The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” – Romans 8:15

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 31, 2018): Romans 8

Emperor Tiberius ascended to the Roman throne on September 18, 14 C.E. He would remain on the throne for the next twenty-two years, watching over an eventful empire which would include the rise and eventual crucifixion of a Jewish Rabbi named Jesus Bar-Joseph, or maybe more commonly remembered as “Jesus of Nazareth.” Tiberius was the chosen successor of one of the greatest Roman leaders the empire would know, Octavian or Caesar Augustus. The Roman throne was hereditary – sort of. Tiberius was chosen by Octavian to be his successor, even though Tiberius had absolutely no blood relation that connected him to the Great Roman Emperor. The solution to this problem was that Octavian adopted Tiberius. This would become the way of the Romans. The successor would be chosen by the reigning leader and then adopted into the family. Once adopted, the new son would enjoy all of the benefits of a naturally born child, including the right to succeed the adoptive father in hereditary leadership. There was no difference between one naturally born and one who was adopted. And the one who was adopted into the family renounced all connection to his former parents and familial relations. He was now the son of the one who had adopted him. Often the one adopted was related in some way already, a nephew, or great-nephew of the leader in power. But sometimes, as was the case with Tiberius, there was no blood relation. The new leader is simply grafted into the family tree and takes his place as an equal member of the family.

This idea of adoption becomes a favorite illustration of the New Testament writers following the living illustration that was being played out in front of their eyes. God adopts us into his family, giving us all of the rights associated with being a child of the king. But for the adoption take place, we have to renounce our former associations with this world. The result is that we enjoy a new relationship with God, one that results in our ability to call him by the intimate title of Abba, a word probably best translated as Daddy.

A note on the use of the words slave. Paul says that we are no longer slaves. We have admitted that being a slave is something for which we seem to be built. But there are both crucial differences and similarities in ancient times between a slave and a child. Both did the work of the family, and both were seen as the responsibility of the master. The lowest rung of the workers in ancient times was the hired hand because the hired hand could be fired if times got rough. Neither a child or a slave could be disposed of in this way. The difference between the slave and the child was found in the idea that the child was an heir and the slave was not. So we are adopted into the family of God, and as Paul has mentioned before, we have become slaves to righteousness. But because of the adoption, we also have become heirs – and co-heirs with Jesus. So while we still have a master that we serve, we also know that we are heirs to all that our master possesses. We truly are the children of the King.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Romans 9

What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” – Romans 7:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 30, 2018): Romans 7

I have to admit that the idea of modesty has always fascinated me. And, by in large, modesty is taught to us at an early age by the society in which we live. It varies from place to place throughout the world, and it also varies by age. I recently read the remarks of an older actress about some of the things that she had worn when she was younger, and to one outfit her only reply was “not bad, but what convinced me that I did not need to wear a bra under that.” The answer is that her definition of modesty had changed through the passing of the years.

Culturally modest apparel in my culture is largely based on place – and weather. Most workplaces would see a bikini on a woman – or a man – in the corporate office situation as a violation of modesty. But on a hot summer day on the beach, the dress would be quite appropriate. I was surprised as a teen at a Christian conference that, largely because of modesty, boys and girls had separate swimming times, something that never occurred where I lived. An acquaintance of mine once argued that if she couldn’t bare her breasts while she was doing lawn work in her backyard, then men shouldn’t be allowed to show theirs either. To be honest, I think her argument was more that she was tired of seeing “fat, old men without shirts” than it was that she wanted the freedom to go topless while she worked in her yard. But all of this is culturally defined.

And the goal post on all of these issues is also movable, which is what sometimes makes it difficult to stretch outside of our cultures. One of the cultural hot buttons of our contemporary world is found in the idea of a woman covering, or not covering, their hair. The head covering is a modesty question, and the truth that many of us do not seem to realize is that for a woman, or under some circumstances a man, to go out in public without their hair covered would be very similar to a woman in my culture going out in public topless. While modesty might be culturally defined, it is very difficult for most of us to violate our cultural learning, even when we venture into other cultural spaces.

Paul argues that this is the way of all law. Law is culturally defined. Law is not sin, but rather it reveals sin because sin is what does not measure up to its standard. And as readers of this ancient document, we need to understand that the idea of Law was largely in flux in Paul’s world. All of sudden, things that had been considered against the law were now being re-evaluated, especially within the non-Jewish church. As a result of this debate, The Council at Jerusalem (Acts 15) had made this declaration:

It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things (Acts 15:28-29).  

