#[ she’s like the Disciple Peter who always gets violent first ]

[spiderwarden]

I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times. Dame Aylin is the main influence behind how Minthara ends up with a Selǔnite verse. (Disciple of Dame Aylin, specifically if im allowed via individual portrayal)

[nothinggold13]

Another Name

A little fic about Lucy finding Aslan in our world. (Plus a little opening headcanon which is maybe not quite as relevant to the story as I would’ve liked it to be.)

Lucy was 10.

She'd been growing her hair out for two years, ever since they got back the first time. She wanted it long, like it had been in Narnia. She wanted to be able to braid it again, and fiddle with the ends when she was nervous. She missed the feeling of tying it back to get it out of her face, and she missed having Susan style it for formal occasions.

But when she and Edmund returned from their voyage on the Dawn Treader - when they returned for the last time - she cut it. She wouldn't be going back to Narnia. And, oh, she knew she'd probably grow it out again, but for the moment she needed to separate who she was then from who she would be now. She needed - was supposed to - start something new. So, Lucy Pevensie asked her mother to cut the golden hair she had so lovingly grown for the last two years, and willed herself to start over.

Susan still made an effort to style it for her, tying a ribbon to the side and insisting it looked just as beautiful. Lucy was grateful, of course. But she missed her long hair, and she missed Narnia, though she missed neither as much as she missed Aslan.

It was Easter when it all came together.

The Pevensies had always, technically, been a Christian family, but they'd never put that much time (or depth) into it. Surely there was a God, they thought, but they'd never put much effort into a personal relationship with him. They attended church on the big days, such as Easter and Christmas, and they hadn't considered the need for anything more.

Maybe that was part of the reason Lucy missed it for so long. She couldn't understand the value in her religion, because her parents inadvertently didn't teach it to her. Aslan was tangible. God was distant. And, oh, her parents' didn't mean for it to happen, but they didn't seem to understand it themselves.

Or maybe it was because up until then, she'd only been concerned about finding Aslan in Narnia, and had never considered that she should find him in England, too. That was a new command. But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. Now; now Lucy was searching everywhere.

So there was something different about that Easter Sunday.

The Pastor spoke first of Good Friday, which had just passed. He reminded the congregation of how Jesus has been arrested, but hadn't fought back. He talked about how the soldiers mocked him. He mentioned the disciples and family who watched as he died. It was excruciating, and tragic, and confusing. It was everything.

Something happened inside Lucy. One second she was sitting restlessly, the way a ten-year-old usually does during the sermon, and the next she was hooked. Her heart rose in her chest, and she held her breath. She knew what happened next. In her head she did, anyways. But her heart was on the edge of its seat, as was Lucy herself.

On the third day, a group of women went to the tomb, and found his body gone. The stone was rolled away, and it was impossible. They might have left the body alone. Who's done it? What does it mean?

"They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead." (John 20:9) Though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did no know.

Lucy's hands scrambled for the extra bible placed in the holder in the back of the pew in front of her, and she turned furiously to the chapter the Pastor was reading. The curls her mother had done for her the night before bounced as her head flew back and forth, following her fingers as she read.

This man, this Jesus, died on a cross, and the curtain in the temple split. ...the table would crack...

Jesus didn't fight back. ...Lucy and Susan held their breaths waiting for Aslan's roar and his spring upon his enemies. But it never came... He went willingly to his death. And Jesus, oh, he was given a crown of thorns; a scoffer's crown. ...the shorn face of Aslan looked to her braver, and more beautiful, and more patient than ever... He had died. He had risen.

But why? That was what Lucy needed to know. Why had this man died? She had known this story. She had thought she did. But all of a sudden it was brand new to her, and she was looking for the final piece of a puzzle she'd never considered solving.

It required almost more attention than she was able to give, and quite a bit of flipping back and forth, but there it was: "For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." (John 3:16-17)

To save the world... He was a Saviour. No, the Saviour. He'd died to save the world, ...killed in a traitor's stead.

Lucy's gaze shifted violently towards Edmund, her golden hair rather like a mane itself. He didn't look the way she did, with her fierce attentiveness and excitement, but it was clear that something was working in him, too. He was piecing together the clues, like the detectives in his books, but he was keeping quiet. He followed along silently, taking it all in. Lucy grabbed his hand, and he met her gaze.

Aslan, she mouthed.

I know.

You, she added.

Edmund nodded again and squeezed her hand.

It all felt so clear, and Lucy wondered how she'd never realized it before. She must have heard this story a hundred times, and yet she'd missed it all this time. Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for this world's sins; to redeem them. Aslan died to pay Edmund's price. But their story wasn't over, because they both rose again, conquering death and darkness. The veil was torn, and a way was made.

It was the same story. It was the same person. Lucy was filled with reverence; a sense of holiness she'd missed, even in Narnia. After all, Aslan hadn't just died for Edmund. He died for every one of them, and he'd died twice.

As soon as the service ended, Lucy pulled her siblings aside and told them what she'd discovered. Edmund was already on the same page, of course, and Peter listened intently. Only Susan appeared uninterested , though the rest were too excited to acknowledge her bad attitude.

"But it's just like what happened in Narnia! Like when Aslan died for Edmund, Jesus did the same thing for us!" Lucy spoke fervently.

"That's not all, Lu," Edmund interrupted. (He had a different look on his face; the kind of look he'd worn as King in Narnia. It was wiser; older.) "Of course Aslan died for me - for what I did. I mean, I thank him every day. But no, he didn't just die for me, even in Narnia. Don't you remember what the Witch had said? 'Every traitor belongs to me.' And before that, when she planned to kill me, she said, 'I would've liked to have done it on the Stone Table. That's the proper place. That's where it's always been done.'"

They were speaking in hushed voices in the church yard, quiet, yet passionate, knowing very well that anyone who overheard them would think them mad. Even so, only Susan seemed bothered by the idea. The other two listened intently to what Edmund said, blocking the rest of the world out as they focused on the matter at hand.

"What are you getting at, Ed?" Peter asked.

