Sunday, December 16, 2012

Why?

A picture is worth a thousand words, they say. The picture to the left says it all. Shock. Pain. Grief. Disbelief. Why?

Following the tragedy of such evil and senseless brutality as the massacre in the Connecticut elementary school that killed 20 children under 10-years old and 6 innocent teachers, leaves many of us--people of faith or not--asking, "Why?" Many of us at church Sunday morning came asking, "Why God?" and "Where were you God?" and "How could you let this happen?" It makes one wonder during this season we celebrate Emmanuel, God with us, if God is really with us at all. Such evil provokes one to question faith in a God who has promised to never leave or forsake us. If that is so, then Lord, why? Why were so many innocent people killed? If God is all powerful, why does God not stop such evil from happening? I am sure for many this feels like a forsaken time. The old theodicy questions surface in the aftermath of such events as the world witnessed in Newton, Connecticut.

There seems to be more questions than answers, and that is hard to deal with for a species that likes concrete answers. I don't think there is ever "an" answer or at least ever an easy answer that will satisfy our longing to make sense of such heinous acts. It is especially hard when the one responsible for so much violence and pain is dead; his explanation--however twisted it may have been--is gone forever. And so, the families and friends of the victims are left in silence to deal with the backlash of unanswerable questions.

As a pastor, I want to have the answers when such things happen, but the truth is that this is an I-don't-know kind of time, where I too am asking, "Why?". I do not have answers to your why. All I can do is delve into the questions with you as together we pray and wrestle with the shock, pain, grief and disbelief of all of it, trying to find hope in the midst of such a seemingly hopeless situation. Where is God in all this pain? But isn't that the promise, the gift that came down to us at Christmas? God incarnate took on human flesh to dwell with us in a world that does not always use freewill for good, in a world where evil still rules, in a world that does not always want to know the Good News of our Savior's birth? God taking on flesh tells us that God understands us--all the good, bad and ugly of this world, and so I honestly believe that God weeps with us at such tragedies.

I had a man at church yesterday tell me that he always thought earth was hell. I can see why he would think that. It is times like this that make this whole life experience certainly feel like hell. Can hell be worse than the slaying of 26 innocent people?! But our hope, if we can even manage to utter that word at such a time, as God's people is that God's presence in our world today means there is also heaven right among us. God is Emmanuel; God is with us. Do we really "anticipate our heaven below" as Charles Wesley encourages us to do in his hymn O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing?

It's difficult to hold onto such promises; it's difficult to anticipate our heaven below in the middle suffering, pain, affliction, and grief--especially when it all seems unnecessary, undeserving, & unfair. Though it may not immediately make us feel better or make such loss as those in Newton, Connecticut have experienced any easier, these are moments we must cling to our faith, hanging on to that promise that God has promised to never forsake us. We are not alone. God is with us, but we also have one another to muddle through the mess and madness of a nightmare that we all wish we could wake up from. We have each other to help one another find hope and faith to see and feel God's presence, who at this very moment is working to heal, comfort and bring peace. Evil certainly seems to win in moments like these, but as Triune-God believers we cannot keep silent, or turn from God in these moments of great trial because evil will not and does not win. That score was settled the moment Jesus was born, took on human flesh, walked this earth, lived a perfect life all the way to being nailed on the cross and raised from the dead. "Death, where is your victory? O, death, where is your sting?...But thanks be to God who has given us the victory through Jesus Christ."

May we cling to God and one another, so that by faith we can believe and embody these words of truth even as we ask Why?.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Faith Like Mary

On Sunday I preached on Luke 1:26-38, Mary's calling by the Angel Gabriel to bear God's son (see sermon page for full sermon). Mary asked Gabriel, "How can this be?" Mary was only 12 or 13. She was an unwed virgin, so Gabriel's message sounded impossible. When I read Mary's "How can this be?", I hear "Why me?" Not only did the task of bearing and delivering our incarnated God sound impossible, but it also sounded like a lot of shame, isolation and sacrifice. Mary knew if she agreed to God's plans, she had to sacrifice her whole life--her own dreams, hopes and expectations. She would have to endure discomfort, embarrassment, and humiliation. She would have to commit to the inconvenience and difficult life that such a calling would surely entail. Surely Mary knew all this when Gabriel told her what God was calling her to do. She was young, but she wasn't naive, stupid or removed from her culture and context enough to know that a "yes" to God would disgrace her in the eyes of the world. Our bibles say that Mary was perplexed and pondered Gabriel's words. She knew that a "yes" would affect the rest of her life--a life in those moments during Gabriel's visit was filled with uncertainty, mystery and confusion. I don't know if I could have agreed to such a whole-being sacrifice.

