Ministering in Times of Crisis

  Walter Brueggeman wrote, “The world for which you have been so carefully prepared is being taken away from you by the grace of God.’ Many grieve today because our world has been taken away. We have sensed together a wave of change that we did not invite or expect. Some of us prepared to serve others in ministry. Our congregations have vanished, or at least diminished. We wonder what to say.

  Sergeant Chad Mercer enlisted in the National Guard in 1998. He worked at a hardware store, but excelled as a soldier. He was his brigade’s Soldier of the Year in 2004. I was his battalion’s Chaplain that year. His father had fought in Vietnam, and was proud of his son. Chad deployed to Iraq early in 2005, and a few months later, two of us informed his wife and parents that Chad had died in Iraq. His father was angry. He insisted that we could not understand his grief. What were we to say? Nine years later, when my own son died, I would better understand his grief.

  My biblical foundations for ministry include Isaiah chapter 40, which instructs to comfort God’s people, to remind them who God is – “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak…those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength” (40:29,31a). Earlier, Isaiah says, “You who bring good news to Zion,… lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say…, “Here is your God!” So as our world changes so rapidly, and the familiar sermons fail, we remember who God is, we comfort his people, and we speak good news of renewal without fear. Our crutches have been torn away, and we still are saved, by the grace of God.

Looking for a Preacher who Meets Your Needs

I reflected on words of Jesus in Matthew 10:40-42 today. I have not posted for about a year and a half. During much of that time, I have been searching for a new church at which to preach. Among responses I have received, one of the most common has been an acknowledgement that I am very well educated, trained, and experienced, but that they are choosing to go with a preacher or interview preachers that better meet their needs. No one ever says that I'm too old, although in a couple of cases I wondered if that is what they meant. My default is to give people the benefit of the doubt, and to hypothesize as many alternative scenarios as possible when considering why they did what they did. Jesus talked about the receiving of prophets and of his apostles by hearers in the passage from Matthew. He said that whoever receives a prophet receives a prophet's reward and that who ever received the apostles received him and that whoever received him received the one who sent him (God). He said nothing about people receiving a prophet because it meets their needs. I suspect that many kings of Israel and other Israelites felt that that Elijah, Nathan, Amos, Jeremiah, Micah, and Hosea didn't meet their needs. Those, however, were the prophets that God sent to them, and these prophets addressed their needs, but not their desires. As I get older, I realize that I have fewer years to preach and teach. That gives me a sense of urgency as I seek an audience. I realize my own failings, but I also realize that at least one congregation that did not select me did select as their preacher someone who precisely fit the description of what they said they wanted to avoid. So I continue to study, to pray, and to search. Pray that I will realize when the right door opens. Pray that the people on the other side of the door will realize that it is open, and instead of slamming it shut, invite me in.

How Does This Help Me Grow?

Events can consume us at this time of year. Halloween is this week. Races, parties, and even houses and yards testify to its theme. Sometimes it is difficult to remember that it literally is All Hallow’s Eve, the night before All Saints Day for many who profess to follow Christ. As we contemplate the trappings of Halloween, with its costumes, candy, and occasional trickery, we pause to ask, “How does this help me grow as a Christian? What good do I accomplish with this decision?” An election quickly follows Halloween this year. Some cynics might argue that that proximity is appropriate, given that politicians sometimes are accused of disguising their real motives and beliefs. However, elections give citizens an opportunity to voice their concerns and to dialogue with civic leaders during a time when those leaders have reason to listen. Some Christians insist that Christians should not vote, and that no politicians should be trusted. However, biblical prophets both advised and rebuked kings. John the Baptist, Jesus, and Paul spoke truth to rulers; Jesus spent an evening with Nicodemus discussing the love of God. As we contemplate the election, we consider the character of the candidate (How does she treat people? Does he tell the truth?), but we also consider the morality and the social impact of the issues they advocate. We ask again, “How does this help me grow as a Christian? What good do I accomplish with this decision?” Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away. We breathe a sigh of relief: a holiday without controversy. It’s all about giving thanks and that is a very Christian thing to do. It is, but sometimes thankfulness gets shoved out the door as we focus on food, decorations, football, and travel. Commercial stores almost seem to lose this holiday. Thanksgiving gives us remarkable opportunities to show hospitality, to reconcile with estranged friends and family members, to reflect on all the good in our lives, and to thank God. As we prepare for the Thanksgiving holiday, we ask once more, “How does this help me grow as a Christian? What good do I accomplish with this decision?” At this time of year, many of us realize that it’s time to plan for 2019. We review what we accomplished this year. We contemplate what our focus should be next year. We will reflect how our practice of prayer, Bible study, hospitality, generosity, and other spiritual disciplines helps us to be more like Christ. And we will ask, “How does this help me grow as a Christian? What good do I accomplish with this decision?”

