God's Story Can't be Confined to a Single Story

I have always enjoyed reading. There are times when I will get so caught up in a story that I lose all sense of time. The best stories are the ones that are able to transport us into a different world, allowing us to escape reality even if only for a chapter or two, while at the same time exploring and critiquing the current situation of our reality. But in our society today we often don’t have the patience for such stories, and instead prefer movies that are more about their stunning visual effects, adrenaline rushing action, or the hot star, than the story.

I can’t help but wonder if our loss of stories has contributed to our society’s increasing polarization. Stories not only help ground and form us, they also open us up to other possibilities. Unfortunately, there are too many places in our society that demand a single story (e.g. only black or white, no other perspectives…). Single stories tend to make a caricature of people and ideas, especially those we disagree with or who are different. Those caricatures can be dismissed as simply wrong or worse. There is danger in a single story. Perhaps one of the greatest gifts of the church, is its many stories.

The Bible is a book of stories. There are wisdom sayings, prayers, letters, and poetry, but it is the stories that form its center. The Bible tells the story of many peoples’ experiences of God’s activity in the world over many centuries. Inspired by their experiences of God, they are also the stories of ordinary human beings with all their cultural biases, limitations, and imperfections. As a result the Bible is a book of stories that can’t be reduced to a single story. It begins with two distinct stories of creation (Gen 1:1- 2.4a, and then Gen 2:4b-2.25). The book of Chronicles tells its own story about David and the monarchy, the books of Samuel and Kings tell a different one. The Prophets (Amos, Hosea, Micah, or Isaiah) yet another. The New Testament begins with four stories of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection (the Gospels). The Letters of Paul are not the Letter of James. The Book of Revelation and its story of the church is different than the Book of Acts. While I affirm the Bible as inspired by God, that inspiration has led to the telling of multiple stories as people of different times and places told the story of how they experienced God’s activity in their world.

Unlike our current society, the ancient world understood the value of multiple stories. We risk
missing what is most important in the Bible, a witness to the truth of God’s activity in the world, when we try to reduce it to a single story. The story of God’s on-going transformation of the world is too complex to be contained and dismissed in just a single story. And if God’s story can’t be confined to a single story, then neither can ours.

Max and God

I am a cat owner. Well no one actually owns a cat, so let’s just say I provide them food, clean litter, and pay their vet bills.  Recently, my wife and I had to put our cat, Max, to sleep.  We had Max for eight years, after finding him as a stray. During those years, he provided much joy and happiness in our household, but he also taught me something about my faith, and about who God is.

Max was a very active and fun loving cat.  He would play with just about anything, rubber bands, the plastic ring on milk jugs, rolled up tissues, and Q-tips, often fishing these items out of the trash.  It didn’t matter that something better might come sometime in the future, he would use what he could find in the present to amuse himself, at that moment.  I can’t help but wonder if we all shouldn’t be a little more like Max.  It seems, often times we essentially ignore the present for the sake of our hope in the future.  While resurrection promises to be something fantastic; we can’t just ignore all the ways God is at work in the world in the present, or all the places (places of hunger, war, poverty, addiction, etc.) in our world that are still in desperate need of God’s work.  While it might be God’s work, it is our hands in the present that God uses to accomplish that work. 

Max was also a very persistent cat.  It didn’t matter what you were doing or planning on doing, he would make himself a nuisance until you ran the laser pointer for him to chase, or opened the door for him, only to open the same door again a few minutes later when he wanted back in.  While it was all about Max, he also forced me to recognize that Christianity isn’t all about me or even humanity.  In the story of Noah’s ark (Gen 6:9-9:17), God instructs Noah to build an ark so that all the animals of the world could be saved along with Noah and his family.  God cares for all of creation, despite everything that has happened in creation, God still affirms all of creation to be “very good” (Gen 1:31).  How we care for the animals and environment around us says something about who we are and who we think God is. 

All of this has helped me to recognize that God’s promise of resurrection isn’t just a human affair, but will include all of creation (Isa 11:6-9, Rev 5:13).  Even now, God is “making all things new” (Rev 21:5). So, there will be a time when my wife and I will be reunited with Max and all those animals/pets that any of us have a special connection to, along with the entire creation. God is the God of all creation, big and small.  Thanks Max for helping me to see God just a little bit better. 

