Avon Grove Advent Devotional, Week #1

Avon Grove Church of the Nazarene

Different Voices:

The Advent Journey

to Christmas

A Daily Devotional Guide

Week 1: November 29 – December 5, 2015

The story of the birth of Christ is over 2,000 years old, and as new as the first time a child hears it. It is a communal story, one that is shared by Christians around the world, and in congregations of every church in every land. And it is an intensely personal story, as our memories of Christmas past are brought to mind with every retelling. This year those of us who share life and faith together as the Avon Grove Church of the Nazarene are once again telling the story through music, drama, symbols, personal recollections and new insights. We have invited members of our fellowship to share their personal devotional thoughts as they read through the traditional scripture passages of Advent and Christmas to Epiphany.

How to use this devotional guide: You may choose to use this for individual use, for small groups, or for use during family time. Each day there are readings from scripture – several psalms, another Old Testament reading, a reading from the Gospels, and from the New Testament epistles. We encourage you to read one or more of the passages and meditate on them. Some of the scripture passages are obviously connected to the season, while for others the connection may not be so obvious. The devotional writing for each day is in response to one or more of the scripture passages. 

If you find the devotional writing to be a blessing or help, please let the author know. After all, you will see them in worship – and how often do we get to thank an author in person?

Writers:

Kris Guertler is the wife of Jim and mother of Jamie. She serves as director of our women’s ministry, on the Academy board and music ministry. She is a school nurse in the Octorara Public Schools. She lives in Parkesburg.

Heather Hyde is the wife of Jackson and the mother of Hadley. She serves as our Associate Pastor. She lives in Chatham.

Becky McGehean is the wife of Jay and mother of Maddy and Mackenzie. She is an administrator at Avon Grove Nazarene Academy and a member of the church board and youth staff. She lives in West Grove.

Jay McGehean is the husband to Becky and father of Maddy and Mackenzie. He serves as our youth pastor, and is a health and physical education teacher at the Avon Grove Charter School. He lives in West Grove.

Justin Reed is a senior at Avon Grove Charter High School, a leader in our youth group and involved in music ministry. He lives in Cochranville.

Clara Saxton serves as director of Kingdom Kids, our Wednesday evening program for children, and is a real estate agent with Berkshire Hathaway,  Fox and Roach Realtors. She lives in Kennett Square.

Esther Schutz is the wife of Mike. She serves as our Minister of Worship Arts and Administrative Assistant and teaches music lessons. She lives in Penn Township.

Mike Schutz is the husband of Esther. He serves as our senior pastor. He lives in Penn Township.

Kathy St. John is the wife of Jim. She serves as Director of Avon Grove Nazarene Academy, and is a member of our church board and music ministry. She lives in Lincoln University.

Beckey Williams is a recent graduate of West Chester University and serves as director of the after school program and a teacher at Avon Grove Nazarene Academy, and is a member of our music ministry. She lives in Oxford.

Sunday, November 29 First Sunday of Advent   

Scripture Readings: Psalm 111, 112, 113, 146, 147; Amos 1:1-5, 13-2:8; Luke 21:5-19; 1Thessalonians 5:1-11

Amos 2:4-7a The Lord proclaims: For three crimes of Judah, and for four, I won’t hold back the punishment, because they have rejected the Instruction of the Lord, and haven’t kept his laws. They have been led off the right path by the same lies after which their ancestors walked. So I will send a fire on Judah, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem. The Lord proclaims: For three crimes of Israel, and for four, I won’t hold back the punishment, because they have sold the innocent for silver, and those in need for a pair of sandals.  They crush the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and push the afflicted out of the way.

Amos was not a” professional” prophet. He was a righteous man who spent time seeking the Lord and speaking out against the injustice of his day. At the beginning of the extended passage, he names in very specific terms the sins of the pagan neighbors of Judah and Israel. But here, in the passage above, he speaks against the sins of God’s chosen people. They are the sins of injustice, of the rich and powerful taking advantage of the poor and the marginalized. It seems strange to us, as we prepare for the coming of baby Jesus, to spend even a moment speaking of such horrible sins. But we must, for at least two reasons:

1.       With all the beauty that we have woven around the story of the birth of Christ, we must never forget the reason Jesus came – to lead us out of our individual and societal lives of sin, corruption, and injustice, and,

2.        The Father chose for his Son to be born and raised by a poor family in a forgotten backwater town on the edge of a land controlled by foreign occupation, and spent his first years as a refugee running from an evil king.

