To Be Schooled In the Ways of Love

1 Corinthians 1:18-31 Christ the Power and Wisdom of God

(click link to read passage)

Reflection:

Dr. Mahmoudi was his name. He was my professor for Sociology 101 my very first semester in college. I still consider him to be one of the most intelligent people I have ever met. Sure, he had more degrees and more initials after his name than I could count…but that’s not what impressed me. It was his willingness to continue learning…it was his outlook on life; that every day teaches us something new. It was as though all of his education had given him a healthy humility about the limitations of human wisdom.

That was probably the most profound lesson he could have passed on to me. Sure, I had to finish both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s Degree to become a pastor – but my foolishness is even more evident to me now than it was before I began.

Indeed, as Paul explains today, the profound wisdom of God looks like foolishness to us. A God sacrificing himself to save a stubborn and stiff-necked people? Preposterous. One death crushing the power of death forever? Nonsense. A servant-savior? Who ever heard of such a thing?

This Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we will be schooled in the ways of love. More profound than any theological discourse is the silence we encounter at the foot of the cross. And more powerful than all the world’s knowledge is the Easter Dawn.

Prayer: Foolish Father, teach us to be wise as you are wise that we might boast, not in our own accomplishments or wisdom, but in your love working through us. Amen.

Heaven In The Real World

Matthew 22:23-33 The Question about the Resurrection

(Click link to read passage)

Reflection:

It is possible to be so heavenly-minded that you are no earthly good.

In the passage linked above, Jesus has an interaction with some folks who fit this description. They propose a heavenly thought experiment – if someone is married multiple times in this life, who will they be married to in heaven?

Jesus rejects even the premise of their question, and then utters a sentence that, if we really listen, can radically alter the way we approach this thing we call Christianity:

“He is God, not of the dead, but of the living…”

Maybe, Christianity is about God’s presence in THIS life…& NOT just about how to get into heaven.

Maybe, the Church is a dynamic, lively community of everyday people seeking peace, deep joy, and guidance…& NOT just a salvation store.

Maybe, Baptism is an event that sets the tone for an entire life of counter-cultural love…& NOT just something you do to “hedge your bet” if this Jesus gig turns out to be real.

Maybe this living, breathing, everyday, real-world God calls us to engage the living, breathing, everyday, hurting world!

In the next week, we will be living out the story that bears the deepest witness to this God-of-the-Living. We will hear about Jesus’ passion, compassion, and mission. We will sing our praises once again – not to a dead hero, but to a living Lord!

Prayer: God of the living, so often we reduce your message to a way into heaven. Help us to see that you care about our future – but that you also care about our present. Show us the ways we can care about this world in a way that reflects your priorities. Amen.

Losing My Religion

Ephesians 2:1-10 (click link to read passage)

Reflection:

By definition, Christianity is not a “religion.”

From the dawn of humanity, “religions” have been systems of belief through which humans attempt to appease, please, or otherwise affect the “gods.” These systems of belief have a moral and ritual code of conduct. Blessings, or other favors, are procured from the gods through right behavior or ritual action. Essentially, religions are systems by which humans attempt to gain the favor of the gods by their correct behavior.

With this understanding, Christianity is the anti-religion.

Except that we have expended an awful lot of energy turning it back into a religion.

The human sense of fairness understands the world in a tit-for-tat, mechanistic way. If you do good things, good things happen to you; and vice-versa. So, the logic goes, if you follow the rules, you will earn God’s blessings; and if you don’t, you will earn God’s wrath.

With this very human understanding, we have turned Christianity back into a religion. A high percentage of Christians in this country think of it as a system of rules with blessings or curses attached. Many of its most zealous adherents have boiled it down to a moralistic and judgmental system of black-and-white thinking.

Against that backdrop, read verses 8 and 9 of the passage above one more time. Let it sink in. Let it destroy your concept of fairness. Let it erode your moralistic, you-get-what-you-deserve assumptions about God.

Grace is a gift; an action of God that we didn’t cause by being “right.”

Jesus is a gift; an action of God that we didn’t cause by being “right.”

Salvation is a gift; an action of God that none of us earns by being “right.”

If this basic…Biblical…anti-religious truth could sink in, I imagine our churches would be packed. Folks would finally realize that Christians aren’t here to judge others or proclaim themselves better; but merely to celebrate the gifts of God!

So, here’s to losing our religion! Maybe by doing so, we’ll gain a sense of God’s love!

Prayer: God of every time and place; our human understandings have so twisted the message of the cross. Give us the humility and joy that comes from recognizing your free gifts of grace and love. Amen.