Friendship and Grace

Friendship is a gift and grace is undeserved love. I have been on the receiving end of both love and grace, especially these past two weeks. A friend is someone who loves you even when you don’t feel like you deserve it and when you are weird. People who know me best probably would say I am weird all the time. My significant other tells me that – in all fun and love.
God showed up through a couple of friends recently when I really needed to hear I am loved even when I am weird. You guys know who you are. Thanks. Love you back.

Do you have someone in your life who loves you like that?

The Servant King

Palm Sunday Sermon

Gloria Swanson was one of Hollywood’s top actresses from the 1920’s to the 1950’s. She was quite ambitious. Early in her career, Swanson was quoted as saying, “I have gone through enough of being a nobody. I have decided that when I am a star I will be every inch and every moment the star! Everybody from the studio gate man to the highest executive will know it.” And Swanson made sure of that. Before returning from a trip to France, she sent a telegram to her film studio informing them that she expected a grand welcome when she arrived in California. To quote the telegram: “Arriving with the Marquis tomorrow morning. Stop. Please arrange ovation.” The studio knew enough not to argue with their star. An ovation was duly arranged.

Jesus does not have to arrange his own ovation when he enters Jerusalem. Word about him have been spreading through the countryside. Healer, teacher, leader: he was becoming quite a celebrity as holy week begins; too much celebrity to suit the entrenched bureaucracy. And so, even as the crowd waves its palm branches and shouts its Hosannas, the shadow of the cross looms in the background: In the bright sunlight of adoration but still on the edge of night.

Jesus is not fooled by the crowd’s adoration. He knows that public opinion is a fickle thing. One day you are a hero, the next you are out of office. You’ve got to give the public what it wants, an image consultant surely would have instructed Jesus to ride a mighty stallion into Jerusalem that day instead of a humble donkey.

The people don’t understand. They shout “Hosanna”. They yearn for a deliverer that would fight off the Roman invaders and send them packing. Jesus is a king but not the king they are expecting.

Jesus knows where he is headed. He does not welcome it: Rejection, pain and death is not the cup he would have chosen for himself but he will be obedient to his Father even if this means death. This death is necessary for our salvation:

Listen to the Message paraphrase of the Philippians text today:
“Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death - and the worst kind of death at that – a crucifixion. Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth – even those long ago dead and buried – will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all (the NIV reads that Jesus Christ is Lord), to the glorious honor of God the Father. (vv. 2:6-11)

Philippians 2:5-11 is one of my favorite passages in the Bible. It offers what may very well be one of the oldest Christological reflections (understanding of Christ) in the entire New Testament. Because of the poetic splendor of these verses, there is considerable suggestion that these texts made up an early Christian hymn, which Paul skillfully incorporates into his letter. If this is indeed the case, the theology behind this hymn represents not only Paul’s own thoughts, but also the Christological convictions of the first generation of believers.

Paul had founded the Philippian church early on during a missionary journey around A.D. 50. Paul was persecuted while in Philippi and the Christians of the church there are now also facing a significant opposition so Paul’s letter to them is a call to persistence in faith. They also experience some internal dissention. He writes to them now about 10 years after their start while he awaits trial in Rome. He challenges them to stand firm in one spirit and to strive side by side with “one mind” for the faith of the gospel (v. 1:27). He tells them that humility is essential for those who have the “mind” that was in Jesus Christ (v. 5). Philippians 2:1-13 is a reflection on humility and the example of Christ, beginning with some words of advice (vv. 1-4) and then transitioning into a poetic reflection on the shocking self-emptying of the Lord (vv. 5-11.)

The thoughts expressed in Philippians 2 will be picked up years later in what we call the Nicene Creed which was adopted by the Council of Nicea in A.D. 325 and modified in A.D 381 in the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed.

Before his days on earth, Christ enjoyed complete equality with the Father (John 17:24)
Jesus is unalterably in the form of God, but he laid it willingly down for our sake. He emptied himself of his divinity to take upon himself his humanity. This is not role-playing as some would have us believe.

