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A Provoking Poeple

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Pastor’s Friday Reflection

“And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

                                                      Hebrews 10:24-25                   

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The Scripture from Hebrews is one of my favorite passages from the Bible.  But there’s always been an inherent contradiction for me in these words – “…provoke one another to love and good deeds…”  My kids are now 32 and 29, but I can still remember when my daughter was about five and her little brother knew just how to provoke a response from her, and not one of love and good deeds.  Doug knew every one of Jenny’s buttons, and he had no difficulty pushing those buttons to get a rise out of her.  He “provoked” her unmercifully, and always got a response – tears, anger, or frustration.  So when I read the passage from Hebrews, that’s the first image I see – my daughter red in the face and my son with a smug, “gotcha” look on his visage.

But as I thought about it, I realized there was actually something helpful in that image.  Doug knew Jenny’s buttons, and knew how to provoke her; I thought, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we knew each others good deed buttons?  If we knew how to provoke love instead of anger or frustration?  What would happen if we could interact with each other in ways that were just as provoking as my son’s when he was 2 and 1/2, but resulted in good deeds rather than crying and calling for mommy?

Perhaps that is what the author of Hebrews had in mind.  We all have a pretty good idea of the buttons that will send our neighbors into anger and frustration, but how well do we know the buttons that result in love and good deeds?  Those buttons are much more difficult to find, but they are the ones that we Christians are called to discover.  Christ understands that left on our own, the world around us is pushing the wrong buttons; it doesn’t take much to send us into that downward spiral of anger, accusation or frustration.  That’s why we have the church, a place that will help us counteract the natural tendencies of the world and move us toward love and acceptance rather than anger or hate.  Here in the church, we can encourage each other when those natural negative tendencies raise their heads; we can help each other let go of the anger and frustration that the world naturally elicits from us and instead move toward loving affirmation, forgiveness and hope.

This summer, why don’t we study each other with an eye to finding those buttons of love and good deeds, to discovering the ways we can provoke each other to living as gospel people?  It is my hope that we can encourage one another and discover that each of us has love to share and good deeds to offer that will help make our church all that God could desire.

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For Better or for Good?

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“Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
                                                            Ephesians 3:20-21

The Broadway musical “Wicked” tells the story of the land of Oz before Dorothy and Toto dropped in unexpectedly. It introduces us to two remarkable young women – one smart, fiery and with emerald green skin, the other beautiful, an airhead and very popular. The musical explains how the former woman goes on to become the Wicked Witch of the West, while the other becomes Glinda, the Good Witch. But in this version, they are both admirable.

In the course of the show, the two women sing a duet, the song, For Good. Listen to the words they sing:

It well may be that we will never meet again
In this lifetime,
So let me say before we part, so much of me
Is made of what I learned from you.
You’ll be with me like a handprint on my heart;
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine by being my friend:
Like a ship blown from its mooring by a wind off the sea,
Like a seed dropped by a skybird in a distant wood,
Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better?
But because I knew you, I have been changed for good.

This will be my last Friday devotional. I’ll keep blogging at http://www.bronyocum.org for those who enjoy these columns. But as I come to the end of my time at Grove, I can echo the words of the two witches – I have been changed for good by you, the people of Grove Church. Your love and care for one another including me and my family, your passion for ministry and the community around you, your desire to learn more about your faith and deepen your relationship with God, all of these qualities have had an impact on me, helping me grow in my faith. I leave Grove a better person and a better pastor than when I first arrived. I know that because I knew you, I have been changed for good.

And as the song says, you will be with me, for the rest of my life, like a handprint on my heart, shaping how I live and how I believe. For the many gifts you gave me, from your affirmation of my ministry to your care during my recuperation to your wonderful and generous gifts as I prepared to leave, thank you. I hope we do meet again, but no matter what, please know that because I knew you, I have been changed both for the better and for good. I pray that you, too, have been changed for good by God’s work through me during my time at Grove. For God can accomplish through us so much more than we could ever ask for or even imagine. God bless you and keep you until we meet again at Grove’s 250th anniversary!

