Beggars At The Master’s Table

Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon possession.”
Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”
He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.
He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.”
“Yes, Lord,” she said, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour. Matthew 15:21-28

When I first began to read the Bible and I came across the passage, it really bothered me. Why didn’t Jesus just heal her daughter? Why did He make her beg? As I’ve grown in Christ I have come to learn that the reason that I disliked this passage is that my ego was blocking my understanding. I did not relish the idea of being so humbled, even if it was before God Incarnate. I believe that I am not the only believer guilty of this sin. One of the biggest obstacles to overcome in the church today is our pride.

I have a dream. Forgive me for my lack of eloquence when plagiarizing Dr. King, but it is true. I have a dream. My dream is of a church that accepts everyone right in the place that they are at, without judgment or ridicule. A church that allows people to live as the Lord called them. (Brothers, each man, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation God called him to. 1 Corinthians 7:24) If they are living in a “sinful” lifestyle, they are not judged but accepted. The idea that those who are “good” Christians being the only ones allowed to serve in the church would be an alien idea (except in cases where the safety of others may be threatened). This church would trust in God to change the hearts of believers where they needed to be changed. I also dream of a church that allows freedom of thought and dialog. I believe that our faith can only become stronger by this, not weakened.

For this to happen, however, I have to change. As much as I write about, and dream about, a tolerant church, I have my own areas of intolerance that must be addressed. I have issues with liberal Christians because they don’t hold the Bible in high enough esteem for my liking. I have issues with conservative Christians because they seem so judgmental and intolerant.

Let’s face it, I have issues.

Today in church, the pastor referred to a certain passage of scripture:
Under his direction, the whole body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. Ephesians 4:16 NLT

It hit me like a brick. Who am I to judge the way other people walk with God? The conservatives may fulfill their mission that God has called them to, while the liberals do the same. My focus should be on am I fulfilling my mission. I want to walk humbly with God, loving the people around me as God does. I will continue to ask tough questions, I will continue to discuss areas that I may find disturbing, but I must do it in love. I must do it in a spirit of dialog, not judgment.

Now this leaves us with another interesting idea to ponder. What about all of the denominational strife that occurs in Christianity? Maybe instead of judging the beliefs or practices of other groups, we should embrace our similarities and observe our differences to see what we can glean from them. Instead of the Evangelical calling the Catholic a pagan, or the Catholic saying that he is the only one who will grace Heaven’s Pearly Gates, we can learn to live in love an understanding from each other.

For this to work, we must abandon our egos. We must forever let go of the idea that we are right. We must shed the need to be the “true” church. We have to walk as we believe, understanding that we may not have everything figured out. We will have to take hold of our true identies, understanding that before God we are nothing more than ragamuffins who subsist on His Grace alone.

After all, we are just beggars at the Master’s table.

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Inspiration

Thanks to the Annex for the inspiration for my new graphic.

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Schism

The Anglican Church of England is asking that the Episcopal Church of America and the Anglican Church of Canada, temporarily withdraw from a key council of their global communion due to their stance on homosexuality. Last year the Episcopal Church consecrated it’s first openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. The Anglican Church of Canada is developing rites to bless same-sex marriage.

Once again I must admit that I am fascinated that the biggest issue in the Christian church today seems to be homosexuality and same-sex marriage. With blood continuing to be spilled in all corners of the world, the protection of all human life would seem to be an issue of greater importance for followers of Christ. For example, the church as a whole, and the North American church in particular, have been far too silent on the crisis that is presently occurring in the Sudan.

Ironically, the two most outspoken Christian groups on this subject have been the Catholic Church and the conservative Evangelical side of Christianity. The unfortunate sex abuse scandals that have plagued the Catholic church have been well documented. As has the lengths that the Catholic church has gone to conceal these events and to deal with the offenders “internally”. Evangelical Christians, who often hold themselves up as the protectors of Christian marriage and the family, were the subject of a survey done by the Barna Group, which was published in September 2004. this survey found that instead of being the upholders of marriage, born-again Christians are just as likely to get divorced as non-Christians (35%). As well, 52% of born-again Christians surveyed disagree that divorce without adultery is a sin.

