Carried Away

One of the biggest shopping weekends of the year is past.  Did you get a little carried away with your shopping?  According to many reports, the stores were full of people all weekend.  On the days I went out, the stores were pretty full, though we managed to miss the major crush times.  Even so, as we are tallying up our Christmas purchases, we are already nearing the limit of our budget.  When buying things for those we love, it is hard not to get carried away.  However, is it the “Spirit of the Season” that is carrying us away or is it the “Spirit of Consumerism”?     

This past Sunday, I preached a sermon on one of the more challenging narratives in Matthew’s Gospel.  It is the account of Jesus telling his disciples about the end times – what it will be like when he comes again.  Here is the text, taken from Oremus.org

³⁶“But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³⁷For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, ³⁹and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. ⁴⁰Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. ⁴¹Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. ⁴²Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. ⁴³But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.

I good friend of mine from seminary writes a weekly blog, and this week’s post was particularly insightful – so much so, that it really struck home for me.  Here is the link if you want to check it out:  http://omgcenter.com/2010/11/being-taken-on-an-adventure/ 

In a nutshell, she relates a sermon from her own pastor who discusses the word, “taken” in its context in Greek.  The word “taken” in Greek is the same one used when Jesus “took” someone as a disciple.  In essence, when someone is taken by God, they get carried away in mission.  This is a totally different way to read this account.  In essence, Jesus calls people to get “carried away” in mission, service, self-sacrifice, and devotion to God.  What a different way to read a passage that is often being used to put forward a message of judgment, division, and hate.  

What will carry you away this season?  Will consumerism, shopping, stress, and rushing around?  Will you, instead, spend time in worship, study of God’s word and prayer, so that you can get carried away by Jesus’ loving birth?  In the end, Jesus was “carried away” for you, and three days later he rose again to show you the value of following God.

Is the President a Christian?

“Is the President a Christian?”  This question has been all over the media for the past two years, and it has been gaining strength in more recent months.  The president has said that he is a Christian, and his answer to the question seems to be a genuine, “Yes.”   The bigger question that this whole issue raises for me is what difference knowing this information makes.  Does being a Christian make the president more effective in his role as the leader of our nation?  I’m not sure about that.  We have had some presidents who boldly declared their Christianity, and then acted in very unchristian ways.  In fact, these presidents probably hurt people’s perceptions about Christianity, because their actions and lifestyle did not match up with how we believe Christians should live their lives.

Many people claim to be Christian, but do their actions support or contradict this claim?  None of us can know what is in a person’s heart, but we can certainly draw some conclusions from what we observe about a person’s behavior.  To be a Christian first and foremost means loving Jesus and desiring to follow after him.  There are certain behaviors that many people would agree should be a part of a Christian’s life: prayer, reading the Bible, worshipping God regularly, acts of service in Jesus’ name, and being in relationship with other Christians.  These traits and behaviors are essential parts of a Christian’s life of faith.  These activities feed, challenge, strengthen, and renew the Christian life, while also showing our commitment and devotion to God.  Our faith is lived out in our actions.

We need to be cautious about this line of thought, however, because Jesus himself was concerned about false piety.  Jesus told a parable about a very religious person who went to the temple to pray, filling that space with beautiful prayers and rituals.  This religious person looked down his nose at others who came to that temple as being less righteous and worthy than himself.  At the same time, in the same temple there was a truly penitent sinner.  This person came in to confess his sins in very simple words and throw himself on God’s mercy.  The righteous person looked down on the man who came to confess his sins as unworthy of being in the temple, because he had lived such an unrighteous life.  In the end, Jesus praised the penitent sinner, and judged the self-righteous person.  Jesus is suggesting that our actions must flow out of humility and a true love of God.  In the end, we are made right with God by our faith, the God-inspired trust, in our loving and merciful God.   

Finally, none of us can know the true state of another person’s relationship with God.  Instead of asking about whether the president is a Christian, maybe we should be ask ourselves if we are living as Christians.  Would there be enough evidence for a court to convict me of being a Christian?  Can people see and know that I am a Christian?  And if people know that I am a Christian, what kind of conclusions will they make about the values and behavior of Christians, based on what they see in my life.

