Blog Archives
Mission, Vocation, and our Neighbor
Devotional Thought of the Day:
25 A teacher of the Law came up and tried to trap Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to receive eternal life?” 26 Jesus answered him, “What do the Scriptures say? How do you interpret them?” 27 The man answered, ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind’; and ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ ” 28 “You are right,” Jesus replied; “do this and you will live.” 29 But the teacher of the Law wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” Luke 10:25-29 (TEV)
20 If we say we love God, but hate others, we are liars. For we cannot love God, whom we have not seen, if we do not love others, whom we have seen. 21 The command that Christ has given us is this: whoever loves God must love others also. 1 John 4:20-21 (TEV)
16 No longer, then, do we judge anyone by human standards. Even if at one time we judged Christ according to human standards, we no longer do so. 17 Anyone who is joined to Christ is a new being; the old is gone, the new has come. 18 All this is done by God, who through Christ changed us from enemies into his friends and gave us the task of making others his friends also. 19 Our message is that God was making all human beings his friends through Christ. God did not keep an account of their sins, and he has given us the message which tells how he makes them his friends. 2 Corinthians 5:16-19 (TEV)
Does a believer have a responsibility to be missional? To go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and teach them to treasure all God has commissioned?
To speak theologically, is this one of our vocations, along with being spouses, parents, employees, employers and good church members? Are we all missionaries? Do I have a responsibility as a believer in Jesus to those around me, who still are lost in darkness?
In a recent discussion, I put forth the first passage – the story behind the story of the Good Samaritan for a reason. Notice that that our relationship with our neighbor (whether they are our spouse, kids, actual neighbor, co-worker, or whomever) comes right after our relationship with God. Being a loving neighbor is our vocation.
Our relationship with God and our relationship with our neighbors is inseparably intertwined. The quote from 1 John makes this clear – our love for Him is seen in that love we have for our neighbor. That’s why the teacher of the law combines the two. We can’t love God if we fail to love those He calls us to love.
Loving them isn’t easy, it requires that we know.. no, that we dwell in the love and peace of God. That His mercy so resonates with our life, that we don’t have to think about the ministry of reconciliation being given to us, we simply work in that ministry. We seek to free people from the darkness of sin, the oppression of satan, and break the grip that death has on them.
Loving them means inviting them into the relationship where God reconciles them, where He makes us His friends, where we understand what He is about is bringing us home to the Father. That is what being missional is about, or what some others call our apostolate. It is in loving our neighbors as God does, not because we have to fulfill some quota, but that’s what we do as we walk with Him. (He describes it clearly for us, but we hear it…. like a duty, not as an invitation to spend time with Him)
We are missionaries, for our Lord is, and we walk with Him. It is His mission – and we live and breathe in Him! Therefore we work with Him in seeing His desire come to being.
We love our neighbors, we desire to see them reconciled, to become friends with God, because He has done this with us.
May we rejoice in every baptism, and may we teach them to rejoice and treasure this life He has given us!
We Are Agents of Reconciliation, not Division…
Devotional Thought of the Day:
18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 (NLT) 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 (TEV)
319 My God, how easy it is to persevere when we know that You are the Good Shepherd, and that we—you and I…—are sheep belonging to your flock! For we know full well that the Good Shepherd gives his whole life for each one of his sheep. (1)
Interesting thought, speaking the truth in love requires that you love the one you are speaking to….Which means it costs you as much as it costs them when they don’t hear you. (a thought I etched on Facebook recently)
The church has been appointed to a task, chosen for a specific role and ministry in this world. All of the vocations that exist, exist to see this work of God, accomplished in and through us.
Paul calls it the ministry of reconciliation, and it requires great sacrifice and great love. It is one, when we do not see it fulfilled, should bring us to tears, even as Paul cried for his fellow Jews who turned their back on God, and refused God’s grace, refused God’s actions reconciling them to himself.
It’s odd, if anyone had the right to claim he was persecuted for righteousness sake, it was Paul. Yet he wept over his persecutors. he wept over the division between them and God. He even offered up his life, that God would reconcile them to Himself.
