Tired, Not Really!

2 Corinthians 4:8-10 Paul writes, “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.”

I am tired. Just when I think I have gotten some energy back, I’m tired again. I think there are more people who are tired than there are who have energy. Just look at all of the energy drinks out there. There are tons of them, from purely chemical to purely organic, from some with tropical rainforest fruits to straight corn syrup, you can find an energy drink to suit anyone. Why are there so many energy drinks? Because people are tired.

Paul’s words to the Corinthians shows me why I’m so tired. Afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, struck down, carrying death and carrying life. Just reading those words make me tired. How about you? It is the life of the sinner saint, the paradox of Christian existence that wears down the human soul and body. Luther wrote in the Large Catechism about this very thing. The human becomes a target of an enemy that never sleeps nor grows weary. Temptations pop up constantly, like little advertisements on your computer. Just when you click one away, a new one is there. What do you do when you can’t stop them from coming? You shut off the computer and retreat.

When the afflictions, perplexing things, persecution and blows come, you and I as mere human beings cannot withstand them on our own. We run to the death and resurrection of Jesus, the death and life of our Savior that we carry within us. We run to the Lord’s Prayer. That is why we are not crushed, driven to despair, forsaken, nor destroyed. Because if we, through baptism, have been tied to a death like Jesus, we will surely be raised up to new life like him. The sinner/ saint paradox is what it is.

But we still get tired. Spiritual fatigue shows itself often in physical fatigue, at least it does with me. When my spirit is flagging, my body is flagging. That’s when I go to the store and buy a concoction of chemistry and mystical rainforest fruit. I think it’s more psychological than it is real. That feeds my body and wakes it up, but it does nothing for my soul. I pray for the life of Jesus to be manifested in my body. Wow, what a prayer! My soul will grow weary, but Jesus never tires.

Would you be so bold as to pray that prayer with me? As more and more of us suffer from a tired soul, would you pray that the life of Jesus would be manifested, would show itself in your body? Let’s see what the Lord has in store with that one!

Heavenly Father, though we grow tired from the constant battle, the death and life every day, we pray that through the power of your Holy Spirit, that the life of your Son, Jesus would be made manifest in our bodies today! Amen, Amen, Amen!

Making a Statement

1 Corinthians 11:26 Paul writes: For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

What is it about you that makes a statement? For some, it’s the clothes they wear. The more expensive, the more fashionable, the flashier the clothes, the louder the statement. What do your clothes say about you? What does your car say about you? What does your house say about you? Think about the statement you make every time you walk out the door. “Well, I’m not trying to make a statement. I just wanted to go get a loaf of bread,” you might say. That may be true, but the fact is that everything about you makes a statement of some kind or another.

Statements are open to interpretation, though. They are often misinterpreted and misunderstood. Paul was writing to the Corinthian church because their practice of the Lord’s Supper was making the wrong statement. It showed him that they didn’t really get what it was all about and that they were making a mockery of the sacrament. Some where pigging out while others were going hungry. Some were getting drunk while others were left thirsty. Not only were they getting in trouble with Paul but they were thumbing their noses at God, and he wouldn’t stand for it.

“For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” If you’re making fun of this stuff now, what statement are you making about the sacrifice of Christ and his forgiveness. He called them to account and with brutal honesty, told them they’d better shape up.

When you come to the Lord’s table for communion, you are making a statement. Whether you think so or not, you are. When you stand at the altar, you are proclaiming the death and resurrection of Christ for the forgiveness of sins, not only in your life, but in the lives of all those around you. When you come to the table, it’s not just a you-and-Jesus thing. It’s a you-and-me-and-Jesus thing. We stand together, proclaiming our faith in Jesus and our thankfulness for all that he has done and continues to do for us. When you come with hands open, you make a statement that you stand with the church that feeds you. This is where it gets sticky. Do you believe what this church believes about what you are eating and drinking? I suppose you are free to make up in your mind what you think you believe about it all, but you’re also free to be very wrong about it and thus, run the risk of being like the Corinthians. I’ll ask once again: what statement are you making when you stand before the altar and share in the feast of the Lord’s Supper?

