progressive christianity

Foundations and Fruits

/ JJS / Leave a comment

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 5; 145, Hosea 6:7-7:7, Acts 22:30-23:11, Luke 6:39-49

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I tell you? I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them. That one is like a man building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when a flood arose, the river burst against that house but could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, immediately it fell, and great was the ruin of that house.”

Jesus spoke these words to a great crowd about two thousand years ago, and they are still instructive today. Modern Christians spend a lot of time talking about being Christian, what to believe, and who is and who isn’t really a Christian. Yet Christ is clear the hallmark of a person who follows him is the fruit that person bears. It’s easy to hear his words, to parrot them back to each other in an endless, self-satisfied echo chamber, and think we are being good Christians. But that’s not the firm foundation Jesus describes. The actions we take (or neglect) either support or undermine the credibility of the Gospel. If we spend all our time congratulating ourselves for not being those particular sinners – pointing out specks while ignoring our own logs – we haven’t done a darn thing to actually further the kingdom. To do the things Jesus tells us to do, we have to step out of church, Bible study, and Sunday school. If “each tree is known by its fruit,” what will you be known for? Works like feeding the hungry and visiting the sick may not earn us salvation, but if these aren’t the kinds of fruit we bear, it may be time to check for root rot.

It’s never too late to start laying that firm foundation, never too late to do more than hear the words of Jesus but to act on them.

Comfort: Acting on Jesus’s words helps us experience love and joy.

Challenge: Make the necessary changes in your life to help your faith radiate outward, rather than focus only inward.

Prayer: Loving God, I will follow Jesus in both word and deed. Amen.

Discussion: Some people find it easier to act out the Gospel, and some find it easier to talk about it. Do you fall into one of these camps?

Join the discussion! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to join an extended discussion as part of the C+C Facebook group or follow @comf_and_chall on Twitter. You’ll  have the opportunity to share your thoughts with some lovely people. Or feel free to comment here on WordPress, or even re-blog – the more the merrier!

Guilt-Free

/ JJS / Leave a comment

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 103; 150, Hosea 5:8-6:6, 1 Corinthians 2:6-16, Matthew 14:1-12

Guilt makes us behave in strange ways. Take Herod, for example: as Jesus and his ministry became more prominent, Herod became convinced Jesus was really John the Baptist resurrected with supernatural powers. Earlier Herod had executed John (who had embarrassed the family by publicly criticizing a marriage scandal), but he didn’t really want to. He actually liked listening to John preach, but his wife (whom he’d taken from his brother) and her daughter forced his hand. Guilt and embarrassment about his marriage forced Herod into a rash decision to execute John, and the guilt of the execution made him paranoid about the world. Like many a guilty party, he was looking over his shoulder waiting for the shadow of his misdeeds to overtake him.

Guilt urges us to overcompensate, sometimes by becoming falsely generous and sometimes by attempting to turn the tables and project our wrongdoings onto the people who remind us of it. Politicians and preachers who rail about conservative family values and then get caught doing the very things they condemned aren’t just hypocritical, they are suffering the destructive side effects of guilt. Very often spouses who cheat handle their guilt by buying their partners extravagant gifts, making accusations against them to deflect attention from their own wrongdoing, or avoiding them. It’s the rare individual whose behavior remains unaffected by feelings of guilt, and those effects are corrosive and unhealthy.

Fortunately Christians know a healthy alternative to guilt: repentance. Repentance is not the same as penance (good deeds to make up for the bad) or mere remorse; when we repent, we turn in a different – and better! – spiritual direction. We may not be able to avoid the consequences of our past actions, but we no longer repeat or dwell in them. Where guilt keeps us chained to shame, repentance severs those bonds and frees us to move on. Our past, once a minefield of failings waiting to detonate in our present, no longer threatens our peace of mind.

John the Baptist called the world to repentance. We answer that call by accepting the grace God offers through Christ.

Comfort: If you suffer from guilt, there’s a better way.

Challenge: Take an inventory of your guilt. How could you trade it for repentance?

Prayer: Loving God, thank you for your mercies. May the compass of my heart always seek your true North. Amen.

Discussion: Do you think it’s possible to forgive yourself for something you think you might do again?

Join the discussion! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to join an extended discussion as part of the C+C Facebook group or follow @comf_and_chall on Twitter. You’ll  have the opportunity to share your thoughts with some lovely people. Or feel free to comment here on WordPress, or even re-blog – the more the merrier!

