A Team Sport

As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.  And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

--Colossians 3:12-14

It’s Bowl Season! This weekend the major college football bowl games will be played, and I am happy to say that “my” team is still in the hunt for a national championship.  While I was never much of an athlete (OK, I was never an athlete at all), I have always been a fan.  Baseball and football are my favorite sports to follow.  As a loyal fan, I have watched “my” teams go through championship seasons and years when wins were hard to come by.  I have watched star players come and go, and coaches get hired and fired.  But the best seasons are the ones when the team is playing as a team, where each player is playing his or her role to the best of their ability, and when everyone seems to “click”.

I have always believed that Christianity is a team sport.  OK, it’s not a “sport.”  It is a way of life.  But, stick with me for a minute.  Christian faith is a way of life that is meant to be lived together in community. The church is a team tasked with sharing Christ’s love and grace with the world in word and deed.  But, sadly (in my opinion), for many people today, doing the Christian faith in community seems optional.  That approach to the faith has never made sense to me.  It’s like trying to play football by yourself.  You can do it, but it is not nearly as much fun (trust me, I’ve tried).  

I understand that the church can be a tough place.  We have alienated and hurt many.  I have been an eyewitness to some pretty awful behavior in congregations! Sometimes the “team” is clearly not clicking.  I pray that God’s healing, forgiveness, mercy and reconciliation pour down on those places. I pray that God would send them whatever they need to become the caring communities of love and hope God intends them to be.

This week’s passage from Colossians is one of my favorite descriptions of what it means to be a community of faith, what it means to be Christ’s Church.  The whole passage turns on love: our love for one another shown in compassion and forgiveness, and God’s love for us, experienced through word and worship and thanksgiving.  The whole passage turns on Jesus, whose way of life should be our way of life, guiding and informing all that we say and all that we do.   It is the summary of the playbook for the Christian “team.”

If we lived up to the picture painted of the Church painted by Colossians, we would definitely be in the hunt for the championship every season!  Of course, as fallible, imperfect human beings, we rarely live up to the “perfect harmony” Colossians describes.  But, ultimately, we know that every season will be a winning season. Why?  Because we have the life of Jesus, the power of the Holy Spirit and the never failing love of God on our side.  And, for that, we can truly give thanks.

Peace,

Bishop Mike.

Thank-you for reading! May God bless you in this new year!  

A Quiet Power

Luke 2:1-20

This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”

--Luke 2:12

Infant holy, infant lowly, for his bed a cattle stall;

Oxen lowing, little knowing Christ the child is Lord of all... 

In January of 1990, I visited the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.  Because of violence in the area, we weren’t sure we were going to be able to visit the traditional birthplace of Jesus, but, the guns fell silent for a moment and we were able to slip in.  The Church of the Nativity is an interesting place.  The large main entrance doors were, for the most part, blocked up in the Middle Ages to keep marauding Crusaders from riding their horses into the church (so we were told).  You have to stoop to get inside the narrow opening that was left unblocked (unless you are short like I am).  The sanctuary, as I remember it, was cold and stark.  But, the grotto beneath the church, which tradition says, marks the place of the manger, is warm and beautiful and filled with flickering candlelight.  We only stayed a few minutes in the quiet, womblike place before our guide hurried us back to the bus.  The guns had woken up in the hillsides around the little town. It was time for us to go.

To this day, I am always awed by the contrast of the child born in a cattle stall to be Lord of all. Awed by the Prince of Peace born into a world so frequently torn by gunfire, violence and bloodshed.  Awed by the quiet power of the small, peasant child who grew up to challenge earthly and heavenly principalities and powers and defeat their machinations by dying on a cross and rising again on the third day.

This morning, as my daughter and I were watching a retrospective of 2018 on one of the morning news shows, I heard again the reverberating sound of the gunfire in the Bethlehem hills.  Except now, the sound of violence was echoing through schools and nightclubs, on city streets and synagogues; in the cries of hatred for those who are different because of the color of their skin, or their religion or their place of origin.  Like the Holy Family forced to walk the 80 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem by the decree of Caesar, refugees and immigrants still wander across the globe due to decisions and actions of principalities and powers beyond their control.

More than ever, we need the quiet power of the child born in the manger!  More than ever, we need this sign of God’s presence with us, accompanying us and dying for us in a dangerous and divided world.  More than ever, we need this sign that God’s love and life truly are stronger than all the violence and hatred perpetrated by the principalities and powers that appear to be in control of our worlds.  More than ever, we need to be reminded that, as people of faith, we walk in the quiet power of the Christ-child and participate in God’s work of reconciling us to one another and to God.

…Thus rejoicing, free from sorrow, praises voicing, greet the morrow:

Christ the child was born for YOU!  Christ the child was born for you!  

Blessed Christmas,

Bishop Mike.

Thank-you for reading. This Christmastime, pray for that peace which passes all human understanding to be born in the hearts and minds of all people, and might grow among the peoples of the world.

