A Journey With the Family

Psalm 34
My father-in-law's health has been less than stellar of late, so naturally I have spent time thinking about him recently, about the impact he has had on many lives as a minister and as a friend. Those lives include mine. The Christian faith really is a family in so many ways; not one of birth or marriage, but one of covenant and community. My father-in-law has done much over the years to help me feel at home in the family of faith and I think of people like him when I read words like those found in Psalm 34. "O magnify the Lord with me," says the psalmist, "and let us exalt his name together" (Psalm 34:3). These are words of invitation meant to make us feel at home in the family of faith. These are words that say "come and share in a life of purpose and joy that can only be found in serving God." They say "come and be a part of God's people, the community of the covenant. Come and belong." These are words my father-in-law has embodied through decades of ministry and discipleship.

Each of us who considers him- or herself a Christian has a different story as to how we came to have faith in Jesus Christ. Like Paul on the road to Damascus, you may have experienced conversion from a life that was leading you in one direction when you experienced a change of heart that led you in another. Or perhaps like Timothy, you may have simply grown up in the faith,  never realizing it was possible not to believe. In any case, there were others who played a part in getting us to where we are today in our journey with God, whether it was friends, co-workers, family members, neighbors, fellow church members, even strangers. Any of these may have touched us at an appropriate time and helped guide us on our way. The end result is that we stand in community, in covenant with one another and with God. We now have the opportunity to reach out to others the way that others have reached out to us, to say with the psalmist, "O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together."

Obviously, we are not the source of the message; it is Jesus Christ who calls us into relationship with God. But we have a vital role to play nonetheless. The community of faith as we know it is always in flux. It is not a rigid, fixed group of people, in lockstep, marching along the road of faith. It is, instead, a changing, dynamic collection of saints at various stages of their respective faith journeys. The joyous call to discipleship, then, is not an invitation to a sit-down, black-tie dinner. It is a "come as you are" affair, a ramble along the road that leads to the coming kingdom. It is a trip that changes us from what we were into what we can be. It is a trip without much in the way of a fixed starting point, but it has a goal: full, self-giving service to God through Jesus Christ. Our words of invitation, addressed to the world, can be the starting point for someone else's trip along the road to the kingdom, and it may be the only invitation that some people ever receive. So let us magnify the Lord, and let us exalt his name together.

Prayer: Lord, on our journey of faith help us to remain open to what you are doing in and through us and to what we may do through you for others. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Person to Person

1 Corinthians 4:8-21

The apostle Paul's concern for the spiritual well being of the church at Corinth led him to send an emissary to that congregation. "For this reason I sent you Timothy," Paul writes, "who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ Jesus, as I teach them everywhere in every church" (1 Corinthians 4:17). Paul could not be there himself, but he knew he could trust Timothy to convey the proper message. This meant that Timothy had to be ready to serve, had to be ready to teach, had to be ready to go!

Not everyone can be a "Timothy," of course, but all believers should be prepared to share the good news of the gospel, to be emissaries for Jesus Christ whenever the opportunity arises. As someone once said, we may be the only Bibles some folks ever read. How we live and how we treat others, then, should reflect our faith in the one who came in order that all might be redeemed. When it comes to our calling as the people of God we certainly don't want to send mixed messages.

Prayer: God of all time and space, help us to live as messengers of your grace and to share it with everyone we meet. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Reality Check

Acts 15:36-16:5

To its credit the book of Acts does not present an unrealistic picture of the early church. Our reading for today proves the point. “The disagreement became so sharp that they parted company; Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. But Paul chose Silas and set out, the believers commending him to the grace of the Lord” (Acts 15:39-40). It really doesn’t matter what the argument was about. It happened, and the author of Acts makes no effort to hide the “sharp disagreement” from us. I think that is important.

I’ve spent the majority of my life involved in the church at various levels and in various ways. It can be a messy place, with disagreements over some interesting things. People get their feelings hurt. Friendships sour. Entire congregations split. It happens, and to say otherwise would be dishonest. Acts makes no attempt to hide the unpleasant truth and as far as I’m concerned that adds veracity to its story.

But shouldn’t the people of God be above that sort of thing? Shouldn’t “church folk” get along, live in perfect harmony, agree on everything? Sure, the church should be a place of joy and of unity, but first and foremost it is a place for real people with real problems—like pride and fear and anger and insecurity. Real people are going to have real misunderstandings. But our very real God is going to be at work nonetheless, and though there will be unpleasantness and turmoil from time to time, there will also be real signs of grace and mercy, opportunities to grow in faith and in love. The church is about moving towards the reign of God. We aren’t there yet, but we really are getting closer.

Prayer: Lord of all, help us to work through our very real disagreements in mutual love and respect, supporting one another even when we see things differently. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Tension and Transition

Job 40:1-24
Acts 15:36-16:1
John 11:53-12:8
There are arguments and disagreements sprinkled throughout all of our passages today. They begin with Job whose complaints against God elicit a pointed response. “Will you condemn me that you may be justified?” God asks (Job 40:8). I believe we may safely assume this to be a rhetorical question. In the reading from Acts Paul and Barnabas have a falling out over the presence of Mark. “The disagreement became so sharp,” Acts tell us, “that they parted company…” (Acts 15:39). Finally in the gospel of John, not only are the chief priests and Pharisees plotting to kill Jesus (John 11:57), but when Mary anoints Jesus with a costly perfume Judas strongly objects (12:11). Then Jesus reacts just as strongly against Judas’s words (v. 7). Whew. So much conflict in so few verses.

But consider this. Job is on the path to a greater understanding of God’s relationship with humanity at this time of conflict. And after Paul and Barnabas parts ways in Acts Paul and Silas encounter Timothy who becomes a integral part of Paul’s ministry. And in John Jesus is headed toward Jerusalem and his impending passion. Sometimes tension and conflict are the catalysts that cause growth. Sometimes transition comes with pain. Sometimes finding the new thing in God’s plan means a sharp break with the old thing that has gone before. Sometimes is takes a lot to kill our faulty assumptions. Sometimes we must experience the wilderness before we may arrive at the promise.

I would never suggest that all change requires pain, or that conflict is always an indications of God’s work. I do want to suggest that there are those times when we have got to let go of what makes us comfortable (or what we think makes us comfortable) in order to find that place where God intends us to be. And whatever the case, as Paul reminds us in Romans 8, God is fully capable of working through any circumstances—indeed nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:28, 39). So we should trust in God as we move along, always looking for the next sign of grace that will remind us of God’s abiding presence.

Prayer: Thanks be to the God of hope, who, even in the midst of the most trying of times, is at work to bring about the divine will. Lord, help us to live with patience and openness to those times of transition that we may also be open to those around you and may offer help and comfort to others as they pass through their own wildernesses.