Even in human form, his essential nature remained unchanged; he was still God (John 5:18). Yet so that he might take away the sins of the world, he voluntarily laid aside the privileges and glory of his heavenly authority (v. 8). He surrendered the splendor of his position to identify with sinful humanity.

Christ’s action has been described as the laying aside during the incarnation of the independent use of his divine attributes. He performed miracles but always under the direction of the Father and the Holy Spirit. Jesus was so committed to his Father’s plan that he obeyed even to the point of death (Heb. 5:8)

Paul does not specifically spell it here out but there is an obvious parallel between Adam and Jesus, who was known as the second Adam. The comparison juxtaposes the disobedience of the human Adam, who grasped at a divine status that was not his to take, with the obedience of a truly divine Christ, who gladly relinquished divinity for the sake of saving fallen humanity.

“Taking the form of a slave/servant” and “being made/born in human likeness” are both ways of identifying Jesus as fully human. The “slave” or “servant” image certainly calls to mind the Suffering Servant of Isaiah chapters 42-53 – a servant who also willingly undergoes suffering and humiliation for the sake of others. But the “slavery” this emptied Christ takes on could also be a reference to the weight of human sinfulness under which all men and women are born.

While I was pondering Jesus’ sacrifice this week, I thought of a wonderful Charles Wesley Hymn titled, “And Can it Be That I Should Gain” (UMH 363). Turn to your hymnal and sing these poignant words with me:

1. And can it be that I should gain
an interest in the Savior's blood!
Died he for me? who caused his pain!
For me? who him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be
that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be
that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

2. He left his Father's throne above
(so free, so infinite his grace!),
emptied himself of all but love,
and bled for Adam's helpless race.
'Tis mercy all, immense and free,
for O my God, it found out me!

I took a class in seminary which touched me and touches me still. I mentioned this before. It was a class on “suffering and the atonement.” We talked about what we think happened on the cross. It really remains a mystery after all. But one of the theories which deeply resonates with me is Peter Abelard’s (Dialectician philosopher and theologian born 1079. Died 1142) Moral Influence Theory. This is what we have been singing about this morning. Rather than a payment to or victory over the Devil, or a satisfaction of a debt owed to God, Abelard sees Jesus’ life and death as a demonstration of God’s love that moves sinners to repent and love God.

When you and I understand (even in glimpses, imperfectly) that we are loved beyond words, something happens to our heart: It begins to melt. We find ourselves wanting to love God and people back. In ways I don’t fully understand, we find ourselves drawn to this Jesus and wanting to follow him.

Do you remember last week’s sermon on John 12:1-8, when Mary anoints Jesus’ feet with expensive perfumed ointment? In that story we get to see Jesus’ humanity. He had to have been scared and troubled by what laid ahead. He was so close to Jerusalem and he knew what awaited him there. He needed and welcomed Mary’s extravagant act of love and devotion for him. She loved him deeply and responded to the love she had received. Maybe Jesus had healed her somewhere, sometime along the way, during one of his visits to Bethany. That is an incredible story.

Our text today is an incredible story too. Imagine: Christianity is a new religion and God is depicted as a slave who emptied and humbled himself!

The whole New Testament is incredible: It depicts a man who is born in a barn, in a obscure corner of a Roman-ruled province; We see a man who is tempted in the wilderness; a man who needs love and comfort like the rest of us; a man who struggles and prays a heart breaking prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane; a man who ends up suffering pain beyond comprehension and dying nailed to a cross because he loves us more than his life…

And this is God!?

I am telling you, this is one of the reasons which tipped my heart toward Jesus. We have a God who loves us beyond words to the point of coming in the flesh, to live and die to save us. This is one of the reasons I know God is real. Who in their right mind would depict a God on the cross if it were not true? It does not seem to me that this would be the best way to get followers. A God who dies on the cross!? Why not talk instead of a god who is all mighty, ruling from above, untouched by our lives below. This is nuts! Yet 1 Corinthians 1:18 says it this way: “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

Paul used this beautiful hymn to the Philippian church (but also to us): So that our hearts would be touched and transformed; So that the same attitude of humility and selflessness would be in us too. Believers cannot duplicate the precise ministry of Jesus but they can display the same attitude.