Citizenship

/ JJS / 1 Comment

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 63; 149, Hosea 5:1-7, Acts 22:17-29, Luke 6:27-38

Despite Paul’s efforts to convince the Jews of Jerusalem that he too was a faithful Jew, many refused to believe him. The crowd was willing to listen as he told them the story of his conversion and encounter with Jesus, but as soon as he mentioned the Gentiles, they turned on him. Facts were irrelevant: his association with false accusations and foreigners fed the prejudices against him. Before the crowd could hurt him, Roman officials dragged him away to be interrogated by flogging. They abandoned that plan immediately when Paul revealed he was a Roman citizen by birth: flogging an uncondemned Roman carried serious penalties.

Paul’s persecution was unjust, regardless of his citizenship. We are sympathetic because we know his story, but do we understand what it says to us today? Citizenship – Roman or otherwise – is a human distinction, not a divine one. Christians are subject to nations which get to decide the civil rights of their citizens, but how we treat people – and how we advocate for the treatment of people – is not dictated by human law. We don’t abandon Christian principles about decency just because a government tells us we can – or must. To the contrary, the message of the gospel is incompatible with torture, discrimination, and other evils committed in the cause of nationalism. Mercy is not only for citizens. This is not a statement about immigration policy, but about our fundamental understanding of what it means when Jesus tells us to love our enemies.

“Enemies” aren’t simply people we fight in war; they are everyone we don’t especially want to love. Christ tells us loving those we like is nothing special – even sinners do that. We don’t have to like them, but he does instruct us to pray, feed, forgive, clothe, lend, and do good for them even when they hate and mistreat us … all the while expecting nothing in return. Difficult as it sounds, how we treat our enemies should look a lot like how we treat our friends. Citizenship in the Kingdom of God frees us from borders and obliges us to love.

Comfort: Loving our enemies gets easier with practice.

Challenge: Practice.

Prayer: Teach me, Lord, to love my enemies as Christ loves me. Amen.

Discussion: Whom do you find it difficult to love?

Join the discussion! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to join an extended discussion as part of the C+C Facebook group or follow @comf_and_chall on Twitter. You’ll  have the opportunity to share your thoughts with some lovely people. Or feel free to comment here on WordPress, or even re-blog – the more the merrier!

A Level Place

/ JJS / 1 Comment

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 84; 148, Hosea 4:11-19, Acts 21:37-22:16, Luke 6:12-26

Do you consider yourself comfortable or afflicted? Luke 6:17 begins a passage sometimes called the Sermon on the Plain. It parallels many of the themes of the better known and more comprehensive Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew. This sermon contains a list of blessings and woes that sound very much like the Beatitudes. They describe a reversal of fortune in which the afflicted will be comforted, and the comfortable will be afflicted. These ideas are equally unsettling to us as to Jesus’s original audience.

When we hear “Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry,” does it mean we should go hungry? Is the Realm of God a world in which all people hunger? What if we are the hungry, and through the grace of God we become full? Into which camp – the blessed hungry or the cursed full – do we then belong?

A simple answer might be: if we are full (or rich, or laughing, or popular) at the expense of others, woe to us. Perhaps we should never be completely certain which camp we are in. We would be foolish and ungrateful to reject gifts like a good meal or a sheltering roof. After all, Jesus encourages us to provide these things to the poor. However, we would be equally (if not more) foolish to believe such gifts mark us as specially favored by God. The type of blessing Jesus speaks of in this passage is a state of right relationship with God. When we become complacent or take this relationship for granted, the relationship will suffer. Too much certainty our poverty is a sign of God’s favor is no better than a belief that material comfort is evidence of the same thing. This tension in the relationship helps us actively evaluate and fine-tune it throughout our lives.

Unwavering certainty in our own state of righteousness – or sinfulness – closes us off from the transformational grace of Christ in our lives, and in the lives of others. The gift of uncertainty keeps us humble seekers, always ready to discover Christ in new ways.

Comfort: The less we think we know, the better we can know God.

Challenge: Create side-by-side lists of the ways you think are rich and the ways you think you are poor. Do these line up with the Sermon on the Plain?

Prayer: Glorious Creator, thank you for a relationship that always grows. Amen.

Discussion: What is the difference between feeling guilty about the state of the world, and feeling responsible for it?

Join the discussion! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to join an extended discussion as part of the C+C Facebook group or follow @comf_and_chall on Twitter. You’ll  have the opportunity to share your thoughts with some lovely people. Or feel free to comment here on WordPress, or even re-blog – the more the merrier!