Through faith in Christ, the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are fed with the bread of life for the forgiveness of our sins, the strengthening of our faith, for eternal life and for salvation.

Heavenly Father, through the sacrificial death and glorious resurrection of your Son, Jesus, we are mercifully given forgiveness, life and salvation. Strengthen us by your Spirit to come to your Holy Supper in humbleness and in faith. Until we feast in the heavenly kingdom, in Jesus’ name, amen.

Scandalous!

John 6:58 Jesus said, “This is the bread that came down from heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.

“Did you hear what he said?” Scandalous! Top scandals always revolve around celebrities, politicians and sports stars. We eat this stuff up, too. We love a good scandal. We love to see the mighty brought low, those who think they’re untouchable exposed. Scandalous. Until the scandal is brought home, then, we don’t like it so much and wish everyone would just stay out of our business. Hmmm. Something doesn’t seem quite right. Even the simplest things can be made scandalous. Innocent pictures, benign letters written, all can be turned into something scandalous.

Jesus turns bread into something scandalous. I think he does it on purpose. I don’t think it was an accident that Jesus took something like manna and bread and made it into something shocking. The people needed to be shocked. They needed a wake up. They needed to have the ordinary turned extraordinary. “And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” Yikes! Yuck! What?! Bread becomes flesh? Scandalous. Our precious manna, first turned to Jesus and now, quite literally to his flesh, the meat of his bones.

Yet out of this scandalous talk of flesh, blood, eating and drinking come the words of eternal life, as Peter confesses later. The living Father gives life to Jesus and Jesus, through his flesh and blood sacrifice on the cross, gives life to you and me. These are incredible words of eternal life for you and me today. Despite the scandal of food, flesh and blood, Jesus promises life from them. Jesus says that the words he speaks are spirit and life. They are the air we breathe.

Jesus is still scandalous today, isn’t he? I mean, we can talk about all kinds of things that for all intents and purposes should offend us, but when it comes to talking about Jesus, it can be incredibly scandalous. People are not offended by the amount of sex, drugs, death and violence on TV, but put Jesus on there and “Oh My bleep” Who do those Christians think they are? Scandalous. Spirituality is great as long as you don’t mention Jesus. He’s scandalous, because he says he is the only way to the Father. Does any of this really make sense at all?

I want to take a quick survey, but you don’t have to raise your hand. What are the things that are scandalous to talk about in church? Money, politics, sex? What are the things that are scandalous to talk about in the “outside” world? Jesus, church, faith. Again, HUH?

Jesus is Scandalous. He takes bread, food, and makes it scandalous. He takes the common and scandalizes people with them. And Peter makes a confession that sticks with us today: Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and come to know that you are the Holy One of God. The words of eternal life are scandalous. They are scandalous because they do what they say. His words spoken effect what they are speaking. When he says, “I forgive you.” You are forgiven. When he says, “This is my body,” it is what he says. It’s scandalous because words represent what they are spoken about, they don’t become the very thing. But with Jesus, they do.

Which leads me to the scandal of the Lord’s Supper. Whether Jesus was trying to clue the world in with this discussion in John is still up for debate. To me, the debate doesn’t matter much. The Lord’s Supper is a scandal in itself. Bread and wine become body and blood, solely based on Jesus’ scandalous words. It is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under the bread and wine, instituted by Christ Himself for us Christians to eat and to drink. That’s straight out of the catechism. This body and blood, this flesh and blood, this living bread is given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins, for life and for salvation. That is scandalous.

And all y’all are wrapped up in the scandal. Simply sitting in this place puts you in the midst of one of the longest running scandals in the history of creation. It puts you in the middle of the sinner/saint scandal, of those who don’t live a life that measures up to the scandalous standards of the Father and yet the very same that Jesus died for. How scandalous is it to be a Christian? Jesus asks the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Are you scandalized by me? But you’re here, now, in this place because you are not scandalized by Jesus and his words. You are forgiven, not forsaken. Scandalous!