A Secure Path

While we live, even though the world is in the power of the evil one, we have hope God who gives life and can empower us to overcome. We have a firm foundation and we have an anchor that will secure no matter how intense the storms of life may be. We can sing: “We have an anchor..” “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols”(1 John 5:20-21). At Rock City Gardens near Chattanooga, Tennessee, a swinging bridge provides a path across a deep chasm between two bluffs. As I followed my children across the bridge, my daughter froze. She wanted a firm foundation; she sensed no security. Only my presence and coaching gave her the confidence to trust the bridge and reach the other side. We crave safety and predictability in our relationships. We don’t want a swinging bridge. We don’t want to navigate the swamps of depression and fear. We want firm ground, preferably concrete pavement, underneath our feet in our relationship with family, with friends, and with God. Though the cables strain, they are secured by the Savior’s hand. He coaches us and he guides toward safety; he demonstrates concrete love. Will you keep yourselves from idols? Will you trust the true God and eternal life? Will you say yes to the concrete love of Christ?

Baptism and the Survival of Fish

As I ate my cinnamon biscuit at a fast food restaurant near Nashville, Tennessee recently, I listened to a group of men reminisce. One spoke of growing up in a small Texas town, where new converts for the Church of Christ he attended were baptized in a nearby pond. After hearing that a man with less than stellar reputation would be baptized, he said, a man in the small town had protested that the church must not baptize the convert in the pond. He insisted that all the fish would die if the other man’s body entered the water. Sin corrupts our influence in the world, but rarely does it affect the environment. Although prospective visitors to church services have confessed fears of the church building ceiling cracking when they entered, I have yet to see such happen. I have seen a person’s appearance deteriorate markedly in a five-year period when he abused drugs and engaged in other criminal behavior. Choosing unethical or immoral behavior has destroyed relationships and ended employment. The greatest impact of sin, however, is on the sinner’s soul. “Wickedness burns like a fire,” the prophet Isaiah wrote, “it consumes briers and thorns; it kindles the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in a column of smoke” (Isaiah 9:18 ESV). The symbolic language of the prophet describes how rebellion against God consumes and destroys. Sin will rarely destroy literal fish (The exception would be if someone intentionally poisoned a lake.); it does destroy dreams and relationships. If we turn from sin and confess our faith through baptism, God cleanses us and equips us for work he has prepared for us to do (Acts 22:16; Ephesians 2:10). No fish die; no roofs collapse. Scars remain, but as we continue to obey God, they too begin to heal. Turn to the Lord today.

