Screwballs and Nuts
January 11, 2008

    Kelly Siegler is a candidate for district attorney here in Houston.  According to the Houston Chronicle, she is disinclined to include the “screwballs and nuts” who attend Lakewood Church on juries.  She told a judge last year that she worked to keep them off of juries.  She made the comment in response to the charge that she struck a man from capital murder jury pool because he is black.  She balked at that, saying that the reason was not his race, but that he attends Joel Osteen’s mega-church.   

    "To start with, he's a member of Lakewood Church. And we have had a running agreement, my partner Luci Davidson and I have, since we started, that people who go to Lakewood are screwballs and nuts,"Siegler said, according to the court transcript. "I'm very familiar with that church. We try our hardest not to put anybody who goes to Lakewood regularly on any jury, he's a pretty devout member of Lakewood Church. That's one reason that scared me about the man."

    Imagine that – Christians being called “screwballs and nuts” in the public sector.  While many of you know I’m not a big fan of mega-churches, and that I have frequently criticized the theology and hair of pastor Joel Osteen, I’m proud to know that at least some portion of the church is viewed in the public sector as counter-cultural!  What if all Christians lived out the unique message of the Gospel?  We not only might avoid jury duty in capital cases, we might convince others that faith in Jesus is worth something, that it actually makes a difference in how we live our lives.

    I’ll be talking about this on Sunday in a sermon about baptism.  I’ll offer some practical pointers on how to “live out” our baptism, and you’ll be urged to remember the waters of your own baptism in a tangible way.  Maybe by the end of the worship gathering you’ll want to be considered a screwball, too!  The Bible texts this week are Acts 10.34-43 and Matthew 3.13-17. 

See you Sunday,
Pastor Gary

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No God, No Peace – No Kidding
December 7, 2007

     I despise bumper sticker theology.  After all, how can you condense the Holy One to a sound-bite?  One that I see frequently is “No God – No Peace.  Know God – Know Peace.”  Frankly, it annoys me, because it’s only half true.  “No God, No Peace.”  Check.  I agree with that idea.  But there are quite a few Christians who “Know God” but do not know anything about peace.  Not in their homes, not in their souls, not in their world. 

We await a peaceable kingdom that Jesus intends to bring to earth, but the human bent toward self makes true peace impossible in the world as we know it.  Peace requires us to give up some of ourselves, our ideals, and even some of our wealth – and most of us are reluctant to change the things that make us un-peace-able people.  We can’t get peace between ethnic groups because we refuse to give up our un-peace-able stereotypes.  We can’t get peace in our marriages because we refuse to give up our un-peace-able notion that love is all about feeling good.  We can’t get peace between nations because we refuse to give up our un-peace-able levels of status, comfort, and consumption.  

     Peace will not come until the Prince of Peace exerts the power of the gospel of love in a fulfilled kingdom, a kingdom for which I yearn more and more as I age.  I criticize warring nations – including our own – but governments can no more beat cruise missiles and combat vehicles into plowshares than I can beat my own un-peace-able behaviors into pruning hooks.  And until we Christians can manage to bring peace to our homes and churches, we cannot even begin to imagine peace in the Congo or the Middle East or even in our own Senate. 

     What we need is the one who frames our Advent waiting – a coming messiah who will rule with justice and mercy and who will lead us to intentionally move toward unity by way of an oh-so-subtle drift toward grace.   Only then will we truly be able to say that when we “Know God” we “Know Peace.”  But until then, you and I can strive to get rid of the un-peace-able planks in our own eyes so that, upon seeing more clearly, we can look with love and peace at others.  That’s the fodder for the sermon this Sunday – it’s called All the Earth Awaits Peace and it comes from Isaiah 2.1-5.  We worship at 11:10 am this week and I hope you’ll join us.

Shabbat Shalom,
Pastor Gary

Isaiah 2:1-5
2:1 The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

2:2 In days to come the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it.

