Pentecost: You Can do it

As we come to the end of this series of reflections on living into a Spirit-filled life that acts on Jesus’ Commandment to “Love God, Love your Neighbor, Love yourself” we might feel overwhelmed. We have looked at the hard work and commitment it takes to stand up against society and even evil that threatens to destroy the people and creation of God.

It is not easy to live a life of love for others. Some days we don’t even love ourselves, much less our neighbor. Loving God can be difficult, too, when things seem to be falling apart and God feels far away.

Back in 2014, I pondered, “But how DO you love those irritating neighbors who play loud music at all hours? Or that co-worker who takes all the credit? Or the driver who cuts you off in traffic? Or the murderer or rapist or abuser on the news or (for some) closer to home? I don’t have the answer. It’s not easy to do as Jesus says and love as we are loved. Maybe it has to do with the lesson from last Sunday: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:29) When we let go of our various ways of trying to control the outcome and allow Jesus to take the bulk of the load we/I might just find that it is easier to see Jesus in everyone. It’s also found in I Corinthians 13. “faith, hope, and love/charity abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love/charity.””

We come back to the questions that Laurie Brock asked in her 50 Days meditation. “Will we make mistakes as we strive to live this love of Jesus? Yes, as did the disciples as we’ve read in Acts. Will we all agree on exactly how we live this love of Jesus? No, and neither did the disciples, as we’ve read in Acts. Will being blown forward by the Spirit into this love lead us to new and extraordinary places, especially places far outside our personal comfort zones? Yes, as it did to the disciples, as we’ve read in Acts.”

We will make mistakes because we are human, we will disagree on what is important and how to live in a loving way. In fact, each of us is called to love in our own unique way. Some are called to activism and leadership. Some are called to bring joy to family and friends by ‘dreamingsmall’.  Some are called to create beauty in word and art and music as a way of showing love. Some will show love by simply smiling at everyone they meet even though they may not have (in the eyes of culture) any reason to smile.

At the Last Supper, Jesus said, “I give you a new commandment that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” Jesus didn’t say that to make us feel bad or inadequate. It is, as Brock notes, “Work Jesus is convinced we can do.”

We are not alone, either. Jesus promises, “my yoke is easy and my burden is light”. (Matthew 11:30) Jesus walks with us through each day, through each joy and challenge. Jesus is even there when we try to go our own way and do our own thing.

Another writer, Linda McMillan, notes, “We have to somehow shed the baggage of other people’s expectations of us and how we should live in the world, and choose the small round stones right in front of us. God seems to have a way of putting your job right in front of you. You will not have to look far. The only thing that really helps all of us, the only way to defeat the giant in our midst, is for each one of us to be our authentic selves, using the gifts that we already have, and doing the work that is right in front of us.” 

Like the disciples in the upper room on the first Pentecost, we have been given the Holy Spirit to empower us. Like Peter and John we can stand before councils and governors, and our neighbors, and be witnesses of God’s love. It takes a commitment to standing up and to loving even the unlovable.

You can do it. God is working in you and in me. Be yourself. Use the ‘stones’ right in front of you-the gifts you have been given. And then as Francesca Battistelli says, “Watch the giants fall.”

I’m taking this next week off for a family reunion trip. See you on July 15 with a new series for this ‘Ordinary Time’. 

Pentecost: Committment

Over the course of this Pentecost series, we’ve considered how living a life of discipleship characterized by the action of the Holy Spirit might change our expectations, our work focus, and even our interaction with the societal norms around us. It’s all about growth in the season of Pentecost and living into the Great Commandment to ‘love God, love neighbor, love self’ to 'turn the world upside down'.

We’ve been borrowing from Laurie Brock’s last 50 Day meditation as we go along. She notes, “Living Jesus' love requires commitment, courage, and work.” What sort of commitment and courage might she be referring to?

When we look at the lives of the disciples after that first Pentecost we see men (and women) who were avidly sharing the Good News of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. What do we, too often, see now among the followers of Christ? Divisions, hypocrisy, intolerance—all cited in a recent study by LifeWay research.

"A full 72 percent of the people interviewed said they think the church 'is full of hypocrites," said LifeWay Research director Ed Stetzer…But the problem is compounded by a widespread notion of religious tolerance that says religious and spiritual truth is a matter of personal opinion…A majority of unchurched Americans (79 percent) think that Christianity today is more about organized religion than about loving God and loving people; 86 percent believe they can have a good relationship with God without being involved in church…There will always be the stumbling block of the cross. Yet our study shows that many are tripping over the church before they hear the message of the cross."

