discipleship

Jesus and Abraham

/ JJS / 6 Comments

20161116_180641-01.jpeg

Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 65; 147:1-11, Malachi 1:1, 6-14, James 3:13-4:12, Luke 17:11-19

James wrote:

You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.

Few of us resort to murder, but unhealthy cravings drive us to acquire more than we need, and part with less than we should. When we lack necessities – food, water, safety – we may resort to emotional, political, or physical violence. If we have the basics, James advises to ask not for objects of personal enrichment, but things we can use toward the betterment of the Kingdom. It’s a win-win when we learn to crave things we can use to serve those in need.

Abraham Maslow’s “hierarchy of needs” –illustrated as a stratified pyramid – describes motivations for behavior and growth. According to Maslow, we must satisfy lower needs before we can aspire to higher ones. The lowest Physiological level includes food, water, etc. The next highest is Safety. The middle one is Love/belonging. Esteem and Self-actualization top the pyramid. The higher the level, the fewer people achieve it.

If we expect a need will never be met, we may be spiritually stunted. In a village between Samaria and Galilee, Jesus encountered ten people with leprosy, a lifelong sentence of rejection. Forbidden from drawing near, they called to Jesus from a distance: “Have mercy on us.” He told them to show themselves to the priests. On the way all were healed. Only one, a Samaritan man, returned to thank Jesus. Not only had Jesus restored this man’s health, he restored the possibility of love, belonging, and all that might follow.

That sense of love and belonging is the bridge between our base needs and our higher selves. Sometimes we need to offer someone ordinary bread from our own table before they can cross over to Christ’s table for the bread of life. If you’re not sure which to share when, ask God for both.

Comfort: Your needs are important to God.

Challenge: You may need to learn to distinguish needs from cravings.

Prayer: God of abundance, I ask only for what will equip me to serve you. Amen.

Discussion: What is something you really wanted but didn’t get? How did you handle 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 Love/Hate Relationship

/ JJS / Leave a comment

1478664940153-01.jpeg

Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 123; 146, Joel 2:3-11, Revelation 19:1-10, Luke 14:25-35

Today’s word from Luke is a tough one. A large crowd was following Jesus, and he turned to them and said:

Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple […] None of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

If he was trying to thin the crowd, that probably worked. Not only is it daunting … it’s confusing. This is the same Jesus who tells us to love our enemies – our enemies – telling us to hate our loved ones. Who is going to sign up for that?

Fortunately, we have plenty of examples where Jesus used exaggeration to make a point, so we can take a step back to get some perspective. If we are going to claim to be disciples – that is, students and followers – of Christ, every other priority must place a distant second; a matchstick behind a bonfire; a puddle beside the ocean.

Discipleship has a cost. In a predominantly Christian culture, the need to pay that cost may feel far less urgent than in Jesus’s time, or in other cultures. If we want to, we can live our lives in almost exclusively Christian circles. But there’s a difference between following Christ and following Christians. Christ came for the sick, not the well, so to follow him we must often travel outside our safe spaces. Many fellow Christians aren’t going to want you to go. They may discourage you out of concern for your safety, or possibly because they don’t want to be reminded they aren’t paid up. And when that’s the case, we may have to leave them behind.

Whatever the cost, following Christ means following truth and love. We are called to shed the people and things that keep us from taking that journey. At the end, we won’t need the things, and we will come full circle to love the people again in a better way.

Comfort: Wherever Christ leads you, he will be there with you.

Challenge: Make a list of things you need to let go of to better follow Christ. Which one can you let go of this month?

Prayer: Merciful God, grant me the strength to be a true and faithful disciple of Christ. Amen.

Discussion: Have you ever felt relief from letting go of something – a relationship, a possession, a feeling? If so, what was 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!

Love and Forgiveness

/ JJS / 1 Comment

1477883595622-01.jpeg

Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 103; 150, Zephaniah 1:1-6, 1 Corinthians 12:27-13:13, Matthew 18:21-35

Love and forgiveness are intertwined throughout the Gospel, and can’t be untangled. Both find their ultimate source in God: we love because we are loved, and we forgive because we have been forgiven. If we aren’t doing both, we are doing neither. Without both, all our other efforts are wasted. Paul told the Corinthian church:

If I speak in the tongues of mortals a nd of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

In a response to a question about how often we need to forgive someone, Jesus told a parable about a slave who was forgiven a large amount of debt by his master, but refused to forgive a debt that was only one hundredth of that amount. The master was angered by this lack of mercy, and demanded both punishment and repayment of the entire original debt.