As Paul found out, there were times of division, both with those who abandoned God, and within the household of God. Peter knew this as well, yet he would write
15 Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. 16 But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. 1 Peter 3:15-16 (NLT)
Again, the focus isn’t just about being right – but how that is communicated, how we go to those we consider lacking in that hope, in the trust in that grace, in that knowledge. Realizing that our goal isn’t to win an argument, or create more division, but to see all reconciled to Christ, and therefore to each other.
Such is the nature of our ministry, of our life in Christ.
That is where our joy is found… in seeing all united in Christ Jesus.
Lord have such mercy on us…
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 1276-1279). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Is Desiring Reconciliation Optional for Christians?
Devotional Thought of the Day:
11 As surely as I live, says the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people. I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live. Turn! Turn from your wickedness, O people of Israel! Why should you die? Ezekiel 33:11 (NLT)
23 “Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign LORD. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live. Ezekiel 18:23 (NLT)
9 The Lord is not being slow in carrying out his promises, as some people think he is; rather is he being patient with you, wanting nobody to be lost and everybody to be brought to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9 (NJB)
18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 (NLT)
824 Do you feel as if goodness and absolute truth have been deposited with you, and therefore that you have been invested with a personal title or right to uproot evil at all costs? You will never solve anything like that, but only through Love and with love, remembering that Love has forgiven you and still forgives you so much! (1)
Therefore it is God’s ultimate purpose that we suffer harm to befall no man, but show him all good and love; and, as we have said it is specially directed toward those who are our enemies. (2)
It seems like yesterday I had to quote the passages above from Ezekiel a half dozen times, and should have quoted them a dozen more.
In each, people were rejoicing over brokenness. Some were larger than life, as they rejoiced over victories in war. Some were more organized, as people planned to celebrate larger divisions between people groups. (including the Reformation.) Some were far more personal, as people encouraged each other to rejoice in division, to rejoice in broken relationships. There were even a couple of situations were those trying to promote reconciliation were attacked and mocked.
Yes I know, that in some of these cases, pain is involved, But what about those who encourage the joy? What about those who welcome the brokenness, who encourage it?
It is even more tragic that in each case, the people involved were leaders in the church. Some of the brokenness was in the midst of the church, Traumatic and tragic, this lack of desire for reconciliation is!
And it is not Christian. It is not imitating Christ. It is not being obedient to His giving us the mission of reconciling people to Him, as Paul points out. For in reconciling them to Him, we find them reconciled to us.
Life isn’t a personal crusade to stamp out evil. That only turns us into evil people, as we place ourselves in the place of God.
Life isn’t about rejoicing over division, over the bad things which happen to those we consider enemies, adversaries, or just pain in the ass’s.
God has told us to love them, to work for their good, to see them reconciled to Christ. For that is His will, even though every person who is brought to reconciliation was once God’s enemy, who chose evil over good, and hate over love.
This blog isn’t easy to write. I have my own people I struggle with, who I have to grow in Christ to love and seek to reconcile with. But let me tell you, the joy that is there when we do… is amazing.
I’ll leave you with this blessing, knowing that it pleases God when people reconcile:
20 Now may the God of peace— who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood— 21 may he equip you with all you need for doing his will. May he produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to him. All glory to him forever and ever! Amen! Hebrews 13:20-21 (NLT)
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 3390-3393). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
(2) The Large Catechism of Martin Luther.
Are We Interested in Whom Jesus Interested In?
Devotional Thought of the Day:
12 “What do you think a man does who has one hundred sheep and one of them gets lost? He will leave the other ninety-nine grazing on the hillside and go and look for the lost sheep. 13 When he finds it, I tell you, he feels far happier over this one sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not get lost. 14 In just the same way your Father in heaven does not want any of these little ones to be lost. Matthew 18:12-14 (TEV)
199 “He hasn’t got the time?—So much the better. Christ is interested precisely in those who do not have the time.” (1)
“Some people want to live with the sound of chapel bells, but I want to run a mission just a yard from the gates of hell!” (2)
The parable of the 100 sheep is one the church needs to hear today.
