the mother of Jesus is an occasion to encourage Christians to leave the realm of predictability and open ourselves up to the unexpected and the unimaginable - The unexpected and the unimaginable that is even possible wherever you live.

Can we believe this?

It is easy to say the words - “nothing is impossible for God” - But Do you and I actually believe that nothing is impossible for God?

Are we actually capable of letting go of all our attachments to feelings of unworthiness, to worry, to safety, to the opinions of others, to the most comfortable lives we can make for ourselves; all this in order to say with Mary, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word."

Mary comprehends that her life, and not only hers, but the whole world’s is about to be rearranged. She ascribes more credence to God’s vision for the human community than to naysayers who’s words suppress courage, who suppress faith.

"Here am I, the servant of the Lord;

let it be with me according to your word."

What does this mean for us as stewards of our time, our gifts and our talents?

When we see ourselves as stewards of what God has entrusted to us, how do we do things differently?

It is only when we with Mary, stop, look and listen to angels, and to the voice of the Holy Spirit, that we will be transformed able to do this. It is only then that we are capable of the surprising, crazy, things God may be calling us to; it is only then that the Holy Spirit gets us participating in the life of God in a way that changes our lives, changes the way we use our time, our talent, our possessions, our energy.

As we are overwhelmed with awe at being loved in this way, we find ourselves caught up in doing what matters to God; our words and actions begin to overflow with gratitude that Christ has bound himself to us, inviting us and surprising us, like Mary, to bear God's fruit in the world, to bear Christ’s redeeming love to all the world.

Perhaps Mary’s words deliver God’s Christmas wish, that followers of Christ will believe that nothing is impossible with God, and invite the Holy Spirit to work through them to attain miracles.

Happy Hanukkah

I can NOT get enough of this acappella group called the Maccabeats, from Yeshiva University in New York. I was introduced to their music last year, and have followed them since.

Today marks the beginning of Hanukkah, and I can't think of a better way to mark the day!

WE INTERRUPT YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED ACTIVITIES

Mark 1:1-8 (NIV) 1 The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, 2 as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way” 3 “a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’” 4 And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 6 John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Isaiah 40:1-11 (NIV) 1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins. 3 A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. 5 And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken." 6 A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” “All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field. 7 The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.” 9 You who bring good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!” 10 See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. 11 He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.

We have just read how Mark begins his gospel - the good news of Jesus Christ. It is different from Matthew, Luke and John. There is no birth story like in Matthew or Luke. There is no mention of the beginning of time like in John. There is no manger scenes derived from this Gospel. Yet, here in the opening lines of Mark we do have a “birth story” … of sorts. On this second week of Advent, it is good to tell of new beginnings, to tell about a God who breaks into our time and interrupts our regularly scheduled activities. God interrupts our lives with good news, and this is such good news that it shakes the world, turning it right side up and restores it to the proper order under God’s reign. In this Advent season God comes - perhaps not as we expect; perhaps not in the time frame we desire but God comes. And Frankly, I think we need the interruption. I think that we need it desperately.

In the text from Isaiah we read the beautiful and poetic words of the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah is talking to Israel during a time of disaster.In the beginning of the 6th century BCE, Babylon invaded Judah, destroying much of Jerusalem, stripping them of the institutional structures that shaped their lives, destroying their temple, deporting leading citizens, and raising up false God’s. We hear the poetry of Isaiah which emerges in the decades after the invasion, like a healing, life creating song. Isaiah’s words seek to interrupt the disaster and uncertainty and bring back to life a people crushed under a shroud of death. Isaiah imagines a nation restored, a city rebuilt, and a people reunited. At a time when all ways of relating to God had seemed to collapse for Israel, the prophetic word of Isaiah is their anchor. In the midst of the disaster and uncertainty the Word provides comfort, and a promise of hope that though everything else fails, God’s word endures forever, and that God comes to lead them home.

In the gospel message we read the gospel writer Mark describe a, less than poetic, hairy, insect eating, sharp tongued, rough and weathered wilderness man named John the Baptist, crying out in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance and forgiveness of sins. Mark is talking to an audience of first century followers of Jesus who after returning to their homes after being exile, were struggling to survive in the years during or just after the Jewish War, and they were experiencing oppression from Roman occupation. It was as if exile had followed Israel home.

The words that come from John echo those of Isaiah and provide an interruption of “joyful tidings” to a people seeking,...longing…. anxious...for comfort, deliverance, and restoration. Longing for it, to the point of traveling considerable distances, to the wilderness, just to hear the words of John the Baptist, and to experience baptism with water.

Both audiences are experiencing their own exiles.

