Brad Sullivan
Trinity Sunday, Year C
Sunday, May 30th, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
Canticle 13
Romans 5:1-5
John 16:12-15
I glanced at an interesting article earlier this week, regarding Trinity Sunday, and this article referred to God as a thing. Rather than ask the question of who God is, the article raised the question of what God is. I find this both an interesting and a helpful question on Trinity Sunday. Today, we’re specifically celebrating God as Trinity, one God in three Persons. How can God be three and yet one? We don’t know. It’s a mystery. At the heart of the Trinity, however, is person: God as one in three persons, not one in three things. Asking the question of what is God seems rather antithetical to an understanding of God as three persons.
One essential thing the trinity tells us about God is that loving relationship is part of God’s very nature. God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is this unity of persons bound together so tightly in love that they are one. So, “who is God?” seems a much more appropriate question than “what is God?”.
Even before there was ever any doctrine of God as Trinity, there was an understanding of God as person in some way. God spoke in creation, on Mount Sinai, through the prophets, and many other ways. God cared for his people like a mother or a father. In God’s interactions with our forefathers, with Israel, God seems much more like a who than a what.
Still, I find the question, “what is God?” to be a helpful question to ask from time to time. We understand God as a person and largely experience God as a person. Our doctrine tells us that God is three person united perfectly into one. We have some understanding of God based on scripture’s and our experiences of God, and yet, we don’t want our understanding of God to go unquestioned.
“What is God?” is a useful question because it helps prevent us from feeling like we know or understand God better than we do. I’ve got a pretty good grasp of the concept of the Trinity. God is three and yet one doesn’t bother me. I can deal with that. I love that understanding of God. When I consider, however, the enormous lack of understanding that I truly have of God, then what seems like a better question than who. Consider the answers to the questions.
Who is God? God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
What is God? I don’t know.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
That we all may be one...
Brad Sullivan
7th Sunday of Easter, Year C
Sunday, May 16th, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Acts 16:16-34
Psalm 47
Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21
John 17:20-26
“…so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Jesus’ prayer offers us a rather beatific vision of the Church. We are one. We are without conflict. We are at peace with one another, giving and receiving love to one another as freely as the air we breathe. We have something of this vision in Revelation: “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.”
In John’s vision the Church is one, and at peace forever, freely drinking from the water of life. His vision of the church, like the vision we get from Jesus’ prayer is beautiful and comforting. His vision is of us as we will be and as we truly are. We look around and we don’t see such a heavenly vision. We look around and we see things looking very plain and ordinary, and this is exactly what the adversary wants.
In his book, The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis writes as a demon, Screwtape, giving instruction to his nephew, Wormwood, about how best to tempt and torment a human being. Screwtape is a senior temptor, very skilled at his craft and was very disappointed to find that his nephew’s charge, an unnamed human being, had joined the church. So, he wrote to his nephew, giving instruction for how best to deal with the most unfortunate situation of this human becoming a Christian. Screwtape writes:
Thinking about the beginning of the church at Pentecost, which we’ll celebrate next week, I’m guessing there was about a fifteen minute honeymoon period before the first fighting of any kind took place within the church. We struggle over things; we’re human; it’s something we do, and I’m guessing Jesus knew how much we struggle over things when he prayed that all of his disciples through the centuries would be one.
7th Sunday of Easter, Year C
Sunday, May 16th, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Acts 16:16-34
Psalm 47
Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21
John 17:20-26
“…so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Jesus’ prayer offers us a rather beatific vision of the Church. We are one. We are without conflict. We are at peace with one another, giving and receiving love to one another as freely as the air we breathe. We have something of this vision in Revelation: “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.”
In John’s vision the Church is one, and at peace forever, freely drinking from the water of life. His vision of the church, like the vision we get from Jesus’ prayer is beautiful and comforting. His vision is of us as we will be and as we truly are. We look around and we don’t see such a heavenly vision. We look around and we see things looking very plain and ordinary, and this is exactly what the adversary wants.
