Repent! - Good News?

Repent!  When we here the word, we usually envision the person on the street corner with a placard or the fire and brimstone preacher pounding on the pulpit.  For us, there’s an ominous quality to the word.  We rarely think of it as good news.   And yet, “Repent” is how Jesus began his ministry and the scripture tells us that it was good news.  How can that be?  Repentance begins with the painful truth that something is fundamentally broken and off in our world and in our lives and needs to change.  Change is at the heart of repentance.  As difficult as it is to hear that word, it’s true.  The shooting in Parkland is just the most recent reminder that the world is broken and change is needed.  As we look at our own lives, we can own that brokenness.  There’s a cause to our sleepless nights and anxious days that needs to be addressed.  With the call to repentance, Jesus is simply speaking the truth.  The good news is that he came not only acknowledge the need for change but to make that change possible.  Grace, the love of God, is the door to new life and new beginnings.  With grace, change happens.  We sees that in the lives of the people Jesus impacted.  Peter was changed.  Mary Magdalene was changed.  Paul was changed.  That power of change was poured out through Christ into whole world.  That’s why Jesus’ call to repent is good news.  The change we need in our lives, the change we need in the world, is made possible through Christ.

We've got work to do

"We've got work to do."  Those were the final words Officer Steve Perez said to his family as he headed out into the storm, Hurricane Harvey in Houston.  His family didn't want him to go, but Officer Perez had been serving the city of Houston for over 30 years, and there were people in need.  He went out into the storm and tragically lost his life, but he wouldn't have had it any other way.  As I've prayed for Officer Perez's family, I've thought about his words and actions.  In a very real way, they reflect what Jesus said about discipleship.  You go out into the storm because there are people in need.  Jesus' words, "Deny yourself."  You go out into the storm even though it is dangerous.  Jesus words, "Take up your cross."  You go out into the storm because we have work to do.  Jesus' words, "Follow me."  Jesus always made it clear that discipleship was costly.  That cost can get lost in a world that wants things to be easy and risk free.  Even in the church, the cost can be lost because we don't want to lose the idea of grace.  Grace says we don't have to earn God's love.  There is nothing we have to do.  Grace is a gift.  All of this is true, but grace does not need to come at the expense of discipleship.  We need to hear the distinction.  We are disciples not in order to be loved, but because we are loved.  Jesus says to us "I love you, I have forgiven you, and you are mine, now and always.  That's a given.  Now take a look.  There's a storm out there, people are in need, and we've got work to do."  May we hear the call.  May we be disciples of Jesus.  We've got work to do.

Pentecost

Acts 2:11 – “In our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.”

          Pentecost is the day Holy Spirit descended as tongues of fire on those first disciples and sent them out into the streets of Jerusalem.  They told the good news of the Gospel to people from all corners of the known world.  As I look at that story, the miracle of Pentecost is not so much that those first disciples were able to speak in so many different languages to the people gathered in the city.  The miracle is that everyone who listened to those disciples running out into the streets of Jerusalem heard the disciples’ message as good news.  The Gospel of God’s love is universal.  The message speaks to everyone and speaks with power.  And we, as Jesus’ disciples today ,have the opportunity, like those disciples of old, to share that good news.  The question is what stops us?

          We know how to share good news.  We do it all time.  A new child is born into our family, and we will tell everyone we meet.  We‘re compelled to do so.  When I became a Grandpa, I let the world know.  Nothing was going to stop me.  Strangers in the grocery store heard about Anna and Evelyn. 

          However, with the good news of the Gospel, we tend to hold back.  Why?  For some of us, our experience of the Gospel is a private matter.  For some of us, we are still waiting for that transformative experience of the Gospel.  We listen to the stories of others, but do not feel we have our own.  For some of us, we don’t want to be branded a religious fanatic.

          Whatever the reason, we need to listen again to the story of Pentecost.  Everyone who heard the Gospel that day heard it as good news.  People are longing for good news in their lives and we have good news to share.  People need to hear that a God of grace watches over them and walks beside them.  People need to hear that they are forgiven and can be set free.  People need to hear that God is real and at work in the world.  We are the ones who can give voice to God’s promise. 

          My prayer, in this season of Pentecost, is that we open ourselves to the power of the Holy Spirit that can fill us with grace, send us out into the world, and have us tell the story.  The world needs to hear the Gospel.  And we, who have known the Gospel in our lives, are the ones to be a witness.  May we go and tell.