However, “64 percent of the respondents think ‘the Christian religion is a relevant and viable religion for today,’…We think religion is a topic that is off-limits in polite conversation, but unchurched people say they would enjoy conversations about spiritual matters," Stetzer noted. 

How has the commitment of Peter and John, Mary and Priscilla turned into something that isn’t talked about in ‘polite company’? How did we get so concerned about the church furnishings that we forget to speak love, sometimes even to those within our doors, much less beyond them? Is there a way to reclaim the Spirit-driven fire that stands up to councils and governors to proclaim what we believe? 

Perhaps we first need to reconnect with the God who is in charge of the world. God who cares deeply about each one of us on the earth. When we can believe ourselves loved and cared for by such a God, we can say “Namaste” to each other. The word is a greeting often used in India that means “I bow to the God within you” or “the Spirit within me salutes the Spirit in you”. This acknowledgement that we are each and every one part of one Body means we have to act differently.

In the First Letter to the Corinthians, Paul notes, “Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in your midst?... For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” (I Corinthians 3:16-17) A little earlier in the chapter he notes, “we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.” (I Corinthians 3:9)

Each of us is responsible for each other creation on the planet. To live, and love, as if this is really true requires, as Brock says, commitment, courage, and work. We need to be courageous enough to stand up to the destruction of community. Whether that is within our churches, our communities, at the border, or internationally, we have to offer love not hate and division. We have to work to rebuild what is broken in relationships, and to be committed to living a life that shows God’s love. Maybe that means listening to someone you disagree with, or helping a stranger get a lunch, or standing with someone in need

.

Only in and with courageous love, by a commitment to doing God’s work of reconciliation can we fulfill Jesus commandment, “love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” Then perhaps others will see that there is 'meat' to living a Christian life-a life that by definition is at odds with the world. 

The good news is God believes “you can do it” as we’ll see next week.  

Pentecost: Society

“I give you a new commandment that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another,” says Jesus. It is not easy to live fully into this commandment. Yet, as Br. Luke Ditewig of the Society of St. John Evangelist, notes, “life is being restored, through love, as Jesus loves, no matter what.”

Laurie Brock states in her 50 Days post, “embodying this love will almost always cause us to run aground on the qualities the social culture values. Like Peter, Paul, and the early followers of Jesus, if we're loving right, we will find ourselves at odds with those who preach affluence at all cost, caring for the poor and needy only if they deserve it, and rhetoric that dehumanizes those people.”

Throughout these early weeks of Pentecost we have been considering the radical call of the Holy Spirit to a different kind of discipleship and to growth. We may have to change the way we live. We may find ourselves pushed to speak up for the disenfranchised. We may even find our comfortable and well-ordered lives turned upside down. It happened to the first disciples.

How do we start to live so that the world knows we are a follower of Jesus? In Acts 4:13, we read, “When [the Jewish leaders] saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”

Remember Peter and John had been arrested for teaching and healing in Jesus’ name. They are questioned by “Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family…‘By what power or by what name did you do this?’” (Acts 4:6-7)

The same Peter who was cowering in the upper room not so many days previously and who had denied Jesus in the courtyard of Caiaphas a couple months earlier, finds his voice. His response had nothing cowardly or quavering about it. “Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, ‘Rulers of the people and elders, if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. This Jesus is ‘the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.’ There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:8-12)

Surely something has happened to turn Peter from the fear-filled, turn-tail who denied Jesus to someone who will tell that same man that he ‘rejected the cornerstone’. That same Someone is at work transforming our fear-filled lives so that we, too, can stand up to authorities and say ‘that is wrong’ and ‘there is no other name under heaven’.

Peter’s courageous response causes the leaders to decide they cannot punish Peter and John. Instead, “to keep it from spreading further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.” (Acts 4:17) Rather than obeying, “Peter and John answered them, ‘Whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.’ After threatening them again, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because of the people, for all of them praised God for what had happened. For the man on whom this sign of healing had been performed was more than forty years old.” (Acts 4:19-22)

Jesus promises that when “they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” (Matthew 10:17-20)

Does that mean that we all should be participating in protests and trying to find a ‘cause’? Perhaps, perhaps not. If that is your call and where your heart says, ‘I must speak out about this injustice’, then yes, go and take a stand!. However, there is also need for small candles of love. A little light in the darkness can be just as important. Josh Wilson, in his new contemporary Christian song Dream Small points to all the little things we do that are part of the Kingdom.

