Devotion - Thursday, May 2

Near the end of Paul's letter to the Church in Rome, he speaks of the individuality of the members of the community.  The matters of concern seem to have been dietary choices.  It was common in those days for religious devotion to include avoiding some foods, even considering some items unclean.  (There is still such prohibitions in modern-day faiths - but they have become less a concern among Christians.)

Paul does not settle the issue of whether these rules and customs are to be upheld.  What he says is that we are to leave others to their practices and not pass judgement on them.  He writes:  "Who are you to pass judgement on the servant of another?  It is before his own master that he stands or falls.  And he will be upheld, for the Master is able to make him stand."

Do not read into this that "anything goes."  Rather, gather from Paul that each will be accountable for their own actions; each will need to be judged by God as to their dedication and devotion.  It is a difficult thing - to not judge.

In a few short days you will be leaving campus.  As you journey to parts far and wide, you will encounter Christians and Christian communities whose customs and habits may be different from what you have experienced here.  You may prefer their way of doing things; or you might critique them based on what you have come to find familiar here.  Remember Paul's words.  Know that it is our devotion to Christ which God judges and not the particular ways in which we show that devotion.  Ways and customs differ; it is the same Lord who is worshiped and glorified.  

Things will be different at LCM when those of you who are returning do so.   The construction of a new narthex means we will worship in the Fellowship Hall - probably hosting three services on Sunday morning.  Will the new schedule be more pleasing, or disruptive?  We will have to wait and seen.

Do not judge; and do not fear the judgement of others.  Be the servant of God whom you have come to know yourself to be.  Stand firm in your devotion to Him, and know that you are good and acceptable and deeply loved.

I will be back with you in August - have a wonderful summer.

Devotion - Wednesday, May 1

I acknowledged earlier this week that I am currently reading from the Wisdom of Solomon.  This is a book not in our Protestant Bibles, but among the books used by the Roman Churches.

This morning's section is Chapter 13:1-9.  The words encourage us to marvel in the beauty and the mystery of creation; and to see in the beauty and wonder the handiwork of the Creator.  This line of reasoning is also found in the opening chapters of Romans.  It is sometimes called "Natural Theology;" i.e. from nature would ought to be able to deduce the presence of God.  

I don't speak much of my brother, and his faith life.  One of the reasons is that my brother doesn't talk much about theoretical issues.  He is so wonderfully connected to living life that he seldom worries or wonders about attitudes or opinions.  But one encounter with my brother serves as an invitation to such things in my life.

I was around nineteen years old.  He and I were rebuilding the top end of the 318 cc Chrysler engine in his panel van.  I was going to drive that van to the LSM-USA National Assembly in Tempe, AZ.  David's hands knew how to adjust the rocker arms and to evaluate the valve springs.  I admired his skill.  He said something to the effect, "If someone as stupid as me can make an engine work, with all of its complicated and interconnected parts, how can we not be overcome with appreciation for the God who makes everything in the whole world work?"

You may not even have a bible with the book of Wisdom in it.  So I am going to paste the verses I read this morning below.  Read them, slowly.  Think about each verse and allow the words to encourage you to see the marvel of the God who made possible the things you are studying in your classes: the complicated organic chemistry, or the great variety of crops, or the materials out of which we fashion new bio-materials.  I overhear your discussions about this exam or that project and I am struck by all that you are learning - and how marvelous is this world, and your brain's ability to comprehend the handiwork of God.

Wisdom 13:1-9

For all people who were ignorant of God were foolish by nature;

and they were unable from the good things that are seen to know the one who exists,

nor did they recognize the artisan while paying heed to his works; 

but they supposed that either fire or wind or swift air,

or the circle of the stars, or turbulent water,

or the luminaries of heaven were the gods that rule the world. 

If through delight in the beauty of these things people assumed them to be gods,

let them know how much better than these is their Lord,

for the author of beauty created them. 

And if people were amazed at their power and working,

let them perceive from them

how much more powerful is the one who formed them. 

For from the greatness and beauty of created things

comes a corresponding perception of their Creator. 