 As a Christian myself, my first concern needs to be my own faith life, for only I can know what is in my heart.  I cannot know what is in another person’s heart, nor am I in a position to judge them.  God alone will judge us, and at that time, God will do so, based on Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection.  In the end, every Christian is saved, not because of our actions, but solely because of Jesus’ love for all of God’s children.

Will We Feed Them

 

The hungry sit at our gate…

While reading an article in the journal, Christian Century, http://christiancentury.org/article/2010-09/hunger-political, I was confronted by a stark fact – one BILLION people in our world suffer from hunger, and twenty-five thousand people a day die from hunger-related causes.  1 in 6 people on our globe will go to bed hungry tonight, and of that number, children are an uncomfortably high percentage.  While millions of Americans are struggling to lose weight due to over-eating, hundreds of millions of people starve from not having enough to eat.  The image of a person starving of hunger in our world of plenty is a difficult one for us to wrestle with as we read about the rich man Lazarus and the poor man begging at his gate.

I suppose what has made this issue very real for me has been the up-surge of people who are coming to the food distributions held by our church.  This past year, we went from serving about 120-130 families/week to now serving from 170-200 families, for a total of over 3100 people.  That is a significant increase in the number of people in our community who do not have enough to eat.  Some of these people could be your neighbors, your children’s friends at school, maybe even your relatives – and they are going to bed hungry.  How many more will come out for food in another year?  What can the average person or church do to stem this tide? 

As bad as the hunger in Flint, MI may be, how much worse are the conditions in Haiti or other struggling places around the world?  The percentage of people in Haiti who are hungry is even greater, with millions lacking access to basic food and water.  In many cases, food is not even available, unless one has a great deal of wealth.  The hungry sit at our gate….

“There was a certain rich man, who ate sumptuously every day.  At his gate lay a beggar named Lazarus, who desired only to eat the crumbs off of the rich mans table…”  Even in the greater Flint area, most of us eat like the rich man.  We eat most of what we want – maybe not at 5-star restaurants – but we have more than enough, and then some to spare.  One needs only to go to Old Country Buffet, Ci Ci’s Pizza, or China Wok (a Chinese buffet in Grand Blanc) to see the sumptuous (if not gourmet) tables set before, brimming over with food.  At the same time, hundreds of people stand in line for the left-over, expired food that grocery store chains are forced to throw away.  How many beggars sit at our gate?

Do we turn a blind eye to their hunger?  Do we ignore their hungry voices?  One of the core purposes of Holy Spirit Lutheran Church is to Share God’s Word.  We share God’s Word through both our words and our deeds.  If our actions do not support our words, then they are just so much hot air.  We talk about God’s love, but unless we are willing to take action, those who are not part of God’s family will not take us seriously.  Jesus didn’t just come to save people only after they die, he came to save them in the here and now as well.  Jesus shared God’s love in both word and deed.  He did this, both through telling people about his Father’s love for them, as well as showing them this love by feeding them and healing their illnesses.  Jesus’ words meshed with his actions.

The beggar is lying at our gate.  What will we do?  We are scheduled to hold two more food drives in October.  These are very real ways to at least meet the here and now needs of hungry people.  However, we are out of funds for food drives, and we can no longer purchase additional food to supplement what the food banks gives us to distribute.  With the added numbers of people receiving food, we are in great need of additional food from the food bank to give people some basic staples for their diet. Consider asking your business to partner with Holy Spirit to provide more food for these distributions – one dollar will but fourteen dollars worth of food.  For more information on our food distributions, check out the food bank’s website at www.fbem.org.  If you choose to donate to our food distributions, you can make a direct donation to the food bank and benefit our local distribution by directing to our Agency ID: M1018.   At the minimum, consider coming out to see the faces of those we serve and to hear their stories by volunteering at a food drive on Oct 2 or 30 at 9:00am.

Another way to help both locally and globally is to support the CROPWALK, either by walking and getting pledges or by pledging those from the church who are walking.  Either way, hungry people will benefit.

For more information on ways to help alleviate world hunger, check out the website of ELCA’s world Hunger appeal at http://www.elca.org/Our-Faith-In-Action/Responding-to-the-World/ELCA-World-Hunger.aspx. 

The beggar is at our gate, will we turn our backs?