Through Christ, God forgives us everything. Ev-er-y-thing. What we are asked to forgive others in return is a mere fraction. When in the Lord’s Prayer we pray “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,” we might want to remember both this parable and Paul’s teaching. If I have all faith, but do not have forgiveness … what do I have? I have nothing.

When we struggle to forgive, are we really struggling to believe we are forgiven? And when we struggle to love, is it because we can’t comprehend how much we are loved? Unlike money or time, love and forgiveness are in never-ending supply. There’s no reason to hoard them out of fear. God isn’t going to run out before we get our share. No matter how much love and forgiveness we give away, God promises to replenish our hearts with more.

Comfort: You are loved. You are forgiven.

Challenge: What offenses do you find difficult to forgive? Think about what they say about you.

Prayer: Holy God, forgive me my debts as I forgive my debtors. Amen.

Discussion: Has anyone ever had trouble forgiving you? Why do you think that is?

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!

Unlearning

/ JJS / Leave a comment

learning_unlearning

Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 65; 147:1-11, Micah 3:9-4:5, Revelation 8:1-13, Luke 10:17-24

It can be hard to tell when Jesus is paying you a compliment. Consider, for instance, these words he had for the disciples: “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants.”

“Infants?” That must have drawn a little disciple side-eye. Jesus kept a supply of sharpened irony in his rhetorical toolbox.

The disciples had divested themselves of worldly interests and possessions and were following an itinerant, nearly homeless preacher endorsing a love so radical it bordered on naivety; they were about as far as you could get from the sophisticated and elite leaders of the world. The sophisticated and elite sought and held tightly to power – social, financial, and religious – in the vain hope it meant something. Our material successes will be meaningless and ultimately unfulfilling if we don’t understand them as means to serve a greater good, specifically the Kingdom of God. The greater our resources, the harder we must work to remain humble about their purpose and employ.

Jesus wasted no time tearing out any hint of worldly wisdom before it could take root in his disciples’ hearts. When they delighted in their own power to cast out demons, he told them: “Do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” A little earlier he’d had to set them straight about arguing over who among them was the greatest. Becoming truly wise and intelligent was a matter of unlearning what the world had taught them.

Of course not everyone who achieves worldly success is by default a spiritual failure. The ministry of Christ and his disciples depended in part on the support of people who had resources to spare. Homeless shelters and food banks need cash as much as they need volunteers. Wisdom knows our true joy, regardless of circumstance, is found in being citizens of God’s Kingdom. That joy frees us from worrying about looking wise or intelligent to the world, because we are children of God.

Comfort: You are not defined by your worldly status.

Challenge: Let yourself be a fool for Christ.

Prayer: Loving God, clear my head of the world’s ways, and fill it with Yours. Amen.

Discussion: Have you ever held onto something that was bad for you, because letting it go might seem like failure?

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 B-Team

/ JJS / Leave a comment

1476587594774.jpg

Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 56; 149, Hosea 14:1-9, Acts 28:17-31, Luke 9:37-50

One day Jesus took three disciples up a mountain to pray with him. His appearance was transfigured to reveal his glory, the disciples were dazzled, and God said: “”This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” It’s a powerful moment with great theological significance.

This is about the other nine disciples.

While Peter, James, and John were with Jesus, the others were working on the mission Jesus had given them, including casting out demons. A man begged them to cast out the spirit who possessed his son, and caused him to shriek and convulse. The disciples, probably already feeling like the B-Team, couldn’t do it. Imagine the desperate and possibly heated brainstorming they had about how to get this done before Jesus came back.

Descending from glory to a scene of failure, an exasperated Jesus asked: “You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you?” He attributed their failure to a lack of faith. Of course he healed the boy and returned him to his father.

How often, despite our best efforts to be strong in our faith, do we feel like the nine who were left behind, floundering to figure out what to do and how to do it? Are we jealous or resentful of the Peters who seem to be there for all the good stuff? We struggle to make a difference, and they seem to waltz right into it.

The original twelve disciples were not above such pettiness. They argued over which of them was the greatest, but Jesus wasn’t having it. Pulling a child to his side, he said: “Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me; for the least among all of you is the greatest.”

Our faithfulness is not defined by perfection and power, but by our ability to love as Jesus asks us to. If it keeps us humble, second string is a fine place to be. If the least among us are the greatest, maybe the mountain isn’t the top after all.

