He Did It! She Did It!

Genesis 3:8-15 / Mark 3:20-35

[The Lord God said,] “Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”  --Genesis 3:11

The two children stood in the living room, guilt written all over their faces.  The potted plant, no longer potted, lay in a heap of soil and broken ceramic on the shag carpet.  A Nerf Frisbee lay a few feet away.  Their mother, hands on her hips, stared down at them, anger written on her face. “Who did this?”  She demanded.  The brother pointed at the sister.  “She did it!”  The sister pointed at the brother.  “HE did it!” Then, both in chorus, “It was the DOG!!!”

Sound familiar?  

Most of us probably remember not owning up to a mistake, or worse, trying to cast the blame on someone else at some point in our childhood.  This propensity for shirking responsibility appears to be written into the very fabric of our human nature. At least that’s what Genesis suggests.   Adam blames Eve.  Eve blames the snake.  But, God sees through it all and holds everyone responsible and everyone pays a price.

Unfortunately, our all too human tendency to cast blame and avoid responsibility has a bad habit of following us into adulthood.   A corollary to this tendency is our insatiable need to find cause (and any cause but ourselves) when things don’t go well in our lives.  We need to understand why things happen, find reasons, and find someone to blame in the midst of suffering, or tragedy or crisis or just plain bad luck.  (Of course, this tendency to search for the “why” of things has also led us to great scientific discoveries, advances in technology and medicine and a greater understanding of history and human society.)

In this week’s Gospel Lesson,  everyone seems to be trying to figure out why Jesus can do the things he is doing.  His family blames madness.  The scribes blame Satan.  The curious crowds credit Jesus’ unique authority and are so fascinated by it they won’t even let Jesus eat!   Even the disciples seem baffled by Jesus at times.

But we know.  Don’t we?  Or do we?  

As people of faith, we say we trust Jesus is the One who heals with the power of God’s Spirit.  We trust that Jesus is the One who embodies God’s love, and grace and forgiveness in flesh and blood for us and for the sake of the world.  We trust that Jesus is the One who was willing to take the blame, all the blame, and nail it to a cross.   But do we really LIVE like we trust these affirmations?

In Jesus, we find freedom from the guilt and shame we carry from all the broken pots we’ve left on the shag carpets in our lives.   But this is not a freedom FROM, it is a freedom FOR.   It gives us the ability to take the responsibility God has given us, look our shortcomings and mistakes and failures squarely in the eye and learn from them, and to live our lives, not by blaming others for the state of the world, but by partnering with others through the Holy Spirit to continue Jesus’ work of the healing of the world.

Peace,

Bishop Mike

I pray that we all learn to bring all our differences to the table and learn how to use them for the sake of the world!  Thanks, as always, for reading.  If you found this helpful, thought provoking, or mildly interesting, please feel free to pass it along.

The DNA of Reconciliation

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.  –2 Corinthians 5:18

I have spent the last two days at the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation’s 9^thannual Reconciliation in America National Symposium here in Tulsa.  This year’s theme was “The DNA of Reconciliation.”  This is my second year attending the Symposium. I’ve been saying that last year, I learned so much, I needed to come back and learn more!

The Symposium happens each year over the anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, which was the worst single act of racial violence in this country’s history.  Tulsa did not begin to come to terms with this horrific violence until 1996, seventy-five years after it happened.  The massacre was not spoken of in white families, nor in many African-American families.  Before 1996, many people who had grown up in Tulsa didn’t even know it had happened. 

The Symposium brings together a broad spectrum of people from government, education, the arts, religion, community organizations and concerned citizens to learn together, share wisdom with one another, think together about our work at bridge building and provoke one another to action.  It provides opportunities for networking and relationship building.  People come to this event from Tulsa, other parts of Oklahoma and across the nation.  

The path toward reconciliation has not been an easy one, and the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation has played a large role in that ongoing journey.  Tulsa still has a long way to go.  Racism is still real and palpable here.  Systemic racism continues to privilege some and oppress others. But, I think this community has also come a long way to build bridges of reconciliation and understanding.  Our Mayor and city are working on developing equity measures and launching a “Resilient Tulsa Strategy” to make Tulsa as equitable as it can be.  The religious community works together to bring people together and take positive actions to address ongoing problems and concerns.  

For the second year I was awed and humbled by the amazing people I met at the Symposium.  It was inspiring to meet people who are living “ministers of reconciliation” in this community in whatever field of work they pursue, who love this community and all the people who live here, and who are committed to working at reconciliation in spite of the significant obstacles that still lie ahead.  I look forward to continue to learn, and to act, and to join my brother and sister Tulsans in these efforts.  I encourage you to look for similar opportunities in the communities where you live (or to continue the work you are already doing) to bring reconciliation to God’s broken world.  As followers of Jesus Christ, I think this is exactly what we are called to be doing. After all, it’s the least we can do to thank God for the reconciliation God has already given us.