Be A Bridge

In our day and time, there are many gulfs between people.  There are long-standing divisions between countries and groups of people.  One only needs to listen to the political ads on television and radio to here the anger hatred that flow between people over ideological differences.  How much more so, when there are serious ethnic and racial differences that divide us and make communication more difficult?  Personally, I find it very difficult to deal with someone who has betrayed me or broken my trust.  When someone has done something to directly hurt me or my family, it is like a huge gulf has opened up between us, and only the most amazing act of repentance or reconciliation could bridge this gulf.  Often these gulfs begin quite small, but over time, with misunderstandings and miscommunication, they can grow larger and larger.  We all know of people who are angry with someone else, so they refuse to talk to the person any longer – and even more, they may get upset with us, if we talk with that person ourselves.

When there is a strike at a company, like the one currently threatened at Genesys Hospital, a mediator is called in to help the two sides to talk with one another.  The mediator serves as a bridge between the two sides, helping them to communicate, working toward mutual understanding, and attempting to enforce accountability.  A mediator plays an important role in bridging the gap between people.

In our faith-lives, there is a huge gulf between us and God that is called sin.  St. Paul says in Romans, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God…(Romans 3)”  All have sinned and continue to sin.  Even when we try to live according to God’s will, St. Paul would remind us that we cannot on our own power ever meet God’s expectations.  In fact, at times we really mess things up, hurting those close to us and destroying our relationships with them and God.  This past week, someone I have known for some time was caught doing something truly dreadful.  This individual, his family and friends, his church, and countless others will pay for his crime for many years to come.  His sin will lead to a huge gulf in those relationships that will probably take many years to close.

The good news about the gulf between us and God is that there is a bridge over this gulf –a bridge called, “Jesus”.  Jesus came to be the mediator between God and humanity (I Timothy 2), paying the price for our sins, granting us forgiveness, and giving us a new relationship with God.  This forgiveness is God’s free gift to us, and there is nothing that we need to do to earn this gift.  Jesus bridges the gulf between humans and God, and nothing can ever separate us from God’s love – this is God’s promise (Romans 8).    

The bridge does not guarantee that we will not still have differences with other people and that we will not be separated from them.  It also does not mean that there are not consequences for our sins or the times when we hurt those around us.  We are all still human, and we will still have broken relationships that lead to misunderstandings and gaps between us.  At the same time, Jesus calls on his children – all of us – to work to bridge the gaps and begin to act as mediators ourselves.  When asked how often people should forgive others, Jesus told his disciples seven times seven times, which meant that they should forgive them continually and completely. 

As Christian people, we are called to be bridges and to live as peace-makers.  Not only are we to forgive those who have hurt us, but also to encourage others to work toward forgiveness as well.

Rather than building walls, Christians need to be people who build bridges.  Followers of Jesus need to live in ways where we are pointing to Jesus through all we say and do.  One of the greatest witnesses that we can make is when we offer forgiveness to someone who has hurt us greatly.  It is easy to forgive a good friend, but can you forgive an enemy?  Can you imagine a place in God’s Kingdom for the person who hurts a child or abuses the elderly – is God’s grace that big?  Personally, who do you need to forgive in your life?  Can you let Jesus be a bridge-builder, not only between you and God, but also between you and someone who has hurt you or someone else?  How would Jesus call on you to “Be a Bridge”?

To Seek and Save the Lost

We are surrounded by many who are lost….

The college student who after a night of partying and living for the moment finds her life altered forever with an unintended pregnancy, a judgmental family, and lost dreams…

The successful professional who decides to drive after drinking and kills a child in another vehicle, forever changing his future and filling him with guilt…

The 75 year old who loses their spouse to a long battle with cancer and now finds life to have lost its meaning….

We are surrounded by many who are lost….In fact, at various times in life; we all have been the lost sheep. When you are lost, it is nearly impossible o find yourself – you need someone who will help find you. Whether we were aware of it or not, in those times, God has always sought us out. The stories above are very dramatic examples of people who have felt lost, but we all have experienced some time or situation when we felt lost. When we experienced these times of being lost, how did we experience being found? Did someone help us to find our way again?

Jesus tells a story about a shepherd, which may help us to understand his priorities a little better…There once, was a shepherd who had 100 sheep in his care. One evening, this shepherd noticed one sheep was missing. Leaving the 99 behind, he abandoned all caution to go out and seek the one sheep that was lost. Upon finding the lost sheep, he celebrated greatly that he had found the one that was lost.

