My Blog

Why Ask Why?

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 22:29:39 -0400

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning? 2 O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent. 14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me. 15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. 16 Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet.
--Psalm 22:1-2; 14-16

Sunday we began our Why? series. I sensed--both by the number of people and by the heaviness in the room--that Why? is a question on many people’s minds. Why? God, why? Why this? Why now? Why me? Why my children? Why cancer? Why an earthquake? Why a car accident? Why an innocent baby? Why so much suffering? Why so much pain? Why? God, why?
Just this morning I learned of a nearby two year old little boy who was struck and killed by a falling limb from a tree. Why?
Growing up, I often heard that you shouldn’t ask why, that “questioning God” was somehow off limits. You know what I wondered when I was taught that? Why? Can God not handle our questions? Does the God of the Universe not understand when we get angry and want to know why?
On Sunday, part of what we did was look at some reasons, I think, it’s okay to ask why. So, let’s review. Why Ask Why?
1) People of faith always have--All throughout Scripture are stories of people who suffered terrible tragedies and pain. Time and again, they asked why. The Psalmist in Psalm 22, prays, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Did you know that 70% of the psalms are psalms of lament? The Book of Psalms is Israel’s prayer book, and 70% of them are psalms of lament where the psalmist prays to God, “God, where are you? It feels like I’m all alone down here. God, why are staying so far from me? God, why?” If Israel’s prayer book is composed of prayers like that, I think it’s okay to question, and cry out to God that way too. There is an entire book in the Bible called Lamentations. Guess what’s in that? That’s right. Laments. Complaints to God. Honest, authentic relationship with God requires honest, authentic prayer. Job and his friends questioned why Job’s fate had befallen him. He was a good and upright man, yet he suffered tremendously. Why? That was the question they repeatedly asked. Jesus, even asked why. From the cross, he quoted Psalm 22, “My God, my God why?” See, God desires an authentic relationship with us. God doesn’t want us to hide stuff from him, why to keep from hurting his feelings?
2) That brings me to the second thing: God is big enough to handle our little questions--This is the God of the universe we’re talking about here. He created everything there is. He spoke this world into existence. He just said, “Let there be light,” and there was. He’s not going to be threatened by our questions.
3) Third, God’s not going to be threatened by our anger, either. And, let’s face it: Why is a question we generally ask out of anger and a place of deep pain and grief. It’s not often you hear somebody say, “God, why did you let me land this great job? I don’t deserve it. God, why would you let this happen to me?” Just doesn’t happen. Why is a question we ask in the midst of our anger. And that’s okay.
4) Since Sunday I thought of a fourth reason: “Why?” is a faith question. You don’t bother asking why unless you believe there is some sort of an answer. You don’t bother asking, “Why God?” unless you believe in God. So, at its core, “why?” is a question asked in faith.
So, the overwhelming weight of Scripture suggests that “Why?” is a perfectly natural question to ask, especially in times of pain, sorrow, and grief.
The answer? Well, that’s a good bit tougher.

Looking forward to this Sunday,
Pastor Michael

New

Fri, 25 Mar 2011 23:57:17 -0400

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature ; the old things passed away ; behold, new things have come.
--2 Corinthians 5:17

Okay, so I haven’t written as much as I intended to follow up on last Sunday’s sermon, but several of you have asked me about the quote that I used from Barbara Brown Taylor’s excellent book, Speaking of Sin. This is the quote I used last Sunday:
...the culture has already devised its own solutions by downsizing the number of things we call sin. Suicide, divorce, and addiction are no longer considered sinful by large segments of the population. Nor are cohabitation and having children out of wedlock. Sex before marriage is so routine that virgin brides and grooms are as rare as comets. We call lying “spin” and greed “motivation.” (Speaking of Sin: The Lost Language of Salvation, p. 30).
The other thing that seemed to resonate with folks was the idea that God is not all that interested in our remorse. Instead, God wants our repentance. God’s desire for us is not that we continually shoulder tons of guilt and shame, but rather that we would receive the gift of real repentance--that is turning around, making a 180 degree turn, living into the new life that God wants us to have.
But, so many of us make the choice just to live with the guilt and shame. Perhaps we think it easier than the pain of life-change. It’s true repentance means difficult changes. It’s not easy. But, it is life-giving.

