The Good Samaritan

Yesterday at church we watched a video that featured several short interviews of church "experts" who commented on the parable of the Good Samaritan. If your memory is a little foggy, this is the story Jesus told about a guy who was beaten up and robbed and left for dead. A couple of religious people passed by without helping. A very unlikely person stopped and helped. This last guy is the one we are supposed to be like.

Here are some of my favorite moments from yesterday's video interviews:

Jon Ortberg reminded us that we need to get off our comfortable benches and out into the world of helping people. He told an illustration of some seminary students who would not stop and help a hurting person as they rushed off to preach sermons on the Good Samaritan.

Tony Campolo hold a story of hungry children in Haiti who peered through the window at the restaurant where he was eating. The waiter closed the blinds and told him not to let them bother him.

Lynn Hybels encouraged us that in the midst of all the possible needs in the world we need to listen to hear what God is specifically calling us to do. One way to discern that is to ask, "What makes me cry?"

Philip Yancey shared about a church in South Africa that has a much larger staff and budget for its AIDs outreach than they have for the church itself. He told the story of a little girl who was named "No Hope" who had her name changed to "God is My Hope."

The final segment featured a rescue mission worker who was moved to pick up a homeless man and carry him to the shelter.

These are just a few of the stories we heard yesterday. If you were there, what was your favorite?

And, what makes you cry?

Christmas Pageant

Yesterday I didn't preach. Instead we had our Children's Christmas Pageant. It was fabulous, and it delivered an experience and a message that mere preaching cannot compete with. One church veteran told me today that it was the finest children's program he had ever seen. I would agree. Here are some of my reflections on Sunday's experience.

1. The energy created by a completely jammed packed sanctuary was electric.

2. I was mesmerized by a solo sung by a little girl named Madison who communicated a sincerity and love for Jesus that just stunned me. It took my breath away. If Madison can retain this kind of faith and love for Jesus she will change the world.

3. If the rest of the kids can retain their passion and excitement for telling others about Jesus, they will also change the world.

4. The pageant set up as a contrast between the ho hum lack of faith of a TV announcer (played by Rick Shannon) and the celebrative, alive faith of the kids who were excited about Jesus. I came away wondering how much of the announcer's attitude was in me, and asking God to make me more like the kids.

5. The message of the pageant was inviting people to the birthday party. One of the secrets of the full house was that the kids were given invitations to give to people they wanted to attend. From these invitations, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and others poured into the church. One child's teacher from public school came. I wonder what would happen if we adults started doing this on a regular basis. Maybe we could have "electric" every week.

6. It would not be a Christmas Pageant without some on-stage shenanigans: mostly from the boys. I did not notice any nose picking or outright fighting, but we did experience some bare belly showing, some yawning, some arms out of T Shirts, and a short verbal rumbling between a couple of nativity participants. These things always remind me that we human beings are not angelic, and that part of the Christmas story was that Jesus entered a very messy and human world and invested in people like you and me who miss being perfect by about 1000 miles.

7. We were all blown away by the shooting confetti at the end of the service. And the birthday cake for Jesus was awesome!

For those of you who were there yesterday, what did you think was the best part? Post a comment and I will make sure that the kids hear your encouragement!

The Stain Master

Frank Passamonte is a carpet cleaner who attends our church. I call him the stain master. He has a bag full of tricks that he uses when knuckleheads like me smear mustard on the couch or spill grapejuice on the carpet. Frank is the guy who comes to the rescue before my wife gets home. Frank is an expert. No stain intimidates him. When he works his magic he can get most stains out completely and all stains at least 95%.

Frank tells me that the toughest stain is mustard. He has a long, involved process for getting that pesky condiment out.

Back in Bible times the toughest stain came from a crimson dye that was used on clothing. When that dye was used the color was set and it was impossible to make white. That stain was deeply imbedded.

All of us have sins that are deeply imbedded and ingrained in our souls: addictions, bad attitudes, habitual ways of living. Some of us are gossip-a-holics or negativity-a-holics, or stuff-a-holics. These sins are set in. We have lived with them along time. We might delude ourselves into thinking that these sinful practices are part of our personality, just the way we are.