As we read Jesus’ teachings, it is clear that he sees God as the one who anxiously seeks out those who are lost. Notice that the sheep did not repent and find its way home – the shepherd went out to find it, risking everything to find the one that was lost. Once the sheep was found, the shepherd did not berate or judge the sheep – the shepherd simply celebrated the fact that the sheep was found and returned to the fold.

What does this tell us? The role of those who follow Jesus should be to help seek out those who are lost – those whom the world may view as unworthy of God’s love and mercy, those who struggle with sin and bad choices, those who wrestle with addictions, those who are lost in worlds of grief or loss, those who have lost jobs or hope. There are many in our world who are lost – in fact, all of us are lost at various moments of our lives. If the church is to follows Jesus, we need to be people who make it their job to seek out the ones who are lost.

How do churches take on this mindset after years of worrying about the 99? It begins with filling our hearts with the compassion of Jesus. Too often, the only messages that people associate with churches are messages of hatred, judgment, and retribution. Look at the headlines this week and you will read about a church that will commemorate the 9/11 Terror attacks by burning a copy of the Quran. What will this act of hatred show those who are lost and looking for spiritual guidance? Will people see this act and associate it with a church that will point them to a God who loves them and all of creation? How can the church regain a love for those who are lost and a desire to find them and lead them home? How can we offer the lost acts of grace and compassion that overwhelm the media and put Jesus’ love in front of the eyes of the world.  Wouldn’t it be great if on 9/11 every Christian would make a demonstration of Jesus’ love?  If we did this, then the world would really see the way that God calls the Christian to act, and even more, acts of terror and hatred would then truly lose!  Nothing in all of creation can ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

How can we be a church that boldly lives the mission of Jesus – to seek and save the lost as we Worship God, Follow Jesus, and Share God’s word? May we listen with our hearts to the call and direction of the Spirit…

Are You Ready to Crash?

 Are you ready to “crash”?  I want to challenge you today to go out and crash into something, and in doing so, change a life and become a vehicle for God’s love in the world. 

 When we think of crashing, most of us usually have a negative image in our minds.  The most vivid “crash” that I have experienced occurred when another vehicle stopped very suddenly in front of our family van.  Crash!  The next thing I knew, I had an airbag in my lap, a stiff neck and back, and lot of hassle to replace the van. 

 Of course, there are less violent “crashes” that we experience.  After a long and difficult period at work or school, we talk about having to go home to “crash”.  Relationships or projects can “crash and burn”.  Usually, however, a “crash” is not a pleasant experience.  This year, the youth from Holy Spirit Lutheran who went to the Bass Lake Festival at Michi-Lu-Ca were challenged to “crash” into a person in their life, sharing God’s love with someone.  Here is a brief explanation of this concept…  

 Theme for 2010 Bass Lake—CRASH

 What does CRASH mean?  A “crash” is the name of a group of rhinoceros, like a flock of sheep or herd of cattle.  They receive this name because Rhinos have poor eyesight, and do not see things until they are right upon them.  Because of their size, rhinos take a lot of energy to start moving and to stop—so they often “crash” into things because they can’t stop until they are right upon it.

 What does this have to do with youth ministry (ministry/life in general)?

• We need to crash, or at least risk crashing.
• Often we don’t do anything because we can’t see the future—yet “we are called to ventures to which we cannot see the ending.”
• Obstacles we “crash” into doesn’t necessarily mean we should stop—sometimes they are roadblocks we need to crash through. 
• We not only called to be, also to do!
• We sometimes talk things to death before acting, there are things we need to just do.
• We fear doing something wrong, so we do nothing.  Yet we need to confess the things we failed to do!
• We don’t always need to get approval or a committee to do things.  We can crash individually and make a difference (stories of young people raising money for leukemia by selling lemonade, a young adult starting a community garden and people joining in)

 Many of us truly love Jesus and want to share Jesus with those around us, but life often gets in the way.  We get busy and distracted.  We are shy or uncertain of what we can say or do.  We lack motivation or desire.  2 Corinthians 3:12 challenges us with these words, “Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with boldness.”  You and I are blessed.  God is good, All the time.  These words are so true, and we can make these words real for someone else.  Simple acts of kindness, service, and love can turn a person’s day around, but even more, show them the true love of a Christ-like love of a Christian for their neighbor.