Somebody asked me this week if I was going to follow up and offer some quick-easy steps to move from remorse to repentance, to truly quit the sins that hold us hostage. I wish I could. I wish I had a magic formula to help us abandon our sins and live the new life God wants, with the grain of God’s will for us. Such a formula doesn’t exist, but I can offer these two ideas:
1) You have to truly want to change--so often we say we want to change but deep down, we don’t. To change, we have to come to the place where we sincerely desire to live a new life.
2) Pray without ceasing for strength and courage to make the necessary changes.
Without these two things, our attempts at real repentance will fail.
Getting busy with 1 and 2,
Pastor Michael

Hostage Week 1: Sin

Sun, 20 Mar 2011 21:39:29 -0400

7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
--1 John 1:7-10

Today we talked about sin. It’s not a pleasant or popular topic, I know. More and more in our culture and even in the Church, we have shied away from the language of sin preferring instead medical or therapeutic language. Doesn’t it sound so much better to call addiction an illness than sin?
Yet, when we abandon the Church’s language of sin, we end up with an impoverished view of grace. Without naming and facing the dark reality of our sin, our talk about grace ends up being cheap and flaccid. In the words of Barbara Brown Taylor, “not talking about sin weakens the language of grace, because grace cannot be experienced without the full impact of what has been forgiven” (Speaking of Sin: The Lost Language of Salvation, p. 5).
The reality is that we are all sinful, broken people. (Romans 3:23). Sin is the problem between us and God. It severs not only our relationship with Holy God, but adversely affects all other relationships as well. Sins are willful decisions rebelling against God that maintain the barrier separating us and God.
Trying to call what ails us anything other than sin (sickness, genetics, bad biochemistry, etc.) just doesn’t quite get at the theological root of our problem. Only “sin” will do. Sin is a cruel slave master, but ironically is also, in the words of Barbara Brown Taylor, “our only hope.”
Because God does not want us to live our lives as hostages to sin. That is the point of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. God would have us live abundant lives free from the grip of sin. That victory has already been won. We need only to receive the freedom offered to us by God through 1) confession and 2) repentance.
Later in the week, I’ll write in a little more detail about each of these, but for now I want to share with you an illustration.
As I left the church this evening come home, I ran into Steven Douglas who was returning from Acquire the Fire with our youth group. He shared with me about the theme of their weekend and one of the guiding images. I told him, “I wish I had thought of that image for this morning’s sermon.” But, it’s not too late to share it with you via this e-series.
One of the guiding images for the Acquire the Fire weekend was car restoration. Any car can be restored, even a rusted out old clunker. You can take the rustiest car, slap a fresh coat of paint on it, and make it look good. The key is making sure to sand down all the rusty spots--every crack and crevice. If you neglect this, then the fresh coat of sparkling new paint will only last a short while before the rust starts eating back through. You have to take great pains to work on the rust.
Confession works like a sander in our lives. When we face our sins, are honest about them, name them before God, it’s like going deep in the cracks and crevices to remove the rust, making a new us possible.
I’ll say more about this throughout the week, but for now I’m going to find my sander.
Lots of sanding to do,
Pastor Michael

Dominus Flevit

Sun, 13 Mar 2011 21:58:26 -0400

37 As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, 38 saying, "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!" 39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, order your disciples to stop." 40 He answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out." 41 As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, "If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. 44 They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God."
--Luke 19:37-44