"It's just this. When Aslan died, he took my place. Someone had to die, you see, or Narnia would have perished. That's what the Deep Magic said. But remember that the Stone Table cracked. The Witch said that the Table was where she killed traitors before, and that if she didn't kill them, the world would end. It was all tied together. So to defeat the Witch, and I mean really defeat her, there would have to be no more cause to kill traitors... sorry, this may be getting messed up in my head. I can't speak it the way I would like to." All the same, even as he apologized, everyone could hear the wisdom in his voice. They figured it must have always been there, though they still remembered a time when he wasn't very wise at all. He hadn't been very smart about it when he first came into Narnia, but Aslan had changed him. Or perhaps he simply brought some of those quieter virtues to the surface, as he had for all of them.

"I think I see now what you mean," Peter nodded.

"I don't," Lucy frowned.

Susan muttered, "I don't either, and I don't see why it matters at all," but no one was really paying any attention to her.

Edmund continued. "When Aslan died, the Stone Table cracked, and there wasn't any use for it anymore. The curse was over. The Deep Magic was appeased, and the Deeper Magic had prevailed. Everyone in Narnia was saved because of it."

"Oh! Oh!" Lucy interjected. "I see now! And didn't Jesus take the place of another prisoner? Oh, I can't remember his name! But there was someone else meant to die, and he was set free because of his sacrifice! Like you, Edmund! And because Jesus died instead of this other man, we are all free from the curse, too! Oh, it's all too wonderful!"

"I do believe you two are right," Peter beamed. "I can't think how I didn't see it before!"

"After all this... this desire to go to Narnia..." Edmund mused.

"It must have blinded us," Peter added. "I should have looked harder! All this time..."

"And it was right here!" Lucy exclaimed!

After that day, the family's church habits were different. Lucy, of course, (followed by her brothers,) immediately begged her parents for a new bible; one she could read for herself and learn from, and they were pleased enough to submit. Then she was begging to go to church more often. "There's a service every Sunday, Mum! And we can learn so much more!"

Mr. and Mrs. Pevensie were shocked by the sudden interest. They hadn't really considered the need to attend church often before, but as they began to, they discovered they quite liked it. They grew close with many of the other church members, and the children all made closer friends there as well. And when the kids went away for school, they made sure to attend services as often as they could.

The only one not thoroughly involved in the Pevensies' newfound passion was Susan, but while she was young she had almost no choice but to tag along. She didn't listen with her whole heart open the way her siblings did, and eventually learned not to listen at all. Her siblings tried so hard to get her excited about it, too, but Susan wouldn't give them the chance.

That didn't deter them, though. It was different now. The puzzle pieces floated together, and Peter, Edmund, and Lucy were overjoyed at their newfound faith. All their life in Narnia had been leading them to this, and now they knew it. The same God that created their world had created their world, too. He was their God.

But they had seen him. Touched him. Talked with him. He was more tangible to them than even their parents could realize, and they never stopped thanking him for it. Of course they missed Narnia, but they knew now that they'd been given a chance that thousands of other people never had. God had chosen them, and had walked with them, and had died for them.

They had found Aslan's other name.

[johnhardinsawyer]

On the Loose

John Sawyer

Bedford Presbyterian Church

5 / 31 / 20 – Pentecost Sunday

Acts 2:1-21

John 20:19-23

“On the Loose”

(The Church in the Wild Age of the Holy Spirit)

My Grandmother Sawyer didn’t have a mean bone in her body.  She tried to love everyone as best she could.  But every year when those geese started landing in her yard on their way to the little pond down the hill, Grandmother would get mad.  She tried everything from umbrellas, to noise makers, to a golf club (even though Grandmother never played golf).  But none of this stuff worked.  And those geese kept coming back again, and again, and again.  Somehow, they always knew where her house was.  It was almost like they always knew where she was.  She didn’t know where they came from or where they went, once they left her yard, but anyone could plainly see that my Grandmother had been visited by those wild geese.  They sure did leave a mess!  And if there was anything that Grandmother Sawyer didn’t like, it was a mess.

I don’t know if you knew this, but in the Celtic Christian tradition, the Holy Spirit is often compared to a wild goose.  As John Bell, the writer of today’s anthem, has been known to say, “The Holy Spirit is like a wild goose, because you don’t know exactly where it came from or exactly where it’s going, but it leaves a mess along the way.”[1]

The story of Pentecost, which we heard just a moment ago, is a strange story about how the Holy Spirit arrives and leaves a beautiful mess.  There is a wild goose on the loose and it goes by the name Holy Spirit.

Just prior to today’s reading, Jesus has ascended into heaven, but not before telling his disciples that the “Holy Spirit will come upon [them].” (Acts 1:8)  In the original language, the Holy Spirit will arrive and take hold of them, and have “power, authority, and control” over them.[2]  I don’t know if they’re ready for all of that, yet, though.  

Over the past fifty days or so, their lives have been turned upside down.  Their teacher and friend, Jesus –  with whom they had traveled for several years – has been violently killed and then miraculously raised from the dead and then amazingly ascended into heaven.  They used to have jobs and lives back home, but now they find themselves in the big city of Jerusalem – a place where they don’t feel too welcome.  They do have some cause to fear the authorities.  After all, Jesus died the death of a criminal and the followers of a so-called criminal wouldn’t necessarily be considered the most upstanding group of folks by the people in power.  Add to this the news that Jesus had risen from the dead – flaunting the very laws of nature in a powerful and mysterious way.  If such news were true, the whole world as people knew it would be turned upside down.