Jesus speaking in Matthew 19:9 says “I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery.” Jesus also teaches that “anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:28). One of the most used Biblical passages when teaching against homosexuality in churches today is 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”

It is obvious that all of us are guilty of at least some of the sins mentioned in this passage. To ignore that fact is to employ selective amnesia in Bible study. The truth is, the universal Christian church is a congregation of sinners with different sins. This includes those serving in positions of leadership in the church. We must be more concerned about our personal walk and integrity with God, than in attacking the actions or beliefs of other Christians. It is time that the church became know more for it’s light than it’s darkness.

When Christian groups with skeletons in their own closet, set themselves up as the arbiters of God’s will in similar areas, there is only one thing that the outside world sees.

Hypocrisy.

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Are You A Stoner?

Judgment. What a powerful word. Depending on your point of view, this word either strikes fear into your heart, or causes your heart to race with excitement. For some strange reason, many of us seem to look forward to God’s final judgment with joyful anticipation. So sure of our place in Heaven, or maybe it’s so sure that they (whoever they are) will be out.

There is a different kind of judgment, One not brought forth out of heaven, that happens not just once, but every day. We are all guilty of it. Whether it is with words, actions, or attitudes, we judge those around us. I have a theory about this judgment that we perpetrate. I believe that the amount, and the way, we judge those around us, is in direct proportion to how harshly we judge ourselves. We don’t feel free to live as who we are, so it is impossible for us to accept others for who they are. Whether it is a resemblance of something we see within ourselves, or the sight of something that frightens us, we protect ourselves by judging the other person.

What does the Bible say about who can judge?
“And the heavens proclaim his righteousness, for God himself is judge.” Psalm 50:6
“..let those who have never sinned throw the first stones! “ c.f. John 8:7

Are you a stoner? Are you quick to pick up that rock to hurl it at the sinner before you? Next time you feel the spirit of judgment rise inside you, stop. Take a deep breath and really consider. What is it about this person that makes me want to judge them? Why do I feel such animosity for this person? Look inside yourself and examine your heart. By accepting that other person, you may just free yourself to accept who you are.

Isn’t this a selfish idea? Aren’t we all sinners who need to continually strive to be the person that God wants you to be? Yes, the Christian walk is a journey. We must always allow God to work in us the process of sanctification. However, we must never fool ourselves into thinking it is our own effort that causes this to happen. Instead, it is the Holy Spirit working within a willing heart. Before this process can happen, we must heal our image of God. We must cease to see Him as an angry “eye in the sky” waiting to catch us in a moment of weakness. God accepts us, warts and all. Before you were ever born, before you ever sinned, Jesus went to the cross for you.

Accept those around you as children of God, then you just may be able to accept yourself for the child of God that you are.

The result will be true freedom.

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Who Are The Least?

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Matthew 25:40-41

Who are the least? In an age where Christians seem to be known more for who they are against than who they are for, we must ask ourselves this question. Who would God ask us to love? The answer is everyone. The drug addict, the prostitute, the homosexual, that annoying guy at work, and everyone else we come in contact with.

Sometimes though, you do an excellent job of loving all these, but there is one person that you cannot extend God’s grace to. This person seems to be beyond God’s love and forgiveness. Their inability to live their Christian walk for even one full day frustrates you. Consistently they repent of the same sins only to commit them again and again. No matter how hard you try you cannot forgive them.

That person is you.

We often see the best in those around us. We understand their weaknesses and failings and rarely if ever pronounce God’s wrath on them. Yet over and over we flagellate ourselves for the sins we commit. Unable to allow ourselves to believe or feel the forgiveness of God exists in our life.

But it does.

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Matthew 10:29-31

Allow yourself to see you as God sees you. You are His, He adores you. If you were the only person on earth, Jesus would still have gone to the cross. You cannot surprise Him with anything you do. No sin is too great, and no person too insignificant to be warmed by the unfathomable love of God.