Can These Bones Live?

Ezekiel 37.1-10The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all round them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, ‘Mortal, can these bones live?’ I answered, ‘O Lord God, you know.’ Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.’

 So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.’ I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude. (NRSV)

 After Ezekiel is “brought” into a great valley filled with bones the question becomes “Can these bones live?” It is not really a surprising question.  In many ways this question is one that we would expect, especially if we view the bones as the recently exiled ancient Israelites.  Except it isn’t the people who ask this question, it is God.  Why it might be popular to see this question as a test for Ezekiel, what if the question is more than a “test” of faith?  What if it is a question for which God doesn’t have any answer?  Up to this point in the story God has made life possible, but at almost every turn the people decided against life.  Animating the bones is not an issue for God, but animation is not life.  So can these bones live? 

God has given the people every opportunity for life.  S/he brought the people up out of Egypt after hearing their cry.  In the wilderness God gave the people a new way of living that would eliminate the un-life of Egypt, but the people find the certainty of existence in Egypt preferable to living as a new community.  While the first generation of people chose animation over life, God tries life with the second generation, and for a while it seems to work.  After a couple of generations however, the people decide once again for existence over life, as they ask God to be a nation like all the other nations.  So God gives the people a king, which quickly turns the nation into one like all other nations.  Once again life had been possible, and yet once again the people chose un-life.  By the time of the exile, God no longer knows if these bones can yet live, but like every time before God is willing to try one more time. 

God tells Ezekiel “prophesy to these bones…you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.”  So Ezekiel begins to prophesy and the bones begin to rattle, sinews begin to grow, muscle and flesh begin to envelop the bones, and then four winds bring breath, life itself.  For those of us living in the 21^st century we often miss the relationship between restoration the bones and prophecy.  This is because we tend to understand prophecy as predicting the future.  Our picture of a prophet is something along the lines of Nostradamus, but the biblical prophets (including Ezekiel) aren’t about predicting the future.  Think of the biblical prophets as social commentators; picture someone like a Martin Luther King Jr.  The prophet in the biblical times pointed out where things had gone wrong and provided a way back to a socially just society, one based on the gift of the covenant given at Mt. Sinai. The prophet’s words made life possible by calling the community back to the covenant, by making it possible for God’s spirit to be placed within them. Despite the direness of exile, it was exactly what was needed if there was to be a possibility of life for dried up old bones. 

In many ways we in the church find ourselves in an analogous situation as those in Ancient Israel.  Many in the world today have declared the church to be in a time of exile.  We are no longer at the center of our society. Attending church is no longer the social norm it once was.  It is fair to say that we have fallen into a time of exile, and many have begun to ask if these bones can still live.  It isn’t just a question that we ask ourselves, but one that God is asking of us as well.  We like those ancient Israelites have lost our way.  We have managed to turn the church into something that meets only our own needs and desires.  We have become less an instrument in God’s mission for the world, and more an impediment to that mission.  While it might be easier to blame society for our place of exile, the truth is we have forgotten what living is meant to be and as a result we now find ourselves nothing but a pile of dried up old bones. 

So maybe we are in exile, but perhaps that is not the horrible thing we imagine.  Maybe exile is something we needed.  If Ancient Israel needed exile to help them recognize where things had gone wrong, maybe we also need exile to recognize where we have gone wrong.  Maybe it is only out of exile that we can begin to once again discern our place in God’s mission for the world.  To see anew where God is calling us to be, to see beyond our own needs and desires, and instead begin to live out God’s mission in the world. 

Yes, it is possible for these dried out old bones to live again.  It is a life that must begin by hearing again the word of the Lord, whether through the prophets, Jesus, or Paul.  It is a life grounded in the mission of God, a mission revealed through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  It is a life meant for the world, a life God is continually making possible for us, if we are but willing to breathe in the four winds of God’s spirit.    

A Story Book and Not a Book of Instruction

Acts 8:26-38 Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Get up and go towards the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’ (This is a wilderness road.) ²⁷So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch… ²⁹Then the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go over to this chariot and join it.’ ³⁰So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ ³¹He replied, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’ And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him… ³⁵Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. ³⁶As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, ‘Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?’ ³⁸He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. (NRSV)

About a decade ago one of the biggest hits in contemporary Christian music was the song “Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.”  If that is your taste in music, there was a lot to like about the song.  Unfortunately, like so many other contemporary Christian songs, the lyrics left a lot to be desired.  The lyrics essentially turned the Bible into in acronym.  It was a clever acronym but one that fundamentally misunderstands the Bible.  