You know, sometimes when the world is being turned upside down, can feel good to do something that has a little predictability – something that puts some limits on the chaos of the world.  This is one reason why, in the middle of what has to be a very stressful time, the disciples hold an election for a new twelfth disciple to take the place of Judas, the one who betrayed Jesus.  So, they do what we often do:  get a nominating committee together and find two nominees and elect one of them – a guy named Matthias, who is never mentioned again in the Bible.[3]

Anyway, after they hold this decent and in-order election, they gather together in one place, in a house.  Eugene Peterson tells the story of what happens next:

Without a warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force – no one could tell where it came from.  It filled the whole building. Then, like wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number of different languages as the Spirit prompted them.[4]

After spending however long together in that house, the Holy Spirit comes rushing into the building and sends them out into the street.  How quickly things can change!  The way that they have been operating – sitting there with one another, needing to be together, waiting for something to happen – changes, much to their surprise and the surprise of the whole city of Jerusalem.  What a wild and beautifully holy mess!

I mean, we should remember, that this is a bunch of fishermen, and women, and tax collectors and others – peasants, people on the margins of society – who now find themselves right in the middle of everything – taking center stage – speaking in different languages so that people from all over the world can understand God’s good news to them.  But this is not all.  Peter, an uneducated fisherman with his own set of doubts and denials when it comes to Jesus, becomes the spokesperson for this ragtag group, speaking eloquently to a huge crowd of people about who Jesus is and how the Spirit has now come.  Suddenly, as Peter says, because of the Holy Spirit, “people of all ages and stations in life are now able to come to understand and talk about God in new ways, to trust in Jesus, and to be saved.”[5]

The story of what happens on Pentecost is a strange story.  I mean, stranger things have happened to the disciples ever since they met Jesus, but now things are dramatically different – Jesus is no longer with them, everything is messier and more confusing.  God has overturned everyone’s expectations and then overturns them again.  It’s as if God cannot be predicted or contained (as if God could ever be predicted or contained to begin with).  The Holy Spirit is on the loose – and it is bringing a gift to all people:  the gift of being able to see and know and trust in God.  God is no longer in the hands of the chief priests and scribes and Temple walls and Tabernacles.  God’s Spirit of power is now – in this day and time – taking hold of each of us.  “In the last days,” Peter tells the crowd, quoting the prophet Joel from the Hebrew Bible, God “will pour out [God’s] Spirit upon all flesh. . .” (2:17)  God’s Spirit is poured out on everyone:  sons and daughters, young men and old men, even slaves (both men and women) – like rain that pours down upon the earth and causes everything to be fruitful – for life to be plentiful.[6]  God’s Spirit – the Holy Spirit – is here and now, within each of us, working through each and every person – uniting us to God and one another in mysterious and holy ways.

For my part, I don’t think that the Spirit could arrive at a better time.  According to Peter – and the prophet Joel, before him – the Holy Spirit arrives amidst signs in heaven above and the earth below. . .  some frightening images and events that cause people to turn to God and call on the name of the Lord to be saved.  I don’t fully know what to make of the language in today’s story about “blood and fire, and smoky mist” (2:19) and other things that will happen “before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day,” (2:20) but I do know that the world is still filled with troubles – events that reveal to the world our need for God’s help and healing and wholeness. . .  salvation.

As we find ourselves living through a global pandemic that is revealing the fault lines of our society, and economy and ability to trust one another; as we see shocking images of violence fueled by the sin of racism and injustice, white supremacy and white fragility, and black lives suffocated before our very eyes and brimming with outrage; and as we watch people around the world pointing fingers and laying blame instead of working together to find solutions to our common problems of inequality, and environmental degradation, and diseases that know no borders but threaten us all – I find myself longing for the Holy Spirit to work harder, to burn brighter, to blow even mightier throughout the world.

But then I remember that the Holy Spirit – like wild geese that fly through the sky in a “V” shape, helping each other along the way – the Holy Spirit does not fly solo.  First, the Holy Spirit is not alone in that it is always at work in, with, and through the with God the Creator and God the Redeemer – who are often called the “Father” and the “Son.”  And second, the Holy Spirit is not alone in that it is always at work through people – people who sometimes come from humble backgrounds, people who may be faltering in their faith, anxious people, worried people – people just like you and me.

Over the past several decades, different authors and thinkers have been wondering if the church and world are entering an Age of the Spirit[7] – a time in which different aspects of the church might be fading away, but a time in which the Holy Spirit is seen in a new way as people declare themselves to be “less religious but more spiritual.”  The writers who have been thinking about all of this could not have predicted a global pandemic that basically has shut down in-person worship services and other religious gatherings.  I find it especially ironic – perhaps, poetic in a spiritual sense – that we, as a congregation, are just putting the finishing touches on nearly $1,000,000 of renovations to our church building over the past five years, but now we cannot use our church building.  What could the Spirit be trying to tell us about the necessity of a church building for doing good in the world?  What if the Spirit is cutting us loose from the things that we used to think were so important so that we can focus on the things that truly are important, like the building of relationships, the ways that we are called to be connected to one another and to offer what we have and who we are to the world.  You see, the Spirit of God is alive in and through the people of God – even you and me in all of our uncertainty and in all of our messiness.

And, in the age of the Spirit, here is the Spirit, pushing us out into the world when all we want to do is stick together – pushing us out of our comfort zones and into acts of faith and hope and love. . . right where we need to be for God to use us for good.  What if, in doing this, God isn’t cutting us loose so much as God is setting us free?

I’ll close with this.  Today’s story from the Book of Acts is not the only Pentecost story in the Bible.  In today’s first reading from the Gospel of John, we find a shorter, quieter story.  The disciples all gathered together in one place.  They have locked all the doors because they are afraid of those in power.  And yet the resurrected Jesus – who cannot be contained by a sealed tomb, much less a locked door – comes into the room and stands among them and says, “Peace be with you.”  (John 20:19)  After the disciples have a moment to gather themselves, Jesus says, “Peace be with you,” again.  And then he says, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  When he had said this, he breathed on them. . .  Now, I know that in this time when everyone is thinking about the coronavirus, the last thing we want is for someone to breathe on us.  “Not cool, Jesus,” we might think.  To which Jesus says, “Peace be with you. . . [Take a breath!]  Receive the Holy Spirit.”  (20:22)

If we would be followers of Jesus – if we would be the Body of Christ, the church – it would be good to remember that Jesus has sent us out of the closed and locked and fearful places and out into the world, and that we do not go alone.