Fruit is Better Than Sweets

Luke 3:7-18

Bear fruits worthy of repentance!  --Luke 3:8

Since being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes years ago, I have pretty much given up desserts and have learned how to enjoy fresh fruit instead.  At first, I missed the cookies, cakes, and ice cream.  Fruit seemed like such a weak alternative.  But, today (with the exception of chocolate chip cookies) I’d rather have fruit than sweets.  I almost always have apples, pears, little oranges, and strawberries – which are my favorite -- in my fridge.  Fresh fruit is not only good for you, but good too. 

In the wilderness, John calls the people to turn away from the “sweets” the world offers and back to God. The world tells us that we are defined by the sum of our possessions.  The world tells us that cleverness is to be valued over honesty. The world tells us that we should never be satisfied, always wanting for more.  In the economy of the world wealth, power and privilege are valued above all else.  

But, God’s economy is different.  Turning back to God leads to a different kind of fruit.  Fruit that is not only good for you, but good too.  The “fruits worthy of repentance” may not satisfy the sweet tooth of the world, but are the source of good relationships, strong communities and healthy lives.  

Hearing John’s call to bear fruits worthy of repentance, John’s listeners ask, “What then shall we do?” John identifies three fruits that come from being in relationship with God: generosity, honesty and satisfaction.  

Generosity is lifted up as a value throughout the scriptures. Generosity connects us to others, gives our lives meaning and a sense of purpose and builds up those around us. That’s pretty sweet fruit!  

In my experience, people who are honest are more relaxed, less defensive and more open to engaging the diversity and variety of the world around them.  They aren’t constantly trying to cover their tracks, work the angles and cover up their dishonesty and lies. The fruits of honesty are integrity and trustworthiness…  and that tastes pretty good, especially in a world where these qualities seem like rare fruit. 

Learning how to be satisfied with who you are and what you have does not mean we shouldn’t work for just or fair wages, or accept the reality of poverty in our world, or that we shouldn’t strive to better ourselves.  It does mean that we can live free of covetousness, envy and obsessive yearning for what we do not have.  It means learning to be exactly who God created us to be.  Nothing more and certainly nothing less.  Enjoying the fruits of satisfaction contributes to a life lived in the present without constantly dwelling on what could have been or scheming to bring about some future glory.   

John calls this good news. And it is.  The fruits of generosity, honesty and satisfaction that John envisions are embodied in the life of Jesus and are gifts of the Holy Spirit who is always at work cleaning out the chaff from our lives.  

Peace,

Bishop Mike

Thanks for reading.  I pray that you will discover the fruits of generosity, honesty and satisfaction this week!

Mountains and Valleys

Luke 3:1-6

Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low…  --Luke 3:5 (Isaiah 40:4)

I don’t remember many of the sermons I have heard over the years (including the ones that have spilled from my mouth).  But, one sermon I heard in college has always stuck with me.  It wasn’t the sermon so much as the image my campus pastor painted of a world where valleys were filled and the mountains and hills made low to make way for the love of God in Jesus Christ.  I remember the dramatic way he swept his large, soft hands back and forth to show the level place God would create for all peoples to stand together.  For the healing of the nations.  For the healing of broken, suffering and oppressed people everywhere.  For the healing of each and every one of us.  My campus pastor didn’t just preach this hopeful message with his lips, he lived it.  He was regularly working in our community to break down the barriers that separated people and to lift up the lowly and the outcast.  He wasn’t perfect.  Not by any means.  But, he showed us what it looks like to live out our faith in concrete ways in the real world in spite of our own brokenness.

I have always appreciated the way Luke anchors the story of Jesus in the real world.  He prefaces the story of Jesus’ birth, “in the days of Caesar Augustus…”  He begins the story of John’s ministry “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius…”    Luke wants us to know that the story he is telling is no fairy tale. Luke wants us to understand clearly that John and Jesus carry out their ministries in the messy, rough and tumble world of politics and religious institutions, not separate from them.  While Jesus says his Kingdom is not of this world, his proclamation of God’s Reign had real-world implications and led to real-world confrontations with the powerful people of his day.  As Jesus proclaimed God’s valley filling and mountain leveling love and grace for a hurting world, his message challenged the principalities and powers who always seem committed to digging the valleys and erecting the mountains that keep people apart.

John the Baptist came to remove the barriers that kept people from hearing and experiencing Jesus’ Good News.  As we think about the world around us, what barriers do you see that get in the way of people experiencing the healing love of God?  Where is there need for the healing of the nations today?  For the healing of the broken, suffering and oppressed people of our world?  For healing you and me?  How can we, as followers of Jesus Christ, work together to fill up some of the valleys (or even a few potholes) and level a few of the mountains (or just knock over some sand piles) that get in the way of Jesus’ Gospel here in our real world where politics and religion can still be awfully messy?

Peace,

Bishop Mike

Thanks for reading.  Pray for our political and religious leaders.  But, even more, let your faith inform how you speak and act in your “polis” (Greek for “city-state,” the root word of “political”) where you live.