Peace,

Bishop Mike.

PS:  Next year’s John Hope Franklin Reconciliation in America National Symposium will be held May 29-31, 2019 here in Tulsa.  Put it on your calendars, and check out the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation website:  jhfcenter.org  to learn more about their work.  I plan to be there!

The Patient Parent

John 3:1-17

“How can anyone be born after having grown old?” --Nicodemus   (vs. 4)

My dog, Melbie, has a sensitive stomach.  She gets carsick driving to the end of the block.  It doesn’t seem to take much to get her to throw up.  Still, she has the infuriating habit of nibbling on anything and everything she can get her mouth on.  When we go out for a walk she’s like a vacuum cleaner, sucking in grass and sticks and leaves and rocks and the little “snacks” the neighborhood rabbits leave behind (if you know what I mean).  We have done everything we can think of to discourage this behavior, but it seems inbred.  Dogs don’t have a great grasp of cause and effect, so she doesn’t understand when we say, in an exasperated voice, “You know, if you eat that, you’re going to throw up!”  as she nibbles her way across the front yard.   We keep hoping that, as she grows out of puppyhood, her sensitive constitution will grow up too.

We human beings are not much different than my dog.  We can be very slow to learn.  Cause and effect can elude us.  We have a very annoying habit of doing the same (often very unhealthy) things over and over again, expecting different results and then act surprised when again and again things don’t go well.  That has certainly been the experience of God’s people down through the centuries. The bible is full of stories of how God’s people just don’t seem to get it.  In spite of God’s guidance, warnings, discipline, and a parade of prophets, God’s people just keep nibbling on things that aren’t good for them.  The consequences of idolatry and disobedience are two of the most common, recurring themes in the scriptures.  And it’s not just in the Old Testament.  Jesus’ disciples could be pretty obtuse at times. The history of the Christian Church is littered with stories of God’s people gone awry.  I could tell you stories of churches I have known that just don’t seem to get it…  and of the times I’ve completely missed the point too.  But I won’t.

The point here is not to recriminate Melbie, poor Nicodemus or any of the rest of us.  The point is to see him, and the whole, long, messy, often ugly history of God and God’s people as the most enduring sign of God’s grace, mercy and love.

It doesn’t matter how many times I have to clean up Melbie’s barf.  I still love her completely.  Even if she never grows out of this annoying propensity, I will still love her completely.  And if I, a fallible, imperfect human being, am capable of that kind of love, I can only begin to imagine how much greater God’s love must be for God’s world.  

God is an amazingly patient parent.  God never gives up on us.  God has gone to amazingly great lengths, even to the point of sending his Son to die, to heal a world that, so often, refuses to be healed.  A world that, frequently, doesn’t even know it needs to be healed. Jesus invites Nicodemus, you and me to trust in that love,  to live in that love and to share that love with the world.  Jesus promises that when we trust in that love our lives will be renewed by God’s Spirit and that we will discover an abundance of life that begins now and extends beyond death itself.  Eventually, Nicodemus appeared to get that (see John 19:39) and some days, when I stop nibbling for a moment, so do I.

Peace,

Bishop Mike

Thanks for reading.  

One Minute to Nine

Acts 2:1-21

[Peter said,] “Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning.”  –Acts 2:15

This weekend,  I will be at Bethany College in Lindsborg, KS where I will be preaching at the Baccalaureate worship service prior to the school’s commencement ceremony.   I was honored to be asked to be a part of the service!  Bethany is a great liberal arts college in central Kansas that finds its identity in its Swedish and Lutheran heritage.  The school’s mission is to “educate, develop and challenge individuals to reach for truth and excellence as they lead lives of faith, learning and service.”  The small school has faced some significant challenges in recent years, but has emerged as a thriving, vibrant place that lives up to its stated mission.

On Sunday, the Festival of Pentecost, we’ll be sending Bethany’s newest graduates out into the world. Like all schools who are graduating seniors this season, Bethany’s graduates will be sent out to the four corners of the world to use the gifts they have honed at the school in a vast array of vocations.  Sitting in the Presser Hall auditorium on Sunday, the graduates will experience the odd mix of elation and grief, eagerness and trepidation, excitement and uncertainty that most graduates feel as they say farewell to a significant time in their lives and look forward to whatever is next.  