Mob Mentality

/ JJS / Leave a comment

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 116; 147:12-20, Hosea 4:1-10, Acts 21:27-36, Luke 6:1-11

Poor Paul. As if his actions weren’t polarizing enough, the Jews in the Jerusalem temple were ready to string him up for things he hadn’t done. They only had to say Paul had brought Greeks into the temple (he hadn’t), and the crowd dragged him outside, barred the doors, and beat him. Reaction was swift, forceful – and completely unwarranted.

Have you ever found yourself caught up in a mob mentality? A mob isn’t always a crowd of torch-wielding villagers. In our age of instant communication, the mob may be virtual, but it is no less infectious. We condemn or canonize people over a single image or sound bite. Technology has made it almost impossible to resist crossing the line from observer to participant. Take political campaigns: aren’t we more likely to repeat and re-post negative things about the opposition? Toss in the need of politicians to “spin” a situation to manage immediate public perception, and careers – even lives – are ruined by a media-driven mob. Even seemingly positive behaviors – for example, responses to natural disasters – are made less effective by mob mentality. Charitable organizations frequently waste donations that arrive in unmanageably large quantities at the beginning of a disaster recovery, then later run short, because people respond as a well-intentioned mob, rather than waiting to assess long-term needs.

The slow-burning mob, like the one that plotted against Jesus as his teachings began to threaten the status quo, is especially insidious. Today terms like “whisper campaign” describe indirect attacks meant to destroy a person’s reputation. Rather than appealing to a sense of outrage, this type of attack appeals to the ego; we all like to feel like we are “in the know” and a whisper campaign helps us believe we are privy to insider information. We can become part of a mob without ever knowing it. The seeds planted by the Pharisees at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry help prime the mob that eventually yells “Crucify him!”

As people of faith, we must temper our reactions with love and patience. As the hands of Christ, we do not swing blindly at shadows.

Comfort: God made us capable of thoughtful action and reaction.

Challenge: Fact check even the claims you are inclined to agree with.

Prayer: Glorious Creator, thank you for the gift of discernment. Amen.

Discussion: Have you been part of a physical or social mob and later regretted it?

Join the discussion! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to join an extended discussion as part of the C+C Facebook group or follow @comf_and_chall on Twitter. You’ll  have the opportunity to share your thoughts with some lovely people. Or feel free to comment here on WordPress, or even re-blog – the more the merrier!

A Table Long and Wide

/ JJS / 4 Comments

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 96; 147:1-11, Hosea 3:1-5, Acts 21:15-26, Luke 5:27-39

Inclusiveness is a challenging concept. When we say people are welcome in our community, do we mean we welcome them as they are, or that we invite them to become more like us? Each community has fundamental values that are central to its identity, so we can usually assume those values appeal to people who wish to join. However, new arrivals frequently challenge customs and traditions, and most communities work harder to maintain them than to discover if they are, in fact, essential. Because communities of faith are voluntary, inclusivity presents a particular challenge, as those who are uncomfortable with it are free to depart to form or join more comfortable (that is, homogeneous) groups, and leaders don’t like to lose members.

When Paul returned to Jerusalem, the Jewish Christians elders welcomed him and praised God for all he’d done among the Gentiles. After he told his story, the elders expressed concern about rumors that he’d been telling Jews abroad to forsake the laws of Moses. Though this wasn’t true, they insisted he undergo ritual purification to validate his Jewishness so other Jews would listen to him. They also sent a letter to the Gentile Christians telling them to abstain from certain foods and fornication. These early Christians struggled with inclusion – with deciding what behaviors were simply unacceptable for members of the community. Over time some expectations have changed and some have not, and still we wrestle with establishing essentials.

The Pharisees chastised Jesus and his companions for dining with tax collectors and other sinners. Jesus responded by saying “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.” His inclusive table allows for the failings of humanity, but it is not degenerate; its essential characteristic is that Christ calls all who participate to repentance. What that repentance looks like in our individual lives is between us and our Lord. Inclusion is not a call to conform to the community, but a call for the community to see and share Christ’s table everywhere.

Comfort: There’s enough room at Christ’s table for everyone; new people are not taking food from your mouth.

Challenge: Visit a church that’s different from your own. Remember how you felt about it – good and bad – the next time you welcome someone to your own.

Prayer: God of abundance, thank you for all the voices and colors of the world. Amen.

Discussion: We generally talk about diversity in society and the workplace as an advantage to people in the “minority.” It actually benefits everyone. How have you found this to be true?