As we begin our journey through Advent, let us never forget that the story of Christmas is not now nor has it ever been a fairy tale separate from the real world. The birth of Christ is God’s real world response of love to the sin, hate, and injustice of a world desperately in need of a savior. And that need is as real today as it was when Amos described the sin he saw all around him, almost 3,000 years ago. May we be our generation’s righteous ones, calling out sin, and proclaiming God’s loving response. 

 Mike Schutz

Monday, November 30                                                                                            

Scripture Readings: Psalm 1,2,3,4,7; Amos 2:6-16; Matt 21:1-11; 2Peter 1:1-11

2Peter 1:3-11 Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received! We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you—your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust. So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus. Without these qualities you can’t see what’s right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books.  So, friends, confirm God’s invitation to you, his choice of you. Don’t put it off; do it now. Do this, and you’ll have your life on a firm footing, the streets paved and the way wide open into the eternal kingdom of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ.

There’s a lot to digest in this passage, but here are the two things that stick out to me most: (1) I have everything I need to live my life for God and do it well.  In other words, He has given me the proper tools and resources, (2) He expects effort from me. My life experience and observation leads me to believe that most of us spend a lot of our spiritual lives forgetting one of those two things.  We either rely solely on our own strength, forgetting the importance of God’s role, or we look to God to do everything, forgetting that he needs us to put forth some serious effort too.  During this time of year, I am often drawn to Mary’s story.  Since having children of my own, her story has taken on new meaning to me.  Her strength and focus amaze me.  God called her to do something very difficult.  Sometimes we skip over that part of the story, but her call was a tough one.  Sure, God gave her and Joseph what they needed, but her personal journey was still hard.  (For starters, she had to make a long trip on the back of a donkey when she was VERY pregnant!)  She certainly had to work at practicing goodness, perseverance, and godliness on a daily basis!  I’m sure there were moments when she wanted to give up, or perhaps just complain.  But she used God’s strength and her own determination to complete the task given to her by her Heavenly Father.  She never could have done it on her own strength alone; she needed God.  BUT, she wouldn’t have survived had she not worked hard, tried hard and stayed mentally strong. 

I believe God can do the most good through us and in us when we fully accept His power AND fully give of ourselves.  The combination of these two working together allows God to do His best work.  Don’t miss out on experiencing God’s best.  

Becky McGehean

Tuesday, December 1                                                                                  

Scripture Readings: Psalm 5,6,10,11; Amos 3:1-11; Matt 21:12-22; 2Peter 1:12-21

Psalm 5:1-2 Listen to my words, O Lord, give heed to my sighing and groaning. Hear the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to You do I pray.

Makes me wonder, how many times have I started my prayer time just like the psalmist? Big sigh, Dear God, Medium-sized sigh, I come before you today, small sigh, to ask for your help. Bigger sigh. Life is hard, too hard, if you only knew what I’m going through. Biggest sigh of all. There are too many bills to pay, too much house to clean, too many mouths to feed, too much to do, too many expectations to fulfill, whine, whine, whine aka complaining/groaning.

Psalm 5:11: But let all those who take refuge and put their trust in You rejoice; let them ever sing and shout for joy, because You make a covering over them and defend them; let those also who love Your name be joyful in You and be in high spirits.

This is good news. The psalmist moves us from sighing and groaning to singing and shouting! In the very midst of our circumstances we have permission to be full of joy. That’s right. You and me. Joyful. And in high spirits! We may wonder how that could be possible given the latest headline of the day? Or, we don’t think anyone understands the particular circumstances of our life. Or maybe even the dreaded yolk of unworthiness has weighed us down. So we breathe and read the scripture passage again and again and again: But let all those who take refuge and put their trust in You rejoice; let them ever sing and shout for joy. 

