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.

Devotion - Tuesday, April 23

In Colossians 1, Paul speaks of the "hope of the gospel."  It says it is "what you heard."  He says it "has been preached to every creature under heaven."

There are at least two ways to think of this "hope of the gospel" which we have heard.  We may fixate on the "gospel," as the content of the message and the instructions about Jesus/God.  Or, we might hear Paul offering us "hope," the hope which is the good news that Jesus came to make known.

Somewhere in the late 1800's there began to be a divide in the family of God.  Some wanted to shield themselves against the new sciences and recent discoveries.  In order to do so, they began to insist on adherence to content and form.  The "good news" became more of an incredible story, too good to be believe, difficult to accept, but which must be embraced if one is to be considered a child of God.  

Here, in the opening years of the 21st century, we are beginning to see the dark side of such an approach.  The community which bears the name of Jesus lacks his basic attitude of "all are welcome."  We have ceased to speak of the great lengths to which God will go in order to affirm that we are loved and cared for.  More and more are reclaiming the "hope" which Jesus has for us and the "hope" which calls us forth into a harmonious way of life.  

The good news is this hope, made manifest among us and entrusted to those who have the faith to proclaim this hope - even against all the false voices which seek to take our hope away.

Devotion - Monday, April 22

In Luke 6, Jesus has a confrontation with the Pharisees.  They are upset that he and his disciples do not respect the rules regarding work on the Sabbath.  What they get upset about seems silly to most modern-day believers.

As they walk through a grain field  they pluck grains of wheat, rub them in their hands (essentially doing manually what a mill would do in bulk), and eating the grain.  It was not lawful to "work" on the Sabbath;  the disciples were not abiding by this commandment.

Let us try to side-step the particulars of the offense these particular actions caused and look at the general issue of how differently persons interpret what it is that God requires.  Some issues may have been addressed in the Jesus stories, but most are not.  And among God's people there continue to be arguments and disagreements as to what compliance means.

The things we consider essential will seem "logical" and "universally accepted."  While the expectations of another may seem "petty".  A whole different set of obligations may emerge from those who do not consider themselves Christians, but observe and discern from afar what Christianity is all about.  

In the Luke 6 story, Jesus is wanting to teach the Pharisees something about the Sabbath.  So, he clarifies the ways in which their understanding of what is expected could be adjusted.  In other places, he would say to those giving offense that while there is nothing inherently "wrong" with our actions, we need to change for the sake of those who may be adversely influenced by our actions.  Sometimes it doesn't matter if we are "right;" what matters is that we are giving offense and thus creating harm in the life of another.

Read Luke 6 and consider for yourself the actions of your day.  Are they done both with an eye to God; and an eye to how they are affecting those who see God in us?