Dominus Flevit. That’s Latin for “the Lord Wept.” It’s also the name of a Roman Catholic church built on the western side of the Mount of Olives facing the Old City of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. The whole church building was built in the shape of a teardrop symbolizing the tears of Jesus. That’s because on or very near this spot Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem and uttered the above words recorded by the Gospel of Luke.
I visited Dominus Flevit last week. It was too steep a climb for our entire tour group, so a few of us put together a plan. We would go to the ruins of the City of David (just south of the Jerusalem wall) then hike over to the Mount of Olives to Dominus Flevit.
There were six of us to start the day. We went to the ruins of the City of David and as we were walking down the huge set of steps to see Hezekiah’s Tunnel, we witnessed a scene. Down below us, just across the Kidron Valley, two Jewish guys were ducked behind part of a brick column shielding themselves from big rocks being hurled at them from up above on the hill opposite us. There, up on that hill, were three Palestinian kids (maybe 11 or 12 years old) who were raining large rocks down on those two men below.
They weren’t little rocks. It wasn’t a joke. It wasn’t playful at all. This was serious. They meant business. That was reinforced when one of the Jewish men pulled out his pistol and flashed it above the column. He wasn’t playing either. The whole scene was heartbreaking.
The kids eventually ran away and the men continued on the way, but shortly after that we heard gunfire coming from the same general area. It was occasional at first, but then became more rapid-fire and constant.
It was unnerving and my small group got smaller. Four of the six went back to the hotel. But, my friend, Will, and I were set on seeing Dominus Flevit.
We made the hike through the Kidron Valley, up the Mount of Olives and into Dominus Flevit with the sound of gunfire popping like the raindrops on the hood of my raincoat.
Inside the church, Will read aloud from the Gospel of Luke 19:37-44. It was eery. Those words of Jesus uttered from that very spot being read with the steady cadence of machine gun fire in the distance.
It was enough to make me think: Jesus is still weeping. I am convinced that Jesus still weeps over the incessant conflict and violence in the land his presence and life made holy--but not just there, everywhere there is violence. I am convinced that Jesus still weeps over hatred the hatred harbored by so many people toward others who are different. I am convinced that Jesus still weeps over the sway that sin and death still hold in our world today, even though their ultimate defeat is guaranteed through his resurrection. Jesus still weeps.
I also think Jesus weeps over the tragedy in Japan. I’m only now catching up on the details of what’s going on there, after being out of the news cycle for a couple of days, but the earthquake there was catastrophic. The consequent tsunami was devastating. It doesn’t matter how technologically advanced a nation is, there is no protection from an 8.9 on the Richter Scale. I haven’t heard a recent death toll, but it will be huge. And, I believe Jesus weeps.
Please join me in praying for the people and things over which Jesus weeps. Particularly this week, please pray for peace in Egypt, Libya, and Israel/Palestine. I have a strong suspicion that the conflict in Israel will heighten this week, but pray that it doesn’t and the Prince of Peace will have his way.
Praying,
Pastor Michael

Hot Pursuit

Mon, 7 Feb 2011 20:50:11 -0500

1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me. 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. 3 You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely. 5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it. 7 Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast. 11 If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night," 12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you. 13 For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.
--Psalm 139:1-14

Yesterday we opened up the Psalms to learn about a God who is relentless in his pursuit of us. Really, though, it’s not just the Psalms where we learn of God’s passionate pursuit. It’s the whole of Scripture.
Ever since the first sin in the Garden of Eden, humanity’s relationship with God has been wracked by brokenness. If it were not for God’s persistence, God’s making a way, there would be no possibility for relationship at all, but God is faithful even when we are not. Because of his amazing love, he has pursued a relationship with us.
From beginning to end, the Bible is the story of that hot pursuit. Like the Shepherd in Jesus’ parable of the lost sheep leaving the 99 sheep to go searching for the one lost sheep, God will stop at nothing to find us, to have relationship with us.
Yesterday we also dug a little deeper into the most familiar psalm of all, Psalm 23. As I shared, this psalm has taken on new meaning for me in the last couple of years. The major contributing factor in that is a seeing v. 6 in a new light. In the King James Version, which most of us probably memorized, v. 6 reads, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” But, as I’ve learned, “follow” is a very weak translation. The Hebrew word is @dr. Ra-daph, which is more accurately and most often translated “to pursue, to chase, to dog, to run after.”
That is different from “follow.” It’s not just a passive “follow.” It’s an active, passionate, relentless chase. The Divine attributes of Goodness and Mercy are not keeping a safe distance. God Almighty is not just meandering around behind us. God is pursuing, chasing, dogging us.
Dogging us...Francis Thompson wrote a poem called “The Hound of Heaven” in which he described God a hound (as the title implies) who stays on our heels, who never lets up, who keeps chasing, keeps pursuing, keeps tracking us no matter what.
I thought of bloodhounds. Bloodhounds have a keen sense of smell and incredible tracking ability. They can even pick up a trail even after it has been cold for up to two weeks. Two weeks! That’s incredible. And, they can track people for hundreds of miles.
Bloodhounds are strong, tenacious trackers. They can also be hard to train because they are so strong-willed and determined. Tenacious, strong-willed, determined, relentless...I think Hound of Heaven is a pretty good image for a God who seems to constantly stay in hot pursuit.
To be continued...
Glad God’s Got My Scent,
Pastor Michael