He sings of “a momma singing songs about the Lord…a daddy spending family time the world said he cannot afford… It's visiting the widow down the street or dancing on a Friday with your friend with special needs. These simple moments change the world.” The chorus summarizes, “So dream small/Don't bother like you've gotta do it all/Just let Jesus use you where you are/One day at a time/Live well/Loving God and others as yourself/Find little ways where only you can help/With His great love/A tiny rock can make a giant fall/So dream small.”

We may be called before ‘councils and governors’, or we may just have to ‘dance with your friend with special needs’. Both are ways to stand up to the society that marginalizes and separates. God’s love calls to unity and to one Body and to love.

Through the ‘new commandment’ to love God, love neighbor, love self; we discover as Br Luke says, “life is being restored, through love.”

Where can you ‘Dream Small’ to make a difference?

In what ways and places are you called to, as Laurie Brock says, “embody this love [that] will almost always cause us to run aground on the qualities the social culture values”?

Next time, we’ll look at what kind of courage it takes to live into God’s call to love. 

Pentecost: Love is Work

Last time we noted that God is asking us to step out of the security of our safe ‘boats’, built of our expectations and plans. The Spirit that blew through the upper room at Pentecost still blows through our lives and asks us to respond by letting go.

At the beginning of this series we encountered Laurie Brock’s words about Loving the Violent Wind [of the Spirit]. She warns, “The love of Jesus rocks the ships of our own schemes, running them aground and forcing us to enter new communities, to open ourselves and souls to new insights, and to act boldly to serve all in the name of Jesus. Walking, preaching, living, this love is work.”

I don’t know about you, but I really don’t like the idea that ‘Jesus rocks the ships of our schemes, running them aground’. I prefer to think that I have everything neatly figured out. I’m perfectly happy with the status quo (mostly). As noted last week, we can get trapped in our own expectations and plans. We may be willing to call on God when things really get out of control, but not before.

The country-Western song Jesus Take the Wheel epitomizes our attitude toward letting God take over. Carrie Underwood sings, “Before she knew it she was spinning on a thin black sheet of glass/She saw both their lives flash before her eyes/She didn't even have time to cry/She was so scared/She threw her hands up in the air/Jesus take the wheel/Take it from my hands/Cause I can't do this on my own/I'm letting go/So give me one more chance/Save me from this road I'm on/Jesus take the wheel.” Only when we are really stuck do we call out and say, ‘Jesus take the wheel’. 

When we realize we aren’t in control, we hear Jesus say, ‘I give you a new commandment that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another’ (John 13:34) This new commandment turns our plans and worlds upside down. We can no longer view anyone as ‘other’ or mark them ‘different’ for we are called to Love one another, as I have loved you.
The quote from Desmond Tutu, below, puts this kind of love in perspective, "God loves you! And God's love is so great, God loves your enemies too."

Br. Luke Ditewig of the Society of St. John Evangelist, notes we are called to have Agape Love for one another. “This is tough love, not a feeling of the heart but a resolve of the will. It’s the love God has for all of us, love no matter what. It’s the love Jesus had for his disciples and what Jesus speaks of [in John 13:34].”

Brother Luke agrees with Laurie Brock. “Love though it’s really hard work. Following Jesus is not easy.” Then he notes, “Yet Jesus always acts first. We give out of presence not absence. Having been blessed abundantly, we bless everyone. Having been loved abundantly, we love everyone.”

How can we possibly love everyone? Br. Luke asks readers to remember “how it all began, how Jesus invited you into relationship. Remember people who have been Jesus in the flesh for you…Remember how Jesus has loved you no matter what…Jesus doesn’t suggest or invite. He commands. Love one another. Love though you don’t like.”

Did you notice that last sentence? “Love though you don’t like.” We aren’t asked to LIKE everyone, or to tolerate differences. We are to LOVE one another! And that is indeed hard soul work. 