It's not the way we are. We were created to live better than that. In Isaiah 1.18 God says that no stain is impossible for Him to cleanse; no sin is too deep to purify. The grand truth is that "though our sins may be as scarlet, God can cleanse us whiter than snow."

God is a better stain master than Frank Passamonte. And he can cleanse even you.

Check out http://youtube.com/watch?v=3Oj_meOoDpY to see a video of how our local stain master gets mustard out of carpet.

What deep sins do you struggle with?

Soul Cleanup

We told my son Bryan not to touch mommy's pretty thing. But he couldn't resist. He touched it. He accidentally broke it. He knew he was in big trouble. So he hid the broken pretty thing, and managed to stay under the radar for several days. We did not notice. But the guilty conscience was eating him alive. So he did what every 2nd grader would do. He stopped in to see the elementary school counselor. He told Mrs Patrick that he had done a terrible thing and that "if mom ever finds out she will kill me."

She found out. And 15 years later he is still alive.

A guilty conscience is a terrible thing. Secret sins tend to gnaw away at us. When we sin we feel horrible, rotten, sometimes even wretched. We feel unclean, dirty, like one of those guys in the mud pit at the renaissance festival. We need a fresh start and a good cleanup.

David felt dirty. He had sex with a married woman. He got her pregant. He attempted to cover it up. Eventually he had her husband murdered. He had used his kingly power in an abusive way. He had demonstrated scumball behavior.

In Psalm 51 a repentant David begs God to "cleanse me with hyssop and I will be clean. Wash me and I will be whiter than snow." God did.

Here's a spiritual truth you can bank on: God wants to take your dirty soul and restore it to purity. He can make you clean again: spotlessly white. He delights in forgiving and showing mercy. And all that is required is a broken and contrite heart.

This is the good news that is central to the Christian message. This is Amazing Grace.

This week take a fresh look at Psalm 51. And for good measure check out II Samuel 11-12. See what you and David have in common. Talk to God about your sins. And be cleansed.

God's Wardrobe

Painters, doctors, and ice cream truck drivers wear white. Brides wear white. Many nurses wear white. Even I wear white occaisionally in the summer.

So does God.

God doesn't really wear clothes, but when this metaphor is used in the Bible the color for His clothing is always said to be brilliant white, white as snow, white as the light, or dazzling white. In one passage Jesus' clothes are described as "whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them."

That's pretty white... better than my mom with her box of Tide could do!

Now the idea of whiteness here is that God's character is pure, spotless, and unblemished. God never messes up. God does not err or sin. God does not have any stains or blotches on his character. God is perfect.

We need to ponder this, especially as a contrast to our own spotted and blemished lives. We mess up every day. We say and do things we regret later. We sin. We stumble. When it comes to moral character God is Lance Armstrong and we are a bunch of knuckleheads on cheap bikes.

We are called to grow and become more like God. We are supposed to be wearing cleaner and cleaner clothes as we progress in the faith. In what ways do you need to be more pure and more like God this week?

Scripture references to look up: Daniel 7.9, Matthew 17.2, Mark 9, John 20.12, Acts 1.10, Acts 22.

Book Keeping

In Matthew 18 Jesus tells a fascinating little story about a guy who owes the king a rediculous sum of money that would take 4000 lifetimes to repay. In danger of being sent to debtor's prison and having his family sold into the slavery the man decides to grovel before the king and beg for mercy. And amazingly this longshot stategy pays off. The king decides to be "big hearted," forgives the debt, covers the cost himself, and lets the man go free.

This is amazing grace... undeserved and unmerited forgiveness.

But then that same man goes out and finds a poor soul who owes him a much smaller amount of money: about three month's wages. Determined to get what is his and feeling entitled to operate "by the book," he shakes down the debtor and nearly strangles him. When this second man grovels and begs for mercy he receives none, and is sent to prison in the most "small hearted" fashion.

The King is pretty ticked off by this whole scenario, hauls the original man back in, dresses him down, revokes his pardon, and send him to prison to be tortured.

Now here's the point. All of us have an account to settle with God. We have managed to sin enough in our lives to fill up a pretty big book. And, if God chose to operate "by the book," and punish us for our sins we would all be toast. But God grants us mercy and forgiveness and we are set free.