Esther Schutz

Wednesday, December 2                                                             

Scripture Readings: Psalm 12, 13, 14, 119:1-24; Amos 3:12-4:5; Matthew 21:23-32; 2Peter 3:1-10

2 Peter 3:8 "But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like a day.  The Lord is not slow in keeping his promises as some understand slowness.  He is patient with you not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."

Over the last 2 days my husband and I and our 5 month old baby have driven 1,000 of miles to Canada!  It took longer than we both imagined.  There were times I thought we'd be in the car for 1,000 years!  Sometimes things in life take an eternity or feel endless.  Things in our spiritual life can seem slow, waiting for healing or waiting for a loved one to come to faith.  Some days it can feel endless waiting for Christ to return.  What we must remember is that God measures time differently than we do -- and this is a good thing!  He's giving is lots of time to grow closer to him and encourage others to grow in faith.  He has endless patience because he wants everyone to come to faith.  During this Advent season be challenged by God's patience and extend it to others who may be struggling in faith.  No doubt I'll be praying for patience that our ride home from Canada does not feel like 1,000 years! 

Heather Hyde

Thursday, December 3                                                                                          

Scripture Readings: Psalm 18; Amos 4:6-13; Matthew 21:33-46; 2Peter 3:11-18

Amos 4:6-13 I have sent a famine in all your cities, and not provided enough bread in all your places, yet you didn’t return to me, says the Lord. I also withheld rain from you when there were still three months to the harvest.  I allowed no rain to fall on one city, no rain to fall on another city  One field was rained on, and the field dried up where it didn’t rain. So two or three thirsty towns went to one city to drink water, and weren’t satisfied; yet you didn’t return to me, says the Lord. I struck you with disease and mildew  I destroyed your gardens and your vineyards. The locust devoured your fig trees and your olive trees;  yet you didn’t return to me, says the Lord. I sent a plague against you like the one in Egypt. I killed your young men with the sword. I carried away your horses. I made the stink of your camp go up into your nostrils;  yet you didn’t return to me, says the Lord. I destroyed some of you, as when God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. You were like a burning coal plucked out of the fire; yet you didn’t return to me, says the Lord. Truly, Israel, I will act in this way toward you; therefore, I will do this to you. Prepare to meet your God, Israel! The one who forms the mountains, creates the wind, makes known his thoughts to humankind, makes the morning darkness, and moves over the heights of the earth— the Lord, the God of heavenly forces is his name!

This portion of Amos talks of several natural disasters such as famine, drought and plagues. Disasters such as these should surely make a nation turn to the arms of God for help, yet Israel has refused to look for His help. I believe this passage is still relevant to people today as we also need to turn to God to help lead us through times of difficulty. God is waiting for us to ask for his help, and He is gracious enough to give it, but first we must ask Him for it.  I do not think that anything we face is either too big or too small for God, and He is willing to help walk us through such challenges. My biggest struggle currently is making a decision on where I should attend college and what I should pursue as a career. I must continue to go to God to help guide me and remember Proverbs 3:5-6 instead of trying to decide everything on my own. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will direct your paths.

Justin Reed

Friday, December 4                                                                                                

Scripture Readings: Psalm 16, 17, 22; Amos 5:1-17; Matthew 22:1-14; Jude 1-16

Last week, I was driving along the highway to run some errands.  There he was, shuffling by the curbside...a seemingly aimless wanderer.   He was filthy dirty, carrying one small bag.  As I passed, I continued glancing at him in my rear view mirror.  Then, two and 1/2 hours later, I saw that same man at the street corner.  This time, I saw his eyes.  He looked incredibly empty and lonely.  Was it coincidental that I would see him again?  I don't think so; I was supposed to see him.  I wondered about his life.  Was he homeless?  Were all his belongings in that one small bag?  Did he have any family?  Who cared about this guy?  What about his insides?  Would anyone care enough to invite him to a feast and give him the absolute best?  In my self-righteous thinking, am I any better off?  Did anyone else notice?  Well, I noticed and my heart was overwhelmed with compassion.  I felt so helpless.