Fixing the Floor Part 2

The new developments in the "fixing the floor" concept...

First, I was reminded while working on our float for the Golden Days Parade here in Fairbanks about who the carpenter is... It's not me. Jesus, most people assume, grew up learning the trade of his father, Joseph. But in the spiritual sense, Jesus is the carpenter and also the cornerstone. So to think we could build or rebuild anything without Jesus would be foolish. It has to be about him or nothing else matters.

Second, when handling the wood necessary to rebuild, one tends to get splinters. Smaller pieces break off and lodge subcutaneously causing irritation. The splinter that has been stuck since just this morning reminds me that this rebuilding, fixing the floor, is larger than just one congregation. Perhaps it means planting a church or opening a satellite or just a coffee shop, not sure yet.

Third, there are many talented, gifted, Spirit-filled people that need to be involved in this project. A team needs to be brought together to share this vision and help with the building up of God's kingdom.

From fixing the floor to building another house, Jesus is the carpenter and the Holy Spirit is the foreman. More to come as time goes by...

Fixing the Floor

When we lived in Michigan, we lived just north of the city of Detroit. We read in our church bulletin one Sunday that a mother about four miles to the south of us needed a crib for her new baby. Our son had just outgrown our crib, so we decided that we could give it away. We took it apart and I drove down to 5-mile road to deliver the crib. As I approached the house, I noticed that the stairs were in need of repair and had to choose carefully how I walked up to the door. The porch was the same. As I entered the house, meeting the owner who was a wonderful woman, dedicated to her family and very loving, I noticed the floor had holes and loose boards all over the place. She directed me to follow her to where she wanted the crib. I followed her every step, knowing that if I ventured off the path, I'd be through the floor in no time. But she had learned how to walk among the loose boards and nail pops and holes in order to get from point A to point B, in her own home. She was unable to fix the floor, so she normalized the damage and navigated accordingly.

Our church has learned to navigate a broken floor. We struggle with Christians who are inactive and unresponsive to the needs of the community and even of their own house. How have they become inactive? They didn't used to be. In fact, they came to the church very excited, eager and willing to be part of the community. But once they were in the house, they discovered that no one was moving. Why aren't they moving? Because the floor is broken and if you move, you might fall through. There are some who are moving, but they are moving very carefully, deliberately and slowly. You have to be that way because the floor is not safe.

How did the house fall into disrepair? I'm not sure. I have my guesses and maybe historically, there are a lot of reasons, but honestly, that's not important. The important thing is to consider whether you want to teach people how to walk on a broken floor or do you want to fix the floor? Which is going to be more work? In the short term it might be easier to teach people where to step, but that limits movement because you can't have everyone moving at the same time. It also limits creativity and the path that is prescribed by safety is the only way to go. If you go outside that path, you run the risk of injury. This path is marked by words like: we don't do things like that here, if you want to get things done you have to do it this way, it's just not a sure thing, so we probably shouldn't do anything, someone tried to do that before and got hurt. Have you heard these things? So the short term solution is limiting, prescribed and boring.

We need to fix the floor. We need to create a place for exploration, creativity, excitement, movement. How do we go about creating or re-creating an environment where God's gifts can be given the freedom and energy they need in order to accomplish his work with joy and excitement?

Celebrity Worship

In light of the recent passings of Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson and Ed McMahon, among others, there is a great need to be reminded of the created-ness of man. We tend to worship with our gossip and our attention those who have attained some imaginary status of celebrity. Remember all of the others who have passed on, saints in the eyes of God, that no one has remembered or have been splashed across the newspapers.

Acts 10:25-26 When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter lifted him up, saying, “Stand up; I too am a man.”

Have you ever met anyone really famous? I mean, a super-star celebrity or great statesman, world leader? Chances are that not too many of us have met someone that holds high worldly status. But even when meeting someone of mild worldly status, we tend to behave differently. We might smile a lot, gush about how great they are and how we’re such big fans and we might even get a little nervous. But it grieves my heart when I see people overflow with emotion and worship of a person that should only be given to God.

