The Clothes on Their Backs

"And the Egyptians urged the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.” 34 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, having their kneading bowls bound up in their clothes on their shoulders." Exodus 12:33-34

“Passover starts at sundown tonight, and although its historical meaning is a celebration of the Israelites’ redemption from slavery in Egypt, the holiday is also about freeing oneself from the “narrow places” in our lives. (Mitzrayim, the Hebrew word for Egypt, literally means narrow place). So, this is the time to break the chains of bad habits, or relationships that constrict us, ways of thinking that are not broad enough.... According to religious doctrine, we’re supposed to eliminate all leavened (risen) foods from our homes—bread, etc – but symbolically, it’s also a time to get rid of the puffed-up aspects of our personality: Ego, arrogance, etc. And finally, it is a reminder – all too poignant in light of yesterday’s shooting at the Jewish Community Center in Kansas City -- of the painful parts of Jewish history, and the importance of fighting against hatred and looking forward to the day when people of all faiths and beliefs can live together in peace.” -Susan Kleinman

In thinking about Passover and the words of Susan Kleinman, I am drawn to the Exodus story. The story of one man leading his people out of Egypt. They had just witnessed the aftermath of the Angel of Death, and they left with just the clothes on their backs and their kneading bowls over their shoulders. There wasn’t even time to let the bread rise, and thus flatbread is shared at this meal. They took the clothes on their backs, their families, flocks and their faith (though like ours it was sometimes wavering) and they got out of dodge. They were afraid, they were excited and they were gone.

Do you need an Exodus today?  Do you need to be delivered from something or someone?  Only God can deliver us from any number of woes from materialism to anxiety, depression or oppressive relationships.   How many of us could take just the clothes on our back and follow Jesus trusting him to supply all of our needs?  This Passover, let us seek freedom from the things that bind us from truly following Christ, and with fear and excitement, let us be willing to journey with God wherever he may call us.

Prayer: Holy God, help me to rid myself of the narrow things that hinder my faith and keep me from being an instrument of your peace and reconciliation. Amen.

So Blessed

"For the wages of sin is death;but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:23

Thursday, my daughter and nephew had an Easter egg hunt at their preschool.  Jozie had helped me stuff eggs for her classroom and was excited to bring in her sparkle eggs for her friends to see.  After the egg hunt my mother brought them home and on the way she heard the following conversation from the back seat:

Micah (opening his egg): Look Jozie! Candy!( a box of nerds)

Jozie: Oh Micah what a great prize! You are so blessed!

My mom called me immediately to report the conversation. Jozie often sounds like she’s four going on forty-four.  A few days ago, in a bid to get a popsicle, she told me “Okay mom, but if I don’t get a popsicle, your team doesn’t qualify!”  I don’t know what race I was out of, but it sounded pretty important.

Out of the mouth of babes come great truths.  Lent is a time to contemplate the cross, to contemplate the pain and the sacrifice of Christ.  But, it is also a time to recognize our blessings.   Where would we be without Christ?  We would be lost and dying in our own sin with no escape from Hell.  We would not have the new covenant or the hope of forgiveness.  All around us, justice would be served on an eye for an eye standard.  There would be no church, no fellowship, and no hope.

Yes, lent is a time of reflection and contemplation on the dark path that led to the cross, but it’s also a time to think on how different things might had been if Jesus had chosen a selfish, human path that didn’t lead to Golgotha. We are so blessed to serve a selfless Savior.

Prayer: Holy God, I am so blessed, from the air I breathe to the life you gave up for me. Help me to never take the cross for granted and always, always be thankful. Amen

Permission To Be Real

Matthew 16:13-20

New Living Translation (NLT)

Peter’s Declaration about Jesus

^“13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples,“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”^[a]

¹⁴ “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”

¹⁵ Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”

¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah,^[b] the Son of the living God.”

¹⁷ Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John,^[c] because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being.¹⁸ Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’),^[d] and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell^[e] will not conquer it. ¹⁹ And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.”

How many times in our lives have we failed to be “real” with one another? How often have we failed to show our authentic selves?  Peter can only be accused of this a couple of times in the Bible, once for denying any association with Jesus, and once for going along with the crowd in a bid to ostracize Gentiles from the common table.  The rest of the Gospels and the New Testament reveal a Peter who was a heart-on-his-sleeve kind of guy.  When I think of Peter, I think of self-effacing raw emotion.  He’s the guy who would jump out of the boat to meet Jesus or cut off an ear to protect him.  I think it was the raw honesty and lack of pretense that Peter showed that made him dear to Jesus.  Peter, unlike some people might like to portray him, was not a bumbling idiot, he was perhaps a bit of a hothead, but overall, a true follower and friend of Christ.  To sum it up, Peter was real. And if you are going to choose to build your church on someone, they’d better be pretty darn real.

For some reason, at some point in our history, the Church (in general) decided to err on the side of polish over authenticity.  We save the bearing of our souls for homes or small groups or we just don’t allow ourselves to be that vulnerable, which is fine. We don’t always have to lay our hearts and lives out for public dissection to really worship. But every now and then, that vulnerability voices itself in truly beautiful ways.