With this one declaration, the non-Jewish church was released from vast swaths of the law that the Gentile cultures did not share with Jewish culture. The main object of the change was circumcision, a barrier to non-Jewish cultures because they defined circumcision as immodest. But it also reflected a change of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday, it wiped out various food delicacies that were enjoyed by non-Jewish culture but were forbidden in Jewish culture, and many other regulations found in the Law of Moses, but not in the journals of the Law in other culture.

Paul’s point is that people could no longer be considered to be sinful just because they violated Jewish law. Romans is written to a largely Gentile audience, and they needed to be free to follow the laws of the land as they understood them, without being accused of sin.

It is something with which we still struggle, and the reason why Christianity is expressed culturally in very many ways. One form is not better than the other. But we all need to follow the dictates of our moral law as we understand them. And yet, with all of these differences, we are still followers of Christ – and still brothers and sisters in the faith.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Romans 8

You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. – Romans 6:18

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 29, 2018): Romans 6

Snow White’s dwarfs are known for their “Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho; It’s home from work we go.” The song is sung as the dwarves head home from a long day of doing exactly what they want to do; digging in the dirt for all kinds of jewels which will, in turn, make them rich. If you are a dwarf, probably just like being a human, money is important. But the song of the dwarves has turned into something else for most of us living in our contemporary world. Our refrain is often more like “I owe, I owe, so off to work I go.” Unlike the dwarves, we have long ago given up the dream of getting rich by doing something that we love to do. Instead, we are slaves to the money that we need to service the debt that we owe, and often we work because we are compelled to, and not because we want to. We are slaves, and the ones who hold our debt has become our Masters.

But the reality is also that we are, by our very nature, slaves. I get that the image is not a pleasant one, but we seem to be willing to give ourselves up to be mastered by something. We are slaves to our debts, our appetites, our desire for pleasure, our pride, and our addictions. These are the things that fill our days and determine our actions.

Paul argument is that we have been slaves to these very things since birth. Paul calls these things which have been our masters, in some form, since the beginning of our lives, sin. These are the things that prevent us from being free to follow God. These are the motivations that shape our lives into something less than what we would have dreamed that our lives could be. And Paul’s major message here is that we can be free from these masters. For some, it is immediate freedom. For others, like our debt, it is freedom toward which, with the help of Christ we will work. But either way, our relationship to Christ begins to reveal the damage that these Masters have created in our lives.

But Paul recognizes another reality. The reality that we are no longer slaves to sin creates a void in our lives. And it is a void that something will battle to fill. After all, we are born into slavery, and we know of no other reality. Paul’s solution is that, as we say goodbye to the Masters of damage in our lives, we become slaves to righteousness or slaves to what is right and beneficial in life. As slaves to righteousness, we begin to work, with the power of God, to change this world in which we live into a better place. We become the architects of compassion and love to those who exist around us. We become the encouragement to people that we were always meant to be.

The fabric of this world in which we live can be changed if we are willing to trade Masters and work with the Spirit of God to make this world a better place for all of us to live. But it has to begin with us – those who have become slaves to righteousness.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Romans 7

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.- Romans 5:6

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 28, 2018): Romans 5

It is the end of life as we know it. It really doesn’t matter what the event is, we are people obsessed with the end of time. Maybe it was the shutdown of the government in the United States and the consequences that that could have. Or maybe it is the final stages of Brexit. Or it is our financial debt as societies. I have to admit that it is the last one that bothers me. I sat with a good friend not too long ago as he tried to explain to me why countries need to go into debt. Part of what he told me is that, for good economic health, there is a time to borrow and a time to pay back what is owed. I smiled. But, for me, that is exactly the problem. In my entire life, all I have known from governments is the time to borrow. Are you trying to tell me that we will reap the benefits of our out of control spending and then leave it up to our children and grandchildren to pay back? From the deepest part of my heart, I apologize to the next generations for our lack of discipline. You did not deserve what we did to you. It is the end of life as we know it.