Comfort: God knows your heart and faith; what other people think doesn’t matter.

Challenge: Don’t compare yourself to others.

Prayer: Glorious Creator, I seek to serve you humbly and with love in my heart. Amen.

Discussion: Do you have control issues?

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!

Things Get Real

/ JJS / Leave a comment

wher_it_isnt

Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 135; 145, Hosea 11:12-12:1, Acts 26:1-23, Luke 8:26-39

Sometimes there is a large gap between what we say we want and what we actually want. Presenting his case before King Agrippa, Paul explained that he was a faithful Jew; like many of his accusers he was a Pharisee, and he’d actively persecuted Christians. His encounter with the risen Christ was unexpected and life-changing. By preaching the Gospel, Paul asserted, he was dutifully acknowledging the arrival of the long-awaited Messiah: “I stand here, testifying to both small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would take place.”

The Pharisees said they wanted Paul jailed for violating the law, but they actually wanted to preserve the status quo which allowed them privilege under the oppressive Roman regime. Waiting for the messiah demanded nothing, but his arrival was dangerous and uncomfortable.

Christians say we want to love the poor and the sick, but too often we actually want to express that love in ways that don’t make us too uncomfortable: nothing that messes up the sanctuary of the church, or threatens our safety, or makes us feel icky. We say we welcome strangers, but we don’t want them be too strange. Like the Gerasenes who ran Jesus out of town after he purged a man of many demons, we don’t want to be the kind of holy that attracts the wrong kind of attention – the kind that makes us look dirty and maybe unbalanced, rather than freshly laundered and pressed for the Thursday evening hymn sing.

The business of the church is not beautiful building s and respectable congregations. These things are fine; they simply aren’t the point. Filling up the pews is nice, but it’s also meaningless if we’re only playing a numbers game by poaching existing believers from “rival” congregations. We need to take the Gospel where it is not, which is often exactly where we don’t want to be. The good news is not that we bring Jesus to people, but that he is already with them and waiting to be embraced. When we don’t go to them, we don’t go to him either.

Comfort: It’s okay for your faith life to be messy.

Challenge: Same as the Comfort, but for the other half of the room.

Prayer: God, grant me the courage and strength to be an effective part of the life-altering Body of Christ. Amen.

Discussion: What chances do you regret not having taken?

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!

Weathering The Storms

/ JJS / 3 Comments

1475979498929.jpg

Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 104; 149, Hosea 10:1-15, Acts 25:13-27, Luke 8:16-25

How often have we heard teams pray before a sporting event to ask God to help them win the big game (and by inference, sabotage the other team, as though getting God to cheat for you is sportsmanlike)? How many people thank Jesus for everything from parking spots to Grammy awards, as if they are saying “Good job!” to a personal assistant? Our relationship with our God should be close, but not so cozy we forget who is in charge.

When the disciples were afraid their boat would sink in a storm, they woke Jesus from his sleep. He rebuked and calmed the storm – and then he rebuked the disciples for their lack of faith. To this point they had experienced Jesus as a healer, storyteller, and prophet who taught forgiveness. For the first time, they got a glimpse of the raw power of a being who could command the clouds and sea. Not surprisingly, this revelation amazed and frightened them. They asked themselves exactly who it was they’d agreed to follow.

As we mature in our own faith, our experiences may be similar. At some point we must move past the non-threatening, undemanding baby Jesus in the manger, to a more adult Jesus who makes loving but firm demands of us. The more we follow him, the more we realize how harrowing discipleship can be. Like those first disciples, we cry out for the Jesus who takes away our problems, but eventually we learn he expects us to have faith through our personal storms. Jesus is not just a servant, but a servant leader who teaches us to have faith that casts out fear. The closer we grow, the greater our awe and the more we realize just how amazing his love for us is, because he is so much greater than we will ever imagine.

When your storm comes up, do you want to be the disciple who in a faithless panic wakes Jesus? Better to be the disciple who can say “I kept the course faithfully – even through trouble – because I trust in you, Lord.”

Comfort: We can be confident Jesus is present during all life’s storms.

Challenge: When you pray in times of trouble, ask yourself (and God) whether you should be praying to avoid or endure them.

Prayer: Teach me, Lord, to trust you in difficult and frightening times. Amen.

Discussion: Have you ever become stronger from a situation you would rather have prayed away?