                                                          Peace,

                                                          Pastor Summer

I Was A Stranger

Matthew 25:35 - And Jesus said,  "I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me."

These words of Jesus haunt me, particularly in light of what is happening in the world.  Immigration is a hot topic.  Because of the violence in the Middle East, there are more refugees than at any other time since World War II.  The images are heart breaking.  The numbers are unbelievable.  What is to be our response?  Social media is filled with comments on both sides of the issue.  I have intentionally not joined the fray.  People seem to be shouting at each other rather than listening.  There seems to be a great deal of finger pointing without resolution.  People seem to be hardening their positions and becoming increasingly sure they are right.  All of this brings me back to the words of Jesus.  They will not leave me alone.  They challenge me to see in the stranger, the hungry, and the thirsty, the face of Jesus.  His words do not let me turn away.  They challenge me to find a way to open the door and welcome the stranger, to feed the hungry, and to provide drink for the thirsty.  I know it will not be easy.  I know it will not be risk free.  At times, I am overwhelmed with the challenge, but Jesus' words will not let me go and so I pray.  I pray for guidance, and courage, and grace.  I pray to find a way, in my own life, to open the door.

Christ the King

The King

The King came unexpected on a dark and holy night

With shepherds in the fields, and all were filled with fright

When the angels came in glory, proclaimed the newborn King

Peace to all the world, the angels they would sing

The world speaks of hatred

But the King tells us to love

In the world it’s signs of warfare

With the King, signs of the dove

In the world children suffer

In the kingdom children sing

So in this broken world

I’m listening to the King

The King he had no army yet people followed him

Healing bodies broken, forgiving people’s sin

He had no time for the rulers, with the poor he’d take his stand

To gather in the hurt and lost became his gracious plan

The King would be rejected by those who feared the truth

How could he be God’s son, they demanded proof

They brought him before Pilate, to sentence him to death

They thought his rule was over with his final breath

The King would wear a crown, though it was made of thorns

And on the cross he died amidst the cries of scorn

But the King would rise on Easter and he will come again

For his kingdom is eternal and his grace will never end

You know what to do

This past Sunday, we had the story of the dishonest steward.  It is confusing at best.  However, if I step back and look at it as whole something comes into focus.  If I begin with the premise that Jesus is talking about me when he is talking about the dishonest steward, what is he saying.  He's saying we know what to do to make things happen in this world. We know our gifts.  We swing into action. However, it seems different in our life of faith.  We sit in church and worry about our declining numbers.  What if it was our business instead of the church.  Would we sit still and fret?  No, we would take action.  If someone in our family was in need, would we form a committee to form a plan to do something.  No, we would act.  We would find the time.  We would find the resources.  We would make the sacrifices.  In looking at this parable, maybe Jesus is saying, people of God you know what to do, do it.

Dallas

Once again, violence has struck.  There is sniper fire in Dallas and 5 police officers are killed.  They were watching over what had been a peaceful demonstration of people gathered to speak out against violence.  I am at once shocked, heartbroken, and appalled.  I am reminded of what I wrote after the Paris attack.  I wrote that two impulses come to me.  One is the desire to make sense of what has happened and the other is to take some action.  The first impulse is an illusive goal.  There is no way you can make sense of a senseless act.  In the coming days, my feeling is that all the explanations will fall short.  As a person of faith, I believe the scriptures offer the best guidance.  The scriptures simply acknowledge that we live in a dark, broken, and sinful world where, tragically, terrible things can happen to good people.  My faith also allows me to face that truth and not be undone which brings me to my second impulse.

My second impulse is to take some meaningful action is response to what has happened.  Again, as a person of faith, I will pray, but I know that my prayers can feel as though they are just so many words spoken in the darkness.  What do my prayers do?  Certainly, they do not inform God of what is happening.  God is already grieving the loss and sorrow that has taken place and is standing by the families and friends of those officers and all who have lost loved ones to violence.  My prayer is not to alert God.  My prayer gives voice to my own sorrow, hurt, and outrage.  But more than a cry to the Holy One who listens and understands, my prayer is a declaration that the darkness will not win for I am a child of the light.  My prayer is an invitation to God to work through me in this broken world that the light might shine.  My prayer is an affirmation of my faith that "the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it."  On this day of sorrow, may the light shine!