Why the suffering?

It is a question we cannot help but ask.  At the same time, it is a question which has no good answer.

People are constantly attempting to ease our suffering with medical or geopolitical explanations.  We try religious platitudes and somehow convince ourselves that indicating that 'everyone saw this coming' is a helpful observation.  It isn't.  None of them are.  No matter what the explanation, it doesn't satisfy. Suffering is not something that can be educated away.  It is - that is all.

Often at the root of our suffering - buried deep within our heart - is the idea that if we had done it differently, if we had simply lived more righteously or eaten more greens and less sugar, or exercised daily instead of whenever....if we had just done it right we would not be suffering today.  Some of that is true.  Most of it isn't.  Because, in the end, we all die, and the way out of this world is no easier than the labor that brought us into it.

For those who follow Jesus this leads to the misconception that the perfect one doesn't suffer - doesn't have to - can avoid it - will diminish the experience to no more than the irritation of a mosquito bite.  Jesus was perfect, ergo Jesus wouldn't have to endure suffering.  He could walk around it or whisk it away.  Perhaps.  Perhaps his power as one with the Creator of the Universe made this possible while, at the same time, his deep love for the very creation he wrought constrained him to walk with us....even into suffering.

This brings us to Peter who wants glory and power for his Messiah, not suffering and death.  And although I am sure Peter speaks out of deep affection for Jesus, he also speaks out of his own thoughts and purposes, his own constructions of what it means to be a Messiah.  Peter wants a path that does not include suffering and death........but then, don't we all?  Haven't you said once or twice in your life..."There has to be an easier way!"?

..not for a God whose love takes on human flesh, who steps into the world we inhabit, in the flesh that we inhabit, with the realities we all face.  There is no easier way.  When Jesus walks with us, he walks where we walk and suffers as we suffer.  Jesus takes the risks that we take, feels the exhaustion and frustration we feel (re-read some of his encounters with both the religious leaders and his disciples), grieves as we grieve......and suffers as we suffer.

Jesus took no detours around the suffering that he faced.  He carried our suffering in his own body until the very end. It was his suffering as well. He carried it until end, but not the end of the cross.  Jesus carried suffering into the glory of an empty tomb.

If Jesus enmeshed his life with ours and yet carried it all to new life in God, what does that say about human suffering?  Where does it ultimately rest?

Who holds us in  our suffering?

Temptation, part 2

'and the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.  He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.'

This little passage comes from the Gospel of Mark and describes the 'temptation of Jesus' at the very beginning of Jesus' ministry.  It was most certainly not the last time Jesus was tempted, and possibly not the hardest of the temptations to endure.  Matthew, Mark and Luke all contain this story, although Mark is not interested in any of the details.  It happened.  Satan was involved.  It took 40 (a very important number BTW) days.  Then Jesus was comforted by the wild beasts.

Apparently, temptation was integral to the start up of Jesus' ministry.  I think we can be safe to assume that we are not talking about the temptation of cookies, or fast driving or even a snooze button.........unless, of course, we are.  The difference here is God.

And Satan.

Satan is the clue that there is something bigger, one might even say 'cosmic' in this encounter in the wilderness.  Satan tempts Jesus.  Satan who is Not God.  Satan who wants Jesus to play on his team.  Jesus needs to choose between God and Not God....because, my friends, you can only play on one team.  You can only serve one end.  You need to choose between good and evil.  You need to decide between self preservation and community health.  You need to choose between 'me' and 'we'.

For Jesus, the one who was called to be the Anointed One (the Christ, the Messiah: they all mean the same thing) had to choose whether to live out his call as the Son of God, or not.  That choice needed to be made at the very beginning: listen to God's call to be who God made him to be - or walk away from it all.  As elevated as that sounds, it would involve cookies and fast driving and snooze buttons.

Matthew and Luke want to make all of this perfectly clear so they expand this two verse story into a wonderful scenario of jumping off high places and turning stones into bread.  Mark figures we can figure all of that out for ourselves.  Jesus would face times when who got to eat was a choice, one that he had to make.  Jesus would face times when showing off how powerful he was, because he was, in fact, the Son of God, would have made everything so clear and be especially satisfying.  Jesus would face times when stepping back, easing the tension, walking down a different path was right there on his fingertips.

Jesus was asked, again and again, to walk the God path and follow where it led.  He did it in the face of ridicule, rejection, betrayal, isolation, Roman power and, finally, death.  Throughout his life it was always the temptation to choose God .......or to go another way. To choose love ....or to choose safety.  To choose everyone.......or to stay with his kind.  To give.......or to demand.  God or Not God.

We might comfort ourselves with the knowledge that none of us is the Son of God and therefore talk about temptation is a moot point.  Except, even for us, there will be times when cookies or a snooze button or 90 miles an hour will be a choice between 'me' and 'we', between God and Not God....which is really a choice between God and Myself As God.

When you are exploring the possibilities that lie in a relationship with the Divine Creator of All, the crucified and risen one named Jesus, then temptation becomes something more. It's not about being perfect or feeling guilt.  It's about living your life in tune with this God, the source of all life, or living your life in tune with your own needs or desires.

As we enter the season of Lent, we consider again our call to live as God's people and to speak the truth about the constant temptation to turn away......to eat the cookies.......to choose Not God.  In the crush of managing life as it is, Lent provides us with a time set aside to consider this all again. We begin this journey talking about the choice between God and Not God. 

May God bless your journey.