In the Parable of the Wedding Feast (Matt. 22), Jesus specifically addresses the Pharisees and Jewish leaders.  In a nutshell, Jesus confronts the long standing issue of rejecting the coming Messiah and the Kingdom of heaven who was "at hand"...or now fully present.   Here, there were three distinct, purposeful invitations with varying responses of rejection.  With the third invitation, the King sends his servants out to the street corners; find the poor, homeless, maimed, blind, and lame.  There are no exclusions...all are welcome to enjoy the absolute best that the King has to offer.  He sends a simple invitation which says, "Come."

Like that man on the street corner, Jesus warns us to quit with the aimless wandering.  Take his relationship and gift of grace very seriously.  No more lukewarm.  Jude 2:12,13 reads..."Do not be clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted--twice dead, ...wild waves of the sea, foaming up shame, wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever."  Be my true disciples; be purposeful.  Matt. 22: 37 says: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And, the second is this...love your neighbor as yourself.  There is no commandment greater than these."

If you have never accepted the invitation to the wedding, Jesus welcomes you with open arms.  If your love for him has grown cold, now is the time to return.  If you wonder if you have ever really loved him with all your heart, wander aimlessly no more.   Return to the Lord.  

Please listen to one of my favorite songs: “Return to the Lord,” by Steve Gray. You can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKUmA7Tu7DM

 Kris Guertler

Saturday, December 5                                                                        

Scripture Readings: Psalm 20,21,110,116,117; Amos 5:18-27; Matthew 22:15-22; Jude 17-25

Enjoying all the warmth, joy and anticipation for which Advent is intended, points us to the enormous event which we commemorate at Christmas, the birth of our Savior.  Throughout scripture there are numerous messages pointing the faithful to this event. 

 There were many times in scripture when the situation was not filled with warmth or joy.  And not just for weeks or months but for years, even centuries. Even now, one can see examples of cold heartedness and misery which, if allowed, could darken the beauty we should be experiencing. 

When the psalmists were singing of the power of the Lord to raise up kings and bring them conquests over their enemies, it isn’t that different than believers today who are claiming the favor of the Lord and sensing that the heart breaking examples of mankind’s cruelty to each other is a sign that the Lord will soon be coming back to correct the situation.  Indeed the Lord gives us many scriptural instances to believe just that. 

During Advent, though, we need to keep the message right in front of us: “I’m sending my son to you.  This is personal between you and me.  Now, spread my light, love my children, follow His example, teach the lesson you have been given. Use the reality of my love in the middle of the busy Christmas preparations to poke a hole in the darkness that seeks to surround you. ”

We light a candle on the advent wreath or close our eyes and ponder the birth of a babe in Bethlehem.  We think about the huge love God has for us, to give us such a precious gift as this avenue of salvation.  We smile and experience the swelling in our hearts that comes with the acknowledgement of the true meaning of this season.  We listen to Him, we thank Him, we glorify Him, we imitate Him.  And hopefully we sing along as we’re doing it. 

Clara Saxton

Mother Teresa Had It Easy

Sometimes I think Mother Teresa had it easy.

Well, not really ... but in one way she did.

As she walked the streets of Calcutta, the pain and suffering were obvious. Dirty, broken, thrown-away people lying in the gutter. They were everywhere, and their bruises and sores were there for all to see.

It is more difficult in many places in America. Yes, there are those people whose pain is readily evident on the outside, if we are willing to go where they are. As one of my favorite songwriters wrote, “Will you go down to the bridge by the river and meet all the folks who call it home.” And if we are looking, we will see the beggars and thrown-away people on our streets.

But most of the hurting, broken people in our society, in our community, keep their bruises hidden. Their pain is not so easy to see. Many surround their lives with enough stuff - houses and cars and toys -  to hide who they really are. 