Join the discussion! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to join an extended discussion as part of the C+C Facebook group or follow @comf_and_chall on Twitter. You’ll  have the opportunity to share your thoughts with some lovely people. Or feel free to comment here on WordPress, or even re-blog – the more the merrier!

Horse Sense

/ JJS / 3 Comments

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 12; 146, Hosea 2:16-23, Acts 21:1-14, Luke 5:12-26

Horses’ eyes are positioned to give them a horizontal field of vision spanning nearly 350 degrees, but the trade-off is a lack of depth perception. Their optic nerves function fairly independently, and an object seen first from the right side will be perceived as a new object when seen from the left. Raising their heads to look forward improves visual acuity, but then the field is reduced to about 65 degrees. The same world, containing the same information, can be perceived very differently by a single animal, let alone a herd.

As Paul prepared to leave Caesarea and return to Jerusalem, the prophet Agabus warned him the Jews would capture him and turn him over to the Gentile authorities. Naturally his companions did not want him to go, but Paul was ready to be bound and even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. God’s love was present both in Paul’s friends, who valued his life, and in Paul, who valued his mission over his personal safety. We can imagine the discussion was more heated and heartfelt than Acts describes.

People of good will in service to the Lord can see and understand that service very differently. At times, across and within faith communities, they may even seem to be working at cross purposes. Rather than insist on a single way, let’s consider the horse. We are limited in our perception of God and reality, yet that perception is all we have to work with. Each of us sees only a single slice. When we are focused on what’s in front of us, which may be exactly the right thing to do at the time, it’s difficult to maintain a wider view. When we try to take in the bigger picture, our comprehension will only ever go so deep. Only God knows the whole picture, and points us in the direction that is right for us.

Though we may not be in accord with each other’s point of view, like Paul and his friends we need only agree on one thing: the Lord’s will be done.

Comfort: Your slice of the plan doesn’t have to cover everything.

Challenge: Be open to the idea that God may be working in ways that will never make sense to you.

Prayer: God of Wisdom, grant me both clarity and humility. Amen.

Discussion: Do you have a favorite optical illusion?

Join the discussion! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to join an extended discussion as part of the C+C Facebook group or follow @comf_and_chall on Twitter. You’ll  have the opportunity to share your thoughts with some lovely people. Or feel free to comment here on WordPress, or even re-blog – the more the merrier!

Two-Way Street

/ JJS / Leave a comment

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 62; 145, Hosea 2:2-15, Acts 20:17-38, Luke 5:1-11

The opening chapters of Hosea compare the relationship between God and Israel to the relationship between a husband and unfaithful wife. The emotions evoked by this image of an intimate betrayal are a useful tool for Hosea. He hopes to shock Israel into repenting over the trust it has violated, much like unfaithful spouses might confess to relieve their own guilt. God trusted Israel in a partnership, but Israel turned elsewhere to satisfy immediate political and material needs. In chapter two, God’s anger eventually yields to a desire for reconciliation – a desire to trust Israel again. To trust us again.

Modern believers can struggle with the idea of a personal God. Does God really feel things like betrayal and trust? Maybe not in ways we understand, but the story of Christianity demonstrates how God relies on us to usher in God’s Kingdom. If we embrace the idea that we are created in the image of God – including faithfulness – maybe we can be a people who deserve that trust.

Jesus trusted extravagantly. According to Luke, when it was time to recruit disciples, he didn’t pick from the people he knew back in Nazareth, or from the residents of Capernaum who adored him for the signs he displayed. Instead he selected strangers who – upon realizing how special he was – declared themselves unworthy of such trust. Along the way they disappointed him more than once, but Jesus trusted these people to become his church.

In our daily lives, are we mindful that God is trusting us at any given moment? As in a marriage, two-way trust should not be a burden, but an expression of mutual love. God trusts us enough to let us fail, as well as to succeed. God’s trust and love never falter, even when we do. Do we live in a way that honors such trust? God creates each of us worthy to help usher in the Kingdom. Let us be trustworthy as well.

Comfort: God’s trust in us is not a burden, but a joyful privilege.

Challenge: Meditate on ways to reconcile with friends or colleagues who may have reason not to trust you.

Prayer: Glorious Creator, I will do my best to be worthy of your trust.

Discussion: In what common situations do you find it difficult to trust people?

Join the discussion! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to join an extended discussion as part of the C+C Facebook group or follow @comf_and_chall on Twitter. You’ll  have the opportunity to share your thoughts with some lovely people. Or feel free to comment here on WordPress, or even re-blog – the more the merrier!