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Love and Pain?

“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” C.S. Lewis – The Problem of Pain

Understandably, many have trouble understanding the concept of a loving God in the midst of suffering. As they watch a loved one die of terminal cancer, the last image of God they often have is that of a loving Father who is not only watching over them in their pain, but is actually suffering right along with them.

Yet that is exactly what is happening.

Jesus wept. John 11:35

Not only is John 11:35 probably the easiest Bible verse to memorize, but it is also an incredible example of how the God incarnate in Christ Jesus, understands and cares about all of our suffering. This verse is incredibly profound in it’s simplicity. John could have used some elegant phrasing to try and describe this event (imagine the Creator of the universe expressing His deepest sorrows), but instead, just two simple words, Jesus wept. I wonder how many of us as we read our Bibles, skip over this short verse without taking it in. I’m sure that the majority of us have never paused to consider the enormity of this event. This is Jesus at His most human. This is God showing us that He not only sympathizes, but He understand our pain. He knows what makes us hurt, feels it with us, and suffers as we do.

In the previous paragraph I wrote that as Jesus wept, He was His most human. Maybe when we experience suffering, that is when we are our most Godly. When you think of the enormous depravity that occurs here on Earth, it is not hard to imagine that a loving God often aches with suffering as He watches His children hurt themselves and each other. The recent South Asian tsunami had many Christians gleefully rubbing their hands together, proclaiming that God’s wrath had been visited upon this part of the world. Instead, I see that God wept as this catastrophe took place. God is omnipotent. He is able to see, hear, and feel everything that happens. As those hundreds of thousands of lives were lost, I imagine that God must have suffered unspeakable agony.

What about you and me? Where does this thinking lead us? Basically, we have two things that we can do with our pain. We can choose to either run to God with it, trusting in His love, understanding that he understands, live through it with Him, or we can become angry, run away from God, and suffer through our deepest agonies alone.

The choice is yours. He is waiting for you.

He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
Isaiah 53:3-5 (an Old Testament prophecy about Jesus)

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A Reason To Care

Need a reason to care about what is happening in Sudan?

Please visit the Green Ribbon Campaign to find out more.

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The Mountaintop

After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters–one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” Matthew 17:1-9

The mountaintop. That place where you feel and experience God’s love in a very real and profound way. Some of us experience these moments regularly, others seldom, many of us have never enjoyed a mountaintop experience.

If we have not ever experienced God’s love in this way, does this mean there is something deficient in us? What if we have had moments of deep communion with God, yet have not experienced this recently, is some unconfessed sin blocking it from us?

I believe the answer is no.

We cannot subsist on ecstatic experiences. When we believe in Gods love without feeling it every minute of our lives, real faith begins. It is not hard to believe in something you see and feel everyday. Peter in this moment, probably the greatest moment he ever experienced, had a very human reaction. He didn’t want to leave. He asked Jesus if he could build shelters there. Jesus knew that these moments cannot be the basis for those of us who live in this fallen, often troubling world. When the realities of this life are pummeling you from every corner, if all your faith is based upon is experiential trust, it will not serve you well. When life is difficult, even painful, but you still trust in the unfailing love of your Creator, you have found the real secret to freedom. We must never lose sight of the fact that God’s love for us is unchanging. Unlike human love that often peaks and valleys, the love of God is constant.

You can trust that.

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Rambling Reflections

A few years ago I was attending a conservative evangelical church. This church was not involved in a great deal of outreach. What outreach they were involved in, was aimed mostly at “winning souls” and bringing new attendees to Sunday worship. There was little if any discussion about global issues such as the environment, or justice and equality for all people, except for how these issues affected Christians around the world. One event that really sticks out in my mind is a speaker who came one Sunday, he was discussing global issues including the environment. He made a statement to the effect of that he did not believe in global warming, that the earth belonged to God so we couldn’t destroy it, but that he recycled because it “is the right thing to do.”