So I have just decided to believe - and try to act as if - everyone whom I meet is just as broken and bruised and cut and battered and sad and lonely and hurt and anxious and afraid and in need of love as I sometimes feel. I have decided to see them as they might look if their pain was clearly obvious on the outside. Because if we could see clearly, I believe we would see that the only explanation for all of the weird, strange, irrational, hurtful behaviors we see around us every day is that most of the people we meet are in a great deal of pain.

Lord, help me to see people the way you see them. 

Sometimes, I think Mother Teresa had it easy.

Listen. Think. Disagree?

I dislike conflict.

No, that is not strong enough. I greatly dislike conflict.

I have always been this way. My mother tells the story of me, as a young child, trying to calm down my friends when they would argue. I would go along with something I did not want to do, just so there would not be an argument.

These days, I will leave the room when politics are discussed. Even if I have a strong opinion, to me it is not worth the fight. If I post something on Facebook or Twitter, and the result is a heated debate, I will delete the entire conversation.

This is not always a good thing.

As a pastor, I recognize the need for creating an environment where differences of opinion can be shared. Hard conversations are necessary if we are going to live together in authentic community. One of the altogether appropriate critiques of the church is that we simply do not know how to talk about difficult subjects.

We have to talk about difficult subjects. And we need to learn how to disagree.

I occasionally participate in an online discussion group that attempts to provide an environment for members and friends of the Church of the Nazarene to discuss challenging issues. Everyone who joins the conversation is initially surprised when they realize that their opinion is not shared by everyone in the group. Some even come right out and say, “I thought all of you were Nazarenes. How can you disagree with me on this?”

In a TED talk viewed nearly 3 million times, writer Kathryn Schulz talks about being wrong. She explains that most of the time we are personally invested in proving that we are always right. To do this, we must be able to explain all of the people who disagree with us. She says that we go through three stages of explanation:

One, if you disagree with me, you are ignorant of the facts.

Two, if you disagree with me, even after I have explained to you all the facts, then you must be idiots.

Three, if you still disagree with me, even after you have all the facts, and I can see that you are not an idiot, then you must be evil.

You can see that this describes much of what passes for political discourse.

Unfortunately, this also happens in families. And in the church. I’ve seen it in church board meetings. Good folks found themselves on different sides of a difficult issue. One day they were worshiping together, praying together, going on missions trips together, and just a few weeks later they were challenging each other’s integrity and refusing to be in the same room.

As someone who hates conflict, this tore me up—and it also threatened to tear up our church.  

While I am sure that while you are reading this you have thought of several ways to avoid such difficulties, I will state the obvious:

• We really need to listen.

Truthfully, there is no need to listen if we are absolutely confident that we are right, and if we don’t care about the relationship. As Schulz says in another portion of her TED talk, we have been culturally conditioned to strive to always be right, because only ignorant dullards (the folks who got all the red marks on their papers in school) are wrong. Of course, we know that we are sometimes wrong. 

There also is no need to listen if we don’t care about the relationship. But as Christians, we really do care about each other. Learning to listen to one another is the key. As a pastor, I am trying to reconfigure our board meetings—in the past quite similar to business committee meetings—in such a way that hearing each other’s perspective and taking time to listen is a priority.

• We really need to think.

When we respond emotionally to conflict, it is likely to result in a reaction that is at best defensive—not open to listening and growing, and at worst offensive—attacking those with whom we disagree. Yet our emotions are the result of our thinking, as we interpret our experiences and the actions of others. When we think, or more specifically, when we are open to rethinking our interpretations and ideas, we are more likely to listen and consider the perspectives of others. Admittedly, the willingness to open up our personal interpretations to being challenged and changed is threatening.  

Some consider vulnerability to be at the heart of personal growth and authenticity. Put another way, when we make the conscious decision not only to critically consider the ideas of others, but invite them to critically consider our ideas, we create an environment of growth and learning for everyone.

• We really need to disagree.

Les and Leslie Parrott, in their best-selling books on marriage based upon the research they have done at the Center for Relationship Development at Seattle Pacific University, state what all married couples know to be true: a healthy marriage is not based upon lack of conflict, but about knowing how to healthily resolve conflicts when they inevitably occur. 