 

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Like a Child

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“But Jesus called for them and said, “Let the little children
come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these
that the kingdom of God belongs.”
                           Luke 18:16
The story of Jesus and the children always reminds me of the movie Dave, with Kevin Kline.  The hero, Dave, is a look alike for the president.  When the president has had a massive stroke, Dave is hired to come to the White House and impersonate the president so the country won’t know anything has happened.  Acting as the president, Dave goes with the First Lady to a photo opportunity at a child care center.  She has been estranged from her husband, and is unaware of Dave’s substitution.  The First Lady is passionate about quality day care, and is lecturing a group of reporters, surrounded by the children who attend the center.  She looks up and sees Dave, off in a corner, out of view of the reporters and TV cameras, talking quietly with one troubled, little boy, doing magic tricks for the child.  Everyone else was taking in the kids as one mass -a gaggle of kids, a collection of statistics, an opportunity for a photograph; but Dave was getting to know one real child in an intimate way, giving his time in a way that said, you’re valuable enough for me to spend my time with just you.

And isn’t that what God’s intimate ministry says to us?  When God walked in the garden with Adam and Eve, God showed how much they were valued.  God loved them enough to stop other important duties, to set aside the tasks of the divine in order to simply delight in the company of humans.  Not delight in the mass of humanity or the idea of human beings, but in the very presence of two concrete, specific people.

Jesus, too, loved people, not just the concept of people.  He stopped to take the children on his knee, children with dirty diapers, kids who pulled his hair and spit up on his robes.  He ate and drank with sinners, even being accused of gluttony and drunkenness because he enjoyed the company of others and valued getting to know people as individuals.  He listened to them, he related to them, one on one.  He developed relationships with people, rather than standing far off, like the pope on his balcony blessing thousands of people at a time.  His presence was an affirmation of our worth, a confirmation that even one single creature – whether the sparrow or a human being – matters to God.

So let’s remember that as we live our days.  Each one is worthy of God’s love; each one is worthy of our attention; each one is someone to relate to and get to know as a unique individual, a child of God created by the master.

Prayer:  Lord of life, I thank you that you created human beings, each one, unique and valuable.  Help me to approach each person in my life as your handiwork, a child of God who is precious in your sight.  Let me value each person and seek to know them not simply by their gender, their race or other shared characteristics, but to know them as your unique and beloved child in whom your image is reflected.  For I ask it in the name of Jesus, who loves me as your unique and individual child.  Amen.

Death, Taxes and God’s Grace

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“But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us  even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-by grace you have been saved…”
                  Ephesians 2:4-5
We all know that old saying, “there’s nothing surer than death and taxes.”  But this year, as we continue in our Easter season, neither death nor taxes is sure.  On Easter Sunday we celebrated Christ’s resurrection from the dead, and today, what should be tax day – April 15th – we celebrate the IRS’s grace as they give us until Monday, April 18th to file our taxes.
Grace – a word that we often tend to misinterpret or misconstrue.  This year’s delay in tax day can help us better understand grace.  Grace is often defined as unmerited favor, or an undeserved break.  We didn’t do anything to deserve an extra weekend to file our taxes; the government just gave it to us.  In the same way, there is nothing we can do to earn God’s forgiveness since we are all sinners.  God, through grace, just offers us forgiveness.  It is by grace that we are saved.
But too often, we also think of grace as a pat on the head with God saying, “There, there; it’s alright.  I’ll forgive you no matter what you do.”  Grace then appears to be God’s acceptance of us just as we are, with no expectations of growth or change on our part.   If we consider grace in light of the tax comparison, however, we can say that just as the IRS has given us an extra weekend but still expects us to file our taxes, so God is willing to forgive us, but still expects us to grow as disciples.  We aren’t saved by grace in order to keep doing everything wrong and make no effort to do better.
Grace is God’s wonderful gift of forgiveness and mercy that wipes the slate of our sin clean and invites us to do better next time.  God does understand when we slip and fall back, but God is not inviting us to stay the way we were with no effort to be better.  There’s a saying from the black church, “Lord we ain’t what we should be and we ain’t what we gonna be, but thank God, we ain’t what we was!”  That’s a good way to think about grace – we aren’t yet the heavenly angels we hope to be someday nor are we perfect in living our lives as disciples today, but thank God, we aren’t the sinners living apart from God that we once were.  The invitation from God is to grow closer to God, to grow deeper in relationship with the Lord, and to grow in our commitment and effort to live as God’s people every day, always by grace.
Prayer:  Loving God, by grace you have saved me from the consequences of my sin, and offered me entrance into your eternal kingdom.  May I recognize that gift, and in gratitude, live my life as your beloved child, always striving to honor you in all I do.  Forgive me when I fail, but give me the strength to try always to live as Jesus lives.  For it is in Jesus’ name that I pray.  Amen. 