But we won’t like it, if we hear it, the parable will bother us, it will irritate us at first. I can here people saying, “Why would Jesus leave us behind? Why isn’t he here with us, why does Jesus go after that stubborn lost sinner?”
Of course, we won’t say that aloud. But when we see the church’s primary ministry to its members, that is exactly what we are saying. There is no lost sheep that Jesus would search out, rescue, reveal Himself to, so that he can care for them, heal their souls, and bring them back home. It has been His mission since the Trinity laid down this plan before the foundation of the world.
St Josemaria says it well, Jesus is acutely interested in those who do not believe in Him, in those that think Christianity is a bunch of myths, that it was a religion dreamed up and changed in order to get people to behave properly. He is interested in those broken by sin, by sexual sins, by greed. He is interested in those with broken marriages, broken families, those who grieve. He wants to be with those who have no time for Him, because of all of those things and more.
He will even leave behind the “good people” to search them out!
Well, sort of.
Okay, not really.
You see, it is those of us, nourished by God, who Jesus takes with Him to search out those He is interested in finding. He would through our hands, our voices, our lives, and brings back those who need healing and cleansing and restoration; even as we do, even the healing we are finding in Christ.
For we have been sent by God into the world, even as Jesus was sent into the world. Not to condemn it, but to work in Christ to see it reconciled to the Father. Its what we do – as Christ’s body, as His people.
It’s not that Jesus is less interested in us, it is that He can’t bear to see one of His people, on of the Father’s children, off alone. Off in dangerous places. dangerous to the body and to the soul.
Lord have mercy on the lost ones, and have mercy on us by guiding us to them, that we can remind them of your love. AMEN.
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 1039-1040). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
(2) Rough remembrance of the opening lines of Steve Camp’s song, “Run to the Battle”
Thou Shalt Not Kill….what does this mean?
Treasuring God’s Gifts
Means We Value Deep Relationships,
Enough to Turn to Christ for Healing…
(rather than hurt others…or resent them )
Ex. 20:14, Eph 2:10, Luke 10:25-28, Mt, 5:21-24
In Jesus Name
May the Grace of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ bring you mercy, peace, and the healing that comes as sin is forgiven
If you desire bad for someone…gulp
Part of the gospel reading tonight seems a bit extreme.
Consider it again, just because you get angry at someone, you are to be judged by God?
If you call someone an idiot, or anything else negative, you are to be brought before God’s court to be found unrighteous?
Or if you wish or desire something bad to happen to someone, you find yourselves in danger of hell?
Wow……
Part of me wants to think that is a bit extreme, more than a bit challenging. Considering growing up near Boston, those things were how you treated your friends. (you don’t want to know how we treated our enemies)
Hearing this passage, where Jesus takes the 5th commandment and explains it, doesn’t sound like good news. He raises the bar higher it seems, He puts even more on the table than simply not murdering someone.
But it is the gospel, for as we begin to hear these words, not as a list of do’s and do not’s, but as how God’s work in our lives looks, we understand how this is gospel.
The secret to not hurting others, whether in body or soul, is about trusting in God and treasuring His work in our lives; so much so that we desire to turn over to God that which needs healing, that which is broken. Whether someone else broke it, or we did.
Killing off Life
When I hear this command, it’s often in a deep bass voice, like James Earl Jones, or Darth Vader,
THOU SHALL NOT MURDER!!!!!!
When I hear Jesus, as He is delivering the Sermon on the Mount, it is more of a pastor, a mentor type of voice. He’s explaining that the heart of the matter is not just shooting or plunging a sword into someone’s heart. It is thinking about, saying or doing anything which harms the neighbor/family member/co-worker that Jesus taught us to love, to treasure. The people that He died to save, to heal, to bring to the fullness of life.
It is that fullness of life, that masterpiece of God’s design, that He creates and perfects in us, that the “you must not murder”, is all about. For as we damage others, whether physically, emotionally or spiritually, we wreck our view of God’s design for us, and also the person we hurts view. We obscure the treasure, we stop it from being seen, and instead it is seen damaged, broken, less than God promises.
