Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Form Blazing Sword!

Last week I talked about the image of Jesus as the Good the Shepherd and we His sheep.  Despite the fluffy and sappy art associated with it, it turned out to be a pretty strong image.

This week I get to talk about vines.

Once again, it sounds like a weak imagine.  But it's not.

I dunno if you've ever been to a winery or (much less fun, by the way) needed to clear out wild grapevines, but it's really, really hard to tell which parts are the vine and which are the branches—all of it is just that entwined.

When people talk about having a personal relationship with Christ, that's what it's supposed to be like—an intimacy so completely entwined that it's hard to tell where one part ends and the next begins.

If The Good Shepherd is "You Shall Not Pass" then The Vine is Voltron or (God forgive me) Captain Planet.  One of those deals where combined powers are greater than the sum of their parts.

For the record, Jesus forms the head.
Except, of course, the fact that the special powers (the sweet, sweet grapes) you gain by being entwined with Christ is not a Blazing Sword or a...  a...  whatever Captain Planet's deal was.

It's hard to say what it is without sounding completely and utterly sappy, like some creepy Bo Dallas motivational speaker.  But when you look at the example of the modern Christian saints, you can see how powerful the answer really is.

Mother Theresa

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Fred Rogers...

The fruit is love.  Love like Gandalf facing down the Balrog.  Love like a Blazing Sword.

Love for God.

Love for Humanity.

That's the fruit of the Vine.

Be good to each other,
Rev. Josh
042815





Lectionary texts

Acts 8:26-40

Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." (This is a wilderness road.) So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah.

Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go over to this chariot and join it." So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?" He replied, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this:

    "Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth.
     In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth."

The eunuch asked Philip, "About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?" Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?"
He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.

But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

Psalm 22:25-31

From you comes my praise
   in the great congregation;
my vows I will pay before those who fear God.

The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
    those who seek God shall praise God.
May your hearts live forever!

All the ends of the earth
    shall remember and turn to God;
and all the families of the nations
    shall worship before God.

For dominion belongs to God,
    and God rules over the nations.

To God, indeed, shall all who sleep
    in the earth bow down;
before God shall bow all
    who go down to the dust,
and I shall live for God.

Posterity will serve God;
   future generations will be told about God,

and proclaim God's deliverance
   to a people yet unborn,
saying that God has done it.

1 John 4:7-21

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.

No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God.

So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because he first loved us.

Those who say, "I love God," and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.

John 15:1-8

[Jesus said:] "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples."

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

They Mostly Come At Night... Mostly.

Awww!  =D
I suspect that the passage from the Gospel of John commonly known as "The Good Shepherd" usually provokes warm and fluffy imagery.  And I blame Bernhard Blockhorst.  You probably haven't heard of him.  In all honesty, I had to look him up myself.  But I bet you've seen images of his painting, "The Good Shepherd."  Doesn't Jesus look all serene?  And look at how calmly the sheep gather at his feet!

And he's holding a lamb!  A lamb!

All soft, and fluffy...

But that's so not what this passage is about.  It's not a soft and fluffy thing.  It's just hard for us to see it because we aren't shepherds in first century Palestine.

So I've been trying to find a way to express the danger—the legitimate fear—that should be wrapped up in the phrase, "the wolf snatches them and scatters them..."

The closest I've been able to come in gamer terms was one of the very first things that happened to me when I played Red Dead Redemption for the first time.  I've left the ranch for the first time and I'm cantering my way to Armadillo because, quite frankly, I'm not feeling competent enough to gallop yet.

And that's when I hear a man shrilling crying for help.  I reign my horse in, clear leather, and shoot a wolf—just in time to watch the rest of the pack bring the poor guy down.  All in less time than it took for you to read that sentence.

Poor sucker never had a chance.

In real life?  I just have to ask you if you've ever met the gaze of a large dog intent on protecting its territory—or its people?

I'm domesticated!
And now stop and think—that's a domesticated dog.

So when Jesus talks about the difference between the hired hand and the good shepherd—when he says that the hired hand saves his own hide rather than face off against the wolf to protect the sheep.  When Jesus says the good shepherd lays his life down for the sheep—we're not talking warm and fluffy.


We're talking Gandolf facing down the Balrog and crying out "You shall not pass!"

We're talking the Battlestar Pegasus staying behind and stomping on Cylons to secure the escape of Galactica.

We're talking Gorman and Vasquez taking as many Aliens with them as possible with a grenade.

The hired hand sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away because he doesn't care about the sheep.  But the Good Shepherd, Jesus?

He loves us.

Not in a soft and fluffy way.

In a die to defend you way.

So be good to each other,
Rev. Josh
042115







Lectionary texts

Acts 4:5-12

The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, "By what power or by what name did you do this?" Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers of the people and elders, if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. This Jesus is 'the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.' There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved."

Psalm 23

God is my shepherd,
  I shall not want.
God makes me lie down in green pastures;
  and leads me beside still waters;

God restores my soul.
  and leads me in right paths
for the sake of God's name.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
  I fear no evil;
for you are with me;
  your rod and your staff — they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
  in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
  my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
  all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of God
  my whole life long.