Cornelius is a gentile who was held in high esteem even by the Jewish authorities. He was given a vision by God to call Peter and listen to what Peter had to say. But when Peter shows up, Cornelius treats him as if he were God. The scriptures use the word worship. He worshiped at Peter’s feet. A sign of respect is one thing, but out and out worship is another and Peter won’t have it. “I’m just a guy like you.” Peter wants to be sure that Cornelius and all of those in the household know that he doesn’t think more highly of himself than he ought, to quote Paul.

There is a lot to be read here. Some proverbs might come from this. Don’t get a big head. Don’t think that you’re better than anyone else. Beware of those who fall at your feet for they may be tying your shoelaces together. Peter wanted everyone to know that it was the message from Jesus that was of utmost importance, not necessarily who it was that brought it.

Our worship is reserved for the King of kings and Lord of lords, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. No one else and nothing else is deserving of our worship. In the Psalms, the writer talks about things made from stone or wood or metal that can’t hear, see or speak. We don’t worship those. We don’t worship anything that is in creation. We only worship the Creator. We don’t worship anyone who needed saving. We only worship the one who is able to save.

So for all of those celebrity worshipers, keep in mind that they are only men and women, just like you and me. They are no more deserving of our worship than you are deserving of being worshiped. And if you feel like you deserve to be worshiped, try your hand at creating life from nothing and when you can do that, we’ll talk.

Heavenly Father, thank you for creating us. We praise your wonderful name and are blessed to be part of your creation. Through your Holy Spirit, help us to be mindful of the difference between Creator and creation. Help us always to keep our worship focused on you and only you. In your Son’s name we pray. Amen.

women/mothers are more attentive to the spiritual than men/fathers.

20am June 23

That it's more often women than men who decide to involve their family in a church and/or assume the responsibiliy to follow thru with that commitment.

Why do you ask?

 Joe Baumgarten at 9:29am June 23

Curiosity. It's a quote from someone in leadership. Who is it that gave men permission to not be "spiritual?" This is an issue God's been working on in my head and heart.

 Joe Baumgarten at 9:31am June 23

or is it that men are spiritual on a different level or wavelength and we have forgotten that?

 at 9:57am June 23

I think people tend to equate spiritual with church involvement... this muddies the waters

 at 10:08am June 23

To some, the two are one in the same. No muddy water here.

 at 10:22am June 23

Joe, to answer your follow-up questions... I don't think men are considered off the hook to be spiritual beings. Maybe there is something to your speculation that men are spiritual in different ways. I just think women have taken the lead for so long that some men have just become comfortable with their secondary role.

 at 10:31am June 23

I think women/mothers feel the need to be a part of a church in order to be valitaded and try to show themselves and their children that there is a world around them that shares the faith

 Joe Baumgarten at 11:28am June 23

great discussion, keep going. I agree with Andy in that people feel by serving the church they are serving God. While for some this may be where their gifts are used, but not necessarily. I also agree that men have in many areas of the church fallen into a complacency created by women filling the vacuum left when men stepped down. That may be a chicken and the egg thing, which happened first? For Danielle or MIke, is the social network replacing the spiritual side of fellowship?

 at 12:12pm June 23

I work with Community Theater. We always have more women available for involvement than men.... is this a spiritual thing? Again, I would submit that one can easily mistake scheduling availability ... with spirituality. Also, I think it is a mistake to assume that all spiritual things are tied to the church. People always say that 20 percent of... Read More

 Joe Baumgarten at 12:44pm June 23

I'm with you. An us vs them or a he vs. she approach is asking for trouble. However, I think there is a distinct male/female design for a spiritual life. The church has since the 60's catered to a feminine spiritual approach that has discounted, discouraged and disenfranchised a majority of men from service in the church.

 Joe Baumgarten at 1:10pm June 23

maybe I read too much into the statement in the first place...

 at 1:14pm June 23

I think people can take and interpret a statement like that in a lot of different ways.... that's why I think it should generate a discussion rather than a conclusion.

 Joe Baumgarten at 1:22pm June 23

and I love the discussion.