Reacting to Tragic News

News stories evoke visceral reactions. Sometimes the headlines intend to provoke attention to or against an agenda and steer us toward a desired reaction. If we read deeply into the article, our reaction may change or become more intense. A police officer shot and killed a black immigrant in Dallas last Thursday night. Your reaction as you read those words would probably differ from what you would have felt if you had read that an accountant who was a great song leader at his church and a graduate of a private Christian university had been killed in his apartment by an intruder. Yet both sentences describe the same event that occurred this past week in Dallas, Texas. Here is a link to an article about that event.As we read or watch news media, as we interact on social media, as we talk with friends, we will react to what we see or hear. Our challenge is to read or listen carefully, and to seek to learn what actually is the case before we react too strongly. As the case described above unfolds, we will learn more about what transpired and why it happened. In the meantime, a Christian family in the Caribbean island of St. Lucia and the Churches of Christ throughout the Caribbean who knew the young man who was killed as one of their own and a song leader at regional lectureships, will cope with their grief. I know how it feels to lose a loved one to death without warning. I don’t know what exactly they feel, but I know how I felt when my son died from an aneurysm three years ago. We need to pray for them as they grieve, for the officer who killed him and for her family (she and they will have to come to terms with what she did, however the investigation ends), and for friends of Botham Jean, our brother in Christ, as they respond to their new reality. We need to pray for ourselves, that we may overcome prejudices and fear as we learn to love one another. Let us seek peace and pursue it. Let us love truth, however harshly it may grate against what we desire. Let us be gentle with one another. Pray hard, my friends. (A previous version of this blog appeared in the bulletin of Leavenworth (KS) Church of Christ on September 9, 2018).s

August Attire

The month of August these days ushers in thoughts of school and academic requirements, professional sports and the appropriate attire to match team allegiance, hot weather and working air conditioning. Recently at the church where preach, as we discussed 1 Timothy chapter 2, we considered what Christians should do and what we should wear as we seek to live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and dignity. The first consideration was to pray, to worship, with “holy hands,” backing up our claims about Jesus and our efforts on his behalf with a lifestyle and attitude that demonstrate dedication to him. Pray, the apostle wrote, without arguing and disputing. The second consideration was to attire oneself with “good works,” not because they save you, but because God has prepared good works for Christians to do (Ephesians 2:10). Be known for dressing modestly in this way, rather than wearing jewelry, expensive clothes, or wearing braided hair. Strangely, we tend not to describe jewelry and expensive clothes as being immodest. We are more likely to describe them as “church clothes.” What Paul is pointing out in 1 Timothy is that wearing of clothing for attracting attention, whether attracting sexual attention or identifying with idolatrous or immoral causes, distracts us and others from serving Christ and one another. Christian women (and men, too) should be known for what they do for Christ more than for what they wear (or don’t). The Bible doesn’t provide us a detailed dress code by providing approved hem lengths for women or grooming procedures for men. The way we dress does send a message, and we can send messages that confuse others about what we believe by what we wear, but the Bible focuses more on our attitudes and our actions as we serve Jesus. So, as you engage in your August activities, how will people know that you follow Christ? Do your activities communicate that you are dresses in appropriate Christian August attire?

Reflection on My Parents' Anniversary

This past Friday would have been my parent’s sixty-seventh wedding anniversary. When they married in 1951, an elder’s nineteen-year-old son and the preacher’s twenty-one-year-old daughter, they promised to stay together until death separated them. They kept that promise until my father died from pancreatic cancer in 2005. Their paths to their wedding had differed. My father’s family had migrated from Tennessee to Indiana when he was a child, seeking better work opportunity during the Depression of the 1930s. His father established his own construction company and build houses. He also helped establish the Central Church of Christ in Muncie, Indiana, sometimes preaching and eventually serving as an elder. My father would gain a brother and two sisters. My mother’s mother died when my mother was three weeks old. She would be reared by her father’s parents and move about every two years as her grandfather, a preacher himself, moved to another congregation, and sometimes another state, to preach. Like her father, she would be an only child. She would attend Christian colleges in Tennessee and Florida before moving to live with her father for the first time at the age of twenty, a move prompted by the opportunity of employment to help her raise money to go back to college. She arrived on a Sunday afternoon and received her first impression of my father, a negative one, that evening when he and some friends walked noisily and late into the evening worship service. He won her heart, however, quite quickly. Among the factors that she liked about him was that he was not a preacher. Ironically, six years later, after two years in the Army and several years working for Kroger, just after my birth two years after the death of my older brother and after the purchase of a house and car, he announced to her that he wanted to go to Freed-Hardeman College to study to be a preacher. They would have two more sons. Dad would preach for forty-eight years. For twenty-five years, they celebrated almost all their wedding anniversaries while working with teenagers at austere Christian campgrounds. My mother’s grandmother would live with us for five years and my parents took in a foster child after I left for college. They served the Lord; they loved their children and the congregations where my father preached. They kept their promise. Their shared faith in Christ made that achievement much easier. Neither was perfect, but people knew that they were Christians because of their love and faithfulness. My prayer is that each of us also may live lives of committed love and service that will inspire others to follow Christ.