1 John 3:16-24

We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us — and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.

And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.

John 10:11-18

"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father."

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Zombie Jesus Day

To be perfectly honest, I get it.  I do.  I've even smiled and giggled hear Professor Farnsworth blurt out, "Sweet Zombie Jesus!"

And this meme certainly isn't the first place where the cannibalistic overtones of the Eucharist have been pointed out.

But I think Know Your Meme only has it half-right when they claim "The Christian Church is known for spreading the word of god, whether people like it or not.  Zombie Jesus is often used in order to retaliate against the churches (sic) constant preaching."  The site assumes that the Christians who yell the loudest get to represent the rest of us.

I'm here to tell you that they don't.

Truth be told, I don't have beef with atheists, generally speaking.  Not any more than I have a beef with certain strains of Christianity—you know the ones I mean:  the ones that aren't content to say "This is where I am, and this is why..." and then leave it there.

I have a hard time with the ones who simply can't help going on.  "...and you're an idiot for not believing the same way I do."

Yes, I'm looking at some of you, too, atheists.

So I get, I do.  You don't really see the story of the Resurrection of Jesus as a case of zombification.  After all, what zombie ever said, "Peace be with you.  Why are you frightened..." and then asked for some fish to eat?  (Cooked even!)

Zombie Jesus isn't about that.  It's a way to provoke a reaction from that brand of Christian I was talking about.  The ones who scream the loudest.

I get it, I do.

But...

Isn't there a name for people who say things just to provoke a negative reaction?

And seriously, how can you get any satisfaction out of that kind of trolling?  I mean, it's so easy.

So how about I give you a more positive, if slightly less funny, interpretation of the Resurrection of Jesus?

Martin Bell once wrote that "God raised Jesus from the dead to the end that we should be clear-once and for all-that there is nothing more important than being human. Our lives have eternal significance. And no one-absolutely no one-is expendable."

So be good to each other
Rev. Josh
041415







































Lectionary texts

Acts 3:12-19

When Peter saw it, he addressed the people, "You Israelites, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate, though he had decided to release him. But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you. And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. In this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer. Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out...."

Psalm 4

Answer me when I call,
   O God of my right!

You gave me room
   when I was in distress.
Be gracious to me,
   and hear my prayer.

How long, you people,
   shall my honor suffer shame?
How long will you love vain words,
   and seek after lies?

But know that God has set apart
   the faithful for God;
God hears when I call.

When you are disturbed,
   do not sin;
ponder it on your beds,
   and be silent.

Offer right sacrifices,
   and put your trust in God.
There are many who say,
   "O that we might see some good!

Let the light of your face
   shine on us, O God!"

You have put gladness in my heart
  more than when their grain and wine abound.

I will both lie down
   and sleep in peace;
for you alone, O God,
   make me lie down in safety.

1 John 3:1-7

See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.

Luke 24:36-48

Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, "Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence. Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you — that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things."

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Mulder & Thomas


I feel sorry for poor Thomas.  I really do.  I think he's been given a bum deal over the years.  Can you imagine your nickname (or epithet, if you prefer) being "Doubting"?

It is entirely too easy for us to smirk at the expense of poor Thomas as we read the words of Jesus, "Have you believed because you have seen me?  Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."  We feel like Lydia Deetz explaining that the living ignore the strange and unusual.


Except us, of course.  We ourselves are strange and unusual enough to immediately understand what Jesus is saying without putting him to the test.  We're just that good, right?

Well...  probably not.

We all like to think that we're Fox Mulder, with our passionate belief in the Truth that is out there--whether the evidence supports it or not.  But if we're honest with ourselves, in this technological and scientific age we live in, we're all more likely to get all Scully up in this business.

Christians in general like to make Thomas a cautionary tale concerning the quality (or, God forgive us, amount) of our faith.  And considering those words of Jesus, I can see why that might be so.

But that's not how I see read it, honestly.  It's so easy to read those words in a harsh, pejorative tone of voice.  But what if it was said with a soft, knowing smile on Jesus's face?

I don't think the issue was so much about faith as it was about the relationship between Thomas and Jesus.  If you love someone that you're in a healthy relationship with, you don't want or need to ask them to "prove it."

On the other hand, Jesus loves Thomas—even his tendency to get all Scully up in there—and the situation was indeed strange an unusual.  Besides which—Jesus did it.  He went ahead and proved it, because he knew and loved Thomas.

I can't imagine that scene being anything but happy and kind of funny, actually.  Jesus is alive!  And right in front of Thomas!  And...  he's having Thomas put his finger...  inside...

ew.

That's love, right there.

Be good to each other,
Rev. Josh
040715


Acts 4:32-35

Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

Psalm 133

How very good and pleasant it is
  when kindred live together in unity!

It is like the precious oil on the head,
  running down upon the beard,
upon the beard of Aaron,
  running down over the collar of his robes.

It is like the dew of Hermon,
  which falls on the mountains of Zion.

For there God ordained the blessing,
  the blessing of life forevermore.

1 John 1:1-2:2

We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life — this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us — we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

John 20:19-31

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe."

A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.