Perfect Love Trumps Hate

1 John 4:18

For the past several weeks, I have been reflecting and meditating on 1 John 4:18 -  There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love -- in light of the vitriol and invective and fear-mongering of the current presidential campaign. 

And then, there was Orlando.

I have been struggling to find the words to express what I am feeling about that horror which don’t seem vacuous or clichéd.  It seems to me that the massacre in Orlando reflects the constellation of hate, fear and paranoia that has been rotting out American society like a cancer in recent years;  the perfect storm of our dehumanizing of our LGBTQ brothers and sisters, of our demonizing of our Muslim brothers and sisters, and our neglect of the reality of mental illness and the many who suffer from it in silence.  Perfect love casts out fear, but hate always, always results in violence.   With all too much frequency in the history of humanity, with unspeakable, horrible violence.

Perfect love trumps hate.  I believe that.  We need to live like we believe it.  We need to ACT like we mean it.   Instead of attacking one another in Facebook posts and tweets, we need to be doing whatever we can to build relationships of understanding, hope and compassion.  That means getting out of our church buildings, putting down our devices, opening our ears, listening to the pain and sorrow of our brothers and sisters and then acting in partnership based on that listening.  This year, our Synod passed a resolution calling on all our congregations to take on the scourge of racism.  How many of us have started to respond to that call (which passed with no dissent)?   How many of us have sat down to listen, really listen, to our LGBTQ brothers and sisters, or our Muslim brothers and sisters, to hear their stories and see the image of God in them?  What are we doing to identify and walk with those who suffer silently in our midst with mental illness?

Perfect love trumps hate.   Not OUR perfect love.  (Which ours never is.)  But God’s perfect love.  A love which took Jesus to the cross.  A love which conquered death.  A love which still empowers God’s people to overcome hate and fear and invective and vitriol and oppression and bloodshed…   in spite of the many times those things have been perpetrated in god’s name.

The God I believe in is a God of reconciliation, not judgment.   

The God I believe in is a God of love, not hate. 

The God I believe in is a God who weeps with us in the face of unspeakable violence, and then brings life from death. 

All too often, I confess, I am complicit in perpetuating systems that perpetuate hate.   I succumb to fear.   But, perfect love casts out fear and I pray that the God of Perfect Love, will use me in that holy work.  I pray that the horrors of Orlando, and the daily horrors that shatter our world with violence, will compel all people of faith (all faiths) to join together in God’s holy work of reconciliation and healing the world so desperately needs.

Peace,

Bishop Mike

Widows and the Way

Pentecost 3

Luke 7:11-17

What does “compassion” look like?   Jesus’ reaction to the dead son of the widow of Nain shows us. But wait!  Jesus was Jesus and we clearly are not.  How can we expect to be compassionate as he was compassionate?  We certainly can’t raise widow’s sons from the dead!  On the other hand, Paul writes, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”  (1 Corinthians 11:1)

So, what does Christ’s compassion look like in this story?  First, Jesus is out on the streets when this miracle takes place.  He is not sitting in a synagogue waiting for the widow to come to him with her sorrow.   In the same way, we need to get out of our churches and into our communities – looking for the widows and widows sons who are all around us all the time, yearning for new life to touch them in the midst of death.  Second, Jesus sees her need…  and acts. He doesn’t get the disciples together for a committee meeting to discuss what should be done. He simply acts.  We cannot sit in our churches debating what we should do about the suffering and searching people around us.  We need to get out there and act.  We need to let our neighbors set our churchly agendas.  We cannot try to impose our agendas upon them.  Finally, like Christ, we need to give life.   Judgment, recriminations, demands and legalism do not have a place in Christ’s work of compassion.  The woman does not even ask for Jesus’ help!  His action is driven by compassion.  Nothing more.  Sure, we may not be able to resurrect the dead, but we are able to bring life into the dark places in people’s lives and in a world where death too often reigns.  We are resurrection people  and we believe in a God who can and does bring life, abundant life, in even in the face of death. 

Jesus does not raise the widow’s son in order to add numbers to his disciple band.  That is not his goal.  That is never his goal.  His goal is to make the Reign of God known in word and deed.   When people’s lives are changed by that gift of compassion, mercy, grace, forgiveness and love, they cannot help but follow.  In the same way, we do not go out into the world in compassion, service and love to fill our pews.  We go out because compassion is what Christ’s disciples do.  We go out because we know the power of God’s Reign to change the world and know we cannot in good conscience keep it to ourselves.  People will want a piece of that!  Guaranteed!  But, as soon as recruitment becomes our primary goal, we will fail.  Every time.