How ironic that we, like the man in the story, then go out and keep a close account of all the people who hurt, offend, or wrong us. We are surprizingly lacking in mercy ourselves. We want to maintain our hurt feelings and want all our offenders punished in strict fashion for the things they have done. Some of us keep a pretty detailed book of offenses committed against us. We hold on, refer back to them often, and never forget.

Jesus says that if you live by the book, you will die by the book. The way we treat others is the way God will treat us.

Give up your book keeping. Settle accounts. Be merciful. Quit torturing yourself by an attitude of unforgiveness.

I'd be interested in situations in your life where you have forgiven someone and erased an entry in your book of wrongs.

For more Bible reading on this subject check out the following passages: Matthew 6.14-15, Mark 11.24-26, Luke 6.37, and Colossians 3,13.

One of the hardest things to do in life is to forgive someone who intentionally hurts you, especially if that person is a family member or a close friend or a church person or someone who should be loving and protecting you. Forgiveness is really hard in these cases.

It was hard for Joseph. Joseph had 11 crummy brothers who sold him into slavery and ruined the early years of his life. (Genesis 37-50)

It was also hard for Wess Stafford. Wess is the president of Compassion International. He spent five years of his childhood in a boarding school in Africa where the staff members abused him physically, emotionally, and sexually. These people traumatized and terrorized him from the age of 6-10.

Forgiveness is hard. Yet both of these men eventually forgave the evil people who had victimized them. They did not want to be defined by the hurt or victimized by a long standing bitter spirit. They wanted to move and and be free. So they forgave.

The best part is that God used the hurt in both cases for greater good. Joseph landed in Egypt and eventually became the food baron of the world: a role that enabled him to save the lives of many people. Wes Stafford's experiences as a child stirred a passion in his heart for defending vulnerable children. He now leads an organization that champions children living in poverty and oppression.

Creating good out of evil is one of God's specialties. In the words of Joseph: the evil people meant it for harm, but God used it for good. (Genesis 50.20)

It helps to know that God can transform any hurt in our lives for something good.

How might God use your pain?

PS... check out Wes Stafford's account of how he forgave his abusers at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbGnex_HJuk

Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

Drew Hill is a follower of Jesus. He is a friend from a church I used to serve. Recently his home was ransacked and bulglarized. I was inspired by these words he wrote on his Facebook page:

"The night we were robbed our whole family spontaneously came together to pray. We forgave the thieves and agreed in faith that Betsy's engagement ring would come back to her. Today, 14 days later, that ring is back on her finger."

Forgiveness and prayer are rooted deeply in the DNA of the Hill family. Their default reaction to a major life tragedy was to forgive and to pray, just as Jesus calls us to do.

This wasn't the case in the Sampson family. Judges 15 tells a bizarre story of hurt, revenge, and retaliation. Here is a brief summary of a strange story.

Sampson suffers the loss of the girl he has his eye on. This makes him mad, so he sets fire to the local crops. The crop owners respond by burning alive the girl and her father. Sampson is now incensed, so he ups the ante by visciously killing a number of the local population. This results in Sampson being hunted down by a huge posse, and in the end Sampson gets the final word by slaughtering 1000 men with the jawbone of a donkey.

As it turns out, revenge did not work so well for Sampson. Once the testosterone wore off, what remained were vast acres of charred land, a ruined economy, massive bloodshed, fields of dead bodies, and hundreds of widows attending funerals. Getting even turned out to be pretty messy.

And it all started with a girl and a broken heart.

Here are four truths that arise from this story:

1. Revenge is so intoxicating and so human
2. Revenge never works. It always escalates.
3. Revenge will ruin your soul
4. When revenge starts to cycle in destructive ways, someone must choose to end the cycle.

You may not be involved in Sampson's kind of arson and murder. But you might be involved in a downward cycle of "you hurt me, so I'll hurt you." This can happen in a marriage, in a family, at work, or in any arena of life.

If that's the case, you need to stop right now.

Where have you seen revenge cycling out of control? Where have you seen someone stop the insanity? I'd be interested in your stories.

