February 5, 2015--freedom

Galatians 5:2-15
²Listen! I, Paul, am telling you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you. ³Once again I testify to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obliged to obey the entire law. ⁴You who want to be justified by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. ⁵For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. ⁶For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love. ⁷You were running well; who prevented you from obeying the truth? ⁸Such persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. ⁹A little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough. ¹⁰I am confident about you in the Lord that you will not think otherwise. But whoever it is that is confusing you will pay the penalty. ¹¹But my friends, why am I still being persecuted if I am still preaching circumcision? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. ¹²I wish those who unsettle you would castrate themselves!

¹³For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. ¹⁴For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁵If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.

For you were called to freedom!  This is Paul’s proclamation, it is a tenant of our faith.  As American’s, I think we forget this sometimes.  We believe freedom is an American tenant.  I wonder, is the freedom Paul talks about and the freedom we understand as American’s the same type of freedom?
Paul cautions us not to use our freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence—it isn’t freedom that means anything goes, nor  does it mean free to do anything as long as it doesn’t hurt another.  In fact this freedom actually leads us to become servants to each other in love.  We are free to love anyone, everyone. 
We have witnessed the abuse of freedom in church, horrible abuses.  Freedom is a gift but like so many other things, freedom can be abused. 
As we relate and pray with God today, I invite you to think about the freedom in Christ to love.  How will you love?  Confess how you may have abused this freedom?  Commit to loving as God loves, with a hope of righteousness. 

February 4, 2015--Transformative Healing

Mark 5:1-20

They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. ²And when he had stepped out of the boat, immediately a man out of the tombs with an unclean spirit met him. ³He lived among the tombs; and no one could restrain him any more, even with a chain; ⁴for he had often been restrained with shackles and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the shackles he broke in pieces; and no one had the strength to subdue him. ⁵Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always howling and bruising himself with stones. ⁶When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him; ⁷and he shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” ⁸For he had said to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” ⁹Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” ¹⁰He begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. ¹¹Now there on the hillside a great herd of swine was feeding; ¹²and the unclean spirits begged him, “Send us into the swine; let us enter them.” ¹³So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and were drowned in the sea.

¹⁴The swineherds ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came to see what it was that had happened. ¹⁵They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the legion; and they were afraid. ¹⁶Those who had seen what had happened to the demoniac and to the swine reported it. ¹⁷Then they began to beg Jesus to leave their neighborhood. ¹⁸As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed by demons begged him that he might be with him. ¹⁹But Jesus refused, and said to him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy he has shown you.” ²⁰And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.

Jesus has just calmed the storm while he and the disciples were in the boat.  I can’t imagine what the disciples thought when they saw this man come from the tombs to meet them as they got out of the boat.  He must have had some sort of illness that caused him to be violent, and he was so strong that chains could no longer contain him.  He was clearly a man in great turmoil.  

When this man saw Jesus he runs to him and falls to his knees.  Jesus exorcises this “demon” out of the man and he is healed.  When Jesus asks the spirit what his name is the man says Legion—for we are many.  Interestingly enough, Legion is also a term used to refer to a Roman military unit of about 6000 soldiers.  The demon begged Jesus not to send them away from the area, but to send them into a herd of pigs. 

Imagine then seeing the man who had been cast away, who you were afraid of, now sitting dressed and in his right mind.  What was behind the people wanting Jesus to leave their region?  Can you imagine what the man’s family thought when he returned?

It is hard to return home without people thinking about who you used to be.  When I returned home as an adult, it wasn’t uncommon for my parents and I to resume old roles.  When in seminary, people changed over their internship year.  However, it was hard for classmates to accept or expect anything to be different.

Jesus’ healing is about wholeness.  Living a Jesus life will change us, and not everyone will be open to those changes in us.  We may also struggle when someone we know and love makes a change and we just simply don’t expect it.  

As we open our lives up to the transforming power of Jesus, I pray we are changed to be people more like Christ.  I pray we are strong, confident in this “new me” and ready to see that others really can and are transformed.  I trust that no one is beyond God’s transformation!