But perhaps Mary clung to these words of Gabriel, "The Lord is with you" and "Nothing will be impossible with God." Those words of hope can be the only explanation behind Mary's "yes;" because such a calling to sacrifice everything you are for the sake of the kingdom of God can only be done with the help of the Lord. So, Mary took a leap of faith, not knowing where that leap would take her, but trusting and having faith that God was with her and through her God could and would do the impossible.

I readily admit that if the angel Gabriel had visited me, I don't know if I could have had the kind of faith Mary had--a faith that would take her far out of her comfort zone and into the unknown. I don't know if I could sacrifice my life--my dreams, hopes and desires for this life. That would mean everything would be out of my control, and as a perfectionist, I just don't know how or if I could do it! I don't know if I could, but I would hope that Gabriel's assurance of God's presence and power would cause me to also say yes to God. The truth is that we have these opportunities almost daily to sacrifice ourselves--our wants, wishes, dreams, hopes, desires, expectations--for the kingdom of God in the here and now. I asked my church if they still believe God works through ordinary people like God did through Mary. I believe God is alive and active in our world, and yes, God wants to work in and through us, but we must be willing to have faith like Mary. We must be willing to sacrifice all we are and all we have for the kingdom of God. To "let go and let God" as I've heard some say.

One of the Webster dictionary definitions of "sacrifice" is "surrender something prized or desirable for the sake for the sake of something considered as having a higher or more pressing claim." Mary had to surrender everything to God in order that God might do the greatest thing this world has ever seen--the birth of the Savior of this world. Do we really buy into all that surrender-to-God language today? Remember Jesus' teaching in the Parable of the Rich Young Ruler. Go back and read that story in Matthew 19. Do we really believe Jesus wants us to give up everything to follow him? If he asked us to do so, would we? Be honest. This call to radical commitment to Jesus is reiterated again in Philippians 2. Paul writes to us about imitating the humility of Christ through a life of sacrifice--a life we are called to embody--not just profess with our lips or read with our eyes--if Jesus' love has truly made a difference in our lives, if it is in Christ where we find our ultimate identity. A synonym for sacrifice is "risk." There are a lot of risks when you give up yourself for the sake of another. There are a lot of risks in loving another--God or human--in love there are risks. There were a lot of risks for Mary, and if you are a well-read New Testament reader then you know that as followers of Jesus we are called into a life of sacrifice and risk--sacrificing or risking ourselves for the sake of Christ. Sacrifice is not easy. But then Gabriel did not promise Mary a life of comfort, ease and convenience. He did say God is with you, and he reminded her that through God the miraculous is possible. But we must make the choice to step out in faith, to leap out in faith into the unknown the way Mary did.

This I preached on Sunday, and yet, on Monday I feel my words have fallen on deaf ears. The state of the church I pastor is in crisis. While we are an outreaching and spiritually-grounded congregation, we have lived under the threat of church closure for over 20 years. The church has seen pastor come and go, but growth has not happened in the way it needs to for this church to sustain itself, its ministries and facilities. I feel we are in a much better place than when I first came to this church. We have a lot more hope as a congregation. We've moved from merely focusing on "getting butts in pews" (words of my first SPRC chair) to focusing on making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world--a huge shift in attitude and focus that has strengthened the connection and spiritual lives of our people. We have a solid foundation upon which many of us are ready to build, but building means some things will have to change. And change means sacrifice and risk; change and risks are not welcomed by some, and yet these some want to see the church grow. It's a conundrum common in our churches and to our pastors.

If you've read Phyllis Tickle's book, The Great Emergence, then you know the church is caught in a liminal state, a state of flux, a state of uncertainly, a state of trying to figure out how to be and do church in a post-modern world. Even if you haven't read her book, but you are an average church-goer then your observations are probably in agreement. The waning of today's church is no secret. As United Methodists, we have been told over and over that our denomination is dying, and if we don't reach the younger generations then within the next decade we will experience a membership tsunami, leaving our denomination in dust and ash. Thousands of trees have died so that book after book on this subject of church decline--the stats, the opinions, the suggestions, the laments--could be written. All that may be well and good; I've certainly been shaped by many of these writings, but merely reading these books, observing decline and wishing for the glory days of our denomination to return is not really actively participating in being a part of God's solution for our increasingly unchurched, biblical illiterate, and God-apathy world.