Forgiving Like Jesus

One of the hardest tasks in life is to forgive someone who has hurt us. This is especially hard when the hurt is something big: betrayal, abandonment, abuse, rejection, and the like. When we've been cheated or mistreated our natural reaction is to lash back, get resentful, grow bitter, or get even.

Jesus tells us to forgive. It's good for the soul and good for the world.

When it comes to forgiving I am impressed with the example of the Amish community in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. In 2006 a milk deliveryman named Charles Roberts burst into an Amish school, tied up the girls, prepared to sexually abuse them, and then when police arrived shot ten of the girls, killing five. This was a truly horrific crime that made national news. But amazingly the Amish community of that small town showed a forgiving spirit: attending Robert's funeral, hugging his wife, and taking up a collection for his family.

Forgiveness is possible, even when it is hard.

An even better example of forgiveness was demonstrated by Jesus. Hanging on a cross, suffering a horribly painful and humiliating death at the hands of people who had lied and unfairly turned on him, Jesus cried out to God to forgive his persecutors. His reason: they know not what they do. Rather than considering these people evil, Jesus chose to look at his enemies as clueless, confused, and in over their heads.

Perhaps the people who are hurting you are clueless as well.

Its easier to forgive a clueless person, than an evil one.

Assignment: ponder Luke 23.32-34. In what ways were the people involved in Jesus' crucifixion "not knowing what they were doing?" And how might that be similar to the people causing you pain?

Raving Fans of Jesus

The early church was very verbal about their faith. Christians in the first century constantly shared about Jesus in the public arena. They were raving fans of the Galilean carpenter. They told everyone who would listen about who Jesus was and what he did. They spoke up loudly and often.

This is remarkable given the fact that they were given a gag order by the religious authorities of the day. Three times in Acts 1-8 they are ordered by very powerful people to keep quiet, to not speak of Jesus in public. The message was clear: Back off and keep your mouths shut!

This was more than a suggestion. There were punishments attached to sharing a verbal witness. Christians were thrown in prision, stoned, flogged, dragged from their homes, and generally persecuted for speaking out about Jesus.

Yet these heroic Christians would not be silenced. Day after day, in the temple courts and house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ. (Acts 5.42)

Constrast this with our situation in the 21st century. Today, with hardly any consequences, save a little risk of embarassment, we hardly ever share a verbal witness for Jesus. Most Christians can be motivated to use their hands and feet for Jesus, but very few are willing to use their mouth for Jesus. Boldness in speech is in short supply. Most Christians are self-silenced.

Are you?

What is it that holds you back from sharing with your friends what you have found in Jesus? What are you afraid of that keeps you from speaking up? And what did the early Christians have that we don't have? How can we recover the boldness that characterized the early days of the church when the Gospel spread like wildfire?

This past Sunday Beth Long was the speaker in our worship service. She shared about her mission trip to Malawi Africa this past summer.

Her main question: Where did I see Jesus in Africa? Her answer:

• I saw Jesus in tiny, emaciated babies dying of AIDS
• I saw Jesus in children who were thrilled to see thier own faces in a photo for the first time.
• I saw Jesus in childcare workers who put in 24 hour shifts caring for limp, dying infants
• I saw Jesus in students who wear backpacks made of discarded popcorn bags
• I saw Jesus in widows trying to learn a skill to avoid prostitution
• I saw Jesus in children with no toys, no school supplies, and no hope
• I saw Jesus in women at wells carrying polluted water long distances all day long
• I saw Jesus in the eyes of a desperate mother who could not find health treatment for her child
• I saw Jesus in endless lines of children waiting to recieve deworming pills
• I saw Jesus in destitute families who chose to share their food with strangers like me
• I saw Jesus in a church elder who prayed for years to have the small, inexpensive Bible I gave him.
• I saw Jesus in 13 year old girls who reluctanty sell their bodies to pay expenses to go to high school.

Beth saw Jesus everywhere in Africa. Check out Matthew 25.34-40:

"Then the King will say to those on his right, `Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

"Then the righteous will answer him, `Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

"The King will reply, `I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

Where have you seen Jesus this week? What can you do to give Jesus food, drink, or clothing?