First off the Bible is not about leaving earth, but about entering into the world more deeply or justly.  There are few passages that talk about humanity leaving the earth.  At the very beginning God declared the earth and all that is in it to be “very good.”  Why would we want to leave something that God has declared to be very good? Creation is not something that we need to escape from; transformed yes, but escape no.  Even when the Bible talks about Jesus’ ascension it is with an understanding of returning.  So clearly the Bible is not about leaving the earth.

The second problem with the acronym is the Bible is not an instruction book, basic or otherwise.   It might be nice if the Bible was an instruction book, it would sure make things a lot simpler if not outright simplistic, but that is not the Bible.  The Bible tells the story of a collection of peoples and their experience with God.  This story is often anything but basic; there are contradictions and changes as the stories develop.  Each generation interprets their experience with God in a different way than the previous generations.  To make the Bible into a basic instruction book is to ignore the humanity of the Bible’s authors, as well as the purpose of the Bible itself.  Rather than an instruction book, the bible reveals something of God’s character, which helps us to see the possibilities of a new future, a new hope.  

That is exactly what happens to Phillip on the road, when he comes upon an Ethiopian Eunuch reading from the book of Isaiah.  It is no coincidence that a eunuch would be reading from Isaiah; unlike other biblical writings Isaiah presents eunuchs and others with a place of hope (Isaiah 56.3-4).  While Isaiah offers hope for eunuchs, the dominate view of the day would have judged eunuchs as being cut off from the church, as living outside of the church’s standards.  If the Bible was simply an instruction book Philip would have had no reason to approach the Ethiopian Eunuch.  The answer was simple, he was cut off from worship, cutoff from the church, fortunately the Bible is not an instruction book.  

Instead of choosing the simplistic way, Philip approaches Eunuch and asks him a simple question, “Do you understand what you are reading?”  The Eunuch replies he does not, because no one is guiding him.   So Philip joins him in the chariot and they travel together.  During the course of their travels they continue to discuss the prophet Isaiah, and when they come to some water, Philip, who is well grounded in the biblical tradition and is able to see were the Spirit is leading him, is unable to think of a reason why the Eunuch should not be baptized.  If the Bible was simply an instruction book none of this would have been possible.  However, when grounded (like Philip) in the stories of those ancient peoples experience with God, something of God’s character is revealed opening us up to see where God is coaxing us, even if it rubs against dominate understandings.    

Something similar to Philip’s experience happened at the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.  When it came time to answer the question of who can be baptized (fully included in the church), we as a church could think of no reason to prevent us from fully including gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people.  We as church could think of no reason why gay and lesbians couldn’t enjoy the same rights to marry as everyone else.   It was a decision that was a long time coming, but also one that was fully grounded in the biblical stories.  Being grounded in the stories of an ancient peoples' experience with God, like the story of Philip and the Eunuch,  allowed us as a church to see God coaxing us to challenge the notion that people should not be discriminated against for being biologically or sexually different than the dominate culture.  

Unfortunately we have become illiterate.  We no longer know the stories of those ancient peoples' experience with God, leading us to view the Bible as nothing more than an instruction book.  Viewed in this way we miss out on the future God is coaxing us toward.  God has given us a great gift in the stories of the Bible, stories we need to read and reclaim.  It may not be as simplistic as a basic instruction book, but the stories of those ancient peoples can lead us to a new future.  One where there is promise enough for everyone, instead of just the few.   

A Very Friendly Congregation...but What About Hospitality?