In his book, The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis writes as a demon, Screwtape, giving instruction to his nephew, Wormwood, about how best to tempt and torment a human being. Screwtape is a senior temptor, very skilled at his craft and was very disappointed to find that his nephew’s charge, an unnamed human being, had joined the church. So, he wrote to his nephew, giving instruction for how best to deal with the most unfortunate situation of this human becoming a Christian. Screwtape writes:
One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we [demons] see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners. That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy. But fortunately it is quite invisible to these humans. All your patient sees is the half-finished, sham Gothic erection on the new building estate. When he goes inside, he sees the local grocer with rather an oily expression on his face bustling up to offer him one shiny little book containing a liturgy which neither of them understands, and one shabby little book containing corrupt texts of a number of religious lyrics, mostly bad, and in very small print. When he gets to his pew and looks round him he sees just that selection of his neighbours whom he has hitherto avoided. You want to lean pretty heavily on those neighbours. Make his mind flit to and fro between an expression like “the body of Christ” and the actual faces in the next pew. It matters very little, of course, what kind of people that next pew really contains. You may know one of them to be a great warrior on the Enemy’s side. No matter. Your patient, thanks to Our Father Below, is a fool. Provided that any of those neighbours sing out of tune, or have boots that squeak, or double chins, or odd clothes, the patient will quite easily believe that their religion must therefore be somehow ridiculous…Work hard…on the disappointment or anticlimax which is certainly coming to the patient during his first few weeks as a churchman.Perhaps when we hear Jesus’ prayer that we all may be one, even as the Father and he are one, and we think of the beautiful vision which comes with that prayer, we too might become somewhat disappointed. On the one hand, I find Jesus’ prayer deeply comforting, the fact that he prays for us so lovingly, and yet on the other hand, I look around and notice that all too often, we certainly don’t act as though we are one. The church worldwide with our denominations, we fight with one another over who’s right. Within denominations, we struggle with each other if not over contentious issues, then over membership, competing with each other. Within each local church, we tend to struggle over any number of thing: people that upset us, our imperfections as a community, differences in our preferences about worship. We struggle over our building and property and all sorts of things. Sometimes our boots do squeak, some do sing out of tune, and these struggles are nothing new.
C. S. Lewis – The Screwtape Letters
Thinking about the beginning of the church at Pentecost, which we’ll celebrate next week, I’m guessing there was about a fifteen minute honeymoon period before the first fighting of any kind took place within the church. We struggle over things; we’re human; it’s something we do, and I’m guessing Jesus knew how much we struggle over things when he prayed that all of his disciples through the centuries would be one.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Disciples of Jesus? Love one another?
Brad Sullivan
5th Sunday of Easter, Year C
Sunday, May 2nd, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Acts 11:1-18
Psalm 148
Revelation 21:1-6
John 13:31-35
“[In the case of Jesus,] presumed familiarity has led to unfamiliarity, unfamiliarity has led to contempt, and contempt has led to profound ignorance.” These are the words of Dallas Willard in the introductory pages of The Divine Conspiracy. He was writing about a general trend in Christianity and society in general to think that we know all there is to know about the Gospel and therefore we end up becoming ignorant of it. I believe his words might apply somewhat to our passage from John’s gospel today.
Love one another, Jesus said. By this, others will know we are Jesus’ disciples, that we love one another. That sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? How are we supposed to be Jesus’ disciples? Love one another.
I wonder if sometimes we become so familiar with Jesus’ command to love one another that become unfamiliar, contemptuous, and truly ignorant of his command. In other words, might Jesus’ command for us to love one another sound so simple that we tend to overlook it or move past the command without giving it much thought.
That’s certainly something the disciples did when Jesus first gave them the command to love one another. In the passage that follows our Gospel reading today, The first thing the disciples say is not “yes, Lord, we’ll love each other.” “How do we do that? Tell us more.” Rather, what they say is, “wait, where are you going; how do I get there?” They completely missed the command to love one another, and they focused on where Jesus was going and wanting to go with him. That’s something we tend to do in Christianity today. We’ve become so focused on where we go when we die, that we tend to forget about or at least not emphasize to nearly the same degree how we are live while we’re here. Jesus commanded, “love one another, and don’t worry about where I’m going or where you’re going; trust in me, I’ll take care of you; in the mean time, love one another.”
I bring this up not to make us all feel badly about ourselves or to have us think we’re not good enough. Rather, I’m inviting us all to hear with new ears Jesus’ command to love one another. I’m inviting us to look deeply into that command and see where it leads. So, if Jesus’ disciples are to be known by loving one another, what do Jesus’ disciples look like?
Well, Jesus’ disciples are patient and kind. If we really love one another, we don’t get envious, boastful, arrogant, or rude. As Jesus’ disciples, we don’t insist on everything going our way. We’re not irritable or resentful. We’re sorrowful at wrongdoing, and we rejoice in truth. Living lives of love, Jesus’ disciples bear all thing. We believe all things. We hope all things, and we endure all things. As Jesus’ disciples, our love has no end.
You may have noticed I was using Paul’s words from the 13th chapter of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. It’s a passage we often here at weddings. Paul was writing, however, to the Corinthian church about how they were to be together as the Body of Christ. Paul’s passage about love was really a meditation on Jesus’ command to love. If you want to be Jesus’ disciples, Paul was saying, here’s how to do it? Here’s how to love one another as the Body of Christ.
As I mentioned earlier, the passage from First Corinthians is often used at weddings, and that is very appropriate. Marriage or any relationship is a microcosm of the larger Body of Christ. We love one another, and that love requires work and preparation on our parts. When we get married, we don’t simply say, “ok, I love you, everything’s gonna be great.” In our relationships with friends and family, too, we work at those relationships. When they are fractured we try to heal them, and we try to figure out how in the world we’re going to get along with one another when sometimes getting along with each other is pretty darn difficult.