I'm a thinker, but I'm also a doer. One of my greatest pet peeves is people who complain without agreeing to be part of the solution. Complainers often become part of the problem. Being a part of the solution to our church-growth dilemma means sacrifices and risks will have to be made. We stand at a leap-of-faith kind of time where we must jump into the unknown, sacrificing in part our known traditions, expectations, and comforts--all for the sake of the kingdom of God, all for the sake of making disciples of Jesus Christ. If we continue to do and be church the same old way; if we continue to work harder at what we've always done then, I believe, we will continue down the path of decline--but more importantly more and more will continue to not know Jesus Christ upon who our church is built and for who the church exists. I do not believe the universal church will ever die. But church as we know it might just have to, and if it doesn't we might begin to see the doors of several of our oldest churches close. What use are closed doors in the making of disciples and building of the kingdom of God?

Change is hard. Sacrifice is not easy. Risk is something I think many of us are naturally adverse to, but in this time of change, uncertainty, discomfort, we must remember Gabriel's words to Mary, "The Lord is with you," and "Nothing will be impossible with God." Church, I plead with you, take the leap of faith; have faith like Mary so that God can work the impossible in and through us!


Saturday, December 8, 2012

Spiritual Gift Giving

Do you recognize that woman?
Tis the season of giving and receiving, right? I just heard that a church around the block from my church is hosting an alternative Christmas gift market where people can give to local non-profits in the honor of family and/or friends. What an awesome idea! This is the kind of giving I am sure Jesus wants for his birthday. What better way to celebrate the Savior of the world who came into our broken world full of promise, hope, healing and peace than to give to those organizations who daily reach out in the same way to the least, lost and poor among us.

This kind of alternative gift giving got me thinking of a different kinds of gifts we often talk about at church--"spiritual gifts." As in 1 Corinthians 12, or a personal example:"My spiritual gift is preaching and passion for justice for the voiceless." Or another way to think about it--that innate calling, or God-given gift that we know we have been uniquely given to use in our world somehow. I like how theologian Howard Thurman said it, "Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive." Spiritual gifts--those God-given gifts that make us come alive; gifts that we've been given to transform our world. Gifts that if we don't use, will go wasted because they are the unique gifts God has beautifully and wonderfully knit us together with to use for his glory while we walk this earth.

Unfortunately during this consumer-driven time of year, we tend to forget the gifts we've been given, and so easily get distracted and focus on what others have to the point that we have to have what our friends have, we see in magazines, we touch as we shop in crowded malls...this is the season of coveting, and thus the season of routinely and all too easily breaking God's 10th commandment, and we might as well say the 1st, 2nd and 4th commandments as well.

It's easy to lose ourselves in all the advertisements, paper, ribbon, glamor and glitz of our over-sanitized and consumer-driven season Christmas has become today. A far cry from the first Christmas that happened in a manger. Christmas today has become a season of keeping up with the Joneses where for every $1.00 earned, the average American spends $1.50. I can't help but notice--especially during this time of year--that we try to be someone we are not; we try to live beyond our means so that we can give and receive  the perfect gift, so that we can appear to have everything together. Christmas often brings out a person in us that is not so Christ-like and does not bring honor to God's name and does not do good for his kingdom in this world. Such a season of pretending, keeping-up-with, buying and giving leaves many exhausted. What was it that the angels announced when they appeared to the shepherds--wasn't it something about joy and peace? And yet many of our expectations of a good Christmas is wrapped up in the gifts under our tree. Can joy and peace be found in such gifts?

Like my neighbor church's alternative Christmas market, I think if we just offer ourselves as we are with the gifts we've been given, such a gift would honor Jesus more than the priciest gift we can go in debt to afford. Such a gift would bring true joy and peace into our world, not leaving us exhausted and over-spent--literally and figuratively--at the end of the Christmas season. How are you giving of your spiritual gifts this season and every season of your life for the glory of God? Do you believe that through these gifts we've all been given, God can work in and through us to bring about change in our world that would usher in true joy and peace the way the shepherds and all those who witnessed Jesus' birth experienced? Before you buy your next present, think about how you can use what God has already given you as a gift to your family and friends.