In Christian circles, it is often the rapture that we talk about that will soon bring the end of life as we know it. And, often, I hear the proponents talking about the time being fulfilled, that the events have taken place that seems to allow for the return of Christ. There are a couple of reasons why this does not excite me. First, every generation since Jesus has seen the fulfillment of prophecy in the events of their days that has allowed the people to believe that Christ’s return was imminent. And there is a good reason for that. The Christian Church is supposed to live as if Jesus could return just moments from now. We call this idea chronology; it is the idea that the end will come following a certain order of events.

But the other problem is that the Bible knows two types of time – Chronos or Chronology and Kairos, maybe better understood as when the time is right. Kairos is the quality of our special moments. When Paul says that when the time was right, Jesus died for the ungodly, he is speaking of this Kairos time. When Matthew talks about the generations between Abraham and David, and David and the exile, and the exile and Jesus birth, this should not be treated literally, but rather as a poetic description of Kairos time. And Jesus will return, just as he did the first time, and just as the moment came when he died for the ungodly; he will come, and the end will come when the time is right.

And when will the time be right? When God decides that the time is right, and all of our power to try to unlock the mysteries of the future are thwarted by this single fact; God moves when he believes that the time is right. What we can be assured of is this; just as Jesus died for the ungodly when God decided that the time was right, so will he bring about the end of life as we know it when the time is right. But that decision is found only in the mind of Gog. And there is nothing that can change that.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Romans 6

He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. – Romans 4:25

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 27, 2018): Romans 4

“What I don’t get is why any parent would allow their child to die on behalf of someone else. It is just not what a parent does.” She looked at me wanting desperately for me to answer her biggest objection to Christianity; the death of Jesus on a cross almost 2000 years ago. Unfortunately, it is a question that I think we should struggle with, and many simply choose not to enter into that struggle. Why would God the Father allow Jesus the Son to die on a cross? There are many answers. Among the strongest, and one that has been used in some form by many Christian heresies is that this portion of Christianity is fiction. Jesus didn’t die. How could he, you can’t kill God. It would be like a common housefly deciding to kill a man. It just can’t be done. But the problem with that response, and many like it, is that it lessens the sacrifice of Jesus. It leaves us in the position where Jesus sacrifice on the cross logically means less because it wasn’t real. Again and again, theologians throughout history have rebelled against that easy answer.

Jesus suffered and died. We repeat the mantra; we draw pictures with our words of the agony of God as Jesus died on the cross. Yes, it was all according to plan, but we must not lessen the sacrifice, we cannot allow ourselves to stop asking the question, “why would a parent allow a child to die when the parent had the power to stop it?” I know that if I have the power to stop the death of my children or grandchildren in some nightmarish future, I will use that power. God had the power to stop the death. So why didn’t he use it?

And the answer is uncomfortable. I stopped the hand of God. I didn’t know that I had that kind of power, but apparently, I do. We repeat it over and over again in church – the wages of sin is death. Paul has already said that wages are not voluntary; that they are an obligation. Wages must be paid. And on the cross, our wages were paid. The sin that I have committed, that you have committed, as well as your next door neighbors indiscretions, have been paid by God in the form of Jesus’s very real sacrifice. The death that I earned was paid by a perfect Jesus. As painful as this moment was for God, it had to be that way. Now I am free to move into the future without guilt (there is way too much guilt inside the church for a group of people who believe that Jesus has died for their sins) knowing that the price has been paid.

But Paul argues that that is only step one. Death freed us from the penalty or the deliverance of the appropriate wage for our sin, but his raising from the dead justified us. Resurrection allowed our records to be erased and we are left just as if our sin never happened. The resurrection of Jesus erased his death, the cross, the penalty and our sin. In one act it was gone.

I get that the crucifixion is uncomfortable, but without it, there would have been no resurrection and no erasing of our sin. And God allowed his son to die a horrible death because he just couldn’t leave us in that hideous position.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Romans 5

… there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. – Romans 3:11

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 26, 2018): Romans 3

Edgar Allan Poe said that “All religion, my friend, is simply evolved out of fraud, fear, greed, imagination, and poetry.” Religion, at its most base, is finding something that makes me feel good, something that I understand. So Sheldon, in an episode of the sitcom “Young Sheldon,” decides to create his own religion and his own God based on prime numbers. The solution fits Sheldon. Math brings peace because it can be clearly understood and it is unencumbered by clumsy elements like human communication. But this God who I understand is not just a construct of Sheldon’s new religion. It is the basis of all religion.