It must become a priority in our churches for leaders to create an environment where we learn to disagree without breaking relationship. This is essential if we are to creatively and authentically discuss the hard questions the younger generation is demanding we address.

Disagreements among followers of Christ is nothing new, as we see in the book of Acts. Yet it wasn’t too long ago that these disagreements seldom became public. As we struggle to face challenging issues, living in the realization that belief in Christ doesn’t mean we will always agree, we must develop strategies and provide healthy environments to help us face our conflicts in a manner that gives evidence to our theology of perfect love. If we do not, we serve to illustrate its failures.

Social media offers a platform for conflict to escalate, and for millions to know what in the past was known by only a few. Many are watching to see if holiness believers can face important issues and disagreements with integrity, and demonstrate our ethic of perfect love as we listen to one another, and worship God with our minds—learning from those whose ideas stretch us and make us uncomfortable.

Most importantly, the world—and the next generation—is watching to see if we can agree to disagree and still remain in loving Christian fellowship. 

Disagreements among those who claim “holiness” has been a part of our tradition since the time of our denominational founding, the time of Wesley, the time of the early church. Yet learning to handle conflicts offers us an opportunity to prove true our theology of perfect love.

This was published in the August, 2015 issue of Holiness Today, the denominational magazine of the Church of the Nazarene.  

The Best Commencement Address I Have Ever Heard

This is commencement season, and I thought it would be appropriate to share what is, in my opinion, one of the best commencement speeches I have ever heard - certainly the best student commencement address I have heard. It was given just a few days ago, at the commencement of Eastern University in St. Davids, Pa. The address was given by Jocelyn Paul, who graduated from Eastern this year with a major in Biochemistry, although it is not her major program of study that takes this address to grand places. It is her double minor in Philosophy and Theology. Admittedly, I am biased. That someone would major in the sciences - and also choose those disciplines as her minors - just blesses my heart. I am biased for another reason: Jocey is my niece, the daughter of Wes and Janet Erbe Paul. 
I share this with permission of the author.

Commencement Speech at Eastern University by Jocelyn Paul

May 9, 2015

            Today is a day of celebration and commemoration. And it is tempting to take a cue from hundreds of commencement speakers by invoking the metaphor of the mountain. I could congratulate you on persevering through “the climb” and reaching “the summit” of your education, and proclaim that you can climb every mountain which awaits. Perhaps Dr. Seuss’s final lines of “Oh, the Places You’ll Go,” ring true: “You’re off to Great Places! You’re off and away! Your mountain is waiting. So... get on your way!”

            But the metaphor of the mountain is not fitting because Eastern taught us that life is not a series of mountains to climb, achievements to accomplish, or obstacles to conquer. The purpose of our education was not to fill us with knowledge, to equip us with strategies for success, or even to teach us how to think. We did not arrive here as mere intellects to be rewired, but as persons, made in the image of the God who is love. And Eastern formed us accordingly, as whole persons, by giving us an education of love.

            We have not climbed a mountain; we have learned how to tend a garden. To tend a garden you must take care of it, and to take care of something, you must love it. A garden requires patience; your hands get dirty, your knees get sore, and you must return again and again to the same tasks: the planting, the watering, the weeding, the harvesting. Remember that the resurrected Christ was mistaken for a gardener, not a conqueror, and certainly not a mountain climber.

            And so today, our hearts are full of gratitude. It is a gratitude for the professors who taught us how to wrestle with and seek the answers to questions; for the friends and family who spoke hope into our lives when we despaired; and for the people with bright eyes who reminded us how to delight–how to love– when we had forgotten. It is a gratitude for the lovely place that taught us what it means to love a place.

            What are we to do with this gratitude? I propose two things. First, we tend the garden, we do good work. The work of raising families, building homes, and fostering community. The work of inspiring wonder through the art of teaching. The work of caring for the sick, holding the hand of the dying, and sowing peace where there is injustice. The work of stewarding our land, our finances, and our businesses with integrity. And when there is suffering, the work of bearing it well, remembering that oftentimes your own cross is to help carry the cross of another.