Two Roads

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“He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?'”
                                                          Acts 9:4
I have been moved by dramatic conversion stories through the years.  I’ve heard people talk about having been a drug addict, alcoholic or atheist, and having their life turned around when they accepted Christ.  Like Paul on the road to Damascus, these people walked down a road of transformation and rebirth as they found God.
Listening to stories like those, I find myself wondering if my faith is as authentic as theirs.  I have no dramatic conversion story, no exciting turn-around of my life.  I was born into a Christian family, attended church from the time I was a toddler, and moved into a deeper and deeper relationship with God through the years.
But I eventually realized that God has prepared two roads – the road to Damascus and the Road to Emmaus.  In Luke’s account of the day of resurrection, we read about two disciples who are traveling home to Emmaus and meet a stranger on the road.  We know, of course, that the stranger is Jesus, who talks with the two and teaches them as they walk. Then, inviting the stranger to join them for dinner, the two have their eyes opened to Jesus in the breaking of the bread. They learn, their faith is deepened as they walk the road to Emmaus, and at last, they recognize Christ in the breaking of the bread.
The former is a road of dramatic conversion, the later a road of gradual, deepening understanding, but both are roads to God.  For those who have a dramatic conversion, we can rejoice that God found a way into their life that led to a significant turnaround.  But for those whose faith has been a gradual deepening of relationship with God, the road still leads to the same destination, just by a different path.
Whichever road your life has taken you, give thanks that God provides many ways to grow in relationship.  We may not all have dramatic conversion stories, but whichever road we have travelled, we can all have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  Rejoice that God so loves us that God welcomes us  by whatever path we approach.
Prayer:   Loving God, in Jesus Christ you have acted to redeem me from sin and death.  You could have insisted that I come to you on a path of your own choosing, but you have opened many roads to you.  Thank you for loving me so much, and for welcoming me into your presence through Jesus Christ.  Amen. 

SENT

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“Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
                  John 20:21
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Our daughter was just shy of three years old when our son was born.  I had stayed home with her, caring for her, playing with her, and reading to her.  There were books all over our house, and one of my greatest joys was reading to Jenny.
When Doug was born, Jenny came to the hospital to help us bring him home.  Once home, we tried to include Jenny in activities with her new baby brother..  Imagine my surprise when I peeked into the living room one day to find Jenny reading to Doug as he lay in his baby seat.  She was holding a book, running her finger under the words that she couldn’t yet read, just like I did with her.  She was telling the story we had read so many times, turning pages at just the right time. She was doing for him what I had done for her.
“As the Father has sent me, so I send you,” Jesus told his followers.  For three years his disciples had observed him, watching how he worked.  They saw him heal the sick, feed the hungry, preach good news and reach out to those on the margins of society to bring them into the circle of God’s love. Now Jesus was sending them to do for the world what they had seen him do.
You and I are sent in the same way.  We are invited to watch Jesus at work in the Scriptures and then go and imitate his work, caring for those Jesus cared about.  We have the portraits of Jesus in the Bible; we have images of a loving God in the lives of the saints, and we have the privilege of continuing the work of God as the Body of Christ today.  In resurrection power, we are sent to the world as Christ was sent, to share God’s promise of new life.
Prayer:   Eternal God, you sent your son to the world to bring the love and life.  In the power of his resurrection, he now sends us to the world to continue that work.  Help us to act in imitation of Christ, to heal and love, sharing good news that makes a difference in the world for good.  Amen. 

Memories

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“But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ”
Luke 2:19
Yesterday I woke up with a tune running through my head. Over and over I found myself humming a tune that seemed to come from nowhere. Suddenly, after about an hour, I realized what the tune was – a song I learned in 5th grade at Girl Scout summer camp! It had been buried in my memory and for some reason just popped into my head as I woke up. I realized I could sing the song all the way through – all the words – and as I did, I remembered the camp experience, the lake where we canoed, the platform tents where we lived. All of that came back to me as I sang through the camp song.

I wonder if Mary had a tune to him or sing as she remembered that first Christmas. Maybe she had a lullaby she sang to the baby Jesus, or a traveling song she’d hummed as they fled Bethlehem for Egypt. However she made connections, she had a lifetime of memories treasured in her mind. There were memories of the shepherds crowding into the stable on the night of his birth, Jesus hitting his thumb with his hammer as Joseph taught him carpentry, of her son’s Bar Mitzvah, of girls flirting with him in the village, and of that trip to Jerusalem when Jesus got left behind. So many memories to cherish, so many ways to perceive God at work in her life, in Jesus’ life, and in the world.