2:3 Many peoples shall come and say, "  Jerusalem. from LORD the of word and instruction, forth go shall Zion out For paths.? his in walk may we that ways us teach he Jacob; God house to LORD, mountain up let Come,

2:4 He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

2:5 O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD!

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November 29, 2007
Of Winter and Stumps

I've moved to a new house recently, so my commuting paths have changed.  As such, I've noticed more details while I'm driving around home.  One detail is a water oak in the median of the street I drive most. It is among a group of eight or so trees.  Some time ago, I can't tell exactly how long, it was cut off about 5 feet above the ground.  Now, it has a year or two's worth of growth out of the stump, and it's coming up kind of scraggly and rough looking.  It’s ugly, but there’s still life in it.

This tree recalled a bit of forgotten farm folklore for me, although I can't cite the source of this tidbit:  Never cut a tree down in winter.  That's because, in winter, the tree always looks dead from the outside, even if there is still life going inside.  If you cut a living tree in the winter, the stump will send out shoots in the spring when the sap rises with the temperatures.

The point is -   In the winters of life we are tempted to cut down dreams, hopes, and ideals but you can never really tell if a thing is dead when the situation is at its worst.  Nature teaches us that a thing isn't necessarily dead just because you can't see life in the winter.  God taught nature to be that way.  Seems that's part of the Holy One’s nature.

In Isaiah 11 there is a promise that a shoot will come out of the stump of Jesse.  All of Israel believed that they were in decline and that foreign oppression was their fate.  They were ready to cut down the tree, when Isaiah bursts in with "Wait! Something better is coming.  Wolves are going to lie with lambs, and the root of Jesse will be a banner over all the people of the earth."  And in just the right time, God delivered on his promise that was to come from the family of Jesse - his name was Jesus.  And as surely as all of Israel awaited God's salvation, all the earth awaits something even now.

God's methods aren't always easy to understand, and sometimes life throws us curve balls that look like winter time.  Advent reminds us that hope isn't hope if it doesn't have to wait and the God of Advent urges us to stop cutting down trees in winter time so that, when spring comes in its many forms, our dreams, hopes, and ideals will still be standing as trees of righteousness in the Kingdom of God.

What do you await?  Love?  Security?  Kindness?  Acceptance?  Forgiveness?

Whatever you await this Advent, keep on waiting - for that is hope, and that is what we celebrate beginning this Sunday.  I'll be preaching a sermon called All the Earth Awaits Hope based on Isaiah 11.1-10.  We'll gather for worship at Willow Meadows Baptist Church at 11:10 a.m. and I'd be honored if you join us this week.

Waiting on the World to Change,
Pastor Gary

Isaiah 11.1-10

The Branch From Jesse
 1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
       from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

 2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—
       the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
       the Spirit of counsel and of power,
       the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD -

 3 and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.
       He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
       or decide by what he hears with his ears;

 4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
       with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
       He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
       with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.

 5 Righteousness will be his belt
       and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

 6 The wolf will live with the lamb,
       the leopard will lie down with the goat,
       the calf and the lion and the yearling [a] together;
       and a little child will lead them.

 7 The cow will feed with the bear,
       their young will lie down together,
       and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

 8 The infant will play near the hole of the cobra,
       and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest.

 9 They will neither harm nor destroy
       on all my holy mountain,
       for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD
       as the waters cover the sea.

 10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious.

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November 16, 2007
Forming Faith in a Missional Church

A boy went to church for the christening of his younger brother.  Going home, he sat in the back seat quietly weeping.  His father asked him, “Son, what’s wrong?” 

Bravely, the boy replied, “Well, the pastor said he wanted us raised in a Christian home, and I wanted to stay with you guys.”

Funny!  Or not so funny? 

After all, do Christian parents know what it takes to make a home specifically Christian?  Do parents know what spiritual formation is?  And for that matter, how many Christians – adult or child – are being spiritually shaped at all?  There are a whole bunch of preacher-types out there who tell me that church should be “missional” and go out into the world, but what should be done to spiritually prepare people for this kind of sending? 