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!

See And Be Seen

/ JJS / Leave a comment

1475808780421.jpg

Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 97; 147:12-20, Hosea 9:1-9, Acts 24:1-23, Luke 7:36-50

A Pharisee named Simon invited Jesus to dine with him in his home. When Jesus arrived, a woman known throughout the city as a sinner followed him inside. She bathed his feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. Then she kissed his feet and anointed them with ointment from an alabaster jar. Simon looked on in contempt because he believed a real prophet would have seen the woman for what she was. Jesus told Simon a story about a creditor who forgave the debts of two people, one of whom owed ten times as much as the other, and asked which of them would love the creditor more. Simon said the one whose debt was greater.

Jesus then turned toward the woman and explained to Simon why she had showered him in kindnesses, while Simon had offered nothing: “Her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.”

Isn’t it interesting that while Jesus spoke to Simon, he looked at the woman? And that Simon, who thought he knew everything he needed to know about her, didn’t really see her at all? And that though Simon said nothing, Jesus saw his heart clearly?

If we are to be Christians – little Christs – we need to see people as Christ sees them. More importantly, we need to help people believe Christ sees, loves, and forgives them. That means meeting people where they are, but it also means letting them meet us where we are – letting sinners from across town into our orderly houses of worship to shed unseemly tears at the foot of the cross and generally make the “respectable” Christians uncomfortable. When they follow Jesus through the door, he sees exactly who they are and loves them anyway. If we don’t do the same, he sees hearts that love him only a tenth as much as they should, and they see hypocrisy instead of hope.

Don’t worry about looking like a good Christian. Try to look like Christ. That’s who people need to see.

Comfort: Christ sees you and loves you..

Challenge: Remember that you may be the face of Christ to someone today.

Prayer: Loving God, teach me to see with the eyes of Christ, and love with the heart of Christ. Amen.

Discussion: When have you felt so out of place that you just wanted to leave?

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!

Foundations and Fruits

/ JJS / Leave a comment

1475550505969.jpg

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!

Our Shepherd’s Voice

/ JJS / 4 Comments

20160829_185054-01.jpeg

Today’s readings (click below to open in new tab/window):
Psalms 63; 149, Job 22:1-4, 22:21-23:7, Acts 13:26-43, John 10:1-18

In his book Imaginary Jesus, author Matt Mikalatos provides many humorous examples of our tendency to re-create Jesus in our own image. From Liberal Social Services Jesus, to Truth Telling Conservative Jesus, we populate our spiritual lives with images of Jesus that reinforce our own inclinations. The apostles walked, spoke, and broke bread with Jesus every day, yet even they could misunderstand him; let’s not be too hasty to be sure we’ve got it right.

Jesus said: “I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me.” Sheep are safest when they stay within shouting distance, where the familiar voice of their shepherd can call them away from danger. Sheep are not especially bright however, and can be lured away by thieves and distractions. In our modern world, we must discern among the many competing voices claiming to speak for our shepherd. Jesus-peddlers who promise prosperity, bigots who preach hate of the “other,” legalists who reduce faith to a simple formula of do’s and don’ts – these types and more falsely appeal to our baser nature in the name of Jesus. Are we listening for our true shepherd, or are we listening for voices that tell us what we want to hear? A voice that never tells us we’re going the wrong way, that never causes us discomfort or inconvenience, that disapproves of all the people we do, is not the voice of a loving shepherd.

Through prayer and study we become familiar with our shepherd’s voice. We learn to trust him when he calls us away from pastures that seem lush but are prowled by wolves, and when he calls us down paths that seem treacherous but lead to abundance. Abraham followed the voice of his shepherd God even when it asked him to do the incomprehensible. Jacob recognized the voice of his shepherd even though it spoke to him in a dream. If they hadn’t been attuned to listening for their true shepherd, they could have missed these important messages. The voice of Jesus speaks words of both safety and challenge, of love and correction.

Comfort: Our shepherd is always calling us home.

Challenge: Many voices – sometimes even our own – falsely or mistakenly claim to speak for Jesus. Listen carefully.

Prayer: Creator and Shepherd, thank you for the safety of your fold. I will listen for your voice and yours alone. Amen.

Discussion: Have you ever realized the voice you were following was the wrong one? How did the true voice call you back home?

Join the discussion! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to join an extended discussion as part of the C+C Facebook group. You’ll be notified of new posts through FB, and 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!