The Holy Spirit of God is at work in and through you.  May the Spirit take hold of you and never let you go.  

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

----------

[1] I have heard John L. Bell say some version of this on various occasions at various workshops at Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, NJ, St. Andrews University in St. Andrews, Scotland, Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA, and at the Montreat Conference Center in Montreat, NC.

[2] Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago:  University of Chicago Press, 1979) 287.

[3] Wayne Meeks, ed.  The Harper-Collins Study Bible (New York:  HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. 1993) 2059.  Note by Beverly Roberts Gaventa.

[4] Eugene Peterson, The Message – Numbered Edition (Colorado Springs:  NAV Press, 2002) 1494.  Acts 2:2-4.

[5] Acts 2:17-21 – Paraphrased, JHS.

[6] See Joel 2:23.

[7] Phyllis Tickle, Harvey Cox, and Jurgen Moltmann, among others.

[gracewithducks]

There is your heart (Matthew 6:19-24)

For the first few years of our marriage, Mike and I didn’t have a budget. We know, vaguely, that budgeting is important – but we didn’t bother. And as a result, just about every month, we found ourselves looking at the bank account and wondering, “Where did all our money go?” We would scramble and scrounge to pay our bills and rely far too heavily on credit cards.

 When we finally did learn to budget, we were shocked to realize just how much money we were wasting on things that didn’t matter. Hundreds of dollars every month disappeared to quick and easy restaurant lunches, to impulse buys, to “just because it’s on sales” and “it’s only a few bucks.” And because we weren’t paying attention, when it came time to pay the taxes, to pay the medical bills, to try to plan for trips or dream for the future – or even to fulfill our pledge to the church – sometimes, the money just wasn’t there.

 These days, we pay attention. You can ask my husband: we pay attention. We track every dollar that comes in, and we know where every single dollar goes. Nothing is wasted – and what’s amazing is, for the most part, we don’t miss those restaurant lunches and impulse buys. We don’t miss them, because instead of wasting and chasing our money, we’re making it work for us: we give to the churches off the top, we pay our debts, we save for our big bills – and we invest in our kids, in dance classes and swim meets, in saving for trips and camps and experiences that will become memories that we can share together.

 Money is a powerful tool – when we’re paying attention, when we’re controlling it instead of letting it control us.

 Something strange has been happening at our house lately, though. We’ve been going over budget, consistently, every month for the last few months. Thankfully, we had some flexibility – but as I’ve been moving money around, I was wondering, “What’s going on?”

 And then on Friday night, I looked around our dinner table: and there were ten people at the table. Our family has been growing: college students, exchange students, colleagues and friends – ours has become a table where there is always room to set another plate and another place. And that, to me, is something worth investing in.

 This month, we didn’t put hardly any money into our savings – and that’s because, instead, we gave to the CROP walk, and we supported our daughter’s school readathon, and we donated pizzas to the swim team, and yes, we did buy a few of those fast food lunches – but we did it on purpose, so that I could have a break in my day and spend time with a certain four-year-old who’s been missing her mommy, since I’ve been working so many extra hours the last few weeks.

 Feeding hungry people, and supporting our schools, and investing in the community, and sharing time with my daughter: those are investments I’m willing to make. And we’re reshaping our budget so that those priorities are accounted for.

 I recently spent some time with a colleague who pointed out that money, in itself, doesn’t make us happy – until we use it. It’s when we buy that thing we want, when we trade our money for resources and for experiences – when we’ve spent it, that’s when we realize it is possible, sometimes, to use your money to buy some happiness, for yourself and for the people around you.

 The joy comes when we use it – when we use it with intention, when we use it on the things and the people that matter to us.

 And how we use our money can reveal what it is that’s really important to us. Or, as Jesus says in our scripture for today, “Where your treasure is, there is your heart.”

 For too many of us these days, our treasure is in our treasure itself. We spend our lives in the relentless pursuit of more – more money, more stuff, more power, so we can get more stuff and have more money. And as a result, we’ve created a world where a few people have stockpiled away more money than they could ever even possibly use across several lifetimes – while others beg on street corners, or carry water for their families, or work in factories for pennies an hour or a couple of dollars a day.

 Where our treasure is – what it is that we treasure – says a lot about our hearts. It’s very telling to me that there are leaders – even self-professed Christian leaders – who will support a violent regime that murders through torture, simply because that regime is a great business partner. There are professed Christian leaders who will even say right-out: the money is worth more than one man’s life.

 Money is a dangerous thing – because we forget what really matters. We forget that, as Christians, we profess that one person’s death can change everything. We profess that God loves everyone, every single human being on the face of the earth, that every single person is made in the image of the eternal God, and that God loves every single one of us so much that God would rather suffer and die than let us suffer and die, forgotten and alone.

 We say the words. We know the story. But when push comes to shove – that’s when we find out if we believe it. That’s when we find out if we love God, or if we love money; that’s when we find out if we’re willing to count the cost of loving our neighbor as we love ourselves.

 Too often, we choose money. Too often, we choose ourselves.

 And sometimes it’s because of greed. But if we’re being honest, often, our selfishness and greed is actually borne out of our fear.

 We’re afraid. We’re afraid, because we’ve seen what kind of world we live in. We’re afraid, because we think there’s not enough to go around. We’re afraid, because we know that this world can be a cruel and callous place – a place where nobody cares if you’re hungry, where they’ll let you go bankrupt if you get hurt or get sick, where – if tragedy strikes, there’s no safety net to catch you when you fall.

 So we squirrel away what we can – because we’re afraid. We’re afraid that one day, there won’t be enough. One day, we will be all alone, and our resources will have run out.

 We are so terrified no one will help us, that we are afraid to help others. But what if we imagine, what if we envision, a different way of living? What if we actually make it so? What if we were willing to risk being generous with our neighbors, to risk setting another seat at our table, to take care of one another – and maybe we’ll find that that one day, when it’s our turn, we’ve created a world where someone will be willing to care for us?

