Category: News

¹⁸ Do not remember the former things,
    or consider the things of old.
¹⁹ I am about to do a new thing;
    now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
    and rivers in the desert.
²⁰ The wild animals will honor me,
    the jackals and the ostriches;
for I give water in the wilderness,
    rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my chosen people,
²¹ the people whom I formed for myself
so that they might declare my praise.

In the strongest Man or Woman competition, one of the trials that all the competitors must complete is to pull a semi-truck from a complete stop to a finish line a distance away.  The competitors must use brute strength to overcome the inertia of the truck and pull it the desired distance.  Inertia is the property of matter which wants to keep it either at rest or in motion.  It must be overcome by the athlete to change the rest into motion.  Inertia is the tendency to do nothing or to remain unchanged.

Just as objects are affected by inertia, the tendence to stay at rest or to stay in motion, so too is the church of Jesus Christ.  We tend to stay in places of comfort and resist change or transformation to another place.  Moving a semi that is at rest takes a large amount of strength, trying to move a body of people that is at rest also takes a large amount of strength.  The body of people want to stay as they are, with a status quo, and a comfort level that gives both security and surety on the path of discipleship.

But what the past few years and past few weeks has done is to overcome the inertia of congregations.  Whether the agent be the pandemic, or inflation, or political turmoil, or invasion of the Ukraine, these agents have overcome the inertia of our congregations and have forced us to move or change.  We cannot rest where we were in 2019, we had to relearn church in a global pandemic; and our life together in worship and work has changed.  We cannot rest where we were, we had to relearn church amid rising costs; and we have yoked together with East Side.  We cannot rest where we were amid political turmoil, we are being called by God to work in our communities; and so we have built new connections with the people around us.  We have not been allowed to rest in the ways things were, or a status quo of our own design, we have been disputed in our comfort zones.  God has overcome the inertia and forced us to adapt and to relearn.  God has led us to change.

But while the forced change has been challenging, the overcoming of inertia should not be surprising.  After all even in Isaiah’s time the people of God in Israel were told that I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?  In exile, God was still doing new things, the new thing was a return from exile.  But even in exile, the people had inertia.  While Babylon was not Canaan, the people still had a routine and a status quo of doing things.  They might have been under the boot of an oppressor, but the way of life together was a status quo.  The people had inertia and God was doing a new thing to get his people moving and changing.  The question was could the people recognize the new thing God was doing?

Can we recognize the new thing(s) that God is doing in our communal life together and embrace the new path forward or are we mired in inertia, resisting the change from God and clinging to old ways that are both comforting and provide security from the chaos?  I think it is important for us all to realize that we all have a certain amount of flexibility and adaptability.  For some we can tolerate a large amount of change and perhaps treat it as a grand adventure.  But for some, change is best kept in small amounts.  But each of us can handle only a certain amount of anxiety before the defense mechanisms kick in, anger and resentment, fear and worry, panic and desperation.  Are we as a congregation at this point where we have been forced to deal with so much, in so small a time frame, that we are unable to see the new thing(s) that God is doing because we are overwhelmed?

But while the Gospel might challenge us as disciples to embrace and follow the new thing(s) that God is doing, the good news of the Gospel is that we given the means to do so.  Not only is God doing a new thing, but God is also giving drink to my chosen people.  When we lose the comforts of familiar situations, we are reminded of the true comfort that only God can give.  When we are pulled forward out from behind our literal and emotional defenses, we are reminded that Christ is our true defense against the world.  When we are forcibly removed from our sanctuaries, we are hidden in Christ, our only true and stout strong tower over us.  When we are challenged to grow and to become better disciples, we are reminded that we have been buried and resurrected with Christ, of what else could we ever need more to overcome our inertia?

My friends, I have no doubts that we are in a challenging time and place, being called to change weekly in ways we could not imagine or desire years ago.  But the Prophet reminds us, that God maybe the one doing a new thing, but can we see it?  But the good news of the Gospel is that even though God might be pulling us forward as pulling a semi, God is for us and not against us.  We have Christ to keep us and protect us along the way.  Let us therefore in our difficult and everchanging circumstances seek refuge and comfort only in our covenant with God in Jesus Christ. 

2 Corinthians 4:7-12

⁷ But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. ⁸ We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; ¹⁰ always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. ¹¹ For while we live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh. ¹² So death is at work in us, but life in you.

If you have every eaten at a restaurant, at some point you have had bad service.  Perhaps through circumstances out of their control, the server was poor in attention to your needs, but also just because of ineptitude, the server was quite inadequate in service to you as the customer.  They never took your order, the food was cold, the food was wrong, you never received silverware, etc.  We all have had a bad experience with poor service.