And this would seem to be Paul’s point. When you boil religion down to its most basic components, the result is that we have been chasing after ourselves and not God. We want what makes us happy. We constantly recreate God in our image. God believes what we believe. And, therefore, when someone challenges us and our created God, we struggle and fight and often declare the one who has challenged is outside of what we declare to be an orthodox belief, or in my case, orthodox Christianity. We have never really sought after God, we have looked for a being who would confirm what it is that we already believe about the world.

Our problem, which began in the first century C.E., is the Jesus decided not to play by the rules. Through Jesus, God decided to interrupt human history and step out and show himself to the ones he had created. Suddenly, a lot of what we believed about God was on the critical list. God was love, and he was unmoved by national boundaries and priorities. God was willing to forgive even grievous sin. And God was not after performance-based righteousness, but rather was concerned about what was on the inside of his people. And this did not match the characteristics of the God that we had created.

It still doesn’t. We still refuse to seek God and understand him. We want a God that is the God of them and us, and where God stands clearly on our side. We still take the list of sins that is written in Romans 1 and 2 and bash each other with them, missing Paul’s point altogether. When we use religion as a weapon, we prove Poe’s point; we begin to believe that all religion is a fraud base on fear and greed. In the opening of Romans, Paul is not trying to make us feel guilty and raise a standard of behavior to which we must measure ourselves, even though this is what we want. Paul is trying to underscore our need for God – For all have sinned, both Jews and Gentiles, and in very many ways, and therefore we have missed God. We have searched and found ourselves, and allowed God to remain hidden in the world. We have not found him, and we are not subject to him because the real God is unexpected.

I am convinced that God is love. And whenever we react without love and compassion, whenever we set up laws that benefit us, whenever we allow greed and fear to govern how we interact with others, whenever we carry picket signs that put down other human beings, and we say that this is what our God demands, then we are serving a false God of our own creation. God is still trying to break into our midst and reveal himself to us.

And we are still trying to recreate God into an entity that benefits us because that is easier than trying to search out God and ask what he would have us do. And, often, we are scared of what God might answer if we ever did ask.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Romans 4

A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. – Romans 2:28

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 25, 2018): Romans 2

I am Irish. Well, I am not sure that I can prove that, but I self-identify as part of the Irish diaspora. The reality is that if I am tracing my ancestry back, I am the descendant of a Dutch immigrant who landed near New York (actually then it was New Amsterdam at the southern tip of Manhattan Island) in the 1650’s. Lines that pre-date that are primarily English. My Irish roots extend back to the 1740’s where I first catch sight of a Mullen (in this case, Peter Mullen). I have no idea where he came from, but my guess is that he might have been a newly landed Irish immigrant. And so, because I carry the name Mullen, I self–identify as Irish.

To be honest, I don’t think anyone really cares how I self-identify. An examination of my DNA might reveal that there is very little Irish blood in me. But even then, no one would likely care if I persisted in believing that I was Irish. However, that is not always the truth. Pretending that you are African when you are a White European has become an issue in recent years, and it is definitely not okay. That situation was made clear not too long ago when Rachael Dolezal, an ex-NAACP leader, claimed that she felt qualified to lead the NAACP because she self-identified as Black, even though she was White.   

Paul’s argument carries us in a different direction. According to Paul, it is not your genetics that defines you as a Jew or Gentile. It is your relationship with the Law of Moses. If you are a Jew, the Law is essential to you, and you will keep the Law. If you don’t follow the Law, then it doesn’t matter if you can trace your ancestry back to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; you are not a Jew.

Paul is speaking directly about the Jews in Romans 2. Incidentally, Romans 1 was aimed mainly at the Gentiles and all of this working its way up to the main point of this section which is highlighted in Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” but there is an important comparison for the Christian Church. If I am to self-identify as a Christian, it is because I am endeavoring to follow Jesus law of Love. If I refuse to love, then it doesn’t matter how many times a week I go to church, or how many times I have said the Sinner’s Prayer. Jesus words are clear; “This is my command: Love each other” (John 15:17). There is no Christianity without love.