Pentecost

Many followers of Jesus will observe May 20th this year as Pentecost. Jewish worshipers will observe Shavuot (Feast of Weeks) from sundown on May 19th through sundown on May 21st. The Feast of Weeks was one of three major festivals for Jewish worshipers under the Mosaic law. This past week, Jews continued its observance. It originally had agricultural significance (Worshipers brought a grain offering as well as animals to be sacrificed.), but came to be associated also with the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, an association that remains today. In the New Testament, it is called by a Greek name – Pentecost. Pentecost has great meaning for Christians who have studied the book of Acts. As the giving of the Law ushered in a new era in God’s covenants with humanity, so the falling of the Holy Spirit on the disciples and the preaching of the Gospel by Peter marked the beginning of the church. Instructions regarding the Feast of Weeks in Leviticus 23 included a command to leave grain in the fields for the poor and the sojourner. The book of Acts notes continued care for the poor in the aftermath of Pentecost. The beginning of Christ’s church also marked the teaching of God’s word to ever-widening circles of people – now all ethnicities could celebrate together the abundant gifts from our Creator and God. Peter’s message on Pentecost also noted individual responsibility to God to obey his will. After preaching about how God had made Jesus, whom they had crucified, both Lord and Christ, Peter instructed his hearers to “repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ of the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). Today individuals begin their identification as Christians with obedience to those same words, and like those early Christians, we still devote ourselves “to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and the prayers” (Acts 2:42).

His Only Master Was Jesus

Fifty years ago, Marshall Keeble died at the age of 89. Leroy Garrett, in a book about the history of churches of Christ, called brother Keeble one of the princes of the church (Stone Campbell Movement, 680). Earl West, in his history Search for the Ancient Order identified Keeble as one of the three best preachers among churches of Christ in the first half of the twentieth century (Volume 4, 140). Marshall Keeble had no political power. He was not wealthy. His father had been born a slave. Yet he wielded, and continues to exert, great influence in the Lord’s church. He preached in small churches and clearings. He preached in large public auditoriums to a packed house. He preached in Europe and in Africa as well as in the United States; he baptized more than ten thousand people. Among his greatest achievements was his mentoring of young men who wanted to preach. In 1939, he became the President of Nashville Christian Institute, a school for training African-American preachers. Some of the students travelled with him on evangelistic campaigns and learned even more as they listened and as they watched. Although Keeble was a powerful preacher, he emphasized that he was not the focal point of the assembly. He pointed people to focus on Jesus, saying things like, “Don’t follow your Momma. Follow Jesus. He knows how to get to Heaven. He’s made the round trip. Your Momma don’t know the way to Heaven – she’s never been there” (Willie Cato, His Hand and Heart, 37). He exhorted his hearers to “prove all things, then hold fast to that which is good.” My parents took me to hear Marshall Keeble preach in 1964 when he was about 85 years old and I was 7 years old. He impressed me greatly with his fervent preaching that could capture the interest even of a small boy. As my family left the auditorium that night, I reached up to shake his hand and asked him if he would come to preach where I went to church. After asking me where I lived and worshiped, he was silent for a few seconds, then he smiled as he answered, “Maybe someday.” He loved to pray. He loved to preach. He loved his family and he enjoyed baseball. But more than anything else, he loved the Lord. The Lord Jesus was his master. His biographer observed that what made Marshall Keeble great was “…NO BODY and NO THING mastered him, except the Master himself.” (His Hand and Heart, 134). Let’s pray that they will say the same of us.