 We don’t like to talk about money in the church. We don’t like to talk about it, because it makes us uncomfortable. It makes us uncomfortable for lot of reasons – for some of us, we don’t like having to look at what we have and how we’re using it; we don’t like to be reminded that we are rich, and others are struggling, and we have a moral and Christian obligation to do something about it. And for some of us, we are struggling. We may be rich from a global perspective – but most of the time, we are barely scraping by; there are many of us on a fixed income, many of us who are mired in debt, many of us who would love to be more generous, but genuinely don’t see any way to do it. And when the pastor starts talking about money, it can feel like we aren’t welcome if we can’t give or give more.

 And I want to acknowledge all of that today. You heard me tell you up front: my family has had some lean years. My family has made mistakes and gotten ourselves so mired in debt that it was hard to imagine any way out. And if that’s where you are – I’d love to talk to you, to share our journey, to offer any resources I might be able to share – and more than that, to reaffirm for you that you are welcome here, that your presence and your gifts – your skills, your passion, your friendship, your faith – are worth so much more than money. And I hope you know that God loves us, not because of what we can give or what we can do for God – but because of who God is.

 Throughout the gospels, Jesus meets people where they are. Jesus loves people where they are. And that welcome, that love, continues today.

 At the same time, though, Jesus sure does talk about money a lot, too. He warns his disciples: you can’t serve both God and wealth. He tells them, and tells us: be careful of storing up treasures for yourself; where your treasure is, there is your heart.

 Jesus has a lot to say about money, because it’s dangerous. It’s easy for money to get in our way. It’s easy for our debts, our bills, our obligations, our worries, our greed and our fear to overwhelm us, to make us want to hold back, to keep us from loving God with all we have and loving our neighbors as we love ourselves.

 As I was preparing for the sermon this week, my husband shared with me a story told by one of his favorite theologians, Peter Rollins:

 Early one morning a man turned up at the house of his minister in tears, saying “Please, can you help. A kind and considerate family in the area is in great trouble. The husband recently lost his job, and the wife cannot work due to health problems. They have three young children to look after, and the man’s mother lives with them because she is unwell and needs constant care. They have no money at the moment and if they don’t pay the rent by tomorrow morning the land lord is going to kick them all out onto the street, even though it’s the middle of winter.” The minster replied, “That’s terrible. Of course we will help. I will go get some money from the church fund to pay their rent. Anyway, how do you know them? To which the man replied “Oh, I’m the landlord.”[1]

 It’s so easy for us to say “someone should do something” while letting our own greed or our own fear get in the way of seeing what it is that we, ourselves, can do. That’s why money is so dangerous.

 But at the same time, money is also one of the most powerful tools for ministry that we have. With money, we can feed people; we can clothe the naked; we can comfort the afflicted; we can help the sick and hurting be healed; we can invest in education and relief and offer individuals and families and communities hope for the future. How we use our money matters. It matters to us; it matters to the world; and it matters to God.

 Over the last few years, our congregation has been stepping up ministries: we’ve brought on new staff members to invest in our members through education programs and congregational care; we’ve added new kids’ classes, and new small groups; we’ve held our first Love in Action day of service; we’ve built community through pancake dinners and summer picnics and harvest potlucks. We’ve been investing in our worship together, in building relationships, in growing in our faith, and we’ve been generous – giving locally and globally to help meet people where they are, to bring help and hope in the name of Christ.

 Our congregation has been stepping up our ministries. And this year, we’re asking our members to step your support of those ministries – to look at what you’ve been given, and prayerfully consider how you might step up your giving, your investment in the work that God is doing here.

 Over the next couple of weeks, if you’re on our mailing list, you’ll be receiving some information about the work the church is doing and our hopes for the coming year – and an invitation to be a part of that ministry, to share some of what you have so that we can share the good news in ways that matter.

 We’ll talk more in the weeks to come. But for what it’s worth, I want to let you know that my family is going to be stepping up our support of the church. We believe in the work that happens here. We believe that the work of this church –  our worship, our fellowship, our learning, our service – it matters. And we want to do what we can to make sure those ministries don’t just continue but they continue to grow in the year to come. My hope is that you’ll join us; that you will prayerfully consider stepping up, too.

 How we use what we have – it matters. Where your treasure is, your heart follows. I want my heart to follow Christ, so I want my treasure to follow him, too – I want to use what I have to love people, to transform the world, so the love of God might be revealed and lives be changed.

 May you listen for God’s call. May you find the courage to be generous, in spite of your fear. And together, may we invest our resources and our lives in God’s work.

  God, you know what holds us back. You know the debts we carry, the fears we face, the struggles before us, the wounds within us. We pray that you would surround us with your grace, that you would renew in us the assurance that you love us, just as we are, without one plea. And we ask that you would pour out your Holy Spirit upon us once more, to empower us to follow where you lead us, to use our time, our talents, and yes, our treasure, for the sake of your work in the world. May your love be revealed in us, and through us; in the name of Christ we pray. Amen.

[1] Peter Rollins (via patheos.com]

[brucesimpkinsblog]

Bitter Water

When studying the Old Testament, there are always 3 views to consider in any passage:

An historical view, a prophetic view, and a personal view

 We are in chapter 5 of Numbers now.  Remember from previous messages that Leviticus and Numbers were God’s plan for removing the old Egyptian ways of life from the Israelites and reestablishing the Holiness of God into their lives.  The first part of chapter 5 gives them some rules to drive home the importance of God’s holiness.  They were to quarantine anything and anyone that may defile the holiness of God. Those . . . Num 5:2 . . . who have an infectious skin disease or a discharge of any kind, or who is ceremonially unclean because of a dead body.

 That being said, I would like to jump ahead to the whole last section of chapter 5 starting at verse 11. This section is quite long, so I would encourage you to open in your own Bible to read the whole passage first, and I will just include certain verses for emphasis in this article.  Okay, so go ahead and read Numbers 5:11-31 . . . all done? What did you think about it?