Paul exhorts his readers and listeners to have the same attitude as Christ. What does that mean?
I often spend time during the week with pastors. Most are male. Invariably we talk about sports or cars. I am also married to a car enthusiast. So I hear car stories and the following is one I heard:

A man had posted an article he had written on the Internet about an old car he once had. In his words, this car was ratty and ragged, driven when he was a poor college student. He was having trouble with something he couldn’t readily identify, so he took it to the repair shop. The mechanic looked at it a couple of minutes and said, “What you really need is the radiator cap solution.”
“Oh” said the young automobile owner, trying not to sound too confused. “Do you mean the radiator cap isn’t holding enough pressure?”

“That’s part of the problem” said the mechanic. “You need to lift the radiator cap and drive another car under it. Then the next day you can replace the radiator cap, and it should solve your problem.”

In order to have the mind and heart of Christ, that is what we would have to do – replace not just our attitudes and opinions, but lift these attitudes and opinions and drive a whole new person under them, then throw the old attitudes and opinons out and replace them with new ones.

When we let Jesus in our hearts, we can be transformed in that way. We become new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). We become more like Jesus and with the Spirit’s help we can get to the point of saying to God, “Not my will but your will be done.”

Have you checked for attitudes lately? Are they Christ-like?

Communication

Communication. I watched a show on TV the other day. I can’t remember the station. It was something like the History or Science channel. The show talked about what differentiates human beings from animals. The show explained how our physiology - the size and shape of our cranium, and consequently the size of our brain and the design of our throat etc… - enable us to produce sounds and pitches that other animals can’t. With this ability came better communication capabilities. Increased and better communication, the show went on, gave us a clear advantage in term of survival.

Communication. If you are married, have a family and have friends (that should cover everybody, right?), you know the importance of communication. How tricky communicating with one another can be. Things can go down hill quickly if we fail to communicate properly.
In marriage counseling, quite a bit of time and effort can be spent helping folks actually communicate, instead of talking “above each others’ head”, where the spouses are not really talking with or listening to one another.

I remember a little bit of a speech class I had years ago in college and I remember that we talked about the mechanics of communication. How a “message” is sent and how it is “received” and the interference that are in the way of the sender and receiver. If you have ever played the game of “telephone”, you get the idea of what I mean. A message starts one way and ends up garbled at the other end. There are so many things which can go wrong, beginning with the sender, the space between the sender and the receiver and the receiver itself. Sometimes I think it is amazing that we understand each other at all. I know that I don’t always communicate as clearly as I want to. So I am trying to get better. I am looking at is a book titled, “How to communicate: The Ultimate Guide to Improving Your Personal and Professional Relationships.” I have had this book for a while but had never read it until now.

Communication. I think of communication quite a bit because part of my calling is sharing God’s Word with people. I spend quite a bit of my week praying for, thinking about and crafting the message that I deliver each week. I think about flow, about transitions, about delivery… I had a preaching class in seminary. I have read books about preaching but I want to keep learning and get better so I have started to read a neat resource titled, “The Art and Craft of Biblical Preaching” to help me hopefully improve in this endeavor. This book is a hefty tome at over 700 pages. The title struck me because it says the “Art and Craft.” Communication is a skill which can be learned. No one is born knowing how to effectively communicate. It is more than words as you know also, it is body language, the tone of one’s voice, one’s culture, one’s gender in relationship to the people receiving the message… Communication requires sustained intention and care.

So I think a lot about communication as a pastor but I think we all need to give thoughts to this because it is really important for all of us to communicate clearly.