Are we, today, any different? Are we experiencing our own exile? Are we in captivity….perhaps a cultural captivity? Perhaps a captivity that has, in essence, exiled us from God, in that we have become unconscious to God’s presence? OR a captivity that has raised up other “Gods” that seem to reign in our “empire” - God’s such as, consumerism? Lust for oil? Power? Sex? Are we suffering from oppression? Are we being bent over beneath life’s crushing load? Be that load, disease, domestic violence, discrimination, or economic loss? Is this captivity, this oppression this exile from God leaving our human community fractured, cynical, numb, afraid, and even hopeless?

I recently read on CNN’s homepage an article entitled, "Mourning’ in America: What must be done about a depressed nation." I asked myself, "are we a depressed nation?" The article talked about unemployment rates, soaring government deficits, ballooning national debts, yo yo gas prices, and gridlock in Washington causing America to virtually stall out. Hmmm….I don’t know the answer to whether or not we are a depressed nation. But I do think that we seek comfort...we long for deliverance….and we are just as anxious for restoration as the audiences of the texts above.

We are longing for a Messiah too. So when we hear Isaiah sing “Comfort, O Comfort my people” - these words are for us. When we hear John the Baptist cry out that Jesus will baptize us with the Holy Spirit, forgiving us, giving us new life, promising God’s continual grace-filled presence in our lives...We too will be like the crowds listening to the prophet John, running out to the wilderness, seeking these words of comfort, these words of hope and these words of direction for our future.

We are longing for God’s interruption to our lives and to our world, we pray for God’s interruption to set things right. We pray, “Come Lord Jesus Come”…..and what happens? Just that. God comes. God came in the past, in the history of Israel, and the incarnation of Jesus in the manger. God comes in the present. God comes in the word that is proclaimed each week, and the meal - the meal that offers the assurance of the comfort that breaks into our lives in the body and blood of Christ, given and shed for all. And we have the promise that God will come in the future at the end of all things.

We have a God who interrupts our lives with good news, shaking the world, turning it right side up and restoring it. So what do we do with this Good News? The preaching of John the Baptist calls us to prepare for God. We prepare the way of the Lord. We go from being the recipients of the Word, to messengers, or heralds of the Word - Proclaiming the good news, the message of joy, the words of comfort and the words of assurance to anyone who feels separated or abandoned by God, telling them that God will arrive and will come in power - gentle power. Yes, the Messiah will come, mightier than all, and gentler than all, who will cleanse us with his Holy Spirit. Whatever our circumstances have been or will be, nothing can stop God from restoring us. That promise, steering Israel and the church throughout countless generations, embraces us, too, and will never let go.

(Picture is Baptismal Font - Bethlehem, Palestine)

Be Still. Be Still? Be Still.

A couple of summers ago, my cousin and I decided that we would begin a new hobby together – Sailing. My Dad was an avid sailor and before he died he left his small butterfly sailboat to me. So my cousin and I decided that we would rig it and take it out on the lake behind our house. Having very little experience with sailboats we did the only thing we could think of in order to learn how to rig and sail it….we googled directions. After first learning the new vocabulary we were able to decode the directions and rig the boat. The boat was rigged and sitting on the grass in the back yard and we were already picturing ourselves as master yachts women. We were already big talkers. My cousin said, “We are going to OWN the wind today.” I responded with a positive, “Yeah we are!” - - - - - - So there we were, master’s of the wind in our minds, the greatest of all theoretical sailors. Then we put the boat in the water, and theory went out the window as we were faced with the reality of actually sailing. Now, we could feel the wind on our faces, we knew it was there, yet we fussed with the lines, we adjusted and readjusted the sail, we changed the direction of the rudder, all the while thinking, “Why aren’t we going anywhere?” So, we paused to regroup and catch our breath, all the fussing was actually exhausting. It was a quiet pause. There were no sounds other than birds and the sloshing of the water against the side of the sailboat. All was still. And then, in a moment of clarity I said, “Wait for it…..Wait for it.” Then with a “whomp” the sail filled with wind and we were moving.

We giggled as we started moving. We realized the flaw in our earlier thinking. We can’t OWN the wind. We can’t control the wind. It is doing its own thing and we had to be patient for it, we had to wait for it. I thought about that old Proverb that we all probably heard many times, yet if you are like me, roll your eyes at, “Patience is a virtue.” We hear it in other ways. Even the ketchup commercials tell us that, “All good things come to those who wait.”

My cousin and I could have fussed and adjusted that boat all night long, when all we really needed to do was, Just be still for a minute and “Wait for it.” After our sails were filled, we could adjust the sail and steer the boat, and together with the wind move the boat.