In last week’s sermon I suggested that a missional faith should be holistic and apostolic, but how do we acquire such a faith?  Or, put a different way, how can we be shaped by God to live the missional faith to which we are being called?  The answer lies in seeing souls as beings that need to be shaped and changed, not merely “educated” with lots of knowledge about God, but rather encounters with God.  Instead of pouring Bible facts and doctrinal statements into our minds, a missional faith is best shaped by experiences with God that aim not only at head knowledge, but heart-level change.  This means that that you and I may have to change how we seek God, listen to God, and imitate God’s ways.

We may also discover that our familiar ways of Christian education are inadequate for preparing us to live missionally.  Sunday School is a start, but do all the Bible facts we’ve learned through the years change our ways of living?  Does missional faith require something more?  Yes. 

That’s what I’m talking about in Sundays’ sermon entitled Change Your World – By Allowing God to Change You, based on parts of Psalm 119.  We’ll explore some ways that you and I can be changed by God (spiritually formed) for missional living, and you may be pleasantly surprised to find that you’re already doing some of these things – and that they’re actually fun!!!  Things like conversation, art, hospitality, or exercise, games, or sharing life with others.  It all boils down to the fact that God is already working in our lives on multiple levels and in varied ways – we simply need to see things that way and be changed by it.

Hope to see you Sunday,
Pastor Gary
 
Psalm 119. 1-8 and 33-40

1 Blessed are they whose ways are blameless,
       who walk according to the law of the LORD.

 2 Blessed are they who keep his statutes
       and seek him with all their heart.

 3 They do nothing wrong;
       they walk in his ways.

 4 You have laid down precepts
       that are to be fully obeyed.

 5 Oh, that my ways were steadfast
       in obeying your decrees!

 6 Then I would not be put to shame
       when I consider all your commands.

 7 I will praise you with an upright heart
       as I learn your righteous laws.

 8 I will obey your decrees;
       do not utterly forsake me.

33 Teach me, O LORD, to follow your decrees;
       then I will keep them to the end.

 34 Give me understanding, and I will keep your law
       and obey it with all my heart.

 35 Direct me in the path of your commands,
       for there I find delight.

 36 Turn my heart toward your statutes
       and not toward selfish gain.

 37 Turn my eyes away from worthless things;
       preserve my life according to your word.

 38 Fulfill your promise to your servant,
       so that you may be feared.

 39 Take away the disgrace I dread,
       for your laws are good.

 40 How I long for your precepts!
       Preserve my life in your righteousness.

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I thought of “second naïveté” in preparing for this week’s sermon about the tenth leper who returned to thank Jesus for being healed.  You’ll find the story starting in Luke 17. 11-19 (copied below).  It is a story of healing but, more importantly, it’s a story about seeing.  The first sighting in this story is done by Jesus.  He sees the lepers – really sees them – and gives them instruction to go to the priests. 

Then the second “seeing” occurs:  “… and as they went, they were cleansed.  One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back, praising God…”

It’s a story about Jesus seeing the human condition of the lepers and the one leper truly seeing his condition as a healed man and returning to give thanks.  I imagine that the leper went through all three of Ricoeur’s stages of appropriation of the idea healing and came back with excitement and gratitude because his healing didn’t need to be proven by history or science or fact.  In his mind, the healing just was.  The existence of healing was all that mattered and reveling in the fact fashioned him into a remnant of “thanks.” 

Oh that we would be that thankful remnant, too.

We have all been “seen” by our God in our human condition.  We have also “seen” all that God has done for us.  But for “seasoned” Christians it is possible to lose sight of the grace and restoration that has changed us and we do well to go back to that place of “second naïveté” and take a second look at how much we’ve received.  That’s where the seed of gratefulness in all of life is planted, tended, and blossoming.

I’ll be preaching a sermon called At Second Sight this Sunday at 9:00 a.m. worship gathering called Jubliate!  We’ll gather also at 11:10 a.m. for Overflow where we’ll be wrapping up the sermon series Desperate Sex Lives by talking about marriage and forgiveness.  If you’re in Houston this weekend, I hope you’ll join us.