What does “compassion” look like?  We only need to look at the life and ministry of Jesus to find out.

Peace,

Bishop Mike.

Unexpected Faith

Luke 7:1-10

This past Wednesday evening, I was moved by the discussion that took place in the most recent ELCA webcast called A Place for All  (http://livestream.com/elca).  The four panelists discussed how we might go about building more inclusive, truly welcoming congregations and ministries within the ELCA.  This is extremely important because, in a recent poll, the ELCA came in second from the bottom in denominational diversity.  That’s embarrassing.  Shameful, even.  Our congregations and ministries often do not reflect the diversity of the neighbors who live and work around us.  The webcast offered practical ideas and suggestions for connecting with our neighbors more effectively.  If you didn’t see the webcast, I highly recommend it!! 

One of the core premises of the webcast (and of my own theology) is that God is already at work in the neighborhoods around our churches and in the lives of our neighbors…  even those who are not a part of a church.  They key to reaching out to our neighbors is not, NOT to assume that God is absent from their lives.  They key is to expect to meet God in and through them.  The key is to find ways  to grow together in our mutual understanding and experience of who God is and who we are as God’s children.   In the webcast, Pastor Matt Stuhlmuller, of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Chicago, offered an acronym for how to do this: 

B – Building bridges and relationships.

L -  Listening to our neighbor’s joys and concerns.

E -  Eating with our neighbors – food and fellowship bring people together.

S -  Serving – Responding to the needs identified by the neighbors (not us).

S – Sharing – mutually offering and receiving the gifts we each bring.

In this week’s Gospel,  a Centurion – a solider of the oppressive Roman Army – is lifted up by Luke as an example of faith and faithfulness.  He is an outsider.   And yet, he is both generous (he built the community’s synagogue) and recognizes and respects Jesus’ power and authority.   Who are the Centurions living in the neighborhoods around our communities of faith?  Perhaps it would do us well to leave our church buildings and get to know them.  Who knows?  We may learn some powerful lessons about faith and faithfulness from them.  How, I wonder, have your congregations and ministries learned something about God from your neighbors?  Please reply!

Peace,

Bishop Mike.

Hope Does Not Disappoint

Romans 5:6

I have been accused of being an optimist.  Many times.  Guilty.  I do tend to be a hopeful person.  I strive to see the best in people, situations, challenges, plans, and possibilities.  I expect good things to happen.  Often, they do.  Though, not always.  I am realistic enough to understand that things don’t always work out the way I think they should.  Cynicism does creep into my soul from time to time.  There are bleak days that leave me feeling uncertain and skeptical about the future.    But, for the most part, I remain an optimist.

I have spent the last month on “hiatus” from writing these weekly columns.  Mostly, I have been swamped with other things and haven’t had time to write.  But, they have been good things!  (There’s the optimist in me).   Our Arkansas-Oklahoma Synod Assembly was an amazing experience.  We had an ELCA “Glocal” group that led us in music and worship and taught us about engaging with people across cultures.   The spirit of the Assembly was good, and it was wonderful to be together with people I have come to cherish in my five years as bishop.  I spent the following week visiting congregations with Bishop Jacob Mameo from the Morogoro Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania - our companion diocese - who joined us for the Assembly.   As we drove around the Synod, we had a lot of windshield time to get to know one another better and discuss how to grow our churches’ relationship.  Finally, this past weekend I was at Bethany College in Lindsborg, KS at their Commencement events.  I was honored to be invited to preach at their Baccalaureate.  It was moving to look into the hopeful faces of the young men and women who were graduating and talk with them about the power of the Holy Spirit to build bridges between diverse peoples.  It was a very uplifting weekend!

There are plenty of struggles in the world and in the church that could leave one cynical, skeptical and pessimistic.  But Paul is right:  because of our trust in God, and because God’s love in Christ has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, hope does not disappoint us.  As we journey through days of struggle and even suffering, there are always signs of hope and promise to be seen, if we look for them.  I can tell you, I’ve seen plenty of those signs these past few weeks!  I wonder, where do you see hope breaking through the cracks and crevices of your life?

Peace,

Bishop Mike

Always interested in hearing from you!  Previous On the Way columns can be found at bishopmike.blogspot.com.  Thanks for reading.