Discipleship at Messiah

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
    and no mind has imagined
what God has prepared
    for those who love him.” –I Corinthians 2:9b (NLT)

I’ve been thinking (that’s dangerous I know). One of the things I’ve heard people say over the years is “how could a loving, all powerful God create a world that produces so much suffering and pure evil?” For some, it is given as their reason for rejecting the idea of God at all.

Let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that God, the God spoken of in the Bible does exist. Since God, loving, powerful, and all knowing created a world which is like this. What purpose, outcome is God planning, working toward that would be worth the cost of all the pain, suffering and evil allowed in God’s creation? Ultimately it cost the death of God’s own son, Jesus. I cannot image. But it must be something so great and wonderful that it is worth the cost.

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If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. -I John 1:9

Baseball players have their own way of explaining things. For example: when a pitcher gives up a home run, the pitcher says, “The curve ball was flat; in the middle of the plate.” Or he might say, “I left the pitch up.” But one of the most colorful descriptions I’ve seen was some years ago by Chicago Cubs pitcher Bob Patterson. The Cincinnati Reds’ Barry Larkin had hit one of his pitches for a game-winning home run. Patterson described it as “a cross between a screwball and a change-up. It was a screw-up.”

Ever “screw-up?” Every “blow it?” Have you ever made a wrong choice or decision which you lived to regret? Or have you done something, or failed to do something which was just wrong? Join the crowd. We all have and do. It’s the nature of flawed, sinful creatures. And we all know it.

But there’s an important distinction in how we look at it. Patterson’s pitch was a mistake. He didn’t intend to make a pitch like that. He was trying to make the right pitch. Some of our failures are mistakes. We didn’t know better, so we made the wrong decision. We tried to do the right thing.

But we also make choices, take actions that are clearly wrong. A popular sports or entertainment figure commits a immoral or illegal act. When, caught and held accountable she/he says, “I made a mistake.” It becomes a means of denying responsibility, an excuse.

The difference between these two attitudes is important for our relationship with God. Mistakes are the result of being human (They still can be very costly). Intentional choices to do wrong are the result of sin. And, unless we accept responsibility (confess) and turn away from them, prevent us from knowing God and his forgiving grace.

As followers of Jesus, we acknowledge our sin, by God’s grace are forgiven and given new life.

This also is in the Messiah July Newsletter.

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We [all] will be with the Lord forever. –I Thessalonians 4:17

Last summer, my wife Alana and I had the privilege of hosting Phil and Cyrena. Phil and Cyrena are members of the church where I was pastor for sixteen years. Considerably younger than us, they are serious bikers (bicycles). They have ridden bikes across the state of Iowa more than forty times. Twenty years ago they were in a group that rode from the West Coast to Washington, DC. For the twentieth anniversary of this trip they were riding from Gettysburg, Pa. to Washington. They have climbed Mt. Everest and Mt. Kilimanjaro. We hadn’t seen them since we left Iowa more than eleven years before. We have done none of those things and people who know us and them would say we have little in common.

Yet we had a great time visiting with them Friday night and Saturday morning before they went on to Gettysburg. We shared stories, caught up on mutual friends. We were all amazed at how Alana has kept up with so many, reading the local paper and gleaning information from church newsletters and occasional contacts.

The one common ground which binds us together is Jesus. They and others who know Him are family, no matter how different we might be. And it occurred to me; this is a foretaste of what heaven will be like. It will be a reunion that will bring the greatest of joy. The difference is it won’t be cut short.

Hope to see you then.

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“Do this in remembrance of Me”  -I Corinthians 11:24, 25

Methodism was in part a sacramental revival.  One reason it became a church was so American Methodists could receive the Sacraments.  To John Wesley, especially the Lord’s Supper/Communion was  necessary “if not to the being, at least to the well-being of a church.”1 Albert Outler said Wesley believed it to be “literally indispensable in the Christian life.”2

The Lord’s Supper (Wesley’s preferred term) should be received at least weekly, in practice for him every 4-5 days.  After his experience at Aldersgate, where he felt his “heart strangely warmed,” it took on an even deeper meaning for him.  The Sacrament had no intrinsic power but it was the Spirit working through it.

Wesley insisted that it was not just for Christians or those who had been converted but for anyone who was seeking God.

It is extremely significant that the central meaning of the Christian life is expressed in a Sacrament, a sign.  It reminds us that this life is not in words alone, but something more.  There is, at its center a reality of God’s presence and activity—an experience.

Certainly that should be clear to anyone who truly participates in the Lord’s Supper.

Yet, in spite of this regular reminder, we have more often than not failed to either teach or to live on the basic premise of the gospel—life consists of more than the physical world. There is a spiritual world, as real (in fact, more real) than what we can see, touch, taste, smell, and hear.

Furthermore it can be known and experienced.  Jesus has invaded the physical world and forever brought the two together.

Perhaps, the reason we often fail in our attempts to live and transmit the gospel is that we believe it is a philosophy, an ideology rather than God breaking into our lives. In I Corinthians 11, spiritual weakness is traced to a misuse of or misunderstanding of the sacrament.

We often ask the wrong question—
“How can I convince myself of this story?”
rather than
“How can I be open to God?  How can I experience God?”

A primary way is by coming to the Lord’s table to eat and drink and participate in this holy mystery.

1William Willimon
2Steven Harper

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