I wonder if that’s a little of what Jesus’ disciples were feeling as they sat in the upper room in Jerusalem at one minute to nine on that first Pentecost?  Just before his Ascension, the resurrected Jesus had told them to wait in Jerusalem for the “promise of the Father.”  (Acts 1:4)   He told them that they would receive “power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:8) and that they would be sent out as witnesses to “Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth.”   At one minute to nine, I doubt that the disciples could have imagined all that awaited them and all that they would experience once the mighty, rushing wind of the Spirit began to blow.

And then, the clocked ticked nine, and it happened.   The Spirit blew.

Like drunk fools they spilled out onto the streets of Jerusalem proclaiming the healing, life-giving Truth of Jesus Christ, the unfolding of the Reign of God and the Good News that death had been swallowed up in life.   Like Jesus promised, the Holy Spirit guided them, and directed them and gave them the words they needed to tell their story and invite others into it. Like Jesus had promised, they carried their message of Jesus’ love and life, grace and mercy from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth.  Like Jesus promised, they met resistance, challenge, persecution and struggles, but persevered in their mission to become a thriving, vibrant, inclusive community of hope and compassion unlike the world had ever seen.

For us, it is a minute after nine.  

Like those graduates who will gather at Bethany on Sunday, we can still feel that odd mix of elation and grief, eagerness and trepidation, excitement and uncertainty as we contemplate our varied futures. But, even though we know that the world may think us drunken fools, we dare to step into that future anyway.  We step out, confident that the Spirit of Jesus goes with us, just as the Spirit always has, giving us the words and the wisdom we need to live and to share Jesus’ Good News of hope and compassion to the ends of the earth.

Blessed Pentecost!

Bishop Mike

Thanks for reading!  Join me in praying that God would use graduates everywhere to bring justice, peace and hope to a hurting world. 

Life Happens

John 17:6-19

[Jesus prayed…] “I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.”  --John 17:6

Every morning, I spend fifteen minutes or so laying out my plan for the day.  I put together my “to do” list, jot down those I need to call, and decide which projects need my attention.   I like having a plan.  It gives me the illusion of control.  But, most days, by eleven o’clock, the plan is completely shot.  The phone rings.  Interruptions come.  Things happen.  The winds change.  But, that’s life, isn’t it?   Life is humming along, seemingly going well, and then, suddenly…  everything is different.  

I think Jesus’ disciples must have been feeling a little of that disequilibrium as Jesus spoke with them in the Upper Room on the night before he died.   They certainly felt it in a big way shortly after their conversation as Jesus was arrested, tried and nailed to a cross.  Jesus’ prayer for the disciples in John 17 hangs in the hold-your-breath moment between the orderliness of things going as planned and the chaos of plans gone completely awry.  In that moment, Jesus prays that the disciples might find an anchor in the storm that is about to break around them.  He prays that they would find their unity in the gifts of his word and their relationship with Jesus and his Father.  

In the Gospel of John, the “Word” is God’s plan for the cosmos made flesh and blood in Jesus the Christ.  Jesus’ Word is a message of light and life for all people; an abundant life that is available to us now and extends into eternity.  Jesus’ Word is about a life lived in the Spirit; the Advocate who guides us and teaches us and protects us and connects us to the Father and to one another.  Jesus’ Word is about what is True; not just in an empirical, fact-based sort of sense, but in the sense of affirming God as the wholeness, completeness, and fullness who lies at the heart of all that is.  Jesus’ prayer is that this life-giving, Spirit-filled Truth will carry the disciples through the chaos that lay immediately ahead of them, and would hold them together in the challenging days they would meet as they went out into the world to proclaim Jesus’ message and continue Jesus’ work.

When our plans go awry…  When life happens…   (which it always does)  Jesus’ prayer for his disciples today is the same as his prayer for his disciples then.  Jesus’ resurrection is the promise that Life is stronger than death.  Not only in the case of the ultimate deaths which we will all face one day, but in the thousands of  “little deaths” which confront us daily (and some of those aren’t so little, are they?!)  Jesus’ Spirit is still with us guiding us through the Word, through the community of people who surround us, and in many intangible ways that are difficult to wrap words around.  The Truth that is the Creator of all continues to ground us in a world filled with ever shifting sands and constant uncertainties.  Can we trust that?  Can we believe that?  Can we live that?  Jesus’ promise is that even our ability to trust, believe and live in him is a gift. A gift given to all those who belong to him.  Including you and me.

Peace,

Bishop Mike

Thanks for reading.  