Worship That Pleases God

What is worship? What does it mean to offer acceptable worship to God? In the church of Christ, we often associate correct worship with the reverent performance of certain acts. When we meet, we expect to pray, to sing, to give, to partake of the Lord’s Supper, and to hear the preaching of the Word of God. We may hope that the songs will be familiar (or new ones that capture our imagination), that the prayers, and sermon, will be short, and that we will not drop a communion tray, but we assemble with these expectations for corporate worship. Repetition of these acts, however, is not all there is to worship as individuals or as the church of Christ. Psalm 119 is all about prayer and knowing the word of God. However, the Psalmist also speaks of meditating on the word and doing what it says. He speaks of serving God with all one’s heart; he praises the God whose love still is apparent in the world around us. Worship is offered with intention. We hear frequent warnings to avoid texting while driving. Texting while operating a vehicle is dangerous. Worship too requires focus on where we are, what we are doing, and who we are worshiping. We can perform all the right acts while worshiping and still offer worship that God will not accept. In Isaiah 1:12-20, God castigates Israel for their unacceptable worship. Yes, they gather in the courts of the temple. Yes, they offer sacrifices and burn incense. They observe the required religious feasts at the proper times. They even observe the Sabbath and raise their hands in prayer. God tells them, ”Stop!” He “cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.” He tells them,

“Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause” (Isaiah 1:16-17 ESV).

Worshiping God acceptably requires us to take God and his will seriously. God is a God of steadfast love. He also is “a father to the fatherless and the widow.” If we worship him, we also will seek justice for the oppressed, and assistance for the needy. Worship translates into practice in our lives. Our lifestyle must cohere with our worship. And so we pray to our God with the Psalmist, “

In your steadfast love give me life, that I may keep the testimonies of your mouth (Psalm 119:88 ESV).

The Meaning of Worship

Psalm 105:1-2 says: "Oh give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name; sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works!" As I read those verses, I hear a call to worship God. Both Webster's New Dictionary of the English Language and Harper's Bible Dictionary supply an underlying meaning of worship as an "act of reverence toward a deity." Harper's includes in the Old Testament context illustrations of sacrifice, prayer, and song as means of expressing that reverence, and observes that New Testament worship was characterized by joy. Ephesians 5:19-21 helps to define worship for me, especially the phrases "singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” The Ephesian passage has parallels to Psalm 105 of singing to the Lord and giving thanks to God. Notice the mention of reverence in Ephesians 5:21. Reverence, in the Bible, combines aspects of respect and fear. One of the words for worship in the Bible means “to bend the knee.” It brings to mind the apostle John’s falling at the feet of Jesus in Revelation chapter 1. Worship is not always somber, however. James exhorts those who are happy to sing praises (James 5:13). People will sometimes excuse their absence from assemblies of the church by saying that all of life is worship. Indeed, the apostle Paul wrote, “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to the God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17). We should act each day, wherever we are and whatever we are doing, as if we were in the presence of God. However, sometimes we forget that we are in the presence of God, and on those occasions, we may find ourselves acting as if there were no God, saying or doing things that later we will regret. The Bible teaches that the people of God gather together to worship him by means of certain actions. In the Old Testament, regular gatherings for religious feasts included singing, sacrifices, and communal meals. In the New Testament, Christians pray, give, eat a memorial meal, and sing praises to God, although the assembly also has an important purpose of encouraging other believers in Jesus through teaching and song. We worship when we are aware of being in the presence of the God who created our universe. We worship together to reinforce the bonds of faith that unite us and give us strength.