John 10.11-18 [Jesus said,]“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹²The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. ¹³The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. ¹⁴I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, ¹⁵just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. ¹⁷For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. ¹⁸No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.” (NRSV)

This past week was the Rocky Mountain Synod Assembly.  Like most Synod Assemblies this one was held at a hotel in Colorado Springs.  This was the second year in a row we stayed at this particular hotel.  It is a very comfortable hotel the rooms are nice, clean, and the bed restful, but that is not the only reason we have come back to this hotel two years in a row.  They also do a wonderful job with meals.  As is typical with any group this size (550+) there are a number of special dietary needs, whether vegetarian, pescatarian, gluten free, or some other food allergy.    Despite the large number of meals that need to be served in a short period of time, the hotel staff goes out of its way to make sure all those special dietary needs are met.  Even when a request is made that is not related to diet, the staff does its best to accommodate the guest.  Rather than expect the guest to come into their hotel and conform to them, the hotel staff becomes like us.  In becoming like their guests they are able to offer vegetarian, pescatarian, or gluten-free meals.  They add extra recycling bins in the common areas, because we are a green church.  They make sure and have a union contract and pay an equitable wage to their employees, so we can use their facilities for our assembly.  In becoming like us they model for us what hospitality is all about.  Sure they are financially rewarded for their hospitality, but that doesn’t make them less hospitable. 

Hospitality was one of the marks of the early church.  Those early Christians practiced a radical hospitality that wasn’t about financial reward, but based on the understanding that each person has been created in God’s image.  It didn’t matter whether they were Jewish, Greek, Roman, or Samaritan; they were welcomed into the early church because they were beings who had been created in God’s Image.  Their value and worth to the community was based solely on that understanding, and not on their family, birthplace, or ethnicity.  

But then, approximately 1700 years ago we began to replace hospitality with friendliness.  Now there is nothing wrong with being friendly or being nice to people, but it is not the same as hospitality.  Being friendly to people is easy.  It is easy to shake someone’s hand.  It is easy to say “good morning” to someone who has just come in.  It is easy to engage someone in small talk, to talk about the weather, the NFL draft, how the baseball season is shaping up etc.  No matter how friendly we might image ourselves to be, friendliness is not hospitality.  We still expect people who come into our congregation to conform to us, to be like us. 

In that way, we have become like the hired hand.  The hired hand who leaves the sheep, because he doesn’t value them they same way he values himself.  To him they are just sheep who haven’t become like him and thus don’t need to be protected.  Our congregations treat people the same way.  Unless you are a charter member, or related to a charter member, or have lived in the town for generations, or come from the right ethnicity you are left on the outside, because we just don’t value them the same as ourselves. 

The good (here good is being used as an example to follow) shepherd however stays to defend the sheep and is even willing to lay down his life for the sheep.  He doesn’t care that they haven’t become like him.  They are God’s creatures and their value is based solely on that fact, and not on which family they are part of, or how long they have been a member of the flock, or where their ancestors came from.  The good shepherd values the sheep at least as highly as himself, becoming like them and that is the difference between friendliness and hospitality. 

Maybe it is time for us as a congregation and as a church to return to our roots, to return to a genuine practice of hospitality, where everyone is valued on the basis of being created in God’s image, and not on the tenure of their membership or their ethnicity.  John reminds us there are still other sheep who are not yet part of the flock.  It is real hospitality that will make possible the promise of other sheep coming into the flock, the promise of one united and universal flock. 

God's Uncomfortable Reign

Acts 4.32-35 Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need (NRSV).

I think one of the most difficult lessons for us to learn, especially as children, is to share.  Much of preschool and even kindergarten is focused on the lesson of sharing.  Whether it is genetic or a product of our environment there is something deep within us that makes it hard for us to share.  It is counter intuitive.  I am no different.  As a child, I hated sharing my toys with my younger brother, and not just because things would come back in worse shape than when borrowed.  There was a fear that if he was playing with my toys, then I was missing out.  Never mind that I wasn’t using them at the time or even planning using them at the time.  There is something about our human nature that makes it hard for us to share.

Even as adults it is often hard for us to share.  That same fear we had of sharing as children still holds us.  But it doesn’t have to control us.  I can honestly say I have no problem sharing my things with my wife, Kim.  I trust her and I am more than willing to share my things with her openly and freely.  While my willingness to share with Kim, might make me sound (self) righteous, or look a little bit better than others, the reality is I know Kim wants nothing to do with most of my stuff.  It just doesn’t interest her, and she would have no need or desire to borrow my stuff.  It is incredibly easy to share your stuff with others, when you know they want nothing to do with it.  Whether as children or adults we just don’t like sharing.  It goes against our nature.  Even at a societal level we don’t like sharing. 