So our individual relationships require work, preparation, and practice, just like our relationships as the Body of Christ require work, preparation, and practice. Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of talking to a couple of folks about their experiences first coming to Emmanuel, of worshipping here, and being welcomed into the community. Both of these people expressed to me how welcomed they felt, how accepted and loved they felt in coming here.
Now, I realize not everyone who comes here to worship for the first time feels as welcomed, loved, and accepted as the folks with whom I spoke earlier this week, but by and large, we live out our love for one another pretty well by welcoming folks into the community. Welcoming new worshippers is also something at which we’ve worked pretty hard. We’ve been intentional about welcoming folks who come here. We’ve done a lot of work and preparation to make sure that we are welcoming folks when they come here, and that work and preparation shows.
Love requires work and preparation. Being Jesus’ disciples, loving one another requires work and preparation both corporately and individually. The more we work at being patient and kind as individuals, the more patient and kind we will be as the larger body of Christ. The love we share together as the Body of Christ is dependant upon the love we show to one another as individuals.
So, how are we doing, individually? Ask yourself, as I have been this week, “how am I doing as one of Jesus disciples?” How loving am I being? Am I being patient and kind with people? Do I insist on things going my way, or do I get envious, boastful, arrogant, or rude? Am I irritable and resentful?
My guess is all of us answer yes to some of those questions. Irritability is one of mine. When I’m tired or stressed, I tend to get pretty irritable and can be somewhat of a grouch. My wife can testify to that fact. Again, this is not being said to be condemning, but as an opportunity to take a fresh look at our lives. “How might I live more fully as one of Jesus’ disciples?” The simple answer is “I will daily work and prepare to be a more loving person.”
5th Sunday of Easter, Year C
Sunday, May 2nd, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Acts 11:1-18
Psalm 148
Revelation 21:1-6
John 13:31-35
“[In the case of Jesus,] presumed familiarity has led to unfamiliarity, unfamiliarity has led to contempt, and contempt has led to profound ignorance.” These are the words of Dallas Willard in the introductory pages of The Divine Conspiracy. He was writing about a general trend in Christianity and society in general to think that we know all there is to know about the Gospel and therefore we end up becoming ignorant of it. I believe his words might apply somewhat to our passage from John’s gospel today.
Love one another, Jesus said. By this, others will know we are Jesus’ disciples, that we love one another. That sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? How are we supposed to be Jesus’ disciples? Love one another.
I wonder if sometimes we become so familiar with Jesus’ command to love one another that become unfamiliar, contemptuous, and truly ignorant of his command. In other words, might Jesus’ command for us to love one another sound so simple that we tend to overlook it or move past the command without giving it much thought.
That’s certainly something the disciples did when Jesus first gave them the command to love one another. In the passage that follows our Gospel reading today, The first thing the disciples say is not “yes, Lord, we’ll love each other.” “How do we do that? Tell us more.” Rather, what they say is, “wait, where are you going; how do I get there?” They completely missed the command to love one another, and they focused on where Jesus was going and wanting to go with him. That’s something we tend to do in Christianity today. We’ve become so focused on where we go when we die, that we tend to forget about or at least not emphasize to nearly the same degree how we are live while we’re here. Jesus commanded, “love one another, and don’t worry about where I’m going or where you’re going; trust in me, I’ll take care of you; in the mean time, love one another.”
I bring this up not to make us all feel badly about ourselves or to have us think we’re not good enough. Rather, I’m inviting us all to hear with new ears Jesus’ command to love one another. I’m inviting us to look deeply into that command and see where it leads. So, if Jesus’ disciples are to be known by loving one another, what do Jesus’ disciples look like?
Well, Jesus’ disciples are patient and kind. If we really love one another, we don’t get envious, boastful, arrogant, or rude. As Jesus’ disciples, we don’t insist on everything going our way. We’re not irritable or resentful. We’re sorrowful at wrongdoing, and we rejoice in truth. Living lives of love, Jesus’ disciples bear all thing. We believe all things. We hope all things, and we endure all things. As Jesus’ disciples, our love has no end.
You may have noticed I was using Paul’s words from the 13th chapter of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. It’s a passage we often here at weddings. Paul was writing, however, to the Corinthian church about how they were to be together as the Body of Christ. Paul’s passage about love was really a meditation on Jesus’ command to love. If you want to be Jesus’ disciples, Paul was saying, here’s how to do it? Here’s how to love one another as the Body of Christ.