            Second, we behold the beauty of the garden and echo God’s joyful proclamation that “It is very good.” We take in beauty and we “give beauty back.”^[1] It is easy to surrender to the tyranny of efficiency and utility, that distracting voice incessantly commanding we do everything “faster, bigger, better, quicker.” But we are not machines; and we silence that voice by seeing Christ in the eyes of everyone we meet; we resist that tyranny by wasting time beautifully. It is time to sing, dance, play, and throw more parties. Tell more jokes and tell more stories. Read more poetry and literature. Wander a wood, amble around an art museum, and watch a sunset for no other reason than that such things are good and beautiful. Perhaps, indeed, for no other reason than that Christ is risen from the dead, life has overcome death, and it is time to celebrate.

            And we celebrate today because our work is not yet finished: the conversations have only just begun; the wonder still bubbles up like a stream in springtime; the friendships have been built to last. And tomorrow, when we awake as graduates of Eastern University, our task will be the same as it was when we first set foot on this campus: to pour out ourselves in love

            Class of 2015, professors, faculty, and staff of Eastern University, thank you for reminding me over and over again that “Christ plays in 10,000 places, lovely in limbs and lovely in eyes not his, to the Father through the features of men’s faces.”^[2] I can’t wait to see all of the beautiful ways that each of you will work diligently, feast lavishly, live generously, and love abundantly. Friends, it is time to tend the garden.

---

^[1] G.M. Hopkins, The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo

^[2] G.M. Hopkins, As Kingfishers Catch Fire

The Pastor as Theologian

In Nazarene polity, tradition, and current practice, the local church pastor has many roles. One of the most important is “theologian-in-residence.” The pastor is called to frame the conversation of his or her parish, to clearly communicate how the community of faith thinks about God, the world, the Church, and persons, making sure the congregation’s lived-out practice fits with our theology.

This task not only involves what is said in sermons, but also in such details of congregational life as the choice of VBS curriculum, compassionate ministry, age-group programming, evangelism, and participation with other congregations. Our lived-out theology provides guidance in how we treat one another, how we deal with conflict and broken relationships, and how we lead others to Christ.

This pastoral task requires intensive training, and is the reason education for ordination includes significant coursework in biblical studies and theology. Our Wesleyan perspective calls us to a unique place in today’s faith conversations—we are neither fundamentalist nor liberal, and the tension inherent in this via media requires pastors who know and can clearly communicate what we believe as Nazarenes.

One of the most important ways the pastor serves as theologian-in-residence is through purposeful conversations. In our local church, my friends have heard me say certain phrases so many times, that they repeat them as measures of whether a ministry or program fits with our theology.

“We believe God is working in everyone’s life, all the time.”

“We are here to make evident the kingdom of God in our community.”

“Creating an environment where God’s love can be experienced.”

“Showing people they belong before we can teach them what to believe or how to behave.”

“Holiness is demonstrated through loving relationships.”

“God does not waste a consecrated life.”

“We demonstrate Kingdom priorities in the way we treat people.”

“How we live Monday through Saturday is just as important as how we worship on Sunday.”

None of these are earth shattering in their creativity. They are just simple statements that help our congregation think and reflect theologically as we do life together as a community of faith.

Sometimes there is a temptation to do things simply because other churches are doing them, or because we have always done them, or because they elicit an emotional response, or because they seem to work.

While none of those reasons are necessarily wrong, they should not be the primary rationale for beginning or continuing a ministry. We should not organize our youth group solely to draw the most kids to our events, nor should we plan programs just to fill up a calendar. Our goal is Christlikeness, and busier people are not necessarily holier people (another one of our favorite phrases).

The pastor’s role as theologian is essential as the congregation reflects on the reasons why we do what we do and works together in creating an environment where what we believe and how we live as a community of faith are in harmony.

Not Really Embracing the Cross

As we come down to the last few days before Resurrection Sunday, I come to my annual struggle with the violence of the cross. 

I embrace what Christ did for all of us. 


I embrace the empty tomb.
I embrace the victory over sin and death.