Taming the Tongue

/ JJS / Leave a comment

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 108; 150, Hosea 1:1-2:1, James 3:1-13, Matthew 13:44-52

Do our thoughts steer our words, or do our words steer our thoughts?

The Letter of James stresses the importance of minding the words we use. Words can express our thoughts, but they can also influence our attitudes. One example is how negative or positive “self-talk” reinforces our perception of ourselves and our environment. Counting our blessings is not just a cliché, it’s a healthy habit. What if, instead of calling the person who cuts us off in traffic a @#$% so-and-so, we reminded ourselves out loud: “Child of God.” Certainly not as cathartic, but might it change our thinking about that person and even ourselves? When we are mindful, we can train our brains to respond more compassionately to ourselves and others.

Some people use this passage to condemn profanity. While there are good reasons to avoid profanity (to paraphrase Kurt Vonnegut in Hocus Pocus, profanity gives people an excuse not to listen to you), this scripture is more concerned with the impact words have on the community. It teaches “the tongue is a fire” which can kindle an inferno of conflict. Everyone has witnessed the damage that gossip, rumor, and innuendo inflict on a community. James describes the tongue as a rudder that can guide large ships through dangerous winds. Shoot-from-the-hip types may be popular for seeming “authentic,” but their ships often run aground. Our words must be honest, but they should also be loving and measured for mercy. Because this skill is rare, James says few are called to be teachers.

James asks how the same mouth can utter both blessings and curses, when it is impossible for a spring to spout both fresh and salt water. No matter how hard we try not to be salty, he knows our tongues can never be fully tamed, yet urges us to try. Thanking God daily – hourly if necessary – for the ability to use our tongues in service to Christ will help us do just that. Sometimes the most healing words are the most humble. Let us not presume to speak for Christ, but pray he speaks through us.

Comfort: We can control our tongue; it does not have to control us.

Challenge: For a day(or a week if you’re ambitious), trying listening for the Spirit and praying before you speak.

Prayer: God of strength, help me control my words and bend my heart to Your service. Amen.

Discussion: We’ve all heard “Stick and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me.” Do you believe this is true?

Join the discussion! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to join an extended discussion as part of the C+C Facebook group or follow @comf_and_chall on Twitter. You’ll  have the opportunity to share your thoughts with some lovely people. Or feel free to comment here on WordPress, or even re-blog – the more the merrier!

The Ledge

/ JJS / 2 Comments

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Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 122; 149, Esther 9:1-32, Acts 20:1-16, Luke 4:38-44

Eutychus is famous for being the first Christian who was bored to death by a sermon. Seated on a window ledge, the young man was listening to a long message from Paul. Sometime after midnight, sleep overcame him and he fell three stories. Eutychus was “picked up dead” but Paul went downstairs, he put his arms around the youth, and said: “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” Everyone including Eutychus returned upstairs and Paul continued to preach until dawn.

Determination and willpower are not always enough. Like Eutychus we struggle to be faithful, but the demands of life overwhelm us and we find ourselves falling off the ledge. Maybe we fall into sin. Maybe we fall into addiction. Maybe we simply fall away from the church. For all intents and purposes we may appear dead to the life and loved ones we knew. But the Pauls of the world – those people who understand Jesus is all about resurrection – see life is in us, waiting to be reclaimed.

Therein lies the beauty and importance of Christian community: we pick each other up. When someone stops attending church, they are often waiting to see if anyone notices. A card, call, or visit may be the thing that says: “I see life is in you” when they can’t see it themselves. A loving embrace, when all others have left them for dead, may be what lifts them to their feet and returns them to the community.

What might Paul have learned from this event? Maybe that pressing relentlessly forward with the business of church – in his case preaching; in our day, board meetings, fundraisers, choir practice – without regard for its flagging members can be dangerous. If Eutychus was fading, it’s likely others were not far behind. Offering rest or refreshment to those about to fall may be less an interruption of church business, and more the necessary action to keep everyone vital.

Each of us is a potential Paul to someone’s Eutychus. Let us pray for the wisdom to see life in someone when others have given up hope.

Comfort: A good church is there when people need it.

Challenge: Who haven’t you seen in a while? Call or visit them so they feel acknowledged.

Prayer: God of Life, teach me and Your church to see Your life in those who have fallen. Amen.

Discussion: When has a faith community lifted you up?

Join the discussion! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to join an extended discussion as part of the C+C Facebook group or follow @comf_and_chall on Twitter. You’ll  have the opportunity to share your thoughts with some lovely people. Or feel free to comment here on WordPress, or even re-blog – the more the merrier!