It is hard not to look at the damage, just like most of slow down when we see an accident on a freeway – we just have to know why the fire trucks and police cars are there. So when we our words do damage, when our anger divides us, it will attract our attention, our focus, just like the accident,
That distracts us from God’s love, from the peace He brings into our lives, as we are united with Christ’s death. It stops us from seeing the masterpiece, as our lives are consumed by damage…
They Are Dead to Me?
But it is not just because of our initial actions that hurt that we have to be aware of the blessing in this commandment.
It is the hurt we cause when we have been offended, when others have killed off part of us. Our desire for revenge or retribution, our inability to forgive is also a violation of this plan of God to make our lives a masterpiece.
For in striking back, in refusing to forgive, in wishing “they get what they deserve”, we are sinning as well, we are letting our anger get the best of us, we are saying unkind things toward them, and yes, we are cursing them. We let resentment wreck out lives, letting sins 3-5-20 years ago have power over us, shielding us from God’s love.
Ultimately, it boils down to faith, not in their ability to keep a promise to not hurt us again, nor in our promising not to hurt others, but trusting in the God who created us, who promises to take even what is evil, and use it for good, who promised that all things work out for good, for those who love Him, who are called into His life.
Time for Reconciliation & Healing
That is why Jesus sends people, coming to bless God with their offerings, who are struggling with others to drop their gifts, and go and seek reconciliation. To God, that is the kind of gift that He truly desires, to see people reconcile to Him, to see people reconcile to each other. TO see in those around us the value God has placed on their lives.
Which is where this becomes gospel.
For to find healing, either in the damage we have done to others, or in the damage others have done to us, we have to turn to Christ. We have to have confidence in His mercy, we have to trust in the promise of forgiveness, in His work bringing us to Himself in His death on the cross.
He’s here… ready to heal, ready to be the strength required to drop all the pain of broken relationships, to help us drop the pain caused by words, or by others cursing us.
We sang about this, just before I came up here….
Just as I am poor, wretched, blind
Sight, riches, healing of the mind
Yea, all I need, in Thee I’ll find
O Lamb of God I come I come
O I come to the Son who can heal with His wounds
O I come to the thief who has robbed ev’ry tomb
O I come to the Victor
my life and my love
O Lamb of God I come
And so, as we come to pray at this altar, it’s time to leave behind the brokenness that comes from our not treasuring our neighbor, from the pains we have caused, from the resentment we have held onto,
For Christ has promised to be our healer, our strength, our glory, and to make our lives a masterpiece… a place of peace… AMEN?
Why Do We So Struggle With Sin….
Devotional Thought of the Day:
7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts. 1 John 1:7-10 (NLT)
15 Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven. 16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. James 5:15-16 (NLT)
25 He shows a great deal of enthusiasm and understanding. But when he realises that it refers to him, and that it is he who has to contribute in earnest, he slinks away like a coward. It reminds me of those who, during moments of grave danger, used to shout with false courage: War! War! But they did not want to give any money or to enrol to defend their country. (1)
In a number of conversations this week, people have had to deal with sin.
In one case, a young man tried to convince me that he is the first since Jesus to completely live without sin, to live the perfect life. In several others, this being Lent and all, we’ve talked about calling people to repentance.
Like the man in St. Josemaria’s quote, everything changes when it comes to dealing with our sin, with our personal challenges, with our….gulp…. sin.
Take on the sin of the world in your sermons pastor – just don’t hit me with mine. That’s right, go after the Fred Phelps, the homosexuals, those who are addicted to porn (well the hard stuff) those that fornicate outside of marriage – get them! Take on those politicians. Warn them all about hell!
My resentments? My lack of forgiving others,My inability to live at peace with those around me, my inability to love as I want to be loved? My anger issues, my self-defensive mechanisms? That just small stuff pastor, There are bigger sinners to fry.
We struggle with sin,OUR sin. We deal with it, much like we deal with death, or any issue where we find ourselves grieved….
We DENY it… we claim it isn’t sin, even though we know it is.