As I mentioned earlier, the passage from First Corinthians is often used at weddings, and that is very appropriate. Marriage or any relationship is a microcosm of the larger Body of Christ. We love one another, and that love requires work and preparation on our parts. When we get married, we don’t simply say, “ok, I love you, everything’s gonna be great.” In our relationships with friends and family, too, we work at those relationships. When they are fractured we try to heal them, and we try to figure out how in the world we’re going to get along with one another when sometimes getting along with each other is pretty darn difficult.
So our individual relationships require work, preparation, and practice, just like our relationships as the Body of Christ require work, preparation, and practice. Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of talking to a couple of folks about their experiences first coming to Emmanuel, of worshipping here, and being welcomed into the community. Both of these people expressed to me how welcomed they felt, how accepted and loved they felt in coming here.
Now, I realize not everyone who comes here to worship for the first time feels as welcomed, loved, and accepted as the folks with whom I spoke earlier this week, but by and large, we live out our love for one another pretty well by welcoming folks into the community. Welcoming new worshippers is also something at which we’ve worked pretty hard. We’ve been intentional about welcoming folks who come here. We’ve done a lot of work and preparation to make sure that we are welcoming folks when they come here, and that work and preparation shows.
Love requires work and preparation. Being Jesus’ disciples, loving one another requires work and preparation both corporately and individually. The more we work at being patient and kind as individuals, the more patient and kind we will be as the larger body of Christ. The love we share together as the Body of Christ is dependant upon the love we show to one another as individuals.
So, how are we doing, individually? Ask yourself, as I have been this week, “how am I doing as one of Jesus disciples?” How loving am I being? Am I being patient and kind with people? Do I insist on things going my way, or do I get envious, boastful, arrogant, or rude? Am I irritable and resentful?
My guess is all of us answer yes to some of those questions. Irritability is one of mine. When I’m tired or stressed, I tend to get pretty irritable and can be somewhat of a grouch. My wife can testify to that fact. Again, this is not being said to be condemning, but as an opportunity to take a fresh look at our lives. “How might I live more fully as one of Jesus’ disciples?” The simple answer is “I will daily work and prepare to be a more loving person.”
Monday, March 15, 2010
Being Fully Human
Brad Sullivan
4th Sunday in Lent, Year C
Sunday, March 14th, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Joshua 5:9-12
Psalm 32
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
What does it mean to be fully human? During this season of Lent, our theme has been “knowing God and knowing self.” Looking at our lessons today, we certainly can find a little bit about who God is and who we are as people made by God.
To start with, we’re going to take a look at the story from Joshua. At this point in Joshua, the people of Israel were beginning to be settled in Canaan, and for the first time, the people ate the crops of the land of Canaan. The manna from God stopped appearing for the first time in years. A lazy person might think “great, now we have to work for our food; thanks God,” and yet the people of Israel were glad to be able to grow crops. They were glad to be able to work for their food. They were still cared for by God, but they also go to provide for themselves rather than only gather the food that God gave them.
There is something about being human that we tend to want to have some autonomy. We have some desire to be able to take care of ourselves, at least somewhat. Infants are entirely provided for by their parents. As they grow, they want to and learn to feed themselves. Our son, Noah, wants to do things for himself, and he gets mightily frustrated when he can’t…I love that he’s two. Part of being human is the desire to be able to in some way care for ourselves.
Looking now at the Prodigal son, we find a man who didn’t want to care for or provide for himself. “Give me what’s mine,” he said. He wanted to be given his inheritance so he could live off of it, presumably forever. He wanted to be given everything for ever. He had been cared for as child. Presumably he would have been cared for as an old man, but he wanted to skip the part where he helped care for himself. He wasn’t being fully who he was. The son’s particular sin was wasteful living and the rejection of his father, but generally speaking, the son was sinning because he was denying part of his humanity. He wasn’t living up to and into the image of God in which he was made. Now, the story doesn’t say that explicitly, but the father in the parable says, “this brother of yours was dead and has come to life.” The man’s son was dead, because he was not being truly human. Part of the sons humanity had died and then was restored and brought back to life in the end of the parable.
So looking at our own lives in this “knowing self” piece, when we sin, part of our humanity dies. When we value things over people, like the prodigal son did, or when we hate others or treat them badly, part of our humanity dies. When we turn away from God, part of our humanity dies. When we “sin”, what we’re really doing is straying from or falling short of the image of God in which we were made. For a very stark example, look at mass murderers, rapists, terrorists: we sometimes call them monsters. When we sin, we become less fully human than we were made to be.
I say this not to tear us down, but to build us up. Scripture doesn’t tell us we were terribly made or made to be mediocre. Scripture tells us we were wonderfully made by God, who is love. When we mess up, we often say, “oops, well, I’m only human.” I’ve said this many times before. The meaning, of course, is we know we’re going to make some mistakes and some bad decisions. Saying “I’m only human” is a way of offering ourselves some forgiveness. On the flip side of the coin, however, saying “I’m only human” is little by little to tear humanity down. I’m only human. No one can expect that much of me. I wasn’t made that well. These statements aren’t true. We were wonderfully made.
