1^st Sunday in July (Isaiah 6 and Acts 23:12 – 26:32)

Although we live in a permissive culture, guilt remains one of the most pervasive anxieties. Yet there are two dimensions to this anxiety of guilt.

The first is that we may actually be guilty. It may be that we have done something illegal; or that what he have done may be legal, but it is unethical; or that what we have done may be both legal and ethical, but is somehow shameful. All three are possibilities, but the last is the most difficult to bear. Legal guilt can be taken away by appropriate penalties; ethical guilt can be taken away by suitable penance; but shameful guilt is a stain on the soul that cannot be so easily removed. It requires some deeper cleansing.

The second dimension of guilt in a permissive society is that we may be found out. Many people live with guilt, and in a permissive society it is easy to camouflage it, deny, or avoid it. Our fear is that we will be found out. We fear that we will be revealed as the criminals, sinners, or scum that we are. We fear that the spotlight will lock onto us, and that we will not be able to slink away into the fog of amorality.

It is this latter dimension of guilt that is Isaiah’s problem. It is unclear exactly what shame he was hiding, denying, or avoiding. Presumably he was trying to do some kind of penance in the priesthood. His hope is that he can do it quietly and painlessly, but it is a forlorn hope. The spotlight is upon him. His cleansing requires the cauterizing fire of a hot coal. One suspects that the application of the hot coal to his lips has a symbolic meaning we do not understand. Isaiah does. And the glory of his life is that not only is his fear overcome, but his shame is removed. Such freedom! Only in the light of the truth can we sincerely surrender to God.

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2nd Sunday in July (James 1 and 2; Luke 20:9-26)

Theme

James 1:2-8   ² Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials,  ³ for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  ⁴ And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.  ⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all men generously and without reproaching, and it will be given him.  ⁶ But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.  ⁷ For that person must not suppose that a double-minded man,  ⁸ unstable in all his ways, will receive anything from the Lord.

The real religion of most Westerners today is skepticism. The problem is not that we believe one thing or another, but that we believe nothing absolutely. Observers from beyond the West ... or observers from our own past ... would be exasperated with us. “Just make up your mind!” But we cannot make up our mind. We are “double-minded” and even “triple-minded people.” We are a culture that fundamentally wants to have its cake and eat it too. The fork is halfway to our mouths and we can neither eat with satisfaction nor push away from the table altogether.

I think that is how most people approach summer holidays (in North America). We approach everything with a guilty smile, a shameful shrug, or an indulgent attitude. So it is not surprising that when trials, troubles, problems, and challenges arise, we are anything but steadfast. We are just as “double-minded” about endurance. We will “go with the flow” and choose the “easy way.” In the end we find ourselves imperfect, incomplete, lacking in everything.

Faith is revealed in spiritual discipline. This is what it means to be “steadfast.” It means being uncompromising in absolute commitment to Christ, no matter the circumstance, demonstrated through spiritual disciplines for prayer, scripture, worship as we look inward ... and compassion, justice, and service as we behave outward. “Steadfastness” is a seamless unity of our heart and our actions that we preserve at all costs.

Tom Bandy

Team Meditation

Luke 20:9-26

God’s Method of Reward

The parable of the vineyard and son is one of those we might just as rather hadn’t been included. The story has a decidedly uncomfortable conclusion. Dead tenants because of their sin harshly contrasts against our “understanding” of the New and Improved Testament. But it doesn’t end there. Jesus finishes his story with a cryptic saying: "'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone.' Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed" (Luke 20:17-18). These words are as disturbing as the parable itself: Jesus promises that for those who depend on “Jesus saves” will be broken to pieces...and those who don’t, well, it’s not a pretty picture.

The North American version of Christianity has largely been sanitized and softened to salve our consciences; consciences that have been squirm because, the fact is, most of us are guilty of not taking Jesus’ commandments very seriously. In the words of an old communist Soviet at the height of the Cold War: “If Christians really believed what the Bible says, they’d even crawl on their hands and knees over broken glass to bring the gospel to the lost.” Instead, mostly we stay within our church walls, spending time with our safe friends, and pitying the lost, if we think of them at all.

But Jesus didn’t bring a soft, safe, sanitized faith. He told it like it is. Like it really is. That’s not how we’d like it, but that, my friend, is the reality.

Bill T-B

Worship Theme

James 1 and 2

Real Integrity

There’s been a “spiritual being” movement in the church over the past several years that has arisen as a result of our too-busy lives. This movement suggests that since we are human “beings” rather than human “doings,” we need to stop “doing” and start “being.” In theory, this sounds like really great advice. If we get focused on “being” then our lives will be more centered, focused, and spiritually attuned.