The resources I mentioned above are certainly helpful but I don’t want to forget that Jesus gives us a model of healthy communication among Christians in the Bible. Look at Matthew 18:15-17. It says: Go directly to the person you have a problem with and talk; no gossiping behind the person’s back; no holding on and chewing on something for days, no triangling – trying to get others to take side. Go and talk directly with the one you have a problem with. If this does not work well, than bring one or two others with you and go talk with the person you have issues with. In our denomination, this might be someone from the Staff-Parish committee. In the first church that I served, things unfortunately escalated and the District Superintendent got involved, along with a conflict management consultant, a retired pastor. I hope to never get to that point again. It was ugly and it was painful and I am sure God cringed.

Few things can hurt a church more and lead to faster decline than lack of, or unhealthy communication, among folks. My experiences with churches is that we are not very good usually at communicating clearly. We are usually pretty good at undercover, guerilla warfare, sadly enough. Things are said behind people’s back. Egos get bruised. We don’t want to offend so we don’t say what we really feel. Feelings get hurt but we hold on to a grudge because we are unable or unwilling – because of pride maybe - to talk with the people we feel resentment toward…. Mole hills soon grow into mountains. Do you know what I mean?

Communication. I believe most of the world’s problems stem at some level from lack of or poor communication; from an unwillingness to listen and understand others…

Communication. Clear, healthy, loving communication among Christians can offer a great witness to unchurched, unbelieving people also. Let’s do our best to have healthy, loving communication. As the hymn says, “they’ll know we are Christians by our love.”

Faith

There are some things in life that you just hope you never have to do. One of these things happened to me this past Wednesday: I officiated at the funeral of one of our nieces, 21 year old Jennifer in Ohio. The cause of death is still being worked on but it looks like a brain aneurism took her too soon.
I have officiated at several funerals before but they were always for elderly people who were not related to me.
Over 100 people showed up and stayed for her viewing on Tuesday and again for the service on Wednesday. She had been in band in High School and I would bet most of the band was present to honor her. It was just unbelievable how many lives she had touched in her young span of time here on the earth. Jen loved people and she loved horses. As she loved and gave in life so did she in death.
Jen was an organ donor. The doctors were able to use her liver, kidneys and corneas. That is such a comfort to know that she lives on through the recipients of these gifts of life.
The age old questions of how can there be a loving God when things like this happen surfaced. How is pain and suffering able to coexist with love? What kind of explanation can I give? This is not a sin related thing. It just is and I have no explanation. Job comes to mind.
In the end I have to trust that God walks with us in this time of trial and that He cares. I believe, help my unbelief.

A prisoner of Jesus Christ

“…I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus…” That phrase has been echoing in my heart and mind these past several weeks. It comes from Ephesians 3:1. That was one of the lectionary texts (3:1-12) for Epiphany Sunday, January 4. On that Sunday, we recognized and remembered anew that all the world, Jews and non-Jews (Gentiles), has been called into the family of God. That is the mystery that God has given Paul, this first century missionary pastor, to tell the people. I preached on that. On how good it is to be part of the family but also on the privilege and responsibility we have been given also to let people know… To let them know that they are not too broken, or too messed up or whatever to come and have a relationship with Jesus. They are loved and welcomed.
That is an amazing message of grace. A message that I have and continue to be the recipient of.

“…I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus…” But that phrase keeps rattling within me. I have thought about it off and on as I lay in bed at night, reviewing my day, talking with God, waiting for sleep to come…

“…I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus…” The immediate meaning is that Paul is telling the folks he is writing to (Ephesians and others since this is apparently a circular letter, commentators tell us) that he is in jail. Scholars believe he was imprisoned in Rome when he wrote the letter. But what I also think he is telling them and us – and that is the part that gets me - is that his love for Jesus is so profound, so deep, and so powerful that it controls him. All of him. Every decision he makes. Every moment of his life…

That statement must have jarred the folks at the Ephesus church. By all accounts, they were great folks. Paul writes, “Since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God’s people everywhere, I have not stopped thanking God for you.” (Eph. 1:15, NLT) But then the writer of Revelation says this about the followers of Jesus in Ephesus “Yet I hold this against you. You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.” (v. 2:4-5a, NIV)

Paul is calling them and us to wake up, to not go through the motion of faith, to not play church. Instead he prays that passion – that fire in our belly for God and people – would be re-ignited.
There is something really powerful, really contagious, about a life lived with passion; in the best sense of the term.