4th Sunday in Lent, Year C
Sunday, March 14th, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Joshua 5:9-12
Psalm 32
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
What does it mean to be fully human? During this season of Lent, our theme has been “knowing God and knowing self.” Looking at our lessons today, we certainly can find a little bit about who God is and who we are as people made by God.
To start with, we’re going to take a look at the story from Joshua. At this point in Joshua, the people of Israel were beginning to be settled in Canaan, and for the first time, the people ate the crops of the land of Canaan. The manna from God stopped appearing for the first time in years. A lazy person might think “great, now we have to work for our food; thanks God,” and yet the people of Israel were glad to be able to grow crops. They were glad to be able to work for their food. They were still cared for by God, but they also go to provide for themselves rather than only gather the food that God gave them.
There is something about being human that we tend to want to have some autonomy. We have some desire to be able to take care of ourselves, at least somewhat. Infants are entirely provided for by their parents. As they grow, they want to and learn to feed themselves. Our son, Noah, wants to do things for himself, and he gets mightily frustrated when he can’t…I love that he’s two. Part of being human is the desire to be able to in some way care for ourselves.
Looking now at the Prodigal son, we find a man who didn’t want to care for or provide for himself. “Give me what’s mine,” he said. He wanted to be given his inheritance so he could live off of it, presumably forever. He wanted to be given everything for ever. He had been cared for as child. Presumably he would have been cared for as an old man, but he wanted to skip the part where he helped care for himself. He wasn’t being fully who he was. The son’s particular sin was wasteful living and the rejection of his father, but generally speaking, the son was sinning because he was denying part of his humanity. He wasn’t living up to and into the image of God in which he was made. Now, the story doesn’t say that explicitly, but the father in the parable says, “this brother of yours was dead and has come to life.” The man’s son was dead, because he was not being truly human. Part of the sons humanity had died and then was restored and brought back to life in the end of the parable.
So looking at our own lives in this “knowing self” piece, when we sin, part of our humanity dies. When we value things over people, like the prodigal son did, or when we hate others or treat them badly, part of our humanity dies. When we turn away from God, part of our humanity dies. When we “sin”, what we’re really doing is straying from or falling short of the image of God in which we were made. For a very stark example, look at mass murderers, rapists, terrorists: we sometimes call them monsters. When we sin, we become less fully human than we were made to be.
I say this not to tear us down, but to build us up. Scripture doesn’t tell us we were terribly made or made to be mediocre. Scripture tells us we were wonderfully made by God, who is love. When we mess up, we often say, “oops, well, I’m only human.” I’ve said this many times before. The meaning, of course, is we know we’re going to make some mistakes and some bad decisions. Saying “I’m only human” is a way of offering ourselves some forgiveness. On the flip side of the coin, however, saying “I’m only human” is little by little to tear humanity down. I’m only human. No one can expect that much of me. I wasn’t made that well. These statements aren’t true. We were wonderfully made.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Mini-deserts
Brad Sullivan
1st Sunday in Lent, Year C
Sunday, February 21st, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
Romans 10:8b-13
Luke 4:1-13
In our reading from Deuteronomy today, Moses was preparing the Israelites for their entry into the land of Canaan. God had freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, and then, for forty years, the Israelites had been largely isolated, wandering in the desert, learning how to live as God’s people, and being totally provided for by God. They were fed each day with Manna from heaven which they simply had to collect. The Manna appeared every morning, they collected it, and it was gone. The Israelites were living in the desert and were therefore very obviously dependent on God for survival. Therefore, remembering God and staying faithful to him was right there at the forefront of their thoughts. Every day just getting breakfast, they had an obvious reminder of God and their covenant with God.
Moses was speaking to them in our reading today as they were about to enter the promised land of Canaan. This was a wonderful delight for the Israelites. They were finally going to have a permanent home. They were going to be able to grow crops and work the ground, and provide for themselves. This was a good thing, something God wanted for the Israelites, and yet God knows how forgetful we can sometimes be. Once the Israelites started living on their own, without God’s obvious, daily intervention, providing for their very survival, you could bet that they might start to forget God a little bit.
Any of us who have gone on a religious or spiritual retreat for a short time may understand something of what the Israelites experienced. When we’re on retreat, we may find faith in God and focusing on God to be quite easy. Then, when we return to the daily grind with school, or work, or home life, we may find focusing on God to be somewhat more difficult. Daily life can often help us to forget God, to feel that we’re going it alone. We likely find the practices of our faith which help us to stay connected to God to be more difficult during regular life than when we’re on retreat. The more time we spend on retreat or the more time we spend intentionally searching for God in our daily lives, however, can help us to remember God and to see God more easily.