But we have also had poor service when it comes to church leaders.  Whether the Minister, or the church board, or your deacon, or even just another person sitting in the pew, we all have a bad experience with someone in church.  Perhaps the Minister was impatient with us when we asked for some information or advice.  Perhaps the Pastor was not even available to talk, or even willing to return a phone call or email.  Perhaps the Teaching Elder was unhelpful when he or she offered advice.  Whether the poor experience was having no answers, no solutions, no growth, or transformation, or having plenty of criticisms, judgments and complaining.  We all have had a bad experience with poor church leaders.

The results from this poor service are the same in the restaurant world; we stop coming back.  In our being offended, we disconnect from the congregation and from the leadership.  We transfer our membership elsewhere, we resign our commission, and/or we stop attending church believing the whole endeavor to be hypocritical nonsense.  But this is not the first time and place for a congregation or people to be offended or in conflict with church leadership.  The Corinthians had a problem with Paul and Paul had a problem with the Corinthians.  Many in the Corinthian congregation thought Paul had issues and they had bad experiences under his leadership and were really interested in replacing him with one more to their liking.  Thus, we have the Second Letter to the Corinthians.  Paul trying to reconcile with the Corinthians and some of the Corinthians being offended by Paul.

Paul has many points, but one of the most important for our situations where we also have poor leadership, is that we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.  Every church leader, the good and bad, are the clay jars and the Gospel of God is the treasure.  Clay jars are fragile and breakable, so too are church leaders.  None are the treasure; they only are the vessels for the treasure.  None are the message, but only the messengers.  Paul’s point is that no church leader is Jesus Christ, the church leader’s calling is to point to Jesus Christ.  Perhaps then our expectations are too high for the church leaders, when we simply expect them to be Jesus Christ instead of merely a human disciple and witness of Jesus Christ.  This doesn’t mean that Church Leaders can’t and shouldn’t be better, it means they are not yet perfect.  Treasure in clay jars, not the treasure themselves.

I make no attempt to justify the poor decisions and poor attempts at leadership of church leaders and of myself.  But our calling is not to be the treasure, the church already has that in Jesus Christ.  Our calling is to be faithful clay jars amid our situations, as best we can, with what we have, with our strengths and our weaknesses.  That means we are going to break, and we are going to fail.  We will lose our self-control, we will not have the answers, and we will have moments of being Pharisees instead of being apostles.  But what else can we really be, but the clay jars we are in this moment and in this place with our weaknesses, with our issues, and with our limitations? We are the clay jars.

Perhaps then the real point Paul is trying to make is that our faith should be in the treasure and not the clay vessels.  Christ Jesus and He alone should be the object of the Church’s faith and Christ alone.  Will he ever be impatient even when the Minister is brash?  Will he ever be unwise and unknowledgeable even when the Pastor is clueless?  Will he ever be Pharisaical even when the Teaching Elder judges guilty?  If this is who He is and what He does, then the object of our faith can only be Christ and no other, including Christ’s ministers and leaders.  Christ is the treasure.

Does this mean then that we don’t need church or any leaders of any churches?  It means no such thing.  It means that our covenantal lives together are under the Lordship and Grace of Jesus Christ.  But because we are under Christ, we are also under the ones appointed by Christ to bear responsibilities for others.  But their responsibility is never to be Christ, but to serve under Christ.  We will always be clay jars, but we always graciously bear the treasure also.  We can trust church leaders but only because we trust in Christ.  And if we have no faith in church leaders, we might also not have faith in Christ who appointed them in the first place.

My friends, I have no doubt that you have had a bad experience with some church leader, and it might even be me.  I have no wish to justify our poor decisions, and our poor leadership.  I only wish to remind you that we all are also clay jars, just like you.  This means our calling was never to be your Jesus, our calling was to be a human witness to the already perfect Jesus.  You can put your trust in him, and we can live our lives together under his rule.  But you can trust Jesus’ ministers not because they are perfect, but because we have this treasure in clay jars.  Even when we stink at our callings, and we do and we will, the object of our faith and our Master is really Christ and never the Church leader.  But we can follow our church leaders because Christ is the treasure within His leaders, cracks and all.  Amen. 

Psalm 71:14-18
¹⁴As for me, I will always have hope;
    I will praise you more and more.
¹⁵ My mouth will tell of your righteous deeds,
    of your saving acts all day long—
    though I know not how to relate them all.
¹⁶ I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, Sovereign Lord;
    I will proclaim your righteous deeds, yours alone.
¹⁷ Since my youth, God, you have taught me,
    and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.
¹⁸ Even when I am old and gray,
    do not forsake me, my God,
till I declare your power to the next generation,
    your mighty acts to all who are to come.