In practice, however, the results have been, well, dramatic. Christians all across the continent have embraced this “excuse” for not putting their faith into action. For some, they’re so busy “being” Christians instead of “doing” Christianity, that no one in the world outside their happy home and their contented church even know that they’re Christians. Others have concluded that to “be” a Christian means they must understand the faith in its entirety, know the Bible like the back-of-their-hand, and be able to fully articulate where they stand in each and every doctrinal issue, so they spend almost all their extra time in Bible studies, online research, book and periodical reading, and in discussions with both their Christian friends and with their pastor. Everybody is so busy “being” a Christian, that Christianity isn’t being done much anymore.

Apparently, this isn’t just a contemporary issue, at least in practice. James had a great deal to say to Christians who claimed the name, but didn’t do the deeds. In a word, he said they were unfaithful. Faithfulness, according to James, is what we do. It’s the spiritual disciplines. It’s the spiritual actions of living life in the world with our non-Christian friends, relatives, acquaintances, neighbors, and co-workers. It’s “being” a Christian by “doing” Christianity.

Bill T-B

Worship Design

A teacher isn’t a teacher just because they went to school, got a degree and a certification. A teacher is a teacher only when they teach. Police officers aren’t cops just because they carry a badge. An police officer is only a police officer when they’re serving and protecting. And a Christian isn’t a Christ-follower just because they claim to believe in Jesus. A Christian is Christian only when they’re doing the faith.

During the Seattle Mardi Gras celebration of 2003, Kris Kime intervened in a sidewalk assault and was himself killed...while Seattle police officers watched. The police were “under orders” of the police chief not to intervene.

That’s not what cops are supposed to do...

Launch into this service with a clip from Magnum Force (1973). Use one of the early scenes when a rogue motorcycle cop pulls over a car and takes justice into his own hands when he’s offered a bribe (it’s a 1973 movie, so the violence is mostly implied). Of course, there are many good “bad cop” movies out there that can make the point that there’s an expectation of how people with “titles” and “positions” are supposed to behave. (When I wrote this, www.blinkx.com was offline so I couldn’t see if there was a news report on the Kris Kime event in Seattle...which would make a good clip too.) From this vantage, launch into a discussion of the theme. This would be a great week for a dramatic skit as well, perhaps based on the Good Samaritan.

Bill T-B

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3^rd Sunday in July (1 Samuel 16 and 17; Luke 20:41-47

1 Samuel 17:37  ³⁷ And David said, "The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine."

Few Biblical metaphors survive in the everyday language of the 21^st century, but “David and Goliath” is one of them. It has come to imply the victory of the “little guy” over the “big machine”. It has come to describe any circumstance in which one who is very tiny and powerless stands up to that which is very dominant and controlling. Of course, the metaphor is always employed by those who want to extol themselves and demean their enemies. And like so many metaphors borrowed from scripture, the original meaning is lost.

The point about David is not that he is little, but that he is faithful. He will be victorious over Goliath not because he deserves to be victorious by virtue of being small, oppressed, or even victimized. He will be victorious because he absolutely trusts in the Lord. This absolute trust has permeated his life before Goliath and rescued him for lions and bears; it will uphold him in confronting Goliath; and it will sustain him in future confrontations. It’s about faithfulness, not victory. Even if David had lost, he would have still been faithful, and therefore victorious. Goliath had little to do with it.

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4^th Sunday in July (John 4:1-42 and Acts 3:1-4:31)

Christians, like most people in July, are traveling. They are highly mobile, passing through new places, and meeting new people, all the time. Every minute brings an opportunity to share the abundant life of Christ. Most seekers are like the Samaritan woman at the well … although it may be at the sports arena, the food court, the mini-mart, or the ice cream store. Conversation invariably proceeds through these steps:

1)       A nod, a word, a smile, and perhaps a simple request for assistance;

2)       Surprise, wariness, anxiety, and perhaps fear that this strange encounter will be manipulative or dangerous.

Now you have an opportunity to (3) respond with courtesy, respect, compassion, sensitivity and extreme generosity. In other words, you have it in your power to give away abundant life. How will you package it? Will it be a gesture, a gift, a few words? Will the Spirit help you intuit the hidden fear than can be removed, or the hidden hurt that can be comforted, or the hidden question that can be answered?

Prepare yourself by opening yourself to the Spirit before you go forth among the public; and follow up every conversation with a prayer for strangers at the end of the day. Who knows? You may unknowingly be the source of life that will rescue a desperate heart this day.