I think this is part of why Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness being tempted by the devil before truly beginning his ministry. Now, unlike the weekend retreats we may take, Jesus’ temptations in the desert likely not very easy. Jesus really was tempted by what the devil offered, and Jesus had obviously done a good amount of preparation before entering the desert. Notice that each time the devil offered something to Jesus, that Jesus countered with scripture. Jesus knew scripture backwards and forwards and so he was able to see the world through the lens of scripture. He had spent his life preparing, learning, searching after God, drawing near to God so when his temptations came in the desert, he was prepared. Even so, having prepared himself so thoroughly, Jesus still, was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to prepare even more for his ministry.
Now, I was asked a few weeks ago why 40 was such an important number in scripture. Rain pored for 40 days when Noah and his family were on the ark. Moses was on the mountain for 40 days in night. The Israelites were in the wilderness for 40 years. Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days. Why 40? What’s the significance? On the one hand, as I said a few weeks ago, I don’t know.
On the other hand, I was talking to a colleague and psychologist recently who said that for people overcoming addiction, 40 days is something of a milestone. He said that after 40 days of recovering from an addiction, something happens in the brain such that chances for continued recovery increase exponentially after that point. We don’t know why exactly, but there is something significant about 40 days in our biological makeup.
After 40 days continued recovery from addiction become much more likely. Also, after 40 days of starting some new habit, keeping that new habit becomes more likely. Why was Jesus in the wilderness 40 days? Maybe there is something mystical about the number 40, and maybe 40 days was a helpful number because Jesus was a human being with human biology. How cool is that, the mystical and the biological converging to produce the same result?
I love the idea that 40 days, in the wilderness, on the mountain, or in the ark, that 40 days is not a random number nor is it only a number of mythic or unknown Godly significance, but 40 days is also a number that God used, knowing that 40 days fits with our brain chemistry and development. This convergence of the mystical and the biological give me the feeling that God really does care for our well-being. 40 days in the wilderness is not in temptation out of punishment or meanness, rather, God has folks spend 40 days in the wilderness because God knows those people are going to have a better chance of sticking with God and continuing to see and know God in their daily lives after 40 days in the wilderness than after fewer days in the wilderness.
The Holy Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness for 40 days out of love for Jesus. Notice also that the Holy Spirit did not leave Jesus alone in the wilderness. When Jesus was driven into the wilderness, he was full of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus left the wilderness, he was filled with the power of the Spirit.
1st Sunday in Lent, Year C
Sunday, February 21st, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
Romans 10:8b-13
Luke 4:1-13
In our reading from Deuteronomy today, Moses was preparing the Israelites for their entry into the land of Canaan. God had freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, and then, for forty years, the Israelites had been largely isolated, wandering in the desert, learning how to live as God’s people, and being totally provided for by God. They were fed each day with Manna from heaven which they simply had to collect. The Manna appeared every morning, they collected it, and it was gone. The Israelites were living in the desert and were therefore very obviously dependent on God for survival. Therefore, remembering God and staying faithful to him was right there at the forefront of their thoughts. Every day just getting breakfast, they had an obvious reminder of God and their covenant with God.
Moses was speaking to them in our reading today as they were about to enter the promised land of Canaan. This was a wonderful delight for the Israelites. They were finally going to have a permanent home. They were going to be able to grow crops and work the ground, and provide for themselves. This was a good thing, something God wanted for the Israelites, and yet God knows how forgetful we can sometimes be. Once the Israelites started living on their own, without God’s obvious, daily intervention, providing for their very survival, you could bet that they might start to forget God a little bit.
Any of us who have gone on a religious or spiritual retreat for a short time may understand something of what the Israelites experienced. When we’re on retreat, we may find faith in God and focusing on God to be quite easy. Then, when we return to the daily grind with school, or work, or home life, we may find focusing on God to be somewhat more difficult. Daily life can often help us to forget God, to feel that we’re going it alone. We likely find the practices of our faith which help us to stay connected to God to be more difficult during regular life than when we’re on retreat. The more time we spend on retreat or the more time we spend intentionally searching for God in our daily lives, however, can help us to remember God and to see God more easily.
I think this is part of why Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness being tempted by the devil before truly beginning his ministry. Now, unlike the weekend retreats we may take, Jesus’ temptations in the desert likely not very easy. Jesus really was tempted by what the devil offered, and Jesus had obviously done a good amount of preparation before entering the desert. Notice that each time the devil offered something to Jesus, that Jesus countered with scripture. Jesus knew scripture backwards and forwards and so he was able to see the world through the lens of scripture. He had spent his life preparing, learning, searching after God, drawing near to God so when his temptations came in the desert, he was prepared. Even so, having prepared himself so thoroughly, Jesus still, was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to prepare even more for his ministry.