The Personal Impact of the Resurrection

When I was about six years old, my father would take me with him when he would study the Bible with people who wanted to know more about becoming a Christian. He frequently used Jule Miller’s Bible filmstrips for those studies. That series uses paintings of biblical events to describe what happened. One of the paintings that impressed me most as a child was one in which a triumphant Christ emerges from the tomb. The stone has been rolled aside and the guards are shielding their eyes from brilliant light that is coming from Jesus’ body. The painting vividly communicates Christ’s victory over death. While the painting is an artist’s concept of the impact of the resurrection event, John 20:15-17 describes how the resurrection affected one woman. A distressed Mary Magdalene finds the tomb empty and is convinced that the body of Jesus has been stolen. Then she turns and meets a very much alive Jesus, whose voice confirms his identity to her. Jesus says to her, Jesus said to her, "Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. '" Verse 17 indicates one of the privileges that disciples of Jesus would gain through the resurrection. They could be adopted into the family of God and could call God “my Father.” They could now be sons or daughters of God. As their fellow disciples, Christians today share that privilege. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ” (Galatians 3:26-27). The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is more than a dusty historical fact that we must believe as Christians. It definitely is not an April Fool’s Day joke. Because of his resurrection, Christians may address the Creator of the universe as our Father. We have been adopted into what the Bible calls the family of God, the Body of Christ, the Church of Christ. Because of the resurrection, we have reason to hope, to believe, and love. We too can win the victory over death.

How Will You Respond to Jesus?

Large crowds surged to hear Jesus in villages and in Jerusalem. They even swarmed into wilderness areas to find the one who spoke like no one else spoke, who healed disease, and who loved the outcast. Even as they praised him, voices from among them challenged the credentials of the teacher, the content of his teaching, and his faithfulness to God’s law (How dare he heal on the Sabbath, a day of rest, was among their complaints.). When Jesus spoke of sacrifice, commitment, and death, crowds diminished. After his arrest, the voices of his supporters were drowned out by the clamor of those demanding his execution. Two of his closest associates betrayed him, one by taking money to hand him over to authorities, and the other by denying that he knew him. Paradox surrounds the ministry of Jesus. Crowds wanted to make him king (John 6); others denied him, saying they had no other king than Caesar. He healed disease, but his priority was healing the soul. He was criticized because he socialized too much, and with the wrong people; he withdrew often to quiet places by himself. He marveled at the faith of a Roman Soldier, talked with women (which just wasn’t done), touched a leper, and prayed for the unity of his disciples, but demanded an allegiance that would create friction in other relationships (Matthew 10:34-39). Large crowds still gather to hear the message of Jesus. Voices from among the crowds still challenge his claims and denounce the content of his preaching. Others still follow him when it is convenient, but drift away when his call to take up their cross and sacrifice for him interferes with their goals or their schedule. His prayer for unity remains, but his followers bicker among themselves, demean one another, and still, like the earliest disciples, seek to be the greatest rather than the servant. The question for us is, “What will we do with Jesus?” Will we praise him when it is convenient, but renounce him by our silence or absence when it is not? Will we follow him, or live life our way? Jesus’s words remind us why our answers to those questions are critical: “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:39).

What Bible Translation Do People Read Most?

During the Men’s Wednesday Night Bible class at Leavenworth Church of Christ last week, we considered what Bible translations have had the most influence since the beginning of the church. The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew with a few verses in Aramaic; The New Testament was written in Greek, mostly the conversational dialect used in the marketplace. As Jewish communities spread around the Mediterranean Sea and to the east of Palestine, fluency in Hebrew decreased. So a couple of centuries before Jesus was born, approximately seventy translators produced a Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint. This Greek translation often is quoted in the New Testament; the Septuagint would have a powerful influence through both its being used it self and those New Testament quotations. In the late 300’s, a scholar named Jerome was commissioned to translate the Bible into Latin, which had become the dominant language of the western Roman Empire. His translation, called the Vulgate because he tried to make it readable for the common reader, would become the most used (by far) translation of the Bible through the mid-1500’s, and perhaps even longer, for it would be used in churches that conducted their services in Latin through the 1960’s. In 1536, Martin Luther published a translation of the Bible in German that would profoundly influence German language, literature, and culture. In 1611, the Church of England published a translation that would exert that same kind of influence on English language, literature, and culture for 350 years – the King James Version. In recent years, translations like the New International Version, New Revised Standard Version, and English Standard Version have become widely used. However, although the four translations first cited have exerted enormous influence on civilization, they were not and are not the most widely read Bible translations. You and I are. That’s right. Many more people learn about Jesus and his teachings by watching Christians shop, work, and play than learn by reading the Bible. That raises an important, and perhaps troubling question. How accurately do our lives translate the message of Christ? What do our choices say about what it means to be a Christian? Bible translators must know three languages well to translate the Bible. We must understand the Bible and our culture if we are to communicate Christ well to our neighbors. How good a translation of the Bible are you?