Temptation, part 1

Temptation seems to be one of the Big Three when religious folks get to talking.  Temptation, sin and guilt.....which if you have subscribed to that particular way of thinking are truly all the same topic, just with different starting points.

But I don't need to tell you that temptation has nothing to do with religion, or faith either (since religion and faith are two very different things).  It does have to do with value systems.

Any child faced with a plate of cookies 30 minutes before supper knows what temptation is.  The snooze button on our alarm clocks (phones) are one of the more benign temptations that the tech world offers.  Think about an open, straight, clear highway and a car that can go 140 miles an hour.  We know about temptation whether we know anything about the Divine or not.

Temptation implies choice overlaid with value.  Each choice holds a competing value.  One choice means satisfying oneself one way; the second choice means satisfying oneself in a completely different way.  One choice is about self; the other choice is about community.

Eat the cookies and enjoy the sweets.  Don't eat the cookies and enjoy the knowledge of your mother's approval.

Hit the snooze button and enjoy another 10 minutes of sleep.  Don't hit the snooze and have some space to start your day, and be on time for work.

Hit the gas peddle and enjoy the exhilaration of a fast car.  Drive the speed limit - or close to it - and follow traffic laws while keeping the road safe for others.

In choosing the action, you defer to one value or the other and what kind of pleasure you desire.  On one hand, you can choose that which gives immediate pleasure without regard for the future or other people.  On the other hand, there is that choice which serves the greater good in the long term.

See?  Nothing about God or faith or religion in any of that.  It is an atheist's guide to temptation.  We all wrestle with it and I would expect that most people fall one way or the other on any given day.  Some days I eat the cookies; some days I wait until after dinner.

So how did temptation become a religious dilemma?  That's a great question.  Stay tuned.

An ashen cross.........

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday in the western Christian Church. It marks the beginning of a liturgical season known as Lent.

In churches large and small, ashes were being prepared as a part of an ancient ritual which marks this day.  Made from the burnt palms of Palm Sunday 2017 the ashes were being mixed with a little olive oil, perhaps a drop or two of dish washing liquid (it helps when it is time to wash them off).  Clergy of every shape and stripe were preparing to remind those who gathered that just as there was a first day of their life, there would be a last day as well.

"Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

It only takes a year or two of making ashen crosses on the foreheads of octogenarians and toddlers alike to realize that someone you touch with ashes will not be with you when Ash Wednesday rolls around again next year.  One of the faithful - those who have wrapped themselves in the ritual of confession and ashes - will complete the cycle of trusting in this God and lay down for the last time. Some will be no surprise; some unexpected.  Of the many deep yet eternal truths that are a part of this liturgical moment, the frailty of our human life is one.

Seventeen families were forced to face this reality in Southern Florida yesterday.  The child they sent to school was not coming home, and the ashes were theirs.  May our prayers rise before you as incense O Lord.  Comfort the brokenhearted.  Heal the wounded.  Hold fast to these young people who now rest with you.

Then trace an ashen cross on the forehead of America.  Mark this day as the end of our blindness.  Remind everyone again.........you are dust, and even you will one day return to dust.

Rest eternal grant them O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon them.  

Journeys into the Unknown

“but Moses said, O my Lord, please send someone else.”

God called Moses out from a burning bush, called him to lead the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt into a land filled with milk and honey.  Moses didn’t want the job.

In one of my favorite stories in the Old Testament, Moses negotiates with God, trying to wiggle out of the call that has come his way.  I expect Moses was frightened of the potential dangers in following this divine call.  He might have felt overwhelmed.  He was most definite that he didn’t possess the skills needed to accomplish this task that God was calling him to. After having exhausted his excuses Moses finally gets to the bottom line and says, 

“O my Lord, please send someone else.”  Exodus 4.13

It was not to be.  This calling was for Moses; he was to lead them to freedom and God promised to be with him every step of the way.  I am sure Moses was scared, and there are many times he is frustrated, even angry with the people of Israel. There a couple of times he isn’t particularly happy with God either. But he takes up the call that God has given him and steps out into the unknown. 

Likewise, each of you have received a call from God to be a servant of this Word, Jesus. 

Few of God’s servants can see the larger divine plan or the twists and turns that will make the path forward awkward, sometimes difficult, often seemingly impossible.  None of us possesses all the skills necessary for the job.  Our call often appears mundane, insignificant, more bother than divine poetry. 

In the end, many of God’s servants would prefer that God sent someone else.

God is sending you….to people who are lost in the kinds of slavery we encounter in this world, who are waiting for you to come and bring the power of a risen Jesus to them and to set them free.  There are the lost ones who belong nowhere.  There are the crushed ones who think they have no worth.  There are the downtrodden who haven’t seen the ‘way up’ in a lifetime.  God is calling you – each one of you – and Luther Memorial as a community of faith – to go and lead them through the wilderness to God’s promised land.

We who follow Jesus proclaim a Christ who is crucified and risen:  a Savior who knows firsthand the suffering of this world and carries it into the heart of God where life is found.  This is the Jesus you bring with you wherever you go.

Go in peace.  Go knowing you have been equipped for this calling.  Go in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Don’t worry about stumbling.  Don’t worry about taking a wrong turn.  Don’t worry about being a bit confused.  Go.  Go in Jesus’ name.  Go and carry the love of God with you.

And may the peace that passes all understanding keep your hearts

 and your minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Peace my friends.

So is my final word to the people of Luther Memorial.  Now we begin a new adventure.  Join me on this adventure as we seek the face of God in the world in which we move.  Sign up and my latest posting will be delivered directly to your mailbox.  PW