 The first time I preached this passage years ago, I groaned and thought, “What in the world am I going to say about this?  Oh Lord, this is a hard teaching.”

 You know, Jesus brought many hard teachings to His disciples too.  In fact, it was quite common for the disciples to misunderstand what Jesus was talking about.  For example, right after Jesus had His conversation with the Samaritan woman the scripture tells us this:

 John 4:31-34  Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something." 

But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about."   Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?" "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

 Another time:  Matt 16:5-12  When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. "Be careful," Jesus said to them. "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."  They discussed this among themselves and said, "It is because we didn't bring any bread." Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, "You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread ? Do you still not understand? Don't you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? How is it you don't understand that I was not talking to you about bread?  But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."  

Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

 These are just a couple of examples.  There are many more.  So why is it the disciples had such a hard time understanding what Jesus was teaching? I’ll tell you why.  They were thinking in physical, earthly terms while Jesus was actually speaking in spiritual, heavenly terms. Not earthly food, not earthly yeast, not earthly bread . . . spiritual.  

 If you and I encounter a difficult passage like Numbers 5, try looking beyond the physical and delve into the spiritual meaning of the passage . . . which can only be revealed, BTW, by the Holy Spirit within us.  This is what we need to keep in mind as we think about this passage.  

 Does that mean the passage was not to be taken literally by the Israelites?  I believe it should be taken literally by them as an earthly example of a spiritual teaching.  So, it was literal for them and is spiritual for us, now that the Messiah has come to fulfill God’s prophecy.

 So, here is the summarized, short, (Bruce’s standard) version.  Then we can go back and look at it in more detail, starting at verse 11.

 If a man’s wife is suspected of unfaithfulness to him, but it can’t be proven, he is to bring his wife to the priest to determine innocence or guilt.  He is also to bring an offering of barley flour, but not to put any oil or frankincense on it.

 Then the priest is to stand the woman before the Lord and put some holy water in a clay jar and pick up a handful of dust from the floor and put it in the water.  Then he is to let the woman’s hair down and put the offering of barley flour in her hands while he holds the jar.  This jar of water is called “bitter” water that has a curse associated with it.

 Then the woman must then take an oath.  It is kind of like an oath during a wedding ceremony where the priest says the words, but the woman must agree by saying, “I do”.  Here is the oath:

 Num 5:19-22

“If no other man has slept with you and you have not gone astray and become impure while married to your husband, may this bitter water that brings a curse not harm you. But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and you have defiled yourself by sleeping with a man other than your husband . . . may the LORD cause your people to curse and denounce you when he causes your thigh to waste away and your abdomen to swell.  May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen swells and your thigh wastes away.”

Then the woman is to say, "Amen.  So be it."

 After the oath, the priest is to write this oath on a scroll and wash the ink off into the jar of bitter water with the dirt in it.  Then the woman is to drink the water. Then the priest takes the offering of barley flour, wave it before the Lord and put it on the altar.  Then he is to take a handful of the flour and burn it.

 If the woman is guilty, she will get violently ill and her stomach will swell up and her thigh will waste away and she will be accursed by her own people. However, if the woman is NOT guilty, she will not become ill and she will be cleared and given the right to bear children.  Either way, the husband is innocent.  Only the woman will pay the consequences of her sin.

 This is the historical view of what occurred.  Now the for the prophetic and spiritual view.

 So the prophecy begins in verse 17.  We have the Holy Water in a clay jar.  We talked last time about the importance of symbols.  In this case, the Holy Water represents the Word of God and the clay jar represents an earthly human body.

 Ephesians 5:25-26 . . . Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word . . .

The Word in the water that washes her clean.

 2 Peter 3:5 . . . they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water.

The Word was the water that formed the world out of the water of His Word.

 Isaiah 11:9  the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

 Habakkuk  2:14 the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

The water represents the Word of God and the clay jar represents a physical body.

Isaiah 64:8  O LORD, you are our Father.  We are the clay , you are the potter ; we are all the work of your hand.

 So in spiritual terms, the Word of God is contained in a human body . . . and Jesus is BOTH of those. John 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  John 1:14  The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

 So the jar of water represents Christ Jesus with God’s Word inside Him . . . pure and undefiled.

 But what happens next? The purity of the water is defiled with dust.  Dust always represents death.  From dust you were made and to dust you will go.  Being made dust is death.  Specifically, dust in the water points to Jesus death on the cross.

 There is a famous prophesy of Jesus death on a cross in Psalm 22:15-18.  It is actually the whole chapter, but here is this part of it:  Ps 22:15-18

My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me,

they have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.

 Jesus was brought to the dust of death.

 So the body of Christ containing the Word of God took on the dust of death that would ultimately decide our innocence or guilt at the Great White Throne.  Are you still with me?  But that’s is not all.

 He also took on the consequence of our sin.  Not just the dust of death, but the curse was also put in the water.  The ink with the written curse was washed into the jar too. If guilty, there would be a swelling of the belly and the wasting away of the thigh.  

 When a person dies on a cross, it is a slow and agonizing process.  They become completely emaciated on the cross.  The tissues in their belly begins to separate and makes it begin to swell.  The strength of the thigh is an indicator of a person’s strength.  There was no strength left and the thigh would waste away. If there is no strength left in the legs while on the cross to push up and take a breath, the person suffocates and dies.  You see, there is nothing beautiful or pleasing about the cross.  

 The sacrifice represented by the flour was not to have any oil or fragrance of frankincense on it. Oil and frankincense represents the blessings of God, and when Jesus sacrificed Himself for us, there was nothing beautiful about it.  This sacrifice for sin STINKS TO HIGH HEAVEN literally.

 HERE’S OUR GOOD NEWS.  Jesus drank the bitter water on our behalf.  We are the bride of Christ, and we are GUILTY of unfaithfulness before God.  We are defiled.  Rom 3:10-18

"There is no one righteous, not even one;  there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.  All have turned away, they have together become worthless;  there is no one who does good, not even one." "Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit."  "The poison of vipers is on their lips."  "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness."  "Their feet are swift to shed blood;  ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know."  "There is no fear of God before their eyes."