And yet I see them running around, often filled with self-importance. They call themselves Christians. However, love is not evident in them. They are like the Jew that Paul describes who declares their Jewish heritage and yet disregards the Law. They are not who they proclaim to be – and that is the danger. Paul says that no one can be called a Jew who does not follow the law, and in the same way, no one can be called a Christian who does not love. It is really that simple.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Romans 3

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. – Romans 1:8

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 24, 2018): Romans 1

Somewhere in the late 40’s or early 50’s, the Roman Emperor Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome. It was not the first time. The Jews had been expelled from the city at least twice before. The first time was in 139 B.C.E., more than a century before the rise of the Roman Empire. Then, the Jews were evicted from the city for excessive missionary practices. Emperor Tiberius used the same reason to expel the Jews in 19 C.E. So as Claudius rises to the throne believing that he is the Great Reformer of Religions, and with an innate bias against proselytizing or missionary activities, it might have seemed to be only a matter of time before the Emperor would expel the Jews once again. For the most part, it was the Druids who suffered under Claudius’s wrath early on in his reign. But eventually, Claudius got around to issuing the proclamation that would send most of the Jews packing.

But this time was also different from the other two expulsions. The historian Suetonius describes Claudius’s decision to expel the Jews this way; "Since the Jews constantly made disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he (the Emperor Claudius) expelled them from Rome." The mention of Chrestus is widely acknowledged to be a reference to Jesus Christ. So this time, it wasn’t Judaism that was at the focal point of the Emperor’s wrath; it was Christianity.

What followed was a grand experiment that was forced upon the Christian Church. Up until this moment in time, Christianity was very much a Jewish sect. The Jerusalem Council, which severed the Christian Church from Judaism, had just taken place (48 C.E.). It would still be years before the effects of the council would be fully felt by the churches that existed outside of Palestine. That meant that these churches were likely still being led by Jewish Leaders, like Paul and the Apostles. When Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome, in effect, he had just created the first Gentile Church, led by non-Jewish leaders. And no one was exactly sure what that meant – nor were they sure if the Christian Church at Rome would even survive.

A few years later, as Paul sits down to pen a letter to the Roman Church, he is comfortable in declaring the success of the forced experiment. He is thankful for the Romans because their faith was being reported throughout the world. There is no doubt that, in the mind of Paul, the success of the Roman Church was critical, and he had likely spent many nights agonizing over the situation in prayer. The Roman Church, merely because it existed at the heart of the Roman Empire, was a highly visible church. And, therefore, Rome had become a highly visible test of the actions taken by the Jerusalem Council. The question of whether a non-Jewish Christian Community could survive was now being answered in the view of everyone.

But God has been faithful, and Paul made sure that the Roman Gentiles knew that he thanked God for their faith – and for their faithfulness. Even though the church had been deprived of its leaders, it continued to move forward in the faith, and the people of Rome deserved to be commended.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Romans 2

On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight. – Acts 20:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 23, 2018): Acts 20

I am old enough to remember the “Blue Laws” which prohibited certain businesses from opening on Sunday’s. In Canada, the “Blue Laws,” in some form, were in effect until the mid-1980’s. By that time it was a much watered down form of the law, which had once prohibited theatre performances, movie screenings, horse racing and sports events, as well as many stores from opening on Sunday. And I admit that I had my own brush with the Blue Laws. As a young adult attending religious camp meetings, I remember several instances where we left the campgrounds and drove to a small town to find a field to play some football on a Sunday afternoon. All sports were prohibited on the Church grounds.

Often, Blue laws were referred to as Sabbath Laws, which admittedly from a legalistic point of view was confusing. The Sabbath is Saturday, the seventh day of the week, a fact that is obvious from looking at a traditional calendar. Sunday is the first day of the week, and to be precise it is the Lord’s Day and not the Sabbath. Yet a tradition built up that has extended from the time of the apostles that the Christian Church would meet on the first day of the week, treating the Lord’s Day as the Christian Sabbath. Sunday, and not the Sabbath, was a time to break bread and sing songs of the faith and receive Christian teaching. And this verse is really the first evidence of this tradition.

The reason for this change is multi-layered. Maybe, most obviously and argued, the change recognizes that the Christian Church made a conscious change in its day of worship because Jesus lay in the grave on Saturday, the Sabbath, and was raised to life on Sunday. Every Sunday celebration is a celebration of the resurrection of Christ. But there was another reality that probably led to the change. Paul and the apostles would often use the Sabbath as a day to go to the Jewish synagogues and teach about Jesus. This made the Sabbath a day of evangelism, but not worship. And singing what were becoming the traditional songs of the church and sharing in communion, the breaking of the bread, was impossible in a Jewish setting, as were specific Christian teachings. The other hindrance was that the synagogues, where the apostles wanted to spend their time, did not necessarily welcome Gentiles. What was needed was a place where both Jews and Gentiles could share in their belief in this Messiah who had died for all of their sins, while at the same time leaving Jewish Christians with the opportunity to share Christ in the synagogues on the Sabbath.