I went to my seminary recently to a communion service in honor of Erland Waltner. Erland is 94. He was my spiritual director when I was in seminary. He is one of the most faithful, wise, grace-filled person I know. He has a passion for God, for people, for teaching… He and his wife are going through great times of changes and transition in terms of health and living arrangements. They have recently moved from the home they had lived in for years, across the street to the seminary, to a retirement place in Goshen.
When I read what Paul says about himself, I think of Erland. He is a prisoner of Jesus Christ. It is obvious God has all of him. He shines with a quiet, strong and steady faith. Erland is legally blind but the eyes of his heart and the discernment of his spirit are sharp. He could see right through the confusion experienced by this green pastor not so long ago. His passion and love for Jesus are inspiring.

I remember reading the newsletter from a local counseling agency and the director was talking about the passion that he has for what he does and the passion he sees in his colleagues and also in some of the people they serve. This therapist wrote, “The word "passion" itself has an interesting history in Christian tradition. It derives from the Latin passio, which meant "to suffer," and also "to allow oneself to be acted upon" ("suffer the little children to come unto me" reflects this meaning), and especially to allow oneself to endure suffering – as in Jesus' Passion.

Passion is what Paul had, what Erland has, what some pastors I know have. A passion for God, for God’s people which drives their life. This passion enables them to bear their cross.

A pastor friend was talking about that recently. He shared his deep concern for children and how they grow up in this society. He wants them to have roots, a solid foundation rooted in Jesus and His love. He says that he wants kids to have a faith which will enable them to carry the crosses that bring unspeakable pain and loss to all our lives at one time or another.

I want that kind of faith, that kind of passion. I want to be a prisoner of Jesus. I want people to see Jesus in me and for them to come to Him. Amen.

The Gift of Presence

The gift of presence: That is the recurring thought and feeling I had the whole month of December. Several people I knew, or who were related to people I know, died in December. I found myself sitting with several grieving people during the season of Advent/Christmas. I found myself sitting also with people who had lost someone dear earlier in the year and for them, this would be their first Christmas without that beloved one. Before I did my Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) Chaplaincy training some years back and received a little more counseling training and before I became a pastor, I found sitting with grieving people more difficult than I do now. There was a need in me to “fix” the situation; to say something profound which somehow would take the pain away and make things “right.” I was uncomfortable with silence; with people’s pain and tears; with my own emotions being stirred by their pain. There was a need in me to “do something” and move on quickly away from the situation.

I soon realized that there was nothing I could say to take the pain away; nothing I could do to “fix” the situation; nothing I could do to bring a loved one back. I felt very helpless and inadequate.
But then people would be appreciative and often they would hug me to thank me for being there. They would say things like “it means so much that you are here.” This would puzzle me because I did not “do anything”, I was just there. And then I started to have a better understanding of the gift of presence; the gift of listening; the gift of holding someone when they cry… This gift comes into fuller fruition with the ability to be present to the moment.

Nowadays, I don’t mind silence so much; I don’t feel the need to “fix” things as I used to. I receive the emotions that people share with me with gratitude and hold their pain, and vulnerability and trust as a precious, fragile gift. I receive the emotions that others’ pain foster in me with awe because it means that God gave me a heart and the ability to care deeply. Being able to be present when people go through the tough moments in life is incredibly humbling.

I have been the recipient of the gift of presence recently as I am undergoing tests and am now waiting for the results. God is incredibly present throught people and the words of comfort they give, even when most don't know what a blessing they are.