Before that I would sporadically attend a liberal church. At this church the Bible was not held in the same high regard that it was in the conservative church. Yes they would read the Bible, but they relied more on what liberal theologians had to say about scripture than what scripture said. This church was very dynamic and involved in many ministries to the community at large, including a low cost day care, kids programs in the summer, and visiting the elderly. The church body as a whole was very concerned about the environment and issues of justice for people around the globe.

Why did I attend the liberal church? I grew up in a conservative Christian denomination, I didn’t want to have anything to do with the Christianity of my youth. this Christianity felt man-made to me and didn’t fit with my understanding of who God is. However, after a while it began to feel like I had exchanged one version of man-made theology for another. When the time came for me to start attending church again I went to one that seemed to hold a more literal view of the Bible. This way I thought I would be getting into who God is and what He wants from me. For a variety of reasons, I left this church after a couple of years.

There is a polarization that has occurred in the church. If we as believers are to fit into either of these narrow definitions, we will be forced to deny certain aspects of ourselves, and the Gospel. The conservative speaker was wrong because environmental damage and change are a real reality to those of us living in our modern era. We are not being good stewards of what God has given us if we ignore this reality and don’t do what we can to help the situation. The liberal church, while having many aspects that were admirable, missed the point by not holding God’s word in higher regard. Instead of wrestling with the passages of scripture they find troubling, they simply dismissed them. Come to think of it, I don’t think many conservative churches hold the Bible in as high esteem as they let on. A lot of conservative churches have done much the same as the liberal churches they decry by taking what they want from the Bible, ignoring the aspects of mercy, forgiveness, and justice for all people, and in fact have become Pharisee-like in their condemnation of those whose lifestyles do not fit their own world view.

I believe there must be a third option. One in which believers will not have to check their conscience or their trust in God at the door of the church. It may not exist now, but I pray in time it will come to be.

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Marge Simpson – Theologian

Tonight, as I often do, I was enjoying the latest episode of the Simpson’s. The writers of the Simpson’s, as they often do, managed to poke fun at a serious topic in an intelligent manner.
Specifically, tonights episode saw Springfield decide to legalize same-sex marriage so that they could increase tourism. As a long line of homosexual couples walked hand in hand towards his church, Rev. Lovejoy and his wife boarded up the doors to keep them out. Out of the throng of disappointed couples walked Marge Simpson. She began to discuss Biblical interpretation with the Reverend, attempting to point out why his attitude wasn’t very Christian or scripturally sound.

His reply?

He rang the church bell to drown her out.

As funny as the moment was, I also saw a lot of truth there. We Christians look to God to provide us with some sort of comfort zone, an area where we can feel at ease and unchallenged. Yet this was not the mission of Jesus. As He said, “I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” (c.f. Matthew 10:34). Our religion and walk with God should not be concerned with what is easy and comfortable for us. This life should be seen as “spring training” for our eternal life. We must be working towards growing into the people that God wants us to be. However, so many of us, instead of embracing spiritual questions and seeing them as moments to foster growth and a deeper understanding of God, would rather ring the church bell to drown out the voices of those who would challenge our faith.

Why is it that a pastor must fear questioning accepted Biblical interpretation? Aren’t our pastors there to help us grow spiritually? Instead, out of an instinct of self preservation, many pastors are forced to ascend to the pulpit every week and spew the same rhetoric their congregations have heard so many times before.

Why is it that so many committed Christians see church as irrelevant today? Instead of wasting an hour or two every week hearing the same sermon they have heard too many times before, they would rather explore the Bible, and what God is saying to them, on their own. Preferring to be challenged rather than coddled.

It may be uncomfortable at times, but I don’t want the same faith year after year. I want to grow into a more intimate relationship with God. I want to understand what He is saying to me today. I am OK with hearing ideas that may not agree with my established ones. I am often wrong and I need to be shown when this is the case.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the LORD .” Isaiah 55:8

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