As we begin our new year, I invite you to take a moment to recall the joys of 2015, the places where you saw God at work in your life, at Grove, and in the world. Pause to give thanks tonight as the ball in Times Square descends. Commit 2015 to God with thanks for what has gone well and with repentance for where we have failed the Lord. And then seek God’s presence in your life right from the beginning of 2016. Let this be a year for all of us to treasure and ponder in our hearts.

Prayer: Loving God, as we come to the end of this year, I thank you for all the ways you gave been active in my life. I am grateful for the ways you have enabled me to make a positive difference in the world. And where I have failed you, I pray that you will take my feeble efforts and transform them so that you might yet be glorified. Let 2016 be a year in which I am attuned to your presence, and ready to do your will for the good of your people and the glory of your kingdom, for I ask this in Christ’s holy name. Amen.

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Broken Hearts at Christmas

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“When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:

 ‘A voice was heard in Ramah,
wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.'”
                                                                                         Matthew 2:16-18
Wednesday night many of us were glued to our television sets watching events unfold in San Bernadino, California.  We learned to our horror that multiple shooters had opened fire in a reception hall hosting a holiday party. We followed the developments as police chased a dark SUV and as shots were fired killing the two occupants of the car.  We watched as police went door to door looking for other assailants, and as commentators spoke by phone to terrified residents barricaded in their homes.
This morning we still have many questions – was this a terror act, a disgruntled employee, or some combination of the two? Why did the perpetrators leave the site of the initial shooting after a relatively short shooting spree, and why didn’t they leave the area to escape police?  We may never know the answers to all of our questions, but all of us should feel our hearts breaking for the families of those who were killed, for those who were injured, and for the bereft family of the couple who appear to have carried out this shooting.
On Thursday morning, the New York Daily News ran a large headline reading, “God Isn’t Fixing This!”  Earlier our president made a statement we all need to hear, regardless of your stance on his policies, when he pointed out that saying that our prayers and thoughts are with people is meaningless if we don’t do anything to help. I don’t know what the answers are to these horrifying mass shootings, but it is time that we do more than simply wring our hands and say isn’t that terrible.  It is time to do more than pray for the victims and think about the injured.  It is time for us as a nation rise up and tell politicians and the NRA that we won’t stand any longer for their platitudes.  The majority of NRA members favor tighter gun controls, but the NRA hierarchy won’t give an inch, sure that it will result in a slippery slope.  Politicians who are funded by significant NRA donations dare not vote for gun control.  We cannot, however, as people of faith, simply stand by and let this ‘do nothing’ response continue as it has after Sandy Hook, after Columbine, after Virginia Tech and on and on.
We may not be able to prevent every gun death, but surely there are things we can do that will decrease the number who die by gun violence.  Whether mandatory background checks or refusal of guns to people on terror watch lists which Congress refused to pass this week, whether reducing the size of legal gun clips or creating smart guns that are sensitive to fingerprints, there are options that will lead to fewer gun deaths, including the 2/3 of gun deaths that are suicides.
We often forget that the Scripture cited above is one of the readings for the Sunday after Christmas.  When we think of the holiday, we think of holly jolly Christmas, tinsel and presents, cookies and egg nog.  But at the heart of Christmas is the broken heart of God, a heart that ached on Wednesday night.  Christmas is the affirmation that Emmanuel has come, God With Us, in Jesus Christ.  Through him, God has experienced not only the joys of human life, but also the pains and sadness.  And yet, even amidst the incredible pain of the death of Jesus, God remained faithful and acted to save.
As we approach this Christmas, let’s give thanks for a God who cared enough to be with us fully, to live our human life, but who calls us to be more – to act for those who cannot act for themselves, to imitate the gracious action of the divine creator, and to be about the work of God today, not just praying empty words but acting as the instruments of God’s saving love..
Prayer: O God, our joyful approach to the celebration of Christ’s birth was jarred by the tragic news of this mass shooting.  I wonder how such sadness could enter into the season of light.  And yet I know, Lord, it was precisely to this world of darkness that Jesus came to bring hope and love. Let the light of Christ shine in me, through my actions and my words, as I work to bring hope and love into the darkness in your name.  Amen.
 

What’s On Your Jacket?

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“If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.”
                                                                                          Galatians 5:14-15                                 image

On Wednesday night, a young white male walked into the Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in time for the weekly bible study. He asked for the pastor, the Rev. Clementa C. Pinkney, and sat next to the pastor as the study began. Witnesses report that after nearly an hour of the study, the young man spoke up. “”I have to do it,” he was quoted as saying. “You rape our women and you’re taking over our country. And you have to go.” And then he opened fire, killing nine people, leaving just three survivors.