February 3, 2015-Trust

Numbers 22:22-28

               

²²God’s anger was kindled because he was going, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the road as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him. ²³The donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand; so the donkey turned off the road, and went into the field; and Balaam struck the donkey, to turn it back onto the road. ²⁴Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, with a wall on either side. ²⁵When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it scraped against the wall, and scraped Balaam’s foot against the wall; so he struck it again. ²⁶Then the angel of the Lord went ahead, and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left. ²⁷When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it lay down under Balaam; and Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff. ²⁸Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?”

This has always been a strange message for me.  Balak was the king of Moab, a people who were fearful of the Israelites who were camping in Moab were so numerous.  With so many people and livestock, they were concerned about the animals eating all the grass.  Balak has been summoning Balaam to him asking that Balaam curse the people.  God had told him not to go, that these people were blessed and should not be cursed.   Balak sent officials again, but Balaam said no, he needed to see what more the Lord had to say.  During the night, the Lord spoke and told Balaam to go, but do only what God says.  So Balaam went.

We are told in the beginning of this reading that God’s anger was kindled.  Why? Did God know some that we don’t see in this text? One commentary I read suggested that God granted Balaam his own desire to go, with the caveat not to do anything other than what God says. 

I know sometimes my parents “let” me go to some things even though they knew it wasn’t in my best interest.  I am sure at times they were hoping I would change my mind, that my own reason, morals, values would lead me not to do whatever it was I wanted.  And I am sure at times they did, and other times not.  Is it possible that God was doing something similar… ok Balaam, you keep asking about this, after I have said no… let’s see what happens.

On the way, the angel of the Lord appears.  We are told the donkey sees the angel and veers off the road.  Did Balaam and the other men see?  Apparently not. Why?  Did they not want to see and so didn’t?  Do only donkeys see angels?  In anger, Balaam struck the donkey!  The angel of the Lord then boxed them in and the donkey laid down, but Balaam struck the donkey again! 

Now comes the part that people remember, the part that makes this a “fun” Sunday school lesson.  The Lord opens up the mouth of the donkey who then speaks to Balaam saying, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?”

We are told later that Balaam response is that the donkey made a fool of him and Balaam responded that he wished he could kill the donkey.  But then his eyes were opened and he saw the angel.

I would call this one of those spiritual 2 by 4 moments.  God sometimes whacks us on the side of the head to see what is right in front of us, often for our benefit. 

Have you had those moments?  Last night I was on a plane from Philadelphia to Detroit.  We were rerouted through there after the flights to Detroit were cancelled the previous day out of Charlotte, North Carolina.  I get anxious and stressed when my schedule gets interrupted like this.  I worried my luggage wouldn’t make it.  There were a lot of little funny things that had happened yesterday (one funny—my car was at a friend’s house in Detroit.  She texted me in the morning if I had another set of keys on my car somewhere.  I assumed they were lost in the house, that maybe one of her kids picked them up and took them somewhere.  I told her know.  Are they lost? I asked.  She responded nope, she knew exactly where they were, in the car with the car running, in her driveway!  Needless to say her father and husband broke into my car.)  Back to the story that is relevant… I had finished one book and was reading some materials for preaching in the coming weeks.  And there is was…. Trusting in God!  We so often are anxious and stressed because we aren’t trusting, we don’t remember what God has seen us through in the past, our own and the people of the past.  Nothing was going to happen to me but a bit of a change in schedule, and in reality it isn’t that big of a deal.  I actually whapped my head with the kindle. 

Several years I read the book, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff—and by the way, it is all small stuff.  Why can’t I remember that?  Frustrates me.  But God has ways of reminding us; in community, in prayer, in study.  Living a life in Christ helps me remember.  Yes, I sometimes need the 2x4, I can be a little stubborn.  But today as I sit in my home, ready for meetings to begin again tonight, I remember and trust that God is much bigger than I often give God credit for!  Amen.