Enter Sunday Worship and the idea of worshipping on the First Day. It made sense to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus in a way that was multi-racial and still left the Sabbath open for the Jews to go to synagogue and talk about this very Jewish Messiah. But, as this verse highlights, there was also a problem. Sunday in the ancient world was far from a place of “Blue Laws.” It was a day of work, which meant that these Christian meetings could only happen in the evening, and when you had a preacher like Paul, that meant that the meeting might go very late.

One more comment about the now long gone “Blue Laws.” I have to admit that I miss them, but probably not for the reason that they existed in the first place. I think that we need a day when everything is closed. A day when shopping isn’t possible, and so we pick up a football or a baseball and walk outside and try to drum up an informal game with friends. I think we need a day when we can’t do the mundane things of life, and so we are given the opportunity to gather and talk, laugh and have fun. The repeal of the Blue Laws made every day mundane, and I think we are the losers in that situation. So go and create your own. You are designed to spend one day a week just having fun and putting a smile on your face. A day to read the book you want to read or just listen to the music you want to hear. We all deserve that day, so don’t let the world steal it from you. And by the way, I think that was God’s original idea for the Sabbath anyway.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Romans 1

Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, for each one should carry their own load. – Galatians 6:4-5

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 22, 2018): Galatians 6

Robert Fulghum in his classic book “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten” writes “Don't sell yourself short. You may never have proof of your importance, but you are more important than you think.” Sometimes we seem to conclude that all pride is bad. But the truth is that there is a measure of pride that is necessary for us to get out of bed in the morning. And part of pride gives us the confidence to move in different and creative ways. I believe that Fulghum is right. You may never have proof of your importance, but there is no doubt that you are more important than you think.

The problem with pride is when it comes into contact with someone else. While I believe that each of us is of infinite worth and necessary for the fabric of this thing that we call life, none of us are more important than someone else. It is a false pride that says that I am worth something because I am better than you. It is that kind of comparative pride that tears down everything that has been built up in our life communities.

And this is the point that Paul is trying to get at as writes to the Galatian Church. There was a belief going around the early church that Jesus was going to come back soon, and therefore, why work? But as the return of Christ was delayed, these people began to have to depend on the generosity of the church to live. And maybe they began to take pride in this idea or began to believe that they were better than the others because they knew the truth while those who were paying their way did not have the faith just to live and make the most of their time on earth before Jesus returned. The reality was that this situation was creating a high stress on the system the Christians were developing to care for the less fortunate.

So Paul adds this note to the Galatians. Test your own actions. Are you better today than you were yesterday? Don’t compare yourself to someone else. Carry your own weight. If it is possible, provide your own support. Love because that is who you are, not because you expect that love to be returned or because you want to be known as a more Christian person than somebody else. Take pride in who you are becoming, and not in who you can beat in some arbitrary list of characteristics or belief. After all, we are all important. And while you may never have proof of your importance, but you are more important than you think. Which just makes you the equal of your neighbor.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Acts 20

Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. – Galatians 5:26

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 21, 2018): Galatians 5

C. S. Lewis reminds us that “If a man thinks he is not conceited, he is very conceited indeed.” Rather, the reality is that we need to recognize that we all react to this world with at least a measure of conceit, this idea that we are the best. Sometimes, our psyches may even declare a level of conceit necessary to help us keep our self-images above water. Our sense of worth seems to require that we are conceited in at least some area of our lives.

The problem is that for any community, conceit is the beginning of death. Conceit declares that I don’t need you, and for a church, that is a dangerous belief. The idea of what it is that I am good at is something that I have spent the last few weeks questioning. And my solution might not be all that encouraging because it doesn’t matter what it is at which I excel. I don’t mean that the way it sounds. I know that I have strengths and weakness, and I believe that it is better for me to spend time working on my strengths than it is to try to improve my weaknesses. The math for me works out like this; if I try to strengthen where I am already strong, it might be that one day I can excel at something. But working to improve where I am weak, at best, allows me to be average in that area. So isn’t it better to work at something at which I might be able to excel?