Friday, December 7, 2012

Mommies' Dreams for their Children

My sister & baby Addisyn Lael Park 
When I was in DC at the beginning of this week, I got a call from my 8-month pregnant sister who told me she was going into labor. It was a surprise I wasn't quite ready for; little baby Addisyn wanted to come 3 weeks early. Waiting for my sister to deliver was in the back of my head the whole time as I engrossed myself in learning about malaria and the plight of the sub-Saharan African people, hearing stories and stats which I could use as talking in the offices of my senators.

Rose Farhat, a citizen of Liberia and currently a student at Wesley Theological Seminary in DC, told a moving story of growing up and living in a country plagued by malaria. She herself had malaria as a child. Malaria attacks the red blood cells, and in a matter of minutes you can go from feeling good to feeling like your blood is boiling. Rose's mother waited for two days hoping her fever would break, but when it didn't, her family had to find a way to pay for a visit to the clinic. When they went to the clinic, the clinic was out of the vaccine, so she had to be taken to a hospital where her mother waited for hours. Rose remembers mothers all around her crying as their children died in their arms. She said in Liberia a mother's dream for her children is first just to survive childhood and adolescence, but then as mothers around the world would probably agree, a mother's dream is for her child is to provide opportunities that weren't available to her. Rose told us that she was a lucky one. She survived, and since that first childhood fight with malaria, her mother has been fighting for Rose to be something her mother never had the opportunity to be. To not merely survive, but thrive.

I listened to Rose and couldn't help but think about my sister and her dreams for her baby girl. I don't think in our country a mother's dreams for her children is limited to merely survival. I think from the first time most mothers in our country hold her baby, she is flooded with dreams not limited by lack of access to health care or basic needs of food, water, and shelter. I know my sister, and even I as an aunt, have great dreams for our little girl, Addisyn--dreams that assume not only survival but thriving in a life full of opportunity and potential ready for her to seize.

I pray our government will continue to support the work being done through our foreign aid in such places as sub-Saharan Africa. I pray people of faith will think about mothers all over the world, mothers like Mary, the mother of Jesus, who deliver babies in a broken, hurting world torn apart by famine, disease, war and violence. Together, as Rose reminded me, we can help mothers' dreams come true. This Christmas season, consider giving to Imagine No Malaria; your gift may just make a mother's dreams for her children come true. Can there be a better present than knowing your gift is saving lives?

Visit ImagineNoMalaria.org today.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Imagine No Malaria

SC UMC Delegation Lobbying
Capitol Hill for INM '12
For two days I joined 100+ United Methodist clergy and lay for advocacy days on The Hill. Our advocacy focus was Imagine No Malaria--a UM initiative to help eradicate malaria in sub-Saharan Africa by partnering with other government and non-government agencies. The UMC has pledged to raise $75 million by 2015--money which will buy nets, vaccines and provide equipment, education and training for local people and clinics in more than 20 African countries. Malaria is caused by a parasite in the belly of a mosquito. Such a small thing is so deadly, killing a child in Africa every 60 seconds. And yet, very much like smallpox and polio, malaria is preventable, treatable and curable.

Part of our work in DC was lobbying our senators and representatives to continue to support the less than 1% of our federal budget that goes toward foreign aid. Specifically we want the government to support the senate's proposal of $670 million for the global health fund. This is such a small fraction--remember less than 1%--that can do so much good. When the average US citizen is asked how much money we spend on foreign aid, most estimate 25-30%. One man I talked with guessed we spent 30% on foreign aid, so I asked him what we should spend. He said, "Well the Bible tells us to give 10% to church, so I guess the US should give 10%." What a great idea!! Needless to say this man was surprised that less than 1% is allocated for foreign assistance. I understand that our government has a difficult and controversial situation on their hands right now with the ever nearing fiscal cliff. Cuts must be made, and many propose to cut foreign aid, but cuts to foreign aid would be very short sighted in many ways.