What is it about patience that is so hard? When are the times in our life when we have to be patient? And WHY do I cringe when someone tellsme to be patient? I have been thinking about these questions recently, and I think that patience is easy to dislike because the moments when we are to be patient are the moments in life that we have no control. I don’t know about you, but when I don’t have control I can feel anxious, I can feel fear, I can feel discouragement and sometimes I can feel failure. After all being patient sometimes means that there is nothing for us to be doing other than be still, wait. Well we are a culture of doers not waiters! If we are not doing something then we are lazy…..or are we? Psalm 46:10 says,“Be still, and know that I am God.” What does that mean? Be still? Put my arms down to my side? Relax? Wait? Be vulnerable? “Be still and know that I am God?”

Well, I think for different people it will mean different things. For me, I think that it does NOT mean be lazy, give up, or throw in the towel. I think that Psalm 46:10 encourages us to stop for a minute, breath, take a time out, stand still, find some spiritual serenity amidst the busyness of life and reflect on who God is and what God can do in the face of what we are unable to do. We can set the sail, but God provides the wind. Stand still - not because of self made confidence, not because we are the most composed in the face of disaster, not because “we’ve seen it all.” Rather, be still because of what you know about God. First, maybe you need to ask yourself what you know about God? For me God is the all powerful Creator of the Universe, the All- Present Redeemer, walking with me on the road of life. The road that includes both the hills and the valleys, The All-Knowing Friend that smiles with me in my joys, laughs with me in the funny, and cries with me in the pain. “Be still and know that I am God.”

I pray that knowing helps to find calm when experiencing a sense of chaos, stability when the world feels like it is crumbling, presence when the feeling of being alone is all encompassing, and when the wind is needed to move your boat.

Were The Rolling Stones Right?

"Consumption" - Painting by Julia Sonmi Heglund

When I think of November, I first think about Thanksgiving.

I think that Thanksgiving is the holiday in America that receives the reputation for having the most food. We mark our thankfulness with a feast. I know that when I picture Thanksgiving I picture a table filled with food, and festive drinks - a feast of flavors, and aromas.

This beautiful feast, that takes many hours to prepare, is often devoured quickly and many are left on the couch for the football game and a good nap with pants that seem tighter than when the day began. No matter how much we eat and drink, and how full we make ourselves, many of us will find that we are hungry and thirsty again - maybe a late night turkey sandwich snack is desired!

It is human nature. We will be hungry again. We will be thirsty again. But I am talking about more than a late night snack or our need for basic nutrition. We will always want more! We are consummate consumers! Can we ever be completely and comfortably satisfied?

We have all heard the saying, "You are what you eat." This phrase indicates that what we eat, what we consume, what we bring into our lives, makes a difference in how we feel, how we treat people, and even who we are. What are the things in life that we are consuming? What are we filling our lives with? What images? What activities? What relationships? Do these things really satisfy us? Are they satisfying our deepest needs?

I think that we thirst and hunger for love, intimacy, security, acceptance, and truth. We thirst and hunger for ways to satisfy these needs, but often we make choices, meager choices, that don't really satisfy. Were The Rolling Stones right? - "We can't get no satisfaction, even though we try and we try and we try."

You and I have tremendous choices today, don't we? We choose and choose and we try and try, but our choices rarely stay with us. But….we have a God who chooses us. We have a God that stays with us. God knows the bad choices that we make. God knows our vulnerabilities. God knows our desires and God wants to fill us - fill us with what we truly need. We need that crazy love that can only come from God - a God that breaks into our lives and fills us with the refreshing life giving love and hope that comes through Jesus Christ.

Remember that Jesus was human, deeply human, with the same sets of physical cravings that each of us knows today. Think about this: The creator of the rivers and seas came to be one of us and felt what it was like to need - to be thirsty and hungry. Jesus became human and felt the hurts, the pains, the desires just like we do. We can never say we have a distant larger-than-life figure who would never understand what we feel. God knows. Jesus was one of us. We have a God who knows us more than we can ever imagine; A God who loves us and has given His life so that we can spend eternity with Him; A God who knows what we feel because He has felt these same things; A God who wants to engage in relationship with us in our everyday life. We hear in the Gospel of John, On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."

On Good Friday, on the cross, Jesus' thirst is our thirst. "I thirst," Jesus said, and he took the thirst and hunger of the entire human condition to God.That is the truth also revealed on the cross. Of all the endless varieties of ways we humans devise to quench our need to consume, none of them satisfy. The true satisfaction comes from a face-to-face encounter with God. This is satisfaction. The old choices will die. God provides living water. God raises us up to new life, just like God raised up Jesus from the dead, no longer thirsty and hungry, but spilling forth water and blood for the salvation of the world.