Loving for the Lord

Does God care how we treat other people? Does God care how generous we are? Why should I care what God thinks? These are questions I considered in my sermon, "Loving for the Lord," this past Sunday. I noted that I had chosen the text for the sermon to be delivered yesterday months ago, long before the tragic and sobering events in Charlottesville, Virginia, this past weekend. I made that statement because the text was relevant to why those events were so heinous and reprehensible. I encourage you to view the sermon and consider its message. When we consider hate, or a symbol of hate, to be our heritage, we should pause to remember that Jesus said that people would be able to identify his disciples by their love. The sermon is not simply a response to Charlottesville. In fact, I don't remember mentioning the city by name. It is a sermon delivered to a Christian congregation to address situations in their lives and in our culture, to help them and me assess how God wants us to live and to love. Comment if you have any questions or reaction. I encourage you to live, and to love, for the Lord.

Learning Obedience through Suffering

Church controversies have had their roots in political differences as well as personality conflicts and different approaches to biblical interpretation.In the mid-nineteenth century, several church groups in the United States splintered along north-south lines in part because of attitudes towards slavery and Christian engagement in politics. Personality driven conflicts often disguise themselves as doctrinal debates. In our own time, megachurches often have dynamic personalities that drive their church's success. After his (or less frequently, her) death or public embarrassment, those churches frequently decline, sometimes even when a plan for going forward has been put in place. Among the Churches of Christ, there is a need to ascertain or reclaim the theological undergirding of our movement (and get back to being a movement, as opposed to acquiescing to self-identifying as a denomination). Part of that journey perhaps is an appreciation for the role of suffering in growing toward the apprehension of truth. Jesus, it says in Hebrews 5:8, learned obedience through what he suffered. From experience comes maturity and humility, so older Christians often are less arrogant and assertive than in their youth. There are, as one may observe in social media, glaring exceptions to this rule. Suffering for truth has played a role in the development of churches of Christ.A preacher in Kansas was tarred and feathered for his abolitionist statements. Another in Arkansas was murdered when his evangelism hit too close to home. Members were pushed out of buildings that they had worked hard to build or to purchase when they did not accept changes to worship practice. Preachers sometimes had to borrow money or barter the produce with which they had been paid to return home from preaching revivals. Sometimes the memory of that suffering has hardened the grip of later generations on ecclesiastical traditions and interpretations of biblical doctrine. Scars endure. As the apostle Peter noted,

"But rejoice inso far you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, ou are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you" (1 Peter 4:13-14 ESV).

We should rejoice when we suffer for Christ, but not when we suffer because we tried to win an argument for personal gain or tried to advance an ideological agenda for an entrenched tradition or for change. Our focus should be on Jesus Christ and his intent for his people (See Hebrews 12). That passage in Hebrews 12 reminds that discipline and suffering are often means that God the loving Father uses to advance the maturing of his people.Let us learn to watch our Savior and to listen to our brother or sister as we seek comfort in the Lord.