We BARGAIN – we want to make it seem less destructive. less of a sin than others sin…
We get DEPRESSED…. – we wonder if we would ever get past win the one that haunts us, the one we can’t overcome!
We get ANGRY… especially if someone questions us, or compares our sin to murder or adultery or gossip…
We ACCEPT it… we just give up – and continue letting sin dominate us, letting it rule over us, letting it wreck our lives, steal our peace, drive us nuts……..
Unless, in accepting it, we do what God tells us to do, to lay it at His feet. To let Him bring us healing, to allow those He has brought into our lives, to shepherd us through the dark times. We learn to accept our brokenness, not in despair, but because in doing so, in admitting it, confessing it, we can hear His voice, “Do not be afraid, do not be anxious…” When we, like the woman at the well, hear that God has sent us the Messiah, the Lord who will care for us, love us, cleanse us. When we hear like the man let down through the roof by his friends, and by the man at the pool, “your sins are forgiven.”
When like Peter along the lake, we realize what Jesus is asking, when we are more aware of our failures than His presence isn’t whether He knows whether we love Him, it is whether we know it….
Sin? Struggling with it isn’t in our job description. It’s above our pay grade… it is what Jesus did.
So don’t hide it, or minimize it, or despair over it, or get angry when you pastor meddles with it….
Let God deliver you from it, heal and restore you, and remind you that you are His Child, and He is your Loving Father.
Hear Him as He answers your cry, “Lord, have mercy!”
Come, confess your sins, and know He is faithful, they are forgiven, you are cleanse of all unrighteousness. AMEN!
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 336-339). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
A Most Overlooked Blessing…
Devotional Thought of the Day:
28 Nevertheless, listen to my prayer and my plea, O LORD my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is making to you today. 29 May you watch over this Temple night and day, this place where you have said, ‘My name will be there.’ May you always hear the prayers I make toward this place. 30 May you hear the humble and earnest requests from me and your people Israel when we pray toward this place. Yes, hear us from heaven where you live, and when you hear, forgive. 1 Kings 8:28-30 (NLT)
20 As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! 21 Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” 22 Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”John 20:20-23 (NLT)
If we say, ‘We have no sin,’ we are deceiving ourselves, and truth has no place in us; 9 if we acknowledge our sins, he is trustworthy and upright, so that he will forgive our sins and will cleanse us from all evil.1 John 1:8-9 (NJB) 8
192 If ever you fall, my son, go quickly to Confession and seek spiritual guidance. Show your wound!, so that it gets properly healed and all possibility of infection is removed, even if doing this hurts you as much as having an operation. (1)
It is one of the major events in the history of Israel. it is right up there with the events at Mount Sinai, and the walk through the Red Sea.
As one of the wonders of the Ancient World was dedicated to God’s glory, the thing that the king prays for… is… forgiveness?
Really? Not to dominate the world? Not to have all his people become wealthy and successful, not for the kids to all be brilliant and well behaved… but blessed?
Forgiveness?
That’s the key to the Temple?
A Jesus appears before them in the upper room, after assuring them that there is peace – the very first thing He does there, is bestow on them the responsibility of fogiving (and retaining) sins. Even as He breaths His spirit on them, this incredible ministry becomes theirs…this ministry of reconciliation, this ministry of forgiveness.
Forgiveness again? Really – that’s the first thing Jesus wants them to know they have the power to do – as His apostles?
It’s still a amjor issue with John when he rights his first epistle – an epistle devoted to love. Because I tell you something – you can’t love others, if you don’t know the forgiveness of God in your own life. if you don’t know you are forgiven and cleansed, if you don’t get that God isn’t out to “get you” and “condemn you” for those sins, but would so much rather clanse you and bring healing into your life – you won’t get life. You will live defensively, your cynicism will rule over you, and anxiety will so cause you to defend yourself, that you won’t see the people you are called to love – much less be able to love them.
Forgiveness. God’s forgiveness. Complete, cleansing, healing, redeeming, reconciling, restoring…
Forgiveness.
I need it, you need it, we need to hear that we are forgiven, that God will make all things work for good, that everything is okay.