Maybe that is why this passage from Acts makes us more than just a little bit uncomfortable.  If it is of any consolation, we are not the only ones who are uncomfortable.  Many, throughout the history of Christianity, have tried to dismiss this passage from Acts; stating it is either an idealize fantasy that never happened or was tried early on but failed quickly.  As nice as it might be to dismiss this passage, neither of these options are valid.  We have recovered a number of early Christian texts from outside the Bible that show the Christian community continuing to share all possessions a century or more after Acts was written.  Which leaves us with the question of why. Why did the early Christian community think it necessary to share their possessions and distribute them according to need? 

The simple answer to this question is that those early Christians believed it was a part of their calling and identity as Christians.  They believed that Christians were called to follow Jesus, and, at least in part, the church is meant to be a reflection of God’s reign.  Central to God’s reign is that everyone has enough, so that there is “not a needy person among them.” (Acts appropriated this idea from Deuteronomy 15.4 and the Creations stories).  Unfortunately, when people look at the church they see an institution that looks less like a reflection, even dimly, of God’s reign and more like a reflection of the society around them.  We Christians, on the whole, are just as unwilling to share, just as unwilling to make sure none among us has need as the rest of society.  Now there is no difference between church and society.

So may be this text from Acts makes us uncomfortable, but that might be a good thing.  Being uncomfortable reminds us of what the church should be a reflection of God’s reign, even if only dimly.  Being uncomfortable also reminds us that God’s reign, often times, comes in very things that  makes us uncomfortable. 

Don't Worry...the Poor Have Refrigerators

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another” (John 13.34).   

“Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another” Jesus gives his followers this new commandment at the last supper. At first it sounds like a very safe commandment. But let’s face it, it is not always easy to love people, sometimes people make it difficult for us to love them.  I am sure we all know people, like that, who make themselves very difficult to love. Maybe it is the ‘black sheep’ of the family, the one who always manages to annoy the rest of the family during the holidays.  Or perhaps it is a boss or co-worker who is constantly trying to show everyone else up.  Or maybe it is someone we know, who for whatever reason is continuously getting under our skin.  As hard as it might be to love people like that, Jesus’ last commandment to his followers goes beyond just loving the annoying people in our lives. 

Jesus’ command isn’t just about liking or being nice to people, but about really and truly valuing them as human beings.  This is a much harder proposition, especially in our society.  How many times do we hear on TV, the Radio, or in a magazine or Newspaper, that we shouldn’t value or love someone?  We are constantly being told not to value or love the poor, after all they are just lazy, looking to take advantage of the system, or don’t know how to manage their funds.  One “news” channel even went so far as to argue the poor aren’t worth loving or valuing, because most of them have a refrigerator in their dwelling places.  Or how often are we told not to value or love immigrants, especially if undocumented, because they are coming to steal from us, or they might enhance our cultural and ethnic diversity.  Or told why we shouldn’t love or value liberals and progressives because they are only out to destroy the country.  I am sure we can all think of countless others who we are told not to value or love for whatever reason.  We are constantly being bombarded by messages telling us why we shouldn’t value and love others.  Unfortunately many of the people we are told not to value and love live on the margins of our society, people who are easy, for those of us in the majority, to devalue and not love. 

With the constant bombardment, no wonder why it is difficult for us to value and love others, especially those who are most unlike us.  But what does this mean for those of us who call ourselves Christians?  Many of us sense there is something wrong, but are less sure of the answer.  Maybe that is why we gather together on Maundy Thursday, and why so many do not.  We realize and hope that there is something more to Jesus’ commandment than just sentimentality.  On that Maundy Thursday night 2,000 years ago Jesus upset the structures of the world that continue to devalue people for the sake of the few. 

He did so by redefining what it means to be a leader, by washing his disciples’ feet.  While much has been made of the place of foot washing, what is often overlooked is whose feet he was washing.  We might consider the disciples to be the founders of the Church, but in their day they were nobodies, they were unclean, lazy, and uncouth.  They were Jews living in Roman occupied territory, who had some of the worst jobs possible in the hopes of surviving.  They were, in essence, the very people our society tells us not to value and love.  Yet it was their feet that Jesus washed, in so doing Jesus redefines how we value and love people.  No longer will the criteria of our society or theirs determine a person’s worth.  Instead we are to see all as being created in God’s image.  It might not seem like much has changed in the 2,000 years since Jesus’ last supper, but on that night Jesus challenged and changed the world.