We have new life in Christ - a life full of complete satisfaction.

Like This if You Love The Lord...

Matthew 22:34-40 (NRSV)

When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

Reflection

Once again we have another story of a challenge and confrontation between Jesus and the religious leaders and elites. In this case, the Pharisees. Today we hear Jesus confound the scribes and Pharisees with his superior biblical knowledge and irrefutable logic.When asked which commandment is the greatest, Jesus takes the words of all 613 commandments of the Law, and cuts to the chase of God’s will, cuts to the core of God’s purpose.

I can almost hear Jesus saying to the lawyer, “I know that you’ve read the Scripture, but let me give you the divine purpose for every Scripture that you’ve read.” Jesus answers the lawyers question by quoting Judaism’s most fundamental, ancient, and widely recited biblical passages, the Shema:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment, and the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Then before the lawyer could ask, “What about the other commandments?” Jesus said:

“On these two commandments hang all the law and all the prophets.”

We hear this and it sounds nice. I am sure that as parents and teachers we have even used this when we are making a point when there are disagreements with our children. However, our understanding of love is limited. And this is a problem for us in interpreting this double commandment. I think that our culture has lost sight of the biblical meaning of love.

Our culture has equated love with overly romanticized intense emotion.

We love chocolate: we cannot help ourselves.

We love a movie: it entertains or moves us.

We love a boy or girlfriend: they make us happy.

We love a spouse: they complete us.

We love the color pink - okay maybe I am getting carried away and that one is just for me.

Jesus is not talking about this kind of love. So then what makes the love that Jesus talks about different from the love that what we know and understand?

We know warm fuzzy love.

Jesus is not talking about warm fuzzy love.

In fact, Jesus is using some seriously radical language to talk about love. Jesus radically links love of God with love of neighbor and self as the "Greatest." By doing this Jesus makes all other laws about purity, cleanliness, rituals, sacrifices, secondary. In other words, with these two commandments, Jesus has just cut the privileged status out from under the feet of the religious leaders, whose position depends on these secondary laws. It is no wonder that the Pharisees saw Jesus as a threat to the status quo.

This love that Jesus is talking about is radical love!

When Jesus answers the lawyer, he is also providing a summary of his mission and ministry. The two commandments are alike in the sense that they interpret one another. This is made clear in what happens next in Matthew’s narrative. In the scenes that follow our text today,

Jesus criticizes the scribes and Pharisees for misunderstanding and misusing the law; He says that they "use Moses' seat" as a way to lay heavy burdens on others and draw attention to themselves (Matt 23:1-12).

In quoting the Shema, Jesus points out that the aim of the law is to orient one's entire life towards God.

However, one cannot love God without loving what God loves!

One cannot love God and oppress or exclude any of God's creatures - even one's enemies.

While the scribes and Pharisees used the law to place severe limits on those whom they were obliged to recognize as their neighbors, Jesus joins these texts, about loving God and neighbor, in order to smash all the limits and boundaries of neighborliness.

As Jesus pointed out in his Sermon on the Mount:

"God makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous" (Matt 5:45).

Therefore, one who truly loves God will also love his or her enemies. It is the only way to "be perfect, therefore , as your heavenly father is perfect" (Matt 5:48).

To love God is to love in the way that God loves - indiscriminately.

To love God is to love what God loves - everything.

To love God is to love who God loves - everyone - yes, even the people who are hard to love.

Wow - this sounds tough! This will not be easy!

In fact, love like this is controversial.

Love like this means going against the flow.

Love like this means that there will be people who will turn against us.

Love like this turns cultural norms, turns whole societies, turns governments upside down and says - No, there is a better way.

No - it is certainly not easy to love like this.

People die for this kind of love.

But love like this - is not impossible. We can love like this. We can love like this because we have been loved like this.

We have a God who is the source of all life and love - A creating, sustaining and loving God that makes all things possible.

We have a God who is the example for us - Jesus.

Jesus sets the example for us. Jesus comes to serve, and through serving shows that true greatness is not in power, but in service - Love is not having authority over others, but is helping others, having compassion on others.

Jesus loves to the point of dying for all - even for the people who hate him.

Jesus proves himself to be true and faithful interpreter of Scripture, silencing his critics with knowledge and wisdom.

Jesus is the Messiah who loves his enemies, who loves as God loves, who is Emmanuel "God with us" (Matt 1:23).

So with God with us, who can be against us.

This love that Jesus is talking about is radical love!

It is life giving love. It is a love that, rather than taking your breath away, breathes new life into you – and into the people God empowers you to love…

It is a wonderful love.

A love that is so full of wonder that all we can do sometimes is praise God and say WOW!