This Sunday, I experienced a bit of Peter in our church.  Our service was on forgiveness and letting go when we have been hurt.  Deanna Deaton, sang a song that she wrote about not understanding the betrayal of those whom we have shared our lives and hearts with.  She said that we hurt because at some point, “we made the silly choice to love others” and become part of one another’s lives. Deanna is easily the most honest and true person I know. She would deny this, but that is why I love her.  In the song, she puts the person who has betrayed her or cut her out of their lives in God’s hands because, she can’t hold them in hers.  The song was beautiful, but what was even more beautiful was seeing her wipe her eyes of the crocodile tears that were rolling down, and then I looked around and people all around me were wiping their tears as well.  And the tears didn’t stop there, as Pastor Patrick talked about releasing others of their iniquity and thus releasing them and ourselves into God’s healing, I thought about how we should have put a box of Kleenex in every row before the service.

And it’s not that I feel that every service should be a cry-fest, but in this service our tears felt like permission to say in our Sunday best that, “I’m not okay sometimes. I have been hurt or maybe I’ve hurt another to the point of killing something inside myself.”  All around me I saw God’s wounded people and it was heartbreaking and heartwarming, because I knew that with those displays of vulnerability, were the first glimmers of healing. Sundays like this one are why the best way I know how to describe the followers of Christ is “broken and beautiful”. May we never fear the honest tears of healing and worship for it is upon that honesty that God will rebuild the church. Amen.

Guilty All the Same

To Throw the Stone     John 8:1-11 (The Message)

8 ^1-2 Jesus went across to Mount Olives, but he was soon back in the Temple again. Swarms of people came to him. He sat down and taught them.

^3-6 The religion scholars and Pharisees led in a woman who had been caught in an act of adultery. They stood her in plain sight of everyone and said, “Teacher, this woman was caught red-handed in the act of adultery. Moses, in the Law, gives orders to stone such persons. What do you say?” They were trying to trap him into saying something incriminating so they could bring charges against him.

^6-8 Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger in the dirt. They kept at him, badgering him. He straightened up and said, “The sinless one among you, go first: Throw the stone.” Bending down again, he wrote some more in the dirt.

^9-10 Hearing that, they walked away, one after another, beginning with the oldest. The woman was left alone. Jesus stood up and spoke to her. “Woman, where are they? Does no one condemn you?”

¹¹ “No one, Master.”

“Neither do I,” said Jesus. “Go on your way. From now on, don’t sin.”

I lived my adolescent years through young adulthood in the 1990’s and early 2000’s. I guess I would be what is classified as a Generation X-er.  Basically, what that means is that I grew up with the most innovative, alternative, unplugged, heart on your sleeve, full-out grunge and punk, shout your pain and your wry sarcasm music ever written.  Hands down, don’t argue with me.  Other generations wish they had my music, but it is mine.

You can imagine how elated I was to discover last month, that amid all of the Rianna and Justin Beiber stations, up popped  (and let me shamelessly plug it) 95.3.  It’s pretty much music from my high school and college days with some new stuff thrown in.  Last night I heard a familiar sound from my college days, but didn’t know the song.  It was called “Guilty All the Same” and sang by a band called “Linken Park” that debuted in the 90’s but hit their stride around 2003.  Bunch of raging punks.  They weren’t my “style” of music at the time or now, but these lyrics of their newest song grabbed me.

"You're guilty all the same
Too sick to be ashamed
You want to point your finger
But there's no one else to blame"

In the song, they are basically shaming all of society, from the church to the big music labels.  But the chorus has stuck with me because… it’s the truth.  The people of the church are guilty of the same. Guilty of greed. Guilty of lust. Guilty being hypocritical. Guilty of being judgmental. Guilty of presenting a pretty face to the public and then being ugly to our families. Guilty of sin. Hands up, we are guilty, guilty, guilty Linken Park! 

Are we too sick to be ashamed?  I don’t know about that one.  Perhaps that is how it appears to the world, but I believe we are ashamed.  We are eaten up inside by our sin and the contradictions that our lives are to what we profess to believe. 

Perhaps that is why we point fingers so vigorously at others. Maybe it’s why we have an unspoken sin rating system.  We can feel a little better about our sin if others have committed “bigger” sins. We can shout loudly about the sins that we know we would never commit. No we would never murder. We would never have an abortion.  We would never…cheat?   Lie?  Gossip?  Throw stones?

We all learned in elementary school not to point the finger at someone else because you have three more pointing back at you when you do. The same is true for Christians.  The difference is that we don’t have to exist in a state of darkness and sin.  We have forgiveness. We have forgiveness, not a “get out of jail free” card.  That is what Bonhoeffer would call “cheap grace”.  We are not a “Not perfect, just forgiven” bumper sticker.  No, what we have is a costly release from the bondage of our sins and the opportunity to live differently. A new life paid for with a life. We don’t have to be the same sinner we’ve always been.  That doesn’t have to be our identity.  We are free to go and sin no more.

Yes, we are guilty, but through forgiveness, we are free to change. We are free to live differently, to love differently, to try to be more like Jesus, who was not “guilty of the same”.

Prayer: Holy God, help us not to point but to love.  Help us to "go and sin no more". Help us to be more like you. Amen.