God's Future... Our Future

Jeremiah 29:1-14

For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.  --Jeremiah 29:11

Earlier this week, we had our annual Fall Theological Conference for Rostered Ministers in the Arkansas-Oklahoma Synod.   This year, instead of inviting an outside speaker to “leaven the conversation” among us, we invited five of our colleagues to reflect on the future of God’s church from the perspective of their ministry contexts and experiences.  We heard five excellent and very different presentations that challenged us to think more deeply about what it means to be the Community of Christ today and tomorrow.  Because the text above was our theme text for the Conference I have been reflecting on it this week instead of the usual appointed Gospel lesson for Sunday.

In Jeremiah 29, the prophet writes to the anxious and uncertain Judean exiles in Babylon because false prophets have been predicting a short end to their exile.  Instead, Jeremiah tells them to settle into the strange land where they find themselves.  But, he also assures them that they are not without hope and that God has not abandoned them.  The future, he tells them, is in God’s hands.

That’s good news in anxious and uncertain times.  And we certainly are living in anxious and uncertain times, aren’t we?  

It sure feels that way!  The world around us seems to be in daily upheaval.  It’s like trying to dance on marbles.   Storms rage and the earth quakes and violence and terror and hatred shatter city and countryside.  Wars and rumors of war cry out at us from the media every day.  People wander as homeless immigrants and refugees with few to welcome them. 

But, here’s the Good News:  the future is not uncertain.  As people of faith, we believe and trust that the future is secure.

As the Psalmist writes:

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult. (Psalm 46:1-3)

Or as Paul writes to the Romans:

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation, (not even hurricanes or earthquakes or rumors of war) will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (8:38-39)

Or as Jesus says,  And remember, I will be with you always, to the end of the age.  (Matthew 28:20)

That’s the hope we live in as we move into the future that God is, even now, preparing for us.  The signs of that hope are all around us as people of faith and all those of good will respond with compassion and care and generosity for the victims of disasters -- both natural and unnatural -- just as we always have.

Peace,

Bishop Mike

Please pray for peace, and for all those suffering to recover from the storms of water, wind and fire, the shaking earth and the trauma of terror, war and violence that shatters lives all around the world.

Seventy times Seven

Matthew 18:21-35

“…how often should I forgive?”  --Matthew 18:21

Reconciliation is hard work.

Last week, I wrote about the reconciliation process Jesus lays out in Matthew 18:15-20.  This week, we get the punchline.  Peter asks, “So, how often should we forgive?”   Peter wants a number.  “Seven times?”  And Jesus gives him a number.  “Seventy-seven times.”  He says.  But, his meaning is clear: “as many times as it takes.” Reconciliation is not about accounting formulas or balancing scales.  Reconciliation is about the often hard work of rebuilding broken relationships.  It doesn’t happen in the head…  it happens in the heart.

Forgiveness is the first, though often the hardest, step on the path toward reconciliation.  Someone (I don’t remember who) once said that forgiveness is about letting go of the pain, the hurt, the anger, the bitterness and the disappointment that we feel when someone wrongs us.  I have always found that helpful.  Forgiveness is not about letting the other person off the hook so much as it is freeing ourselves from the burden of carrying all that stuff (I could use stronger language) around inside us.  It is about freeing our hearts to love again.  If the pain is deep and the wounds are profound this can feel impossible.   But the alternative is letting the pain slowly kill us.

But, here’s the Good News:  we don’t have to do any of this alone (nor should we attempt it).  Our ability to forgive begins with the One who has done the impossible and forgiven us.  There is life in that.  There is power in that.  But this promise can feel pretty abstract when we are in the depths of the pain of a broken relationship.  That’s why God always embodies God’s promises in flesh and blood.  Christ died a human death on a cross and rose again on the third day so that we might see clearly the depth of God’s forgiving love for us.  When it is at its best the community of faith, the “Body of Christ,” our brothers and sisters in Christ, embody that love today.  God gives us one another to strengthen us and encourage us on our journeys of reconciliation.  That’s what Jesus was trying to get across to us in Matthew 18:15-20!

When reconciliation feels beyond your grasp, if forgiveness feels impossible, find someone to walk with you:  a wise friend, a pastor, a counselor, someone you can trust to be lovingly honest with you.   Find someone who can be Christ’s forgiveness and grace for you.  That person can encourage you to keep working at it even if it takes seven tries, or seventy-seven tries or seventy-times seven tries to find that place of peace and wholeness and reconciliation again.

Peace,

Bishop Mike

Thanks for reading.

Please continue to pray for all those impacted by Irma and Harvey, and all the other natural and unnatural disasters that shatter human lives all around the globe.  

Arguments

Matthew 18:15-20

For where two or three are gathered in my name, there will be disagreements. 

This is not a quote from scripture.  We’ll get to the actual quote at the end of this reflection.  But, at least in my experience, it is true.  Christians, no, human beings in general, tend to rub up against one another from time to time.  Conflict is a part of the human experience.  It is a product of the wonderful diversity and differences God built into the system.  Conflict can be, and often is, destructive, but it can also be creative.  When my unique perspectives and experiences bump up against your unique perspectives and experiences working through the differences can result in both of us learning and growing.  Really.  Often, that’s not easy work, especially if the conflicts are deep and enduring, but it can be holy work.

Jesus understood only too well that when two or three are gathered in his name, conflict would result.  Even a cursory reading of the Gospels, Acts and the other New Testament writings confirms that it did.  The disciples could bicker with one another.  It wasn’t long after Pentecost that the early church started to disagree with one another about how best to carry out the mission Christ gave them.  Paul and Barnabas eventually parted ways over their difference of opinions.  Knowing that disagreements would inevitably emerge, Jesus taught his disciples a way to work through them.  Matthew 18 lays out a process for dealing with conflict that is based on the principal that we need to deal with conflict together and we need to support one another in doing so within the community of faith.  It is about dealing with each other one on one when we hurt each other, if that is possible, and getting help when we can’t.  It is built upon the principal of forgiveness;  the same forgiveness that God in Christ extends to us. (More on that next week).  It is NOT about choosing up sides, personally attacking each other, talking about each other behind their backs, shunning, or shaming one another.  It is about loving one another enough to do the hard work of working through our problems and searching for creative solutions together.

The quote in Matthew 18:20 is often used to find comfort when only a few people show up for a bible study.  But it is actually much more than that.  It is a promise that whenever two or three (or more) of us get together to work things out…  Christ will be there among us, his Spirit guiding us, his presence strengthening us, as we journey together toward creative solutions to those things that divide us. 

“For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” –Matthew 18:20

Peace,

Bishop Mike

Thank-you for reading! 

Please continue to pray for all those being effected by hurricanes, floods, fires and earthquakes; and for those who suffer from the many, many violent conflicts that shatter lives all around our world.