Think about it. Right now sub-Saharan Africa is wrought with poverty and sickness--especially with treatable and preventable diseases like malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS. If we pull out and do not invest in the ameliorating some of the health issues that plague these African countries, others will fill our place. Right now China is scouting out new business and manufacturing opportunities in Africa. China has been known to come into places and wipe out natural resources, making Chinese business people richer and leaving the countries they violated worse off than before. Such vulnerable and desperate places are also prime recruiting grounds for terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda. If we leave sub-Saharan Africa alone, you can be sure we will be back there within the next decade spending money on a war that would cost ten times what we are asking our congress to support now.

That is the part of the political issue of the foreign aid debate, but there is a moral component that we must consider as people of faith. Jesus asks in Luke 10, "Who is your neighbor?" He asked this after he told the parable of the Good Samaritan. Jewish people would have never considered Samaritans their neighbors. But then Jesus' whole life and ministry redefined who the people of God considered their neighbor. Jesus ate with tax collectors who stole and cheated people out of their money. Tax collectors became your neighbor if you were a follower of Jesus. Jesus sat, ate and talked with prostitutes, adulteresses, the lame, the blind, the outcasts of society. All these Jesus called his followers to consider their neighbor. I believe Jesus calls us to think just as broadly as he asks us today, "Who is your neighbor?"

Yes, we have vulnerable, needy people among us, but we live in a global village where we cannot neglect the needs of our neighbors in the farthest, darkest points of this world. Malaria is preventable, treatable and curable if those who live in these areas have access to nets, vaccines, education and training. The goal is to help the sub-Saharan African people overcome malaria so that they, themselves, can create a sustainable and thriving society where thousands of mothers are telling their babies goodbye every 60 seconds. Some in our own nation think that such use of foreign aid will create a dependency or a longterm lifeline. However, that cannot be further from the goal of reaching out with seed money to help jumpstart health initiatives like Imagine No Malaria. I would hope if such a disease ever plagued us in this country, our Christian brothers and sisters in other parts of the world would consider us their neighbor.

As God's people we have a calling. As people of the wealthiest country in the world this calling is even higher. Just two chapters after the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus says, "To whom much has been given, much is expected." We have the means--even in the shadow of this fiscal cliff--to continue to support our neighbors in sub-Saharan Africa through US foreign aid. Less than 1% of our budget can change that part of the world in a way those who live there can only imagine. Let us not forget Paul's words in Ephesians 3:20, "To God who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than we can ask or imagine, to God be the glory." Through us God is already doing so much good. Let's not get in his way by cutting where cuts do not to be made.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Forgiveness...

Yes, we must explore that oft used word, but a much under practiced and embodied word--forgiveness--if we are going to really talk about loving our enemies. Because, should not forgiveness accompany the love of our enemies? Shouldn't we be able to reach a place of agreeing to disagree without, as Bishop Holston says, being disagreeable? After all hasn't Jesus commanded us as his followers to forgive? Take a look at Colossians 3:13, Ephesians 4:32, Mark 11:25, Luke 17:3-4, Matthew 6:14-15, and the well-known and frequently quoted Matthew 18:21-22--"Jesus said, forgive not seven times, but seventy-seven times." The command to forgive just might be a good place to start when thinking about the seemingly impossible call to love our enemies.

Recently a conflict surfaced in my life where someone asked me to forgive another person on their behalf, and I said that I could not so readily offer forgiveness, nor was I willing to forgive without face-to-face conversation with the one who sought my forgiveness. Forgiveness is a relational process that begins with prayer and can be something to work through together (with God,  the forgiver, the one seeking forgiveness and perhaps a third party, like a church, to mediate and keep each party accountable) over time. This person who came to me to accept forgiveness on behalf of another did not have ears to listen, so anger ensued as well as rumors and defamation of my character as an unforgiving pastor. How can a pastor--a pastor--not forgive?! But I have been misunderstood as tends to happen when conflict arises and we do not have ears to really listen beyond words, but only have the tongue and mind of a serpent all too ready to use to attack and defend.