 So, why wait and procrastinate?  “Why not risk “crashing” ahead by showing God’s love to someone today?  Let’s redefine “crashing” as something we need to and want to do, rather than being something we avoid.

As a church, what would it look like to be a church that “crashes” forward in service to others.   Can we dare to start to radically call people to take the risk to crash forward, to crash into each other in love, to crash as a group through barriers like racism and classism?  How would our service and social missions ministries need to be different to enable people to “crash” out of the worship service into their daily lives?  Do our worship services motivate people to crash on the couch or crash into the world in service?  These are challenging questions, but important ones, if we are to live out our purpose of Following Jesus and Sharing God’s Word. 

What do you think?  What has been your experience of the institutional church?  What is the church called to do and to be in this day and age?  How can the church move forward as a place to “crash out into the world”?

The family photo album

Last week I needed to prepare our family camera for our vacation up north.  In order to do so, I had to upload 700 pictures from the camera onto our home computer.  In the process, I found out that our home computer already had 16,000 pictures stored within its memory.  16,000!  These are pictures of Christmas celebrations, silly Halloween costumes, weddings and family gatherings, fireworks, family vacations, school outings and events, vacation Bible school celebrations through the ages, various cute stages of development for our kids, and many other pictures.  These pictures are some of our most treasured memories because they show the milestones of our family, friends, and church.  These pictures remind us of the good times and the challenging times that we have experienced together.  These pictures especially show us the wonderful people that God has placed in our lives – the people of faith who have shared their life with us and who have shaped our lives. 

As I looked at some of the old pictures, I was reminded of people over the last 15 years who have shaped my life and faith.  Not all of the things I experienced with these people were pleasant or happy – in fact, some of them were quite painful.  At the same time, they shaped who I am today.  In each situation, there were people who God placed in my life to influence me, uplift me, of challenge me.  Here are a few snapshots…

• My father, when I was ten – struggling with cancer, but not losing faith; dying, but praising Jesus all the way to heaven…
• My mother, while I was growing up – striving to raise two active teenage boys, instilling faith in us, all while striving to be a solid single parent…
• My high school music instructor – helped me to believe in myself and encouraged me
• My wrestling coach – taught me discipline and the drive to give my everything…
• A campus pastor at Eastern Michigan University Lutheran Campus Ministry – helped me to wrestle with the grief over my father’s death, as well as the beginnings of my call to ministry…
• The program director at my second church – who, as a spiritual director, taught me about spiritual warfare, the need for prayer, as well as the challenges of working in staff ministry…
• An older, experienced pastor – who has mentored and challenged me to think outside the box, stretch myself, and find the ways that God is leading me…

 

These are some of the people who are my cloud of witnesses, the people who I have both watched, and with whom I have also interacted.  These are the saints (not that they always lived and acted like “saints”, since they certainly lived like both saints and sinners) who have surrounded me in my life.

Many of you have your own photo albums, containing the people who have shared their lives with you, and in turn, have had a hand in shaping you and guiding you along God’s pathway.   As we reflect this week, I encourage you to ask the question, “Who is in my cloud?  Who has God placed around me to shape me, help me to grow and challenge me, support me in difficult times, and be the hand of God for me?”  An equally important question is this one, “Whose cloud I am a part of…who am I called to encourage, comfort, and challenge?” 

Take some time this week to get out your photo album – the one on your bookshelf, your phone, your facebook page, or your hard drive – and reflect on how God has used those individuals to inspire, uplift, and grow your faith.  Whether we always realize it or not, God has surrounded us all with a great cloud of witnesses…

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders us, as well the sin that so easily entangles us and the run the race with perseverance that is set before us.” 

                                                                        – Hebrews 11:29-30

Keeping Hope Alive

Tomorrow, thousands (we might wish it were millions) of folks from Michigan will go to the polls to participate in the process of electing leaders to lead our community, state, and nation during difficult times.  As I go to polls tomorrow, I go with a sense of hope that the selections I make will be able to begin to make a difference in turning things around and restoring hope.  At the same time, if I am honest, I do not have much confidence that those we elect this fall will be any more effective at bringing change and restoring hope to our communities.