 If you or I were to drink from that cup, we would have to die an excruciating eternal death.  But Jesus loved us so much, He took the bitter cup and drank it for us and suffered the torment on our behalf . . . so that we can now be presented blameless and pure and able to bring new life into the world. Unashamed before our people . . . even though we do not deserve it.

 Not only did Jesus take on our death for us, but also paid the consequences for us.  If we truly had even the slightest understanding of what Christ did for you and me, we would cry out to Jesus,      “NO!!”         I don’t deserve what you did for me.  I am so sorry my sin has caused you so much anguish because of my weakness in the flesh . . . Oh Jesus, my Lord and my God . . . I will worship and love you with every ounce of my being as long as I live, because of what you did for me.”

 In the garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed for “this cup” to be taken away.  He may or may not have been thinking about this bitter cup, but either way, He drank every last drop on our behalf.  Only God in the flesh could survive that and still be victorious over death.  You and I never even had a chance.

 Oh Lord, we have gotten a glimpse of your Glory today, and my soul cries out, “Woe is me.  I am a man of unclean lips, and we are a people of unclean lips.  Yet you have purified us with the your redemption. Lead us now in paths of righteousness for your name sake.  Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil . . . for Yours is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, forever.  Amen.

[carterconlon]

When Christians Make Mistakes by Carter Conlon

Download PDF of "When Christians Make Mistakes"

"So Peter went out and wept bitterly" (Luke 22:62). In this scene just before Jesus' crucifixion, we see Peter weeping inconsolably, stunned by his own sense of failure. After all, he was the one who seemingly had the most passion of those who were following Christ. He was the disciple who said to Jesus, "Others may run from You, but I will not." At another time, he declared, "I am willing not just to live with You but to die for You and with You in Jerusalem!" (see Matthew 26:35). However, only a very short time later Peter denied he even knew Christ, swearing with an oath to this effect.

I feel in my spirit that a lot of bitter weeping is going on in the Body of Jesus Christ today–that many disappointed, disillusioned people feel they have somehow failed God. They remember the days when they loved to pray– when they could not wait to tell people about Jesus. But something happened along the way. They feel as if they have made a mistake of some sort, and now they don't know if their relationship with God can ever be as it once was.

If you are among those who have been feeling this way, I hope you will be encouraged to remember that Christians do make mistakes. In fact, let's take a look at a few of the common mistakes I believe every Christian is prone to making.

RELYING ON HUMAN REASONING

The first mistake that Christians often make is substituting human reasoning for divine counsel. The Scripture tells us in the book of Acts: "All the early disciples continued with one accord in prayer and supplication"(see Acts 1:14). Now, when you and I pray, ideas will come into our heart. However, we must remember that they are not always from God, even though we are praying. Our fallen nature desires to be as God is, and every once in a while it will still whisper something. It wants to declare something to be a good idea which, even though it is good, might not be God's idea for the moment.

The next verse goes on to tell us that Peter stood up and recounted how Judas betrayed the Son of God, bought a field with the reward of his betrayal, and then fell to his own death (1:15-19). Peter then quoted a Scripture, saying, "'Let his dwelling place be desolate, and let no one live in it' and,'Let another take his office'" (Acts 1:20).

Peter had an idea in his heart. Even though he had wept bitterly, even though he had made tremendous mistakes, he still had a strong will. "'Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord, Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.' And they proposed two: Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed and said, 'You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two You have chosen'" (Acts 1:21-24). This is only conjecture, but I believe when God speaks, He does not present us two choices. When we end up with two choices, many times they are good ideas that have come from the heart of man. I have been in enough board meetings to have seen this happen over and over again.

So how did they figure out who was going to be the twelfth apostle? They cast lots! The lot fell upon Matthias, so he was numbered with the eleven apostles. Yet you never hear of him again!

You see, somebody did have to take that twelfth place, but they needed to learn to wait on God rather than substituting human reasoning for divine counsel. When human reasoning gets into the Church of Jesus Christ, we are essentially trying to promote a supernatural kingdom in a natural way, and the two simply do not go together. The man God had chosen to be the twelfth apostle was not saved yet–his name was Saul of Tarsus. When you read Paul's letters, they say, "Paul, chosen by God, called to be an apostle"(see 1 Corinthians 1:1; Galatians 1:1; Ephesians 1:1). Paul knew that he was called, and he was actually the one chosen by God to become the greatest apostle of all times.

HARBORING BITTERNESS AGAINST GOD

Allowing discouragement and bitterness against God to enter the heart when a plan does not move forward as expected is a second common mistake of Christians. Consider Peter at the Last Supper. Zealous to serve God with all his heart, he suddenly heard Jesus say, "Whoever does not have a sword, get one now. For it is written, he was numbered against the transgressors"(see Luke 22:36-37). So Peter got his sword, stuck it in his belt, and promised to fight to the end for this Man he believed to be the Son of God.

Later in the Garden of Gethsemane when Judas and the band of zealots came to take Christ captive, Peter drew his sword and took a swipe at the high priest, cutting off his ear (see Matthew 26:51). Now Peter was serving God the way he felt he has been instructed to. But Jesus reached to the ground, picked up the ear, put it back on his head, and then turned to Peter and said, "Put your sword away"(see Matthew 26:52). Imagine how Peter must have felt as he stood there. "I trusted You; I have sincerely followed You. But now You have left me standing here, looking like a fool!"

Have you ever felt you had a direct word from the Lord and set out to do it, only to have it all seem to blow up in your face? I am sure we have all had those moments when we end up thinking, as Peter did, "I don't know You! I don't even know if You know what You are doing. You give all these contrary instructions. If You didn't want me to use the sword, why did You tell me to get the sword in the first place?"

Of course, there might be something a little deeper in the instruction of God. We often assume that we know exactly what He means when He sends us out to do something. Then when it does not work out as we thought, we become discouraged and even bitter.