Yet these people are little to be blamed,

for perhaps they go astray

while seeking God and desiring to find him. 

For while they live among his works, they keep searching,

and they trust in what they see, because the things that are seen are beautiful. 

Yet again, not even they are to be excused; 

for if they had the power to know so much

that they could investigate the world,

how did they fail to find sooner the Lord of these things? 

Devotion - Tuesday, April 30

I had two conversations last evening in which "church" was the topic.  Not "Church", with a capital "C" so much as "church" with a small "c".  Though it is impossible to talk about the latter without reference to the former, the parts of last evening's conversations which stayed with me through this morning's prayers was how do we locate and become part of a local church.

I have not changed "churches" for 20 years.  I am about to forget what other churches are like - what drives them, how they feel.  And I know that my experience of church is unique in so many ways.

In far too many churches, the average age is pretty high.  It is in  few that would would find such a large number of young adults.  

Most churches can easily identify a visitor.  We seldom pass a Sunday when a student or two are unfamiliar to us.

All of this, I am continually reminded, makes finding a church difficult for you when you leave Clemson.  

Some of you are leaving - graduating.  Others of you are leaving for the summer - some to return home, others heading to internships or such.  I want to remind you that it isn't similarities in age or interest which make a community meaningful; it is a common commitment to something larger than ourselves.  And we all need fellow travelers around us to aid us in our pursuit of those larger ends.

Think of how helpful it is, during this week of exams and stress, to be surrounded by persons (themselves stressing, perhaps) but none-the-less willing to comfort and console you.  The weeks of your summer may not be as immediately stressful, but they are no less needful of having a community where we can be reminded of God's presence and God's goodness.

Do not take a summer vacation from church.  Make plans and make a commitment to identify a community and stick with it.  Discover how becoming connected to a group of folks causes the differences between them and us to fade.  Soon, we cease to notice differences in age, in status.

We need to be part of a church; not merely a member of the Church.

Devotion - Monday, April 29

There were Congregational Committees at the church last night, looking for a place to meet.  It wasn't an easy task, all the rooms downstairs were full of laptops and pizza boxes, students studying and making use of whiteboards to sketch out math or chemical compounds.

I know that Exam Week is a bear, and there should be no delight taken in any aspect of it - but I love the feel of the place this time of year.  And I am struck by the use of the building as an over-sized study carol.  

The devotional guide I follow has me reading from one of the books which may not be in your version of the Bible.  It is Wisdom of Solomon.  This is one of the books considered scripture by the Roman Catholic Church, but not by most Protestants.  

In this book (which reads very much like the more widely accepted book of Proverbs), the virtue of wisdom is  lifted up.  We are encouraged to see the wisdom of God.

There is a difference between wisdom and knowledge.  Knowledge is knowing "stuff;" wisdom means understanding the connection between things.  What your professors hope is that you not only understand the material covered in class but you come to see the use of this information.  They want you to become wise.

Which brings us back to why I am so excited to see you at the church, with your books and your notes and your desire to learn.  I think the physical location of your study may help you as you seek to not only learn the subject matter at hand but come to understand that your education is also a calling.  You are obtaining useful knowledge so that you might be in a better position to do God's work in the world.  You are moving toward wisdom.

I will pray for you this week.  I will be there to support you this week.  And I hope my words will encourage you to see the larger picture and the greater ends toward which all this is drawing you.

Sermon - Easter 5 - Year C

John 13:31-35                                                              

Love – As I have Loved You

          I did manage, last Friday/Saturday, to get up to North Carolina see my sister.  I didn’t comment on it during last Sunday’s sermon, because (believe it or not) I had prepared that sermon before heading north.  I don’t usually plan that far ahead, but my sister got me thinking about it.  She had called me Wednesday or Thursday and asked “What do you want to eat when you are here?”  She went on to say “I don’t want to waste any time trying to decide that when you arrive.  I want to have it all ready so we can just sit and talk.” 