I think about this gift of presence as we celebrated Advent and the Christmas season. I think about it as I look at this new year ahead of us. I believe there is a longing in all of us for this Presence which offers what the world cannot offer. We sang “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” (one of my favorite Advent hymns). There is a verse that we rarely sing which says, “O come, thou Key of David, come, and open wide our heavenly home. The captive from their prison free, and conquer death’s deep misery.”
This season, but also all year long, we must tell the world that this Presence who transforms, heals and sets people free from their man-made prison and from death is Jesus. We tell the folks we come in contact with through the way we live, through the way we love; through the way we give and through the way we die.



I am not sure where the tradition of making New Year’s resolutions comes from. In years past I used to make the resolution to loose weight (along with half the nation I am sure) and after February I soon gave that up. It will happen. It is happening but it is no longer a New Year’s resolution.
My resolution and prayer this year and every year to come is to become ever more present to people and be more open to the Presence, Jesus. He is the gift of Presence. The One we long for. Amen.

Relationships

I’ve been thinking about relationship a lot lately. More so these past few months than usual. Been thinking about my life and all the people in it. If it weren’t for relationships, I would not be here. A man and a woman came together so that I could be. Right there is the first miracle. Relationships have enabled me to be cared for and survive into adulthood. Relationships are an integral part of who I am and who I am becoming. We are all shaped for better or for worse by relationships.

I am not entirely sure what that is all about and what I am trying to write will probably sound a little messy. It is hard to put words to feelings often. Why I am thinking about all this now?
I think the holiday season has a part in this. Steve and I have just spent the past couple of days with a beloved sister-in-law and niece from Ohio. Steve’s youngest brother could not make it after all because he was on call working for a large national bank as a computer support technical person.
This particular sister-in-law is like a sister to me. We share the same birthday. She is a year younger. We have similar personalities and taste. She works in a helping/caring profession/vocation as a physical/rehab therapist in a nursing home. My whole calling as a pastor deals the complexities and intricacies and pain and joys that relationships generate. We are people persons. We share the love of learning and books. We love the outdoors and hiking. We enjoy museums. Often I start saying something or she does and we realize we were thinking the same thing. It’s really cool.
I think that I have been thinking about relationships because we are not close to any of our families. 5 hours away is the closest. My side of the family is all in France and this time of year is bittersweet because I miss them more than usual.

I have been thinking about relationships because some people around me have lost loved ones recently or are in the process of losing a loved one. I ache for them. I realize anew how precious relationships are and how quickly they can end. I realize anew how much I care about the people in my life and how too often I don’t take enough time to tell them how much I love them and how much they mean to me and how much they have helped make me who I am and who I am becoming. I don’t fully understand all this.

I have been thinking about relationships because I wonder why it is that some people enter your life to stay just briefly. Why is it that some stay for a lifetime and some for just a few months or years or even a few days. I have some people in my life that I don’t want to lose yet I sense that some are slipping away. What does that mean? Is their part in my life over? Is my part is their life done? Is it done for a time or for always? Can I prevent the relationship from fading into the past? I don’t know.

I have been thinking about relationships because a friend just shared recently in a blog that after years of unease, the relationship with one of his sisters has finally become unstuck. It’s taken years of trying to sit down and talk and not being able to somehow. I don’t know the details of all this, I just remember him mentioning this several times in the course of the years that I have come to know him better and the brokenness of the relationship was obviously a source of pain for him. I could empathize with him. I do rejoice with him at this new beginning.

I have been thinking about relationships because I have experienced a renewed relationship of my own with my father over the course of spending several weeks in France this summer. I am not entirely sure how our estrangement started. I think it involved more than the two of us. It’s a whole family system thing. I am not sure what finally got the whole thing unstuck. I had been praying a lot about it. Did I change? Did he change? God had and has a part in it, I am convinced. It’s still a work in progress. So I don’t understand everything that has and is happening but I believe it is good and I am very grateful.