Years ago, there would be lines of people at Lutheran Churches, at Catholic Churches, waiting for private confession at mourning benches in Methodist and Holiness churches, people seeking the freedom of knowing their sin was forgiven, that they were purged of all unrighteousness, of all unholiness. That God kep His promises. That’s what happened at the dedication of the Temple, it’s what the Tabernacle celebrated, it’s the story of the upper room – both on the night before He was betrayed, and on the night He appeared, wounds in His hands and side.
it is a blessing we need….
So as Josemarie is quoted above – even if it hurts to confess your sin – rush to those who are set apart to help you with this – to proclaim on God’s behalf that you are forgiven. Don’t let it rot your soul, your heart, your mind…. Rush, confess your sins – as James says in his epistle – to another… and hear that you are forgiven.
And know the depth of the love of God, is greater even than your sin……
God’s peace… for you were meant to live in it.
Forgiveness?
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 866-868). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Is it insane to keep doing/teaching/preaching the same thing over and over, and expecting…
Devotional Thought of the day>
1 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and because he is coming to rule as King, I solemnly urge you 2 to preach the message, to insist upon proclaiming it (whether the time is right or not), to convince, reproach, and encourage, as you teach with all patience. 3 The time will come when people will not listen to sound doctrine, but will follow their own desires and will collect for themselves more and more teachers who will tell them what they are itching to hear. 4 They will turn away from listening to the truth and give their attention to legends. 5 But you must keep control of yourself in all circumstances; endure suffering, do the work of a preacher of the Good News, and perform your whole duty as a servant of God. 2 Timothy 4:1-5 (TEV)
\573 Please don’t abandon the task, don’t deviate from the way, even though you have to live with people who are full of prejudices: as if you thought the basis of arguments or the meaning of words were fixed by their behaviour or by their assertions. Do try to get them to understand you… but if you don’t manage it, carry on anyway. (1)
There is a point in minsitry that occurs when you realizing you are bashing your head against the wall.
Jesus Christ Crucifix (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
An example – someone comes to you looking for spiritual guidance, and you offer it, and they go – thanks, and then going back to the same behavior that caused them to come to you in the first place.
Or someone who saks you to help them understand a Bible passage, you take the time to work it through with them, and then watch them return to the confusion, only to ask the same question in a similar manner a few weeks down the road.
It has been said that insanity can be defined by doing the same thing repeatedly, but hoping for a different outcome. In this case, many pastors, priests, teachers, counselors are not just simply insance, but completely insane.
There see to be two options to this insanity, first – keep doing the work in the same way, but give up caring about the results, or second, change things regularly, looking for the precise combination that will work in your community, in your parish, in your classroom. Sometimes we even bounce betwen the two, depending on who we last heard that appears to be successful, that appears to at least give an answer to our dilemna.
This glass half full/half open pendulum, and the second guessing and thinking that our “return on inventment” must result in a immediate reult that is satifactory dominates our churches. We are blown about by winds of, not of doctrine, but of some definitions and measurements of “faithfulness” and “success.”. We are hurt because we get into these fields beause we desire to change the world, and would like to at least change some lives. We know the answer is Jesus, (as does every pre-schooler !) we know where people will find the answers, we are trained to give them both clearly and in a way that should appeal to people.
And then we wonder if they will ever hear us…
And eventually we wonder if we are insane (in the sense above) or we act on the lack of success and desperately try new ways. Even to the point where we don’t give them time to see if they will work.
The nearly identical advice is seen above, ( I saw St. Josemaria’s first – my Bible devotional reading was somewhere else ). Our endurance in the midst of our preaching, teaching, counseling is not based on their changed lives. It’s not about “faithfully” doing it by dialing it in either. It is about realizing our role is to give the message, Because Jesus is coming back, and that is news that is incredible to anyone who trusts in Him, and if they don’t hear it, they won’t be able to trust in it.