But the pushback is found in this; it is not better to excel if I become conceited in the process because while excelling at something might have postives for the community, conceit tears at the very fabric of the idea of sharing our lives with each other. C. S. Lewis’s statement is not that we should all just recognize that conceit is part of life, but rather recognize that the idea that “I am better than ____ at _____” is something at which we all have to battle. This is our holy war. It doesn’t matter if I am better, or if I am worse. I am me, and God has given all of the me’s purpose in this world. He also values all of the me’s. I am no more or less important than you. There is no need for me to prove my worth, or for me to envy who it is you are. In Christ, we are one.

And the pushback of Christ, the reaction to all of our situations, is love. Conceit, thinking that I am better, and envy, thinking that I am worse, are always blockages to love. Always.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Galatians 6

What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. – Galatians 4:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 20, 2018): Galatians 4

In ancient times, the idea of “coming of age” was a fluid one. Maybe it still is. In the area where I live we have several steps to adulthood. A sixteen-year-old can obtain a license to drive a car, and for me, that was one of the first signs of my growing independence. At eighteen, they can legally enter a bar and drink alcoholic beverages. But in some areas that privilege is reserved until the person reaches their twenty-first birthday, meaning that they can enlist in the army and be sent to war three years before it is legal for them to drink. I moved out of the house for the first time was eighteen, but it was always nice to have the security blanket of knowing that I could move home if things got tough. As I was attending college, it became the pattern for me to move away during the school year and then move home for the summer to make money for the next school year. The pattern repeated until I got married, another step toward my eventual adulthood. Even the idea of becoming a parent is really a step toward adulthood and not evidence of our maturity.

As we begin to live longer, scientists have started to ask the question where exactly the time delay might be in our lives, and the answer is a little surprising. The extension of life seems to be in our teenage year, which now experts suggest lasts close to the age of thirty. Finally, as thirty-year-olds, we have actually “come of age” or “grown-up” – at least, some of us have. For some, maturity takes much longer.

For Jews, the idea of “coming of age” is tied up with the concept of Bar Mitzvah (or Bat Mitzvah). At the age of 13, the child enters into adulthood and is morally responsible for his or her decisions. But in ancient Rome, the child became an adult when the father decided that he or she was worthy of that honor. It was the Father’s decision, and the Father’s action that initiated the transition from child to adult, or slave to heir.

Paul uses this Roman idea as a basis for Christian life. Until the moment that the father declares that we are adults, we are just children. And children live under the same conditions, or even harsher terms, than a slave, even though he is heir to the estate. The difference, then, is not in the daily life of the child or the slave, because both of them live under the direction and command of someone else. The difference between the child and slave is found in the potential for the future. In the future, the slave will still be a slave, while the child will inherit the estate, either in whole or in part.

Following Paul’s argument, we are all children of God. We are all slaves because we are children, but we are the potential heirs in the future. And that moment of moving from slave to heir is the Father’s decision. Later, Paul will argue that the Spirit, poured out on the people of God, is the sign of God’s recognition of his heir. It is at that moment that the child begins to understand the will and business of the father, and is ready to act as the heir, rather than a slave.

Until then, all we remain slaves, but slave with a future potential to be the heirs of the estate to which we are born.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Galatians 5

You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. – Galatians 3:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 19, 2018): Galatians 3

I am convinced that true objectivity is impossible. We all see the world through colored glasses of our own design. Much of what we have been taught as children affects how we look at the events around us. As does the choices that we have made through life. We can try to remove these glasses, try to get down to the real thing that we are attempting to perceive, but remnants of them will always remain. When a person argues that “your logic doesn’t work here,” what they are telling you is quite possible, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that either logic is correct. Both sides are looking through glasses of their own creation. Playing the game of objectivity means always trying to see in the words of your critics where it is that you may be deceived. And through the game, we might get closer to objective truth, but we will never truly arrive at our goal.