I have been thinking about my relationship with God and how this has become an integral part of me, and my self-concept. I have been thinking that he made us for relationships, with others, with Him. Without these we would be dead physically and spiritually. Without Him I would be more of a mess than I already am sometimes.

I am grateful beyond words this season for all the people in my life. I am not always good at saying things, too often I keep what is in my heart to myself, but I want them to know that I love them and I want to get better at saying it.

Dear God, thank you so much for all the people you sent and keep sending into my life. I don’t understand fully how we are all related, what part we play in each others lives but, help me be mindful of the people you place in my path and help me be a blessing to them. Amen!

Becoming

Psychiatrist M. Scott Peck starts his book “The Road Less Traveled” by saying, “Life is difficult”. Yes indeed. I would add “life together is difficult" but it is part of what makes it interesting and worth living too.

Relationships whether in the Church or in a marriage or a friendship can be trying and testing but I believe this is how we grow, how God shapes us. How else shall we become more like Christ, sanctified, made holy, if we are never subjected to anything challenging? How are we to learn compassion, love, forgiveness unless we are “field tested?”

A friend talked about life together tonight, especially life together as the people of God, the Church. German theologian and pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer has a whole book about some of this called “Life Together.” I've only read parts of it. I need to read it again in its entirety.

Life together as the people of God is challenging. Nothing new here. Just read the Bible and you realize that life together as the body of Christ, the Church, has never been smooth sailing. Struggles came from within and from without in the form for internal divisions, bickering… Even with Jesus we are still a bunch of goofs after all.
Challenges came from without, from economic hardship, from persecution. Persecution is still a very real issue for some of our brothers and sisters outside the United States. It is hard to imagine someone dying for their faith from the comfort of our lives here in this country. Persecution here in the US is more subtle… We don’t call it persecution. I have asked myself how I would react, what I would say if someone held a gun to my head and asked me to renounce Jesus or die.
In a less dramatic way, would I deny my Lord if that were a requirement to hold a job and survive?
Here we are challenged in other ways. A thousand subtle temptations assail us daily. Will we bow to popular and politically correct things which go contrary to the teachings and ways of Jesus? In some ways, I think we do that anyway, because we are so immersed in our culture, often despite ourselves. Some things which should never be normal and acceptable have become normal and acceptable.

There are amazing blessings in sharing our lives that, in my book, surpass the struggles of being together. My marriage has shaped me in ways that I would never have been shaped if I had not been married to my husband. The good times, the really difficult times...
Living as a follower of Jesus with other followers of Jesus has shaped me in ways I am still trying to grasp. I have been able to open my heart to another human being in ways I had never done before I had committed my life to Jesus. in ways which still surprise me sometimes, in ways which bless me because I have felt safe sharing the deeper things of my life with these couple of people. I trust them with my life. People have opened themselves to me in ways I had not experienced before. That is a precious gift that I hold very dearly. Often I have felt myself to be on Holy Ground. I am who I am and I continue to become through through people and being together.

It is hard to be real. One of my favorite books is “The Velveteen Rabbit” by Margery Williams Bianco. The toy Rabbit asked the old Skin Horse, as they conversed in the nursery:
““What is REAL?” asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. ‘Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?’
‘Real isn’t how you are made,’ said the Skin Horse. It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.’
‘Does it hurt?’ asked the Rabbit.
‘Sometimes,’ said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. ‘When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.’
‘Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,’ he asked, ‘or bit by bit?’
‘it doesn’t happen all at once,’ said the Skin Horse. ‘You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”

I have hurt my friends at one time or another, never on purpose. They have hurt me at one time or another, not on purpose, often unknowingly. But we forgive and we keep loving and growing together. It is scary to allow someone to see your heart, way beyond the superficial veneer.

I am still trying to figure out some of my friends. Some don’t open their hearts easily. It’s taken years. I guess I don’t open my heart easily either. Trust must be there. It does take time. God continues to work with us and shapes us and molds us. We are all becoming through His love...