For those of you who don’t know, my sister is in the firm grip of pancreatic cancer.   This was a week for chemo, so right now she is feeling a bit puny.  But all-in-all she is doing quite well.  There is no way to reverse the invasion of cancerous cells; the best we can hope for is that smacking a few of them up side the head might slow their further advancement.  She is okay; and so are the rest of us.  There are greater fears in her life (and in mine) than death.  And one of those fears is that we might waste time – precious time.  Carolyn is once more reminding me that the only good use of time is doing that which is helpful or pleasing or consistent with the hope and the promise which sustains us.  Sustains us in the midst of battles with cancer; sustains us in each and every day of our lives.  You either walk in the way of Jesus, in Jesus’ words, and in his call to discipleship, or you are wasting time.  You are falling away from the hope and the promise which has the ability to sustain.

My sister is second only to my grandfather in providing the roots and foundation of my faith and my faith practice.  

In the case of my grandfather, it wasn’t “saintly living” that impressed me – far from it.  But from him I gained an appreciation for what it means to be “called,” to be asked by a community to do a task which needs to be done.   

From my sister I have learned and continue to learn that the prime expression of Christian faith is to do what Jesus said to do.   This does not mean that she lacks a firm grasp on the teachings and the truths and the confessions of the faith.  But as a self-described “Martha” (i.e. the one who fixes the meals and fusses that Mary sits on her behinds while there is all this work to be done); as a self-described “Martha”, Carolyn has instilled in me that it isn’t what we say about Jesus that matters.  What matters is our listening to his voice and following where he says we are to go.   

Last Sunday’s gospel encouraged us to think of Jesus as the Good Shepherd.  We were encouraged to learn to recognize his voice and follow it.  This Sunday that voice tells us tells us what it is that he would have us to do. 

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” 

I invite you to open your bibles and check to make sure that the claims I am about to make are indeed true.  I want you to look for instances in the Gospels in which Jesus gives his followers instructions.  Search for the word “command” or for  “commandment.” 

You will find the word twice in John - and only in John.  There is no commandment from Jesus in Matthew, or Mark or Luke.  Twice in John we have Jesus’ clear instructions on what he wants his followers to do.  I just re-read John 13:34 for you.   The other follows closely, actually in the same overall section. John 15:12 reads:  “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” 

You can say all you what about what you think persons have to “believe” in order to be considered followers of Jesus, but when Jesus says what he “commands” there is only this one thing.

It is not easy to love as Jesus loves.  It is no simple matter to love one another in the way that Jesus loved those with whom he spent every waking moment for the previous three years of his ministry.  It is difficult; some would even say next to impossible. 

If you still have your bibles out, look at the surrounding paragraphs to today’s Gospel lesson.  What comes before?  Starting with the opening verses of the 13^th chapter, you have the washing of the disciples’ feet.  This is the context for Jesus saying, “Love as I have loved.”  These verses were read in our midst a mere five weeks ago.  They are the Maundy Thursday text.  When Jesus says “Love as I have loved you,” it is in the immediate aftermath of his having washed the feet of those whom he has invited to be his disciples. 

After today I am going to be gone for a few weeks, so I am going to be a bit bold in issuing a challenge.  I think it would be a great idea if we were to start our next round of committee meetings by washing each other’s feet.   

In fact, I might ask the students going on the beach trip to try this. We have had a year in which sub-sets of the group have stood in the way of us from being the unified whole that we all desire.  We (and by that I guess I really mean “I”) have had to make some strong comments to persons and while offered as a way of building trust and honesty they have not had the desired effect.

My suggestion to the congregational committees is that you consider doing the same.  We have had far too many raised voices at recent meetings.  I would suggest that foot-washing be the first order of business at the next Congregational Council meeting.  These congregational leaders could set an example for the remaining committees.  And I do wonder how the discussions would be different if we were to include foot-washing at the next meeting of the Committee appointed to discuss possible additions to this worship space. 