Days preaching and teaching and counsling aren’t supposed to be easy, they often demand great sacrfiice, it often requires us to carry on, to keep looking at Christ and realizing the treasure that they need. Ministry and teaching and cousneling isn’t about our strength, its about the glory of God in which we work, sustaining us, encuraging, helping us endure, and driving us when needed. We are going to have to suffer in this role. Not just because of persecution, but because of those who do not hear the message, who we weep for, even as Christ weeped over Jerusalem. We need to realize that this struggle is okay.
That’s the example we have in Christ, and in our Father in Heaven. They have kept calling us, hounding us even though the results haven’t been all that spectacularly different. We still sin, we still forget about God, we still struggle, then repent, then worship. And still God loves and calls, and forgives and comforts and is here with us. He doesn’t change.. He never will… although the results can’t be seen b y us yet, He knows them, and dances with joy as He realizes those who trust in Him, who treasure His love.
In Him, we find the strength and the patience to avoid the insanity of reacting to what the world things is insane. So let us keep our eyes on HIm, He who begins faith and completes it is us, and in those who hear our message.
Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 2448-2452). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Related articles
- WE WERE ROBBED! yeah…so? (justifiedandsinner.com)
- Will God hear even me today, in this mood I am in? (justifiedandsinner.com)
- Have you been neglecting yourself? (justifiedandsinner.com)
A Challenge to Pastors and Priests: Evangelical Catholic “review” part XIII
English: Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament inside Saint-Benoît-du-Lac abbey. Français : La chapelle du Saint-Sacrement à l’abbaye de Saint-Benoît-du-Lac. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Discussion Thought of the day:
5 I left you in Crete, so that you could put in order the things that still needed doing and appoint church elders in every town. Remember my instructions: 6 an elder must be without fault; he must have only one wife, and his children must be believers and not have the reputation of being wild or disobedient. 7 For since a church leader is in charge of God’s work, he should be without fault. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered, or a drunkard or violent or greedy for money. 8 He must be hospitable and love what is good. He must be self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. 9 He must hold firmly to the message which can be trusted and which agrees with the doctrine. In this way he will be able to encourage others with the true teaching and also to show the error of those who are opposed to it. Titus 1:5-9 (TEV)
George Weigel, in the book I am finding more and more remarkable, continues on his list (which I commented on 2 points of last week) for the standards for priests:
3. If this priest has been primarily engaged in parish work, have his parishes grown through his ministry? If his principal work has been in a seminary, college, or university, have his students flourished under his guidance, spiritually as well as intellectually?
4. How does this priest celebrate Holy Mass, in specific and concrete terms? Does his liturgical ministry lead those in his pastoral charge into a deep experience of the Paschal Mystery of the Lord’s death, resurrection, and ascension? Does his manner of leading the Church in liturgical prayer honor the baptismal dignity of his congregants? Is he regularly found with his people in Eucharistic adoration?
5. How many men have entered the seminary under this priest’s guidance? How many women have entered consecrated religious life through his influence? Does he foster holy marriages and stable Catholic families that are themselves “little churches”? Does he encourage lay movements of Catholic renewal? Does he guide popular piety well? Does he promote frequent reception of the sacrament of Penance, and does he devote significant time to his ministry as a confessor? Does he encourage his people to read the Bible daily? Is he, in other words, a man who can facilitate the universal call to holiness because he is a man of holiness himself?
Obviously, there are a few differnces in terminology and practice between men who are Lutheran pastors and Roman Catholic Priests. (for example – while many of us will meditate on the passion of Christ and confess it is Christ’s Body and Blood, we don’t have a service of Eucharistic Adoration) this lists thrills me, and yet… well…. let’s just say I am convicted by it – especially point 5.
But a pastor/priest of whom these things are true, is one people will entrust their souls to, as the one appointed/ordained to care for them, a call of God, recognized through the church. They will confess their sins to him, and receive absolution ( I do need to devote more time to make myself available for this) I love the prahsem, “a man who can facilitate the universal call to holiness because he is a man of holiness himself.” Such a man is one whom can be what old Lutherans calls a seelsorge – the caretaker of the soul.