Now, I was asked a few weeks ago why 40 was such an important number in scripture. Rain pored for 40 days when Noah and his family were on the ark. Moses was on the mountain for 40 days in night. The Israelites were in the wilderness for 40 years. Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days. Why 40? What’s the significance? On the one hand, as I said a few weeks ago, I don’t know.
On the other hand, I was talking to a colleague and psychologist recently who said that for people overcoming addiction, 40 days is something of a milestone. He said that after 40 days of recovering from an addiction, something happens in the brain such that chances for continued recovery increase exponentially after that point. We don’t know why exactly, but there is something significant about 40 days in our biological makeup.
After 40 days continued recovery from addiction become much more likely. Also, after 40 days of starting some new habit, keeping that new habit becomes more likely. Why was Jesus in the wilderness 40 days? Maybe there is something mystical about the number 40, and maybe 40 days was a helpful number because Jesus was a human being with human biology. How cool is that, the mystical and the biological converging to produce the same result?
I love the idea that 40 days, in the wilderness, on the mountain, or in the ark, that 40 days is not a random number nor is it only a number of mythic or unknown Godly significance, but 40 days is also a number that God used, knowing that 40 days fits with our brain chemistry and development. This convergence of the mystical and the biological give me the feeling that God really does care for our well-being. 40 days in the wilderness is not in temptation out of punishment or meanness, rather, God has folks spend 40 days in the wilderness because God knows those people are going to have a better chance of sticking with God and continuing to see and know God in their daily lives after 40 days in the wilderness than after fewer days in the wilderness.
The Holy Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness for 40 days out of love for Jesus. Notice also that the Holy Spirit did not leave Jesus alone in the wilderness. When Jesus was driven into the wilderness, he was full of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus left the wilderness, he was filled with the power of the Spirit.
Monday, February 8, 2010
God's love for us and the tie that binds us
Brad Sullivan
5th Sunday after the Epiphany, Year C
Sunday, February 7th, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Isaiah 6:1-8 (9-13)
Psalm 138
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Luke 5:1-11
For the last couple of weeks, we’ve been hearing about the Body of Christ. We heard about how there are many parts to the Body of Christ and that each part has its own gift. Paul was writing this to a church that was increasingly divided over whose gifts were better or even divided the person from whom they heard the Gospel. Paul reminded them that Jesus works through all of us. Many different gifts, and the greatest is love.
Today, Paul reminds the Corinthians again to be unified in their belief. Regardless of whether they heard the Gospel from Paul or from another apostle, Paul reminds them again of the importance of their belief in the Gospel, regardless of the one who preached that Gospel to them. Again, Paul is recalling the divisions in the Corinthian church, reminding them to be unified in their faith in Jesus as one body, rather than divided over human matters or controversies.
The focus of the Body of Christ, for Paul, was the good news that Jesus died for our sins. In Jesus’ actions, Paul was firmly convinced of God’s love for us. As he wrote in his letter to the Romans, “But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) In this one sentence, we find why the Gospel really is such good news. God loves us. We’re imperfect; we’re sinful; we know this fact. God loves us.
We can see the love God has for us in the calls of Isaiah and Peter which we heard this morning. In Isaiah’s vision of God, Isaiah saw God in his full majesty in his temple. Knowing scripture like we do, we all know that Isaiah should have died from having seen the Lord. No one could see God and live. As we heard in the story, Isaiah knew this too, and was very frightened that he had seen God. “Woe is me!” He said. “I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
In other words, Isaiah was saying, “not only am I unworthy to be your prophet, Lord, but darn it, now I’m about to die.” God, of course didn’t let him die. “You think you’re so unworthy Isaiah, fine,” and God purified Isaiah with the burning coal so that he could speak for God and be his prophet.
We find a similar call narrative in Luke’s telling of the call of Peter. Jesus was teaching in Peter’s boat, he then directs Peter to have this miraculous catch of fish, and what does Peter say, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” There are obviously some differences in these call narratives. Isaiah was in the temple of God, seeing God’s very presence, in all his glory and majesty. Peter was in a boat with a bunch of fish. Isaiah saw God and was afraid for his life, knowing he was a sinful man. Peter was in the presence of a man whom he believed to be a mighty prophet of God, and Peter, like Isaiah, was struck by his own unworthy sinfulness.
Notice the similarities in the reactions of God to Isaiah and of Jesus to Peter. In both cases, these sinful men were asked to go and do service for God’s kingdom. Isaiah was asked to preach God’s word. Peter was asked to fish for people.
Whom did God chose to be his voice, his hand and feet here on earth, perfect human beings? No. God chose sinful human being, people like you and me to be his prophet, to be his disciple and apostle. Further, God not only chose sinful people, but he then helped them move beyond their sinfulness into something more, into his life of love. In these two call narratives of Isaiah and Peter, we can see once again the great love has for us.