Team Meditation (Acts 3:1-4:31)

No doubt the apostles performed many miracles … small and big, widely celebrated or privately appreciated … but this particular story of healing is reported for a particular purpose. It directly parallels a similar healing performed by Jesus, and therefore reveal the direct continuity between Jesus’ ministry and the emerging church led by the apostles. The church is the continuation of Christ’s presence and mission. The story also establishes an ongoing pattern of credibility, namely, that the movement of the Spirit is always celebrated by amateurs and seekers and ordinary folks, but always treated with skepticism or resisted by professionals and the religious establishment. God is most visible on the margins of public life.

The challenge lies in the role reversal that we experience today. We are the establishment now. The official church is now wearing the shoes of the temple authorities from ancient times. The established church is in the position of skepticism and resistance … fearful that the Spirit will undermine their control and influence over the people. And the Spirit is most credible among the marginalized seekers. It’s time for some serious and humble soul searching by institutional church leaders.

Worship Theme (John 4:1-42)

The woman at the well symbolizes the typical seeker today. They are often female. They are tremendously anxious about the breakdown of, or potential for, intimate relationships. They are thirsty, but don’t really know what will quench their thirst. They already believe in God, but just don’t know where to find him.

Although the woman at the well, like most seekers, is extremely cynical, there is a process by which they are persuaded by the truth of the Gospel. First and foremost, they must meet Jesus. Second, they must meet Jesus in the midst of ordinary life, in the midst of their own thirst. When Jesus offers himself as “living water” they will require proof. The proof lies in Jesus ability to restore authentic, life-giving, intimate relationships. The potential for healthy relationships lies in Jesus own absolute acceptance, forgiveness, and love. Until Jesus accepts you, you cannot accept yourself, and until you accept yourself you cannot be in healthy relationship with anybody else.

That experience of acceptance is the biggest miracle of all … and the woman at the well immediately goes and tells all her friends.

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5^th Sunday in July (Habakkuk 2:1-5 and 3; Acts 18)

Hands up! How many people out there are watching the news and thinking the world is being run by crazy people? Or by short-sighted people who can’t seem to see beyond their immediate self-interest to perceive catastrophe looming on the horizon? As I write, war is escalating in the Middle East and in my little corner of the world the “Earth Liberation Front” is busy burning down newly constructed homes protesting land development. The general public seems more resentful that their vacations are being interrupted or that their productivity seems to be sidetracked than actually troubled by the course of events. Does God really have a better plan? Is there really hope in the midst of idiocy?

Team Meditation (Acts 18)

Compare program development to leadership development, and St. Paul always chose to grow leaders first. Acts 18 is a case in point. On the one hand, there is a huge revolution in Paul’s worship strategy. He abandons the strategy to transform traditional worship in the synagogue, and moves “next door” to develop indigenous worship aimed at the gentiles. That’s a huge shift! But the scripture actually give it less attention.

What is more important to the ancient record is the number of new leaders St. Paul finds and mentors. Paul finds Priscilla and Aquila and mentors them to be leaders … and then Priscilla and Aquila find Apollos and grow him into a leader. That’s even more important than program development. After all, today nobody really knows how Paul developed indigenous worship in the home of Titus Justus … and tomorrow people may not remember how you developed indigenous worship for your church. But the legacy of new leaders like Priscilla, Aquila, and Apollos … and the impace of new leaders that you find and grow in your church … will last a long, long, long time.

Worship Theme (Habakkuk 2:1-5 and 3)

God has a vision for the world … make no mistake! And it’s God’s vision, and not just human brainstorming. God’s vision is relentless and inevitable. It is a vision of justice and it will end in peace. There are only two options in response to God’s vision.

The first option is to run from it. God’s vision may well be contrary to our self-interest. None of us will likely emerge unscathed by it. However we understand sin, the inescapable fact is that we are all caught up in it. We are all crazy by degrees, and we are all idiots in our own way.

The second option is to wait for it. God’s vision may be hard to bear, but its cleansing power will make us free. We can be purged of our craziness and idiocy, albeit at a price. If we put our hope in God, and God alone, the future can yet be bright.

Will it come today or tomorrow or a century from now? My own view is that it comes in waves. God’s power overtakes us, and there is a seeming lull as if God is testing us to see what we will do. Will we be wiser or crazier? We will be more faithful or return to our idiot ways? And then there is another wave, and another. Those with eyes to see can discern another cloud on the horizon, a combination of thunder and refreshing rain. The storm is tracking in your direction.