Rev George Nicholas was the preacher yesterday at our church. He came to talk about the ministry of Grace United Methodist Church, an inner city congregation in Rochester located in an area called the crescent: an area that experiences the highest crime rate, violence, and poverty in the city.

He told the story of Camry McNight, a 12 year old Rochester girl who died three weeks ago after being shot in the face during an altercation on the streets.

Some of the questions George asked were:

1. What is the church doing in all this?
2. Why does it seem like the church is focused on the suburbs and abandoning the city?
3. Even in a tough, violent world do we still believe that God is able to do all things?

George also shared some of his vision to find a location to renovate and create a ministry center that would house ministries for job training, health care, food distribution, and other urgently needed services. George's vision is a BHAG vision. (Big, Hairy, Audacious) It is the kind of vision that God inspires.

Our church needs to help Grace UMC in every way possible. I believe that God has linked our churches together in a partnership for this very purpose. If you have a burden for the city, and if you have skills that would be helpful as Grace UMC moves forward, please let me know.

I'd also be interested in your ideas: what responsibility does a suburban church like ours have for the people who live in the city? What should we be doing? What ideas do you have?

The First Mega church (Acts 5.12-16)

The early church was a mega church. It was mega-admired, mega-respected, and mega-esteemed by its community. The early church enjoyed the favor of all the people. It was lauded as amazing and essential by its neighbors. The church had fantastic PR. It enjoyed a 100% approval rating.

How did the church get this universal admiration? It was mostly by being an awesome healing force for good in the community. When the church was around people got healed and lives got touched. The church created a place where there were no needy people. The church was a powerful force for community improvement.

So here’s the question: Are we seen as a dynamic force for good in Farmington? Are we mega-admired? Mega-respected? Are we seen as a awesome force for good?

Yes, to some extent. And, in fact, our church is working hard at becoming more outwardly focused. Our community garden, WOW ministry, Dollars for Scholars Scholarship, exercise class, racetrack ministry, and food cupboard are all ways we are trying to bring healing and wholeness to our local community.

These are great first steps, but to become truly mega-admired this is what we need to do:

1. We need to identify more community needs.
2. We need to get more of our people working outside the walls of the church.
3. We need to be rubbing shoulders with people who don’t know Jesus yet.

Here are a couple things to ponder:

1. What would your non-churched friends say about our church? What is our reputation?
2. What needs are there in the community we could address?
3. What would you need to adjust in your life to really get involved in the community?

Note: Mega-luno was the Greek word that described the amazing admiration the community had for the church in Acts 5. 13.

The Good News Community (Acts 2.42-47, 4.32-35)

If you were a part of the first century church you experienced a level of community unimagined in our 21st century world. These early believers spent every day together. They shared meals in each others homes. They experienced the kind of care that comes when friends sell their stuff to make sure you have everything you need. They worshiped together. They studied the scriptures together. They prayed together. They did all of life together.

Contrast this with what happens today. The average church member today will attend worship services about 30 Sundays a year. (2.5 Sundays a month) After those worship services they will chit chat with other believers in the foyer, but once they leave the building there will be little or no contact with their fellow believers. Many will never attend a small group, will never attend Adult Sunday School, and will never develop any close Christian friendships. They will spend years in church without ever learning the faith stories of other believers or learning their best Christian practices, or experiencing accountable relationships, and becoming aware of other's struggles or victories. The average church member today tries to grow his/her soul by investing about 30 hours of worship a year, doing it all alone out in the world with little help from anyone else.

Is it working? Are you becoming a thriving servant of Christ entirely on your own? I doubt it.

This modern ethic of rugged individualism is killing our faith. Isolated and alone, without encouragement or support, immersed daily in a culture antithetical to our spiritual vitality, we soon discover that we are not getting where we want to go. On our own our Bible ends up unread, our prayers go unsaid, and our soul goes unfed. And the Kingdom does not advance. Isolated Christians more often than not... fail.

It may be unrealistic to think we can recreate the intense community experienced in the early church in our frantic paced 21st century. But for our own spiritual health we need to head in that direction. To opt for anything else is to opt for spiritual failure.

What do you think?

What first step would you take to build a more Biblical community in the church?