5th Sunday after the Epiphany, Year C
Sunday, February 7th, 2010
Emmanuel, Houston
Isaiah 6:1-8 (9-13)
Psalm 138
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Luke 5:1-11
For the last couple of weeks, we’ve been hearing about the Body of Christ. We heard about how there are many parts to the Body of Christ and that each part has its own gift. Paul was writing this to a church that was increasingly divided over whose gifts were better or even divided the person from whom they heard the Gospel. Paul reminded them that Jesus works through all of us. Many different gifts, and the greatest is love.
Today, Paul reminds the Corinthians again to be unified in their belief. Regardless of whether they heard the Gospel from Paul or from another apostle, Paul reminds them again of the importance of their belief in the Gospel, regardless of the one who preached that Gospel to them. Again, Paul is recalling the divisions in the Corinthian church, reminding them to be unified in their faith in Jesus as one body, rather than divided over human matters or controversies.
The focus of the Body of Christ, for Paul, was the good news that Jesus died for our sins. In Jesus’ actions, Paul was firmly convinced of God’s love for us. As he wrote in his letter to the Romans, “But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) In this one sentence, we find why the Gospel really is such good news. God loves us. We’re imperfect; we’re sinful; we know this fact. God loves us.
We can see the love God has for us in the calls of Isaiah and Peter which we heard this morning. In Isaiah’s vision of God, Isaiah saw God in his full majesty in his temple. Knowing scripture like we do, we all know that Isaiah should have died from having seen the Lord. No one could see God and live. As we heard in the story, Isaiah knew this too, and was very frightened that he had seen God. “Woe is me!” He said. “I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
In other words, Isaiah was saying, “not only am I unworthy to be your prophet, Lord, but darn it, now I’m about to die.” God, of course didn’t let him die. “You think you’re so unworthy Isaiah, fine,” and God purified Isaiah with the burning coal so that he could speak for God and be his prophet.
We find a similar call narrative in Luke’s telling of the call of Peter. Jesus was teaching in Peter’s boat, he then directs Peter to have this miraculous catch of fish, and what does Peter say, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” There are obviously some differences in these call narratives. Isaiah was in the temple of God, seeing God’s very presence, in all his glory and majesty. Peter was in a boat with a bunch of fish. Isaiah saw God and was afraid for his life, knowing he was a sinful man. Peter was in the presence of a man whom he believed to be a mighty prophet of God, and Peter, like Isaiah, was struck by his own unworthy sinfulness.
Notice the similarities in the reactions of God to Isaiah and of Jesus to Peter. In both cases, these sinful men were asked to go and do service for God’s kingdom. Isaiah was asked to preach God’s word. Peter was asked to fish for people.
Whom did God chose to be his voice, his hand and feet here on earth, perfect human beings? No. God chose sinful human being, people like you and me to be his prophet, to be his disciple and apostle. Further, God not only chose sinful people, but he then helped them move beyond their sinfulness into something more, into his life of love. In these two call narratives of Isaiah and Peter, we can see once again the great love has for us.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Good News, Really?
In the first chapter of Acts, we see Jesus, resurrected and with his disciples. He then ascends to heaven, the disciples spend time in prayer, and they gather together (about 120 of them) to chose a suitable replacement for Judas as one of the 12 apostles/overseers. Needing to be one who was with Jesus from the time of his baptism, they pick two folks, cast lots, and Matthias is chosen to take Judas' place as one of the twelve.
Notice who the twelve apostles/overseers were. Eleven of them abandoned Jesus, and one denied him. Jesus still loved and chose them to lead his church and spread the good news of God's kingdom.
We don't have to be perfect. We're never going to be. All too often, I hear people say "I'm not perfect, and I never will be," almost as though they're trying to excuse themselves, saying to God, don't judge me for not being perfect...only you are perfect." There seems fear in what is said, as if we're hoping to avoid hell. We know that because we're not perfect, we're destined for hell, but because we believe in Jesus, we get to escape the fires of hell despite our imperfection.
What a bunch of hooey.
God loves us. Jesus loves us. I don't know that we're loved despite our imperfections so much as we are loved with our imperfections. We're loved. Of course we're imperfect, but who cares? God loves us.
Notice who the twelve apostles/overseers were. Eleven of them abandoned Jesus, and one denied him. Jesus still loved and chose them to lead his church and spread the good news of God's kingdom.
We don't have to be perfect. We're never going to be. All too often, I hear people say "I'm not perfect, and I never will be," almost as though they're trying to excuse themselves, saying to God, don't judge me for not being perfect...only you are perfect." There seems fear in what is said, as if we're hoping to avoid hell. We know that because we're not perfect, we're destined for hell, but because we believe in Jesus, we get to escape the fires of hell despite our imperfection.
What a bunch of hooey.
God loves us. Jesus loves us. I don't know that we're loved despite our imperfections so much as we are loved with our imperfections. We're loved. Of course we're imperfect, but who cares? God loves us.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)