Dylann Roof, a 21 year old, was arrested Thursday for the attack. Facebook pictures show him in a jacket featuring the flags of two former white supremacist regimes, leading authorities to label this a possible hate crime. Those flags proclaim his attitude toward people of color – the same attitude shared by these racist regimes.

That picture raised a question in my mind. What patch might I wear on my jacket to proclaim my attitude? One look at Roof’s Facebook page would let anyone know what he believed with his face in a scowl and the two patches on his jacket. What, I wondered, would declare to the world what I believed? How could I proclaim love rather than hate as the dominant attitude in my life?

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus reminds us that our attitudes, our beliefs, are as important to God as our actions. The Old Testament commandment, ‘thou shalt not kill,’ is extended by Jesus to include our attitudes, not merely our actions towards others. On that basis, even before Roof pulled he trigger, his hatred of some people groups violated God’s law as Jesus described it.

We are all called by God to love one another and bear each other’s burdens. That means loving those who are like us as well as those who are different, those who think like us and those whose opinions are diametrically opposite to ours. We must stand for love, for equality and justice for all people. And to remember that when any one of God’s children is hurt, no matter their race or ethnicity, we are all hurt. Last night at the prayer vigil at Mother Bethel, the pastor said he knew that many present were not AME members, and someone in the congregation spoke up, “We are all AME!”

We are to care deeply about each other, about friends at Grove as well as the nine dead in Charleston. If we don’t, if we allow feelings to turn us against each other or groups of people, we will end up devouring one another.  That leads down the path of destruction, destruction of our society and of persons.

So back to my initial question. As we pray for the victims’ families and for Roof himself, what symbol might we use to proclaim our love? Perhaps the symbol of the cross best expresses the love to which we are called – love that is self-giving, love that puts the welfare of others ahead of self, love that may be costly and self-sacrificung. Let us raise our prayers to the Lord for all of God’s beloved children, even those who have turned their back on God, and work toward that world where God’s will is done in all of life.

Prayer: God of love, in Jesus Christ you made an enormous sacrifice for a people who had turned their back on you.  Teach me to love with that same love.  When I am angry with a brother, show me how to forgive; when I hate a sister, show me how to love.  Let me look always to Jesus for the model on which to build my life, and remember his love and sacrifice for me.  Amen.

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FIFA and My Life in Christ

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image“They have lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. That is not the way you learned Christ!”
Ephesians 4:19-20
The soccer world is all abuzz thanks to the breaking scandal about FIFA, the world governing body for soccer. The US government has brought charges against a score of top soccer officials, claiming bribery and corruption in the process used for awarding tournaments to cities and countries for awarding broadcast rights to media outlets. Even some star players have been crying out for years for something to be done about a culture of corruption. One south American star, Diego Maradona, said, “I was treated like a crazy person” for voicing allegations of corruption. (Philadelphia Inquirer, May 28, 2015, p. A8)

Ethics is the application of our beliefs to our actions in life. As Christians, we are called not only to affirm a belief in Jesus Christ but to order our lives around that belief living as followers in all that we do. In the letter to the Ephesians, Paul was warning the Christians in Ephesus to be sure their lives were aligned with the faith they professed. His words apply not only in 1st century Asia but throughout history.

Too often, Christians have separated church from life, barricading their faith behind stained glass barriers that limit matters of faith to Sunday morning and meetings in church buildings. But that is exactly the opposite of wha Christ intended. The teachings of Jesus are designed to shape our daily life, and Sunday morning at church is a time to be strengthened and supported as we prepare to go out into the world. It is there, in our Monday through Saturday lives, that our faith is most important. It is in how we live our daily lives that the world will see Christ and come to know the truth about God.

The scandal at FIFA involves many people from a variety of nations, but a significant portion are men from South America who, in all likelihood, are professing Christians. What does it say to the world that they were willing to engage in such scandalous actions? How might we order our lives to show the truth of Christ and the love of God eery day? How might we order our worship to be a source of strength and support for the living of each day in the world?
Prayer: Almighty God, I am weak, but I rejoice that in your power and with the support of my brothers and sisters in faith, I can live a life that brings honor to you. Let my life be a window that allows the world around me to see who you are. May I proclaim my love for Jesus Christ not with words alone, but with every action I take each day.   Amen.

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