I struggle with the cross.

I know the cross really happened. I know that it mattered. 

I still struggle with the cross.

To me, the cross represents all that sin does. Sin dehumanizes. Sin injures. Sin kills. Sin destroys. Sin silences. And I do not celebrate that. I cry out in agony over that. 

I struggle with the cross.

Throughout human history, people have treated one another exactly the same way people treated Jesus on the cross. People who claim to be followers of Jesus do that - in the name of God. In the name of Jesus.

I truly believe the cross was never meant to be celebrated. It was meant to be a reminder - this is how bad we can treat one another when we forget the love of God. A horrible reminder.

On Palm/Passion Sunday, in our little church, we will take a wooden cross and place it front and center in the sanctuary. In front of the pulpit. It will be the center of attention. It will be a reminder of how bad sin can be, and how much we need Jesus. Because if we don't allow the holiness of God to transform us into people of love and grace, we will treat one another exactly the same way Jesus was treated on the cross.

These words from Bo Sanders help me to think about all this:

"When Jesus takes the bread and cup and forever changes their meaning he is saying 'what they will do to me – don’t you, as my followers, do to anyone else'. When Jesus says 'forgive them, they know not what they do', he is saying that they think they know what (and why) they are doing, but they are wrong. When Jesus says 'it is finished', he is proclaiming the end of this type of scapegoating and violence by those who think they are doing it on God’s behalf."

I recognize that my words here might make you a bit uncomfortable. I'm sorry about that. I just know that the cross is supposed to do just that - make us very, very uncomfortable.


(This is a reprint of a blog I posted in 2014.)

Help - but don't touch

The other day I was reading and listening to the blog of one of the best communicators I know, Scott Daniels. In his devotional, he included these two quotes: 

"Many beautiful Christians working for social change in a range of movements believe we can bring about fundamental change by using power benevolently rather than reworking the power equation. We see ourselves as the good guys who will use our influence for justice - and perhaps, in these terms, we succeed in getting our candidate on the ballot or elected. But the Christ we follow has a different, harder path - one of downward mobility, of struggling to become the least, of joining those at the bottom.  - Shane Claiborne

"Jesus' whole life and mission involve accepting powerlessness and revealing in this powerlessness the limitlessness of God's love. Here we see what compassion means. It is not a bending toward the underprivileged from a privileged position; it is not a reaching out from on high to those who are less fortunate below; it is not a gesture of sympathy or pity for those who fail to make it in the upward pull. On the contrary, compassion means going directly to those people and places where suffering is most acute and building a home there." - Henri Nouwen 

This encouraged me to think a bit about our food and clothing ministry - The Bridge.

I have never really been surprised by folks who don't understand why we spend so much time and effort making The Bridge work. I have always known there are people whose worldview would not have room for such things, or who would think we should do it another way, or who would have a problem with "those people." I get that. I even get how folks who put great effort into being followers of Jesus do not understand why we do what we do,
even though I personally cannot be a follower of Jesus and not do what we do at The Bridge.

What surprised me, for a very long time, is how many people who give to the ministry refuse to have any contact with the people who need the food and clothing we share at The Bridge. They bring clothes, they donate canned goods, but they never participate in the best part of what we do - which is build relationships.  I think I think it has something to do with keeping a distance, although I doubt if any of these folks would recognize it as such. As long as I don't get to know needy people, I will never know how much alike we are. 

Most of us have an operational worldview, based upon our position of privilege, that suggests life is fair and everyone gets what they deserve (even if this idea directly contradicts our theology of grace). If I ever found out that the folks who need help feeding their kids are just as kind, just as nice, just as hard-working as I am, maybe I would have to face the reality that my worldview is really faulty. And I would also have to face the reality that I am not that much different from the folks who need some help making it every day. 

Like the wealthy Nicodemus in John 3 and the poor Samaritan woman at the well in John 4, unless I allow Jesus to change the way I view life and the world, and especially my place in it, the living water and eternal life Jesus offers will not only be just out of reach, but it also won't make much sense at all.

Grace and peace,

Mike