We desperately need that, these days. Recent events and conversations in my life more that confirm it, and to me it ticks me off, until I ask the same about me. Are my people willing to let me care for their souls? Have they grown to know I will be there for them, that I will speak to them God’s mercy – with more zeal and energy and desire? Will they also be encouraged to walk with God, forsaking all that would be the world’s preference? Will they lay down their worries, their burdens and concerns as I encourage them? They need it, we are the ministers of the gospel, the good news… need to provide these encounters with Christ where they will see His love revealed to them….
Will they grow in trust of God, will their dependence on His love and mercy and presence deepen?
It’s not all up to me, I know this… and God will work, even through my errors. (although that is no excuse)
But do i desire to see my people know what I’ve known?
Yesterday, a dear friend came and spoke to some pastors in my area. He talked of coping with a family member who was significantly challenged. And he spoke of his own battles with darkness. In the middle of his self-disclosure and hope in Chirst, he quoted this passages.
3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. 4 He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. 5 For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. 6 Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. 7 We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us. 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 (NLT)
Lord, Have Mercy on us, that we might show that comforting mercy to others….and have mercy that they will desire it more and more! AMEN!
Weigel, George (2013-02-05). Evangelical Catholicism (pp. 122-123). Basic Books. Kindle Edition.
Is Teaching People That They Must Go to Church Right?
English: Icon of Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
devotional thought of the day
3 So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak? Hebrews 2:3 (NLT)
The cheerfulness you should have is not the kind we might call physiological—like that of a healthy animal. Rather, it is the supernatural happiness that comes from the abandonment of everything, including yourself, into the loving arms of our Father God. (1)
“Going to confession isn’t like heading off to be tortured or punished, nor is it like going to the dry cleaners to get out a stain, Pope Francis said in a morning Mass homily.“It’s an encounter with Jesus” who is patiently waiting “and takes us as we are,” offering penitents his tender mercy and forgiveness, he said April 29.. ” (2)
I see it far too frequently, the idea that going to church, or Bible study, or as Pope Francis was talking about, Confession and Absolution is somehow a Christian’s “duty”. To look at these blessed events as duty is a spiritual error, to teach it as such is simply wrong. To teach people they must, they have to do these things – is of the gravest error, for it changes their perception, and indeed robs them of the joy David expressed in the pslams, when contemplating going to the temple, when David rejoiced even at the thought of it.
You see all these events, they are not duties, we are not obligated to, in the normal sense of the word. If we use obligated, it is in the same sense that we are obligated to find treatment for a serious wound, or a broken leg.
We look around – and see our needed of healing, our need of having the things we have screwed up royally fixed, the relationships mended, and in Christ – there is our only hope. Our only hope, the only way we can be delivered from the mess we are in, is by Christ – so what hope is there, if we turn our back on that hope?
We are little children, devastated that we have broken that which should be cherished, and we should find the joy that comes from watching our Father patiently make it like new (or replace it) because of His love for us. Such is the ability to abandon all our fear, all our anxiety, all our grief and shame, for our Father is hear, and all is abandoned as He brings us comfort and peace.
It is that encounter- with the presence of Christ. in the worship service/mass, to realize He is patient with us, not willing destruction – but complete transformation, complete rebirth, complete renewal.
Such is the nature of spending time doing what some call “Christian Duty” or Spiritual Disciplines. Reading the Bible, Prayer, Worship, Gathering with other believers, and yes confessing our sins and hearing Christ speaking words of forgiveness and restoration. To speak of them as duties or disciplines reduces them in people’s minds to being about us, our work, our efforts, our accomplishments, our excercises.
Rather than encounter with Christ, a glorious, freeing, encounter with the One who loves us, who calls us His beloved, His friends… the children of God.
So next time you think about doing these things – realize Who you will meet – and in joy – rush to Him, abandoning all that would restrict your joy together.
Godspeed!
(1)Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 1539-1541). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
(2) http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1301891.htm?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Related articles
- I Have Decided, to Follow Jesus! (Controversy? Not so much…) (justifiedandsinner.com)
- It’s Not About Calling the Qualified, or Even Qualifying the Called… it’s about revealing Christ. (justifiedandsinner.com)
- Gravity and God’s Grace…. (justifiedandsinner.com)