What this person did not hear me say was that it is not that I am unwilling to forgive or be forgiven, but that I am unwilling to say "I'm sorry" without truly meaning it so that our relationship can be reconciled without any lingering grudge threatening to come between us or used as ammunition in the future. It is from my experience that "I'm sorry" is overused without any true feelings of remorse or regret. It's like many of us adults have never moved beyond those years our moms made us say "I'm sorry" when mom and child knew perfectly well there wasn't an ounce of sorrow, pity, compunction, or regret. Such a hollow and yet prolific use of "I'm sorry" makes the meaning of the phrase barren and meaningless. And so because of this observation, I am reluctant to mindlessly mouth "I'm sorry" without my heart being ready to completely forgive, move on and therefore love the one whom I have forgiven with the words "I'm sorry." (Take a look at this Wall Street Journal article and video from 10/29:
http://online.wsj.com/search/term.html?KEYWORDS=when+forgiveness+isn%27t+a+virtue&mod=DNH_S_recent)

Further more, sending a go-between to forgive and to receive forgiveness cheapens forgiveness for both the one whom I have harmed and who has harmed me. I long to forgive and to be forgiven. I do not like unresolved conflict; I do not much care for conflict altogether, but I do know that wherever two or three people are gathered--even in God's name--conflict will arise. Conflict seems to be native in this fallen world and to our human nature, but that does not mean conflict has to control us. Through conflict good can come about and growth can happen if both harmed parties agree to find common ground which to truthfully communicate and listen to one another as both people in need of forgiveness and need to forgive. In a conflict there usually is not a single person or party to blame, but we must be careful to recognize where we have contributed to the conflict--be it great or small. We must avoid God-is-on-my-side syndrome which we, who call ourselves Christians, all too easily fall into when conflict is brews. God is for all people (take a look at 1 Timothy 2:4) and so God is for reconciliation of his people--for the forgiver and the one receiving forgiveness. God desires us to partner with God in forgiveness. To "leave it up to God" or to declare, "I've given it over to God," again, is to cheapen forgiveness because although forgiveness begins in prayer, it does not end there. Prayer leads to action, leads to humbly going to one who has harmed you or whom you have harmed and together seeking a place of reconciliation and forgiveness that leads to peace.

After all the goal of forgiveness--forgiving and being forgiven--is to bring about reconciliation, or to reestablish a relationship, to come to a mutual understanding, to bring about harmony. These do not usually happen in the snap of a finger or over a good night's sleep as my mother tends to think conflict is resolved, or even by silently lifting up the conflict in prayer without any intention of opening ourselves up to the ways God might be leading us to participate in our own reconciliation or the ways God is urging us to take responsibility by seeking out those whom we need reconciliation in order that our relationship with God and others might be reestablished. Conflict resolution usually takes time, work, humility, awkward and uncomfortable conversations with ourselves, God, and one with whom we are in conflict, and of course conflict resolution does take lots of persistent prayer in our own quiet time and communally in the band of a trusted few.

Really thinking about the ways Jesus has challenges us to forgive is a good place to begin working living out God's command to love our enemies. The process of forgiveness is the road to reconciliation, the road to establishing common ground with our enemies where we can disagree without being disagreeable.

Ask yourself:
1.) Who do I need to forgive?
2.) From whom do I need to seek forgiveness?
3.) What is stopping me?
4.) Who can I confide in as an accountability partner to support and challenge me on this road to
forgiveness?






Monday, October 29, 2012

Welcome Wesley Memorial Family!

Hello Wesley Memorial Family and Friends!

Welcome to one of my "holy" experiments. It might seem a little racy--this blog called "Provocative Preacher," but it is through this somewhat racy-titled blog that I would like to share with you some thoughts--today's share beginning with one of my greatest pet peeves and yet one of my greatest passions that has instigated this blog. I have a strong disfavor for lukewarm Christianity that is all too prevalent among many who call themselves "Christian" today, but who are merely more nominal than actual. This, I believe, is one of the greatest threats to the Christian faith; that is people who call themselves Christian, but have no desire to live as Christ in our world and especially with no intention to transform our world as Christ has commissioned us who call ourselves his followers to do. Rather many "almost Christians," as one of our Methodist founders, John Wesley, has such named nominal Christians, choose to make Christ in their image instead of being made in the image of Christ. There is a big difference! Believe me, I am no expert at living "The Way;" I have not achieved perfection--yet, but my hope is that as I read scripture, pray, worship, serve and participate in both works of mercy and works of piety, that I am daily striving to know and live like the Biblical Jesus. It is not an easy way of life, and I fail almost daily. But I am growing and learning--especially from those mistakes I have made along the way--with the help of God and the "great cloud of witnesses" of the past and present following in the footsteps of my greatest hero and savior is getting better--not necessarily easier or more comfortable or convenient, but my hard-headed self is slowly learning to do life Jesus' way instead of my own way.