Philippians 3:12-16
¹² Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. ¹³ Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ Let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind; and if you think differently about anything, this too God will reveal to you. ¹⁶ Only let us hold fast to what we have attained.

Devotional
I have just finished a very long book, which at times was quite engaging and easy to read and at times was quite obtuse and difficult to work through.  But, having finished reading it, I felt a sense of joy and accomplishment at its completion.  I did it and now I can do something else.  I do not need to invest time and energy to the task of reading and processing the book, I am free to seek other engagements.

So too is with discipleship.  When we reach old age or perhaps even a sense of maturity, we tell ourselves that we are finished with our faith and responsibilities.  After all, we are bound to our homes, how can I work and worship with a community?  When we lose our ability to safely drive or even our ability to rise in the morning to attend worship, we get to the point when we tell ourselves, and God, that we are finished. 

I have reached the point in my old age when I can dispense with discipleship.  I just cannot work and worship any longer and I am done.  How can I help when I cannot walk any longer?  How can I contribute when I cannot get to church?  How can I care for another when I am bound to be cared for by someone else?  These are the thoughts and opinions of many who have reached the age in their lives when basic actions are challenging, let alone the challenges of following the commands of Jesus Christ.  I am finished because I just can’t anymore.

But many also have the opinion that once a mature or old age is reached, a person is no longer responsible to follow Jesus Christ.  I have done my part, I am done.  I have sacrificed for God up to this point, I will live for myself now.  I have served my time up till now, my time is now my own.  I am finished because I just don’t want to do it anymore, I want to do what I want.  Vacation here I come.  I am finished because I want to retire from working for the Kingdom. 

The dilemma with both these positions is that we remove ourselves from being under the authority of God.  Like the title of Ayn Rand’s book, we become Atlas who shrugs off his burden of holding up the sky.  We shrug off the authority of God to command us.  We remove ourselves from being ruled by God and we remove ourselves from the freedom God gives us.  We remove ourselves from the Kingdom of God, either because in our estimation we can’t work for the Kingdom anymore, or because we just don’t want to anymore.

The real dilemma is can we really shrug off God and God’s right to rule God’s creation?  Do we have the power to match God and force God to bow to our wills?  More importantly do we really want to shrug off God in our old age, since death, the last enemy, is closer than ever before?  Shouldn’t we want a closer walk with God, the closer we come to the valley of the shadow of death?  Can we and should we shrug off God and therefore our discipleship because we have finished with that, either because we must, or because we want to?

The answer is that no you can’t shrug off God, and no you don’t want to shrug off God.  In our old age we are closer to God in our discipleship than we were in our youth.  Now that the finish line is in sight, cling more to God than in your youth.  Your strength fails, but God’s strength increases.  Since the Lord of Life who calls you to follow lies not above you in heaven, but before you in time, then even in old age, the journey is not finished.  The journey is only finished, when you see Christ Jesus face to face, and until then, Paul has it correct, we do not shrug off God, nor want to, we want to press ever forward to answer the call of Christ until we meet Christ.

This means most concretely that until we are called home or until Christ returns, our responsibilities never cease, it is never finished.  Someone will certainly say to me then, well what can I do, when I can’t do much?  The answer is what ever you are commanded to by the call of Jesus Christ.  Do whatever that is, with the full ability and energy that you have, even if it means doing so from a house you can never leave and with the little energy and health you have.  Jesus knows your situation and tailors His command to that, but Jesus also gives you Himself to be able to fulfill it and to fulfill it gloriously.  We must simply bear the responsibility to obey the command with everything that we have, even if that everything is meager in our own estimation.

But it also means very concretely that we can never shrug off our responsibilities simply because we want a different life of leisure and relaxation.  We cannot retire from our discipleship responsibilities simply because we want to.  Jesus is still commanding as Lord and work for God’s Kingdom is commanded to be done.  I am not saying we should not take a Sabbath or a Jubilee or take moments for self-care.  We cannot care for others if we are empty and derelict ourselves.  I am saying we cannot permanently evade our responsibilities from and for Christ to create a retirement life of pleasure and purpose for ourselves.  We should not ever retire from our lives in and under Christ.

My friends, I have no doubt that at points in our lives we are forced to admit and adapt to the confines and difficulties of old age and/or maturity.  But the one change and adaptation we must never make is the conclusion that our work under Christ Jesus is ever over simply because we can’t contribute in our old age or we don’t want to in retirement.  Jesus is ever the approaching Lord who calls us to Himself.  If He still commands us, our only free and responsible choice is to obey with everything that we have and everything that we are.  Our only choice in old age or in youth or somewhere between them is to press forward to Christ, because Christ is calling us to Himself.  We cannot be forced to nor should ever choose to retire from following Jesus Christ.  Amen.