It is difficult for Christians to admit that they have become bitter against God. A famous evangelist, in his eighties at the time, told me about his grandchild who contracted cancer. He prayed and fasted and believed this little three-year-old girl was going to be healed, but she died. And as a result, he became very bitter toward God. Something in the heart says, "Lord, I have served You all these years. I have honored Your Son and Your family; I have fed Your sheep. All I am asking You for is this one little life. Will You not spare it?" After she died, he and I were sitting in a restaurant together, and he said, "Pastor, the only reason I did not turn from God when my granddaughter died is that I had come too far to turn back."Nevertheless, he was angry with God but at least he had the courage to admit it.

Even David the psalmist once said, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me? And from the words of My groaning. O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; and in the night season, and am not silent" (Psalm 22:1-2). In effect, David was saying, "I am doing my part. Why are You not doing Yours? I am praying, I am crying out, I am seeking justice and righteousness. God, I know You have the power to make a difference, but why are You silent in the midst of my prayer?"Although it may feel as if God does not hear our cries, we must not forget that God's ways are not our ways; His thoughts are not our thoughts. He has never left us nor forsaken us. And so we must carefully guard our hearts against bitterness.

GIVING UP ON PEOPLE

The third common mistake that Christians make is writing off people whom God has not written off. That is part of the reason why so many feel distant from God. For example, the apostle Paul had taken a young man named Mark with him on his journey. Now Mark was not ready for martyrdom the way Paul was. Paul was a zealot before he got saved, and he brought a great measure of that zeal into the kingdom of God. On the other hand, Mark was young. Perhaps he was thinking, "Look, Paul, I have a life to live. Everywhere you go, you are crawling out from under a pile of rocks. I am just not ready for that." So he left, and Paul was so angered by it that he wrote Mark off as useless and no good for the kingdom of God. In fact, Paul was so adamant about this that he even split up a good friendship with Barnabas over it (see Acts 15:38-39).

Of course, we know that God had not written Mark off. God was not finished with this young man, who eventually ended up writing the gospel of Mark! And so we must remember: We reap what we sow. If we sow judgment toward others who have failed in our sight, we reap judgment without mercy. None of us are walking in absolute perfection anyway. Learn to be kind toward others. Watch what happens when you start extending mercy to other people. Suddenly you will become very aware of the mercy and longsuffering of God toward you!

PRAYING WITHOUT FAITH

Another common mistake Christians are prone to making is praying without truly believing that God will answer. We come to the prayer meeting because it is the thing to do. We pray for family members, communities, leaders–but deep down in our heart, we do not actually believe that God is going to answer our prayers. As a result, prayer becomes a mere religious exercise. That is why Jesus once asked, "When the Son of Man returns, will He find the kind of faith that will not give up until it has its answer?" (see Luke 18:8).

We see this in the early Church in the book of Acts. At the time, King Herod had been imprisoning Christians and he even killed James, the brother of John, with the sword. Many were pleased that such violent persecution was coming against the people of God. And so Herod seized Peter and put him in prison as well. He surrounded him with four squads of soldiers and put guards before the door of the prison. He intended to bring Peter out for judgment just to please this society's blood lust toward the testimony of Christ.

What did the Church do? They did what they knew they were supposed to do: They gathered to pray for Peter. I can imagine how the prayer meeting must have sounded. "O God, have mercy on Peter. O God, have mercy on the Christian Church. O God, set Peter free."

As they were gathered praying, the Bible tells that suddenly, "As Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a girl named Rhoda came to answer. When she recognized Peter's voice, because of her gladness she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate" (Acts 12:13-14). This is exactly what they were praying for! "But they said to her, 'You are beside yourself'" (verse 15). In other words, "You are mad." She kept insisting, "Peter's at the door. Peter's at the door." So they said, "It is his angel." In other words, "It is not Peter. It is just a messenger telling us that all is well. It is something spiritual."Have you ever noticed how we try to spiritualize unbelief?

Peter continued knocking, and when they finally opened the door, they were astonished to see him. You see, they were praying for his freedom, but they did not believe God was going to answer their prayer! They did not believe that before the prayer meeting was over, the answer would be at the door!

May you and I not make this same mistake as we pray for a spiritual awakening in this nation. We must believe that when we pray, mountains can still be moved. Jesus made a promise that whatever you ask, believing, you shall receive (see Matthew 21:22).

GOD'S PLAN IS GOING FORWARD

Here is the conclusion of what we have been discussing: You may have made mistakes, but God's plan for your life has not been thwarted! Remember, Matthias disappeared, but Paul stood up and the plan of God went forward. And so if you are disillusioned; if you misunderstood the Lord; if you felt like you were left standing like a fool in the presence of God; if what you thought was God did not materialize; or if you have not been believing your prayers will be answered–God has not forgotten you! He has not written you off. You are as precious to Him–as valuable to Him–today as you were before you ever even understood who He was.

Think about it this way: We all have made mistakes, we all have failed in some way–yet it is almost as if Christ needed a Church who understood what we really are without Him. That way, when He does what only He can do, we will not touch the glory that belongs to God alone. When our prayers are answered, when family members we did not believe God could save start coming home, we will not touch the glory! Furthermore, when we have been in that examining room with the Holy Spirit, we are no longer quick to judge others. We are quicker to embrace people in their weakness, for we recognize that we, too, have been embraced in our failure.

So take heart whenever you feel the temptation to weep bitterly over your failure. Allow the Lord to comfort you and touch your life with His mercy. Choose to believe that He has not forsaken you–that His plan for your life will be fulfilled. In fact, the best is yet to come!

This newsletter is an edited version of "WHEN CHRISTIANS MAKE MISTAKES," a sermon given on August 20, 2017 in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in New York City. Other sermons are available by visiting our website at tsc.nyc. You are welcome to make additional copies of this sermon for free distribution to friends. However, for all other forms of reproduction or electronic transmission existing copyright laws apply. This sermon cannot be posted on any website or webpage without permission from Times Square Church. Unless otherwise noted, all scripture references are from the New King James Version.