 Where do I find hope today?  Do I find hope while watching TV and cable, reading the paper, or listening to talk radio?  Rarely.  Do I find hope for the future when I look at my retirement investments?  Hardly!  Do I find hope when I listen to politicians tell us their plans and hopes?  Occasionally.  Do I dream of hope when I listen to Jim Schwartz talk about his plans for the Detroit Lions Football team this fall – mistakenly, I sometimes do (a guy has to dream).  In most of these areas, we look for glimmers of hope and glimpses of a better future, but often these glimmers and glimpses are more of a mirage than a reality.

 Where do I find hope today?  I find hope in the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; the very one who kept all the promises made to them.  I find hope in the God of Jesus, who never abandoned Jesus to his fate, but was always there to share the worst that was to come.  I find hope in the God who kept the promise to raise Jesus from the dead, destroying the power of death, and granting us new life.

 Where do I find hope today?  I find hope in the God who walked with me through the many dark valleys in my life.  He was my companion, while I was growing up without a father (he died of Lymphoma when I was seven), sending me loving and supportive male mentors to guide me through many difficult situations.  He was my guide, leading me to meet my wife, who loves me (though I do not always know why) and tempers the excesses of my personality.  He was the rock I clung to over the past few years, as my mother struggled with various illnesses and near-death experiences.  He was my motivator, filling me with energy and enthusiasm for sharing his love with my church and the world around me.

 Where do I find hope today?  I find hope in local churches and individual Christians who reach out in faith and compassion, despite their own struggles and challenges.  Why does the church exist, if not to tell the world about Jesus and his love?  How can the church be relevant if it does not actively show God’s love by welcoming hurting people and attempting to help them in the best ways?  Churches need to be places where people can talk openly and honestly about their pain and struggles, their fears and desires, as well as their hopes and dreams for the future.  We are people of hope, because we worship a God who feeds multitudes (both by multiplying loaves and fishes, as well as through a semi-truck of food in a parking lot), parts seas (Red Seas, as well as figurative seas of hatred and racism), and brings healing and hope.  The church is a vessel of hope in the midst of stormy and troubled seas – this is our great calling today.

 Where do I find hope today?  I find hope when I see a child dip their finger in a baptismal font and make a cross on their forehead remembering that God is their Abba – their daddy – their constant companion and guide – the one who will never leave or forsake them.  May we all have the faith of a child, trusting and believing that we are all God’s beloved children.

Where do you find hope?  How do you keep your faith alive?

The Culture of “Me”

Recently, I was shopping in a local store, when I heard a child screaming at her mother.  As I pushed my shopping cart past this scene, I noticed that the child was pointing at an object on the shelf and demanding that her mother give it to her.  The mother refused, which led to the screaming fit.  I felt bad for the mother who appeared to be attempting to set some boundaries for her daughter.  My sympathy was tempered, when I noticed that the 7-year-old was holding a super-sized slurpee and an open pack of cookies – probably right off a shelf in the store.  This mother’s attempts to enforce a boundary were undermined by 1) the large quantity of sugar the child had consumed, and 2) the inconsistency of telling her “no”, while letting her open a pack of unpurchased cookies.  I hope this was simply an isolated incident or a bad day for this family.  Unfortunately, it is not an isolated incident in our culture. 

We live in a “Me, First” culture.  We are all familiar with the excesses of our society.  One example from the news this week – our local NFL football franchise, the Detroit Lions is negotiating a contract with a first-round draft pick for many millions of dollars – a franchise that has a perennial losing record.  The sum total of all the salaries on this losing team runs into the hundreds of millions of dollars.  At the same time, the school districts in the state (for a variety of reasons) are closing hundreds of buildings and failing to educate our young, thousands of local and county employees are being laid off, and thousands of children are living in hunger every day.  The contrast between the “haves” and “have-nots” is growing ever wider, and our culture tends to encourage these types of excesses. 

In the lessons that we cover this week, the writer of Ecclesiastes chapters 1 and 2 talks about the futility of work and labor – “Vanity, O vanity, all is vanity.” He is talking about the fact that we work our whole lives, and at the end of our lives, we leave it all behind.  Jesus also takes a dim view on the ultimate value of our possessions.  He tells a parable about a rich landowner who takes great pride in building bigger and bigger barns to hold all of his stuff.  The landowner is quite smug about his possessions and the life of luxury that they grant him.  However, at the end of the parable, God has a sharp word of condemnation for the landowner, saying that his life will be taken from him at that very moment.  Jesus wanted his followers to understand that a person’s happiness cannot be based on stuff, accumulation, wealth, security, or worldly concerns.  In the end, it will all return to dust, and we will have nothing.  The “Me, First” culture of north America often leads to disappointment and sadness, no matter how much stuff we accumulate.  In fact, some of the richest people often have some of the lowest levels of happiness.  Did you know, the majority of all professional football players are in bankruptcy within two years of retiring from football – Vanity, O vanity, all is vanity?