After the foot-washing in John 13, something else happens before you get to Jesus’ issuing his commandment.  There is this discussion of Judas and what Judas is about to do.  That is the event referred to in the opening of John 13:31, “When he had gone out….”  Judas, the one who would betray Jesus, has had his feet washed by Jesus, but he doesn’t stick around to hear Jesus’ commandment to love one another as he has loved us.  Betrayal stand between Jesus’ act of humility and Jesus instructions as to what this ought to mean. 

But this is only the first in an emerging pattern.  What to make a guess as to what comes immediately after Jesus gives his command?  Starting in verse 36 we read the exchange between Peter and Jesus in which Peter insists he will follow Jesus wherever it is that he will go.  Peter says, “Lord… I will lay down my life for you!”  To which Jesus responds, “Peter you won’t make it through the next twelve hours.”  “Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.”

Jesus simple commandment – Love one another as I have loved you;  Jesus’ only commandment – love one another;  is surrounded by two acts of betrayal by two of the most prominent characters in all of Christian scripture. 

Maybe John is going ahead and telling us – you won’t be able to do it.  Maybe the Gospel writer already understood that this was too much to ask.  Maybe the whole glorious experiment in which God sets aside the heavens in order to come and dwell with us crashes around the seemingly undeniable reality that we had rather be convinced or our own “right thinking” than be able to take off our fancy clothes, discard our impressive titles, forget the assurance of our logical arguments and get down on the floor to wash a few feet. 

In John 13 there are two stories of how impossible it will be to follow Jesus.  Judas and Peter both make it clear that obeying Jesus’ command is going to be a real challenge.

In John 13 there is only one instance in which the command of Jesus is followed.

If we leave it up to popular vote – we see which will be chosen.

If we like playing the odds – there is no doubt which is more probable.

But if we want to follow Jesus ….

Amen.

Devotion - Thursday, April 25

I continue to read from Luke 6, Jesus' Sermon on the plane.  He speaks of the wise builder, who before he starts the house sets a firm foundation.

Construction is another of those life skills which our culture has relegated to a few trained professionals.  Most of us have never built a house; have never constructed a foundation.

In the Clemson area, buildings and codes require a foundation that is at least 8 inches deep.  In the past decade or so, we have found a contractor with a backhoe who digs these for our Habitat houses.  But there was a time when i would go out with a group of students and hand them all shovels.  in the Clemson area, there is a lot of hard, packed, red clay.  Digging an 8 inch foundation is hard work.

But without such a foundation, the house is at risk.

Jesus' would like for us all to have strong houses, but the analogy is used to speak of our lives.  What is the foundation we are preparing for our lives?  For our daily living?  For our interactions in the world?

Some are prepared to "go with the flow," or "see what comes."  But we can ill afford to do this until a solid foundation is prepared.  We must pay attention to that foundation.  It is the base upon which all else is built.

Devotion - Wednesday, April 24

Luke's Gospel has Jesus preaching the same sermon as Matthew, but in Luke it isn't a sermon on a mount, it is a sermon on the plain.  This is one of the things I like about Luke (not that I dislike Matthew, I simply find Luke to be a bit more appealing.)  In Luke, the movement of God toward us is more apparent.  Jesus does not ascend to some lofty place from which he can look down on us; Jesus comes to the level plain, where we already are and where he shows God's desire to be among us.

In Luke's sermon (I read today Luke 6:27-38) Jesus speaks of love for those who do not love us.  "What credit is it" if we love those who love us.  "Even sinners love those who love them."  "Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return."

Maybe it would be less of a challenge if Jesus didn't come to where I live.  Maybe, if he stayed aloft, he wouldn't see my tendency to only love in return.  Perhaps he has seen me too clearly and understands my motivations.

When Jesus enters our world and our lives it results in things being changed.  It leads to a reversal of the way we do things.  It demands that we love as Jesus loved; not as the world tells us we are to love.

This doesn't mean we become a doormat for others to walk over.  In fact, sometimes our love is shown most clearly when we stand up for what is right and true and appropriate.  Loving as Jesus loves means we remove all ambiguity and we set aside all deception.

Jesus comes to us. This is the story of scripture.  And when he gets here, he see how we live and he tells us how living differently might make our lives and the lives of all those around us so much richer.