Back on the Path

A follow-up visit to the doctor last week revealed that my blood pressure had spiked! A feast at a Chinese buffet restaurant the day before may have contributed to that, as may have medication for my poison ivy reaction, but the number was high enough that it startled my new doctor and me both. He ordered some tests and I resolved to return to walking and running with fierce devotion. I enjoy walking and running, but I had allowed other worthwhile activities to crowd exercise out of my schedule. I marked about a route of just more than three miles and traversed it four times so far this week.Yesterday (two days after my poison ivy medicine ran out), I took my blood pressure and discovered a much, much healthier reading, but I have resolved to maintain the walking. Another thought that registered in my mind was how easily the good gets crowded out of our schedules and our minds. It's far too easy to find oneself engulfed in society's outrage over politics or celebrity behavior or climate change or what ever is the outrage of the week without submitting our minds to the disciplined guidance of God's Word and prayer. As I have returned to walking, I also have redoubled my attention to maintaining regular reading of the Bible and serious popular literature (the latter to help me keep attuned to reflection on what is going on around me). I feel some new aches and pains as muscles little-used in recent months are pressed back into service, but I also sens a revival of optimism and hope as I discipline myself and follow the light of god's Word and stay on track in my exercise regimen. The psalmist wrote, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path"(Psalm 119:105). AS we stay on the path and follow the light, we find courage and comfort fur our souls.

Deceptive Beauty

I worked in my yard last Saturday, trimming bushes and pruning trees. I also pulled some weeds and vines from the ground to create more space for other plants. We have several beautiful flowering plants and trees. I wanted to display their beauty more effectively. As I worked, I remembered that last year I had had my first bout with poison ivy in about forty years and regretted having not chosen to wear a long-sleeved shirt or jacket. The temperature was about 90 degrees Fahrenheit, so I dismissed the thought. I ignored the lessons learned from previous experiences. After I finished my tasks, I changed clothes and went for a three mile walk/run. Despite the heat, I enjoyed the exercise and the scenery I encountered along the way. By the time I finished, I was quite sweaty. After I cleaned up, I dressed so that my wife and I might dine at a favorite Mexican restaurant near our home. To my chagrin, while we were dining, I noticed tell-tale signs of inflammation on my arms. Actually, I noticed the itching first. I had a rather wide-spread rash on my arms and the edge of one eyelid (not the eye, fortunately). Three days later, I've endured quite some discomfort because I ignored my prior experience and did not prepare properly to prune and weed. In gardens, beautiful plants sometimes have exasperatingly effective means of protecting themselves. Failing to watch for them and to prepare for encounters with them can be quite uncomfortable, or perhaps even deadly to some with severe allergies. In life, too, what seems often most attractive is most damaging. We must prepare for our encounters and get to know people, situations, and plants well before we suffer unnecessarily.

The Great Physican

John chapter 5 describes a man who has been ill for more than thirty years. His frustration is increased by his perceived proximity to healing that remains always just beyond his realization His frustration ends one day when a stranger directs him simply to get up and walk. He arises, realizes suddenly he is healed, picks up his bed (cot?) and begins to walk home, only to be accosted by accusations that he is violating religious law by carrying the bed on the Sabbath. For years,decades, he had sought healing, but had not found it. Now he encountered one sometimes now called "The Great Physician;" both he and the healer are castigated by those so intent on keeping the fences of the law strong that that they forget the purpose of God's law, to heal and to save. Today, many still seek spiritual and physical healing for years. Too often, when they find it, alleged followers of Jesus castigate them for their prior affliction or because they still carry "baggage' from their illness or bad decisions. When Jesus later encountered the man whom he had healed, he told him to "go and sin no more." He did not handcuff the man to the sin or the illness he had known before forgiveness. He did not consign him to perpetual crippling by the scars of his past. Jesus came to heal soul and body. He urged people to realize the reality of their sin and to seek to escape it. He realized, though, that temptations would persist, and that scars would remain. He knew too about "older bothers" who never forget and seldom forgive long repented and now healed sin. Don't impede the Great Physician. Forgive and encourage those who have been abused, who have been scarred, who have made all the wrong decisions, but who now press forward, focused on the only one who can save them. Pleas don't distract them. The chart is one I remember my father preaching from when I was a child. The chart is mine now, and a few weeks ago I too preached from it. Dad taught me about the compassion of the Great Physician. He also warned of the scars that persist even after healing (forgiveness), and about those who seem to enjoy prolonging the pain for those who have fallen along the way.Jesus healed because he aligned himself with God the Father, who gave him the authority to heal those who were sick even when some thought it wasn't the right time or place.