The old Bible song points us to the antidote….

Seek ye first the kingdom and his righteousness.

And all these things shall be added unto you.

Alelu, Alleluia.

We can best overcome the “Me, First” attitude, when we make sacrifices for God and God’s children.  We ome closest to God’s ideal for us, when we take time out of our schedules to volunteer to help those in need.

Next week, our church will be working on a Habitat for Humanity project in Burton.  Paid for by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, this Thrivent Build will ensure that a struggling family is able to buy a decent affordable house.  This is a great project to help us battle the “me, first” attitude on the world around us, by first encouraging us to put someone else first in our own lives.  For more info about the Habitat Humanity project and Thrivent Builds, follow this link: http://www.geneseehabitat.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=35&Itemid=91.  

Together, as individuals and as a church, we can battle the “Me, First” Mentality and replace it with a God-first mentality, which will lead us all to real life.

Is the Devil for Real?

When people think of the devil, they often have a figure in their mind that is eternally opposed to God, with the power to devastate and destroy those who love God.  In the media, the devil is often pictured as either a character in a red suit with pointy ears, a pointy tail, and pitchfork; or a smooth-talking, sharp-dressed character in an Armani suit.  In both cases, the characters are very obviously evil in their words and deeds.

Do I believe in ”the devil”?  If you mean the scary-looking guy in the red suit with a pitchfork, then the answer is “no”.  Instead, I believe in many small “devils” in our world, which are much more insidious and dangerous than one “devil” could ever be.  These devils are around us to subtly tempt us, telling is the very things we most desire and want to hear.

In the Bible, what we think of as “the devil” goes by various names – Satan, the devil, the adversary, and the serpent.  In each case, the entity is opposed to God and God’s agents.  We see Satan tempting Jesus in the wilderness, trying to get him to look out for himself and turn away from God’s mission of salvation for the world.  In the Garden of Eden, the serpent tempts Adam and Eve to turn their backs on God and become like God themselves.  In each case, temptation is the tool that the Adversary to God uses.  One only needs to look around us in the world to see that temptation has been, and always will be, around us.  If temptation is present, there will be “devils” who attempt to lead us away from God.

I have just returned from a week at confirmation camp.  While there, the campers were cut off from the internet, with no access to media, computers, phones, and most technology.  Even the adults leaders had greatly reduced access to technology, which I can say was difficult at times.  Evidenced by the fact that I couldn’t write this blog until the end of the week. 

At the same time, there was a sense of freedom from being away from most emails, phone calls, TV shows, and computers with their websites and even blogs.  I took time to walk in the woods with Nathaniel (my son) watching deer and hunting for turtles, talking with good friends, and listening for God.  It is not that technology is evil.  Tehnology is a tool that can be used for good as well as evil purposes.  However, there are many times those who would turn us away from God use technology to draw us away from our ultimate source of hope, healing, and love.  When we use the media and technology around us, it gives us unlimited access to both the good, and the evil, in the world. 

Do I believe in devils?  Yes, I do.  They are all around us and they draw us away from God.  The Bible talks about powers and evil forces that are arrayed against us, that draw us away from God, and that seek to drive a wedge between us and God.  Jesus regularly cast out demons and evil spirits.  Those evil spirits did not go away with Jesus death and resurrection.  I believe they are still alive and well, working to subvert God’s people.  Maybe they work in more subtle ways, but they are still around.  The very fact that they work so subtly is perhaps the greatest - they are all around us tempting us with some of the greatest things we love and depend upon – replacing God with things of our own creation. 

Devils are certainly real, but so is God, and God is the one who has the greater power.  In Romans, St. Paul says, 

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

While there are certainly thing in creation that oppose God, God is the ultimate victor.  Jesus has defeated death and the devil or all time.  While devils are all around us to tempt us, they can never completely separate us from God.  Good is good, all the time, and all the time, God is good.