The Canes and Tendrils of the Church

John 15:1-8

“I am the vine, you are the branches.”  John 15:5

The last few weeks, I have been teaching a class on parish administration for lay leaders in our congregations; many who are leading small congregations with no pastor.  This is the fifth of five courses we have done together over the last several years.  I enjoy teaching this group.  They are committed church folks, dedicated to leadership in their small churches and to the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ.  We have good conversations, wrestle with thoughtful questions and struggle together with the challenges facing their small, yet often thriving, congregations.   It has been a great class!

In this week’s class we were discussing the shared governance model that lies at the heart of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s way of doing church together. Shared governance takes work.  It can be messy.  Very messy.  We frequently don’t get it right.  Shared governance requires having a strong stomach for disagreement and difference of opinion, and a commitment to work for reconciliation and creative engagement with one another when conflict inevitably arises.  Shared governance requires listening care-fully to one another, practicing clear, transparent and respectful communication and remembering we are all beloved children of God…  especially when we disagree. 

Most important of all, shared governance in the church only works when we pay close attention to the heart of our faith -- the Gospel way of Jesus Christ – through the study of and reflection on scripture, and by listening for the guidance of the Holy Spirit through prayer and meditation.   The constitution of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America puts it this way,  “All power in the Church belongs to our Lord Jesus Christ, its head.  All actions of this church are to be carried out under his rule and authority.”    (Constitution, Bylaws and Continuing Resolutions of the ELCA, 3.01)  True, as sinful human beings who don’t always see things clearly, and often fall short of the glory of God, we don’t always agree what that means, or how it is given flesh and blood in our daily lives and ministries but, if we don’t start there, we are guaranteed never to get there. 

“I am the vine, you are the branches.”  Jesus tells his disciples on the night before he died. The trunk of the vine provides nurture and sustenance so that the canes (branches) can send out their renewal spurs, stabilizing tendrils and fruit producing flowers.  Grape canes need constant tending and pruning if they are to produce fruit in abundance.  It is only when the vine grower, the vine and the branches work together that the harvest is plentiful.  Jesus paints a wonderful picture of shared governance!   Jesus’ offers us a vivid metaphor for how we all need work together under his hand – whether pastor and council, or synod and congregation, or churchwide and synod – to carry out the mission of love and grace, service and witness, compassion and advocacy that Christ has entrusted to us as his branches.  

Studying parish administration could be boring.  But when we look at the constitutions, and policies and governance structures and practices of the church as the roots and tendrils and spurs and buds that connect us to the vine and help us bear the fruits of the Gospel, studying them can be like drinking fine wine.  Really.

Peace,

Bishop Mike

Please pray for those involved in governance of all kinds.  They need it!  Thanks for reading.

Beyond the Fold

John 10:11-18

“I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold…”   John 10:16

Not long ago, I was standing in line to get a receipt at a gas station near Oklahoma City.  I was wearing my black clerical uniform so it was obvious that I worked for the church.  The woman behind the counter, maybe in her thirties, handed me my receipt, looked me up and down, and asked, “you a priest?”   

“A pastor.”  I responded.

“I believe in God.” She said firmly.  “But I don’t go to church.”

A man behind me had one of those big twenty-four packs of water bottles impatiently perched on his shoulder.  There wasn’t much time for conversation.

“Oh…”  I mumbled.  Not one of my greatest evangelical moments.

“I don’t think you need to go to church to be Christian.”  She continued.  “I think God just wants you to have a good time.”

“Really.”  I said dubiously as the man pushed by me and dropped his water bottles on the counter.  

I pondered that almost-conversation during the two hour drive home.  I wondered why she felt compelled to share that bit of her life with me?  Confession? Affirmation?  Argument?  I’ll never know.   But Jesus’ words about “other sheep” came back to me somewhere toward the end of hour one.

Was this woman one of those “other sheep”?  I know she was.   Beloved by God, she heard God’s voice, even if she didn’t understand it the same way I do. Claimed by a God, who, I am convinced, will be with her even when the good times she seemed to be pursing failed her. I felt guilty about not doing more to “witness” to her, but, in fact, I realized she had witnessed to me.   She bore witness to the Good Shepherd who is always out there beyond the fold working in the lives of people we, who are church folk, might think are the most unlikely candidates for membership in the flock.

God is at work in the world. I am convinced of that too. Sometimes through us.  Sometimes in spite of us.  Sometimes in places where we wouldn’t dream to look.   That is, until the Spirit opens our eyes.

That’s where the Church of Jesus Christ needs to be.  On the margins.  In the cracks in human lives.  In the gaps where so many people live.  In the places where God’s sheep beyond the fold witness to the grace that belongs to all of us,  ALL of us, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Peace,

Bishop Mike

Keep your eyes open for God at work in the people you bump into along the way!  Thanks for reading.