Jesus' Way is not an easy way to follow. I don't know how Jesus was able to live as he did when we walked as one of us on this earth. I guess it helped that he had that whole three-in-one thing going for him; a little divinity surely made a life such as Jesus' more possible, right?. But haven't we been made in the image of God, and thus we are to strive to live into that image daily? I recently reread the wise words of French philosopher and Jesuit priest, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who wrote, "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a human experience." And yet, too often when we find ourselves straying from the way of Christ, we too easily excuse ourselves with, "I'm only human." Yes, we are human, but I agree with de Chardin, that we are "spiritual beings" living a "human experience." So, we are more than only or just human having the tendency to fail, stray and live selfishly. We've been wired for more than that; we have to expect more than that out of life. We're spiritual beings who have been made in the image of God or also happens to be the Creator of this world, so we are more closely linked with our Creator than we ever dare to explore because frankly isn't saying, "Oops, I'm only human" so much easier than really taking responsibility for our words and actions when we fail to live Jesus-like?

Knowing that we've been made in God's image and that we're "spiritual beings having a human experience" doesn't make following the way of Jesus Christ any easier, more comfortable, more convenient or any less demanding does it? I beg to differ. Life might not be easy, comfortable or convenient--as we've come to expect and feel all to entitled to as US Americans--but the knowledge that we've been made in the image of our Creator God can give us the hope that living Christ-like in this world is truly possible; in fact, it is what we have been called to do if we choose, as so many faithful disciples have done before us, to walk with Jesus in this world, to be up, close and personal with Jesus instead of trying to follow Jesus from a distance or on our own terms and conditions. Discipleship takes work, practice and often times learning from mistakes, forgiving ourselves and others and trying it again, and again, and again.

I like to tell the students I coach that excellence doesn't just find you, but the pursuit of excellence takes work. There will be days in the pursuit of excellence in anything where the journey is tough, trying, demanding and almost leads you to throw up your hands and say, "This is too hard; I give up." The same is true of pursuing the path of Christ in this world; Christ-likeness takes work, practice, sacrifice, selflessness and patience with ourselves and others. Although our God's grace is abundantly at work in our lives, and it is grace that saves us, we must choose to partner with God in our world so that our lives and the whole world will be transformed. Think about it this way: there's a difference between being a disciple of Jesus than merely attending church. Erroneously church attendance has become the chief way we tend to identify "Christians" today, but while a disciple does probably regularly and as often as she or he can gather communally as God's church, not all church-goers are disciples; that is no hidden secret, at least I do not think so.

One of my high school coaches warned me when I was 16 that the hardest thing on this side of heaven is trying to emulate Jesus Christ, but at the same time there is no greater reward on this side of heaven than living for Christ in the here and now. So, while I admit to you that I failed and that many times this path of Christ is mysterious, precarious and leads to more questions than answers, I have not given up. I'm drawn to this path of discipleship; I'm drawn to people who choose to walk this narrow way with intention, purpose and hope that the way of Christ will transform the world. Are you starting to see how my pet peeve and passion are one and the same?

I'm fed up with the status quo of today's church. I'm a soon-to-be ordained minister in the UMC, and there are days and weeks that I want to give up on church. I recently heard an NPR report on the radio that said when the general public in the US was asked about the Christian church, many, many people said they did not like the church. Of these people who said they did not like the church, most said they like and admired Jesus. What is it that we are doing as "church people" that does not look like the one upon whom our church is built? I think I know the answers all too well, and that is why I have my days too when I want to leave the church while staying in love and loyal to Jesus. However, much in the footsteps of John Wesley, of whom I am a HUGE fan, I am unwilling to give up on the church--yes, on organized religion--especially the United Methodist flavor of Christianity. I want to reform our church from the inside out and the outside in with other clergy and laity sharing the same passion to embody the way of Christ. I believe God has called us into such communities, but we must start communing and living differently if the majority of our general public is repelled by the church while remaining open to Jesus.

I hope that through this holy experiment of communing, studying, reading and opening up to one another together online, that it is together, we will begin to, as a church and individuals, begin to embody the one whom we call Savior and Lord in our homes, places of work, and churches.