Love happens when we allow the Spirit to ‘take the wheel’. As Brock says God calls us to “new communities, to open ourselves and souls to new insights, and to act boldly.” I wonder what new insights we are closing our eyes to by not being open to God’s charge to LOVE. There are probably communities of new friends that we don’t know yet. And infinite ways to serve one another that we haven’t yet thought of. That is when, as Brock suggests, ‘love [can be] work’.

Br. Luke closes by stating, “The way is we love others no matter what.
The truth is Jesus loves us no matter what.
The life is being restored, through love, as Jesus loves, no matter what.”

Can you ‘let Jesus take the wheel’ and be open to new things in your life?

Will you allow the Spirit to act, and offer Agape love to others, no matter what?

How can we make loving, as we are commanded to do, a work of joy?

Next time, we’ll consider how loving in this way puts us at odds with society.  

Pentecost: Discipleship

Here we are in the Season of Pentecost. It’s the longest season of the church year, lasting until Advent. Sometimes called ‘Ordinary time’, we settle into these weeks as summer starts and the pace of life changes. No more getting the kids off to school and finding heavy coats. Instead there are plans for vacation and looking forward to sitting in the sun after work and relaxing.

However, in nature, the Season of Pentecost is a time of growth and new life. Look at abundance in the flowers and fields all around. Nests have little chicks and all sorts of baby critters are starting to frolic in the wilderness. Farmers are hard at work cultivating their crops. Some early harvests have already happened. Over the next weeks and months more and more crops will ripen and be gathered in. Fresh produce will show up at Grower’s Markets.

What about us? Is Pentecost a time of growth and change for us? It could be, it should be.

Last time I offered the questions, “How will the Holy Spirit act in your life this Pentecost season? What is God whispering in your ear and calling you to do? Is there a change of heart, outlook, mission or something else the Holy Spirit is urging you toward?”

Laurie Brock, in the final post of the Easter series 50 Days, responds to these questions when she states, “We – all of us who claim the faith of Jesus – are called to preach, to live, and to embody this radical, merciful, and eternal love. Each day, not just on Sundays.”

During the next few weeks we’ll be looking at what that sort of discipleship might mean as we look at what the Spirit may do to our expectations, our comfort, our commitments, even our whole lives.

Brock continues, “Make no mistake, this love is rarely comfortable. Comfort keeps us locked in the rooms of our own expectations. The love of Jesus rocks the ships of our own schemes, running them aground and forcing us to enter new communities, to open ourselves and souls to new insights, and to act boldly to serve all in the name of Jesus. Walking, preaching, living, this love is work, and embodying this love will almost always cause us to run aground on the qualities the social culture values. Like Peter, Paul, and the early followers of Jesus, if we're loving right, we will find ourselves at odds with those who preach affluence at all cost, caring for the poor and needy only if they deserve it, and rhetoric that dehumanizes those people. Living Jesus' love requires commitment, courage, and work.”

Symbolism by Estella Canziani

On the first Pentecost, the disciples were assaulted by a ‘mighty wind’ and ‘tongues of fire’, as dramatically portrayed in the watercolor by Estella Canziani. As the Rev. Dan Webster noted in his Pentecost sermon, “if that happened here, today, most of us would run for the exits.” Yet, if we believe Jesus when he said, “I will send you an Advocate”, we should be expecting to have our worlds shaken, our perceptions transformed, and our lives changed.

If we seriously take to heart the commandment to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your strength and your neighbor as yourself,” we will discover that we are going to become a different sort of person. We will find ourselves seeing Christ in the homeless pilgrim or the desperate drug addict or someone whose viewpoint we cannot understand as well as our good friend and those who think and look like we do. We may find our heart moved in new and strange ways to respond in new and strange ways.

Brock says this is “Work Jesus is convinced we can do.” She asks, “Will we make mistakes as we strive to live this love of Jesus? Yes, as did the disciples as we’ve read in Acts.” Further, “Will we all agree on exactly how we live this love of Jesus? No, and neither did the disciples, as we’ve read in Acts.” Finally, “Will being blown forward by the Spirit into this love lead us to new and extraordinary places, especially places far outside our personal comfort zones? Yes, as it did to the disciples, as we’ve read in Acts.”

Are you ready to be blown outside your comfort zone? Is the Spirit of the Living God burning inside you with a zeal for loving ministry in the Name of Christ?

Our discipleship is based in answering that call and responding to that wind. Who knows where that may take you or me?