Paul tries to paint a word picture for the Galatians as he describes their deception. And he starts with a very strong accusation – You foolish Galatians. I love the way that J. B. Phillips translates this verse. “O you dear idiots of Galatia, who saw Jesus Christ the crucified so plainly, who has been casting a spell over you?” Somehow in using the words “dear idiots” Phillips arrives at the strength of the condemnation combined with the love for the people of Galatia that was in Paul’s heart. The problem was that the Galatians understood the Gospel message, they knew that Jesus had died on a cross for their sins, and yet they refused to see that their salvation no longer depended on their works, but rather on the action that Jesus had undertaken for them. According to Paul, it was as if someone had cast an evil eye on them, prohibiting them from understanding.

The real problem was that everything that they had been taught contradicted what it was that their eyes saw and their hearts understood. And so they translated what it was that they saw to match what it was that they had been taught. We do it all the time. If we agree with someone, then they make sense. If we disagree, then everything they say and do is garbage. Is everything that they say and do garbage? Not likely, but our translation of the world allows us to arrive at that conclusion.

Paul is hoping that “You foolish Galatians” or “you dear idiots of Galatia” will have enough shock value to get the Galatians to take a second look at what it is that has been clearly portrayed to them in Jesus. In that second glance, he hopes they will understand all that Jesus has done their behalf, and leave behind the teaching that they had received which insists that they could earn their salvation by doing right things.

Whether we want to admit it or not, we are often caught in the same trap as the Galatians; minimizing what it is that Jesus has done on our behalf and maximizing our own good works. And when that happens, we have been deceived and have become the “dear idiots” that need an adjustment in how we view our world. We need to be shocked out of our self-reliance and into an understanding of how much Jesus has done for us.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Galatians 4

I went in response to a revelation and, meeting privately with those esteemed as leaders, I presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running my race in vain. – Galatians 2:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 18, 2018): Galatians 2

Democratic Congressman Emanuel Cleaver insists that “there is more power in unity than division.” We can get more done if we are all pulling in the same direction, than if we choose to pull toward different goals. One of the first tasks of any team is to make sure that everyone is trying to achieve the same goal. We add our effort to the other and multiply our abilities, getting ourselves much closer accomplishing our goals than we could be if we remained apart.

Paul continues to tell his story to the Galatians. And he reminds them that there was a time, even after his conversion experience, when he stood apart from the developing Christian Church. After his conversion in Damascus, he had tried to fit into the Christian Church, but because of his past, he could never find his place in the church. And so he went home to Tarsus. He studied what the Christians believed, and apparently continued to receive some kind of revelation in the faith. And, maybe partially because of his distance from the centers of Judaism, he had become convinced that becoming a Christian did not mean that you first had to become a Jew. The Gospel that Paul preached was that a belief in the Jewish Messiah was available for people of all cultures and races. And the presence of an uncircumcised (read “not a Jew”) man named Titus was a result of this gospel. But Paul was not convinced that his teaching would be acceptable to the largely Jewish church in Jerusalem. We have no idea what might have happened if Jerusalem had opposed the Pauline Gospel, but at the encouragement of Barnabas, Paul decides to make a trip to Jerusalem and, there, he would talk with the elders. All of this took place about seventeen years after his conversion experience on the road to Damascus.

The trip that Paul makes to Jerusalem is most likely the same trip that is described in Acts 11:27-30. Paul decides to take advantage of this trip to find out if his teaching, and his revelation, is in keeping with the understanding of the apostles. It is quite possible that Paul had no idea that Peter had received a similar revelation and that God was moving in a unified way through the whole church. The meeting in Jerusalem became a moment of confirmation both for Paul and for the Church in Jerusalem.

It is these moments of confirmation on which we need to dwell in the contemporary church. The world sees us as divided into denominations which, at times, seem to pull against each other. But the truth is that most of the areas in which we disagree are really peripheral movements within the Christian Church. On the most important elements of the church, we stand in agreement and support. The Christian Church is more unified than we sometimes understand. And this unified face and belief in the resurrected Jesus, who came for all the people, is the one that we should be showing to the world.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Galatians 3

For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. – Galatians 1:13

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 17, 2018): Galatians 1

I feel sorry for Ivanka Trump (I never thought I would write that). After Oprah’s rousing speech at the 2018 Golden Globes, the Trump heiress went to Twitter to support the former talk show host and unofficial Queen of the United States. Ivanka tweeted that she had “just saw Oprah’s empowering speech at last night’s Golden Globes. Let’s all come together, women & men, & say TIMESUP (referring to the campaign to move toward gender equality and an extension of the backlash against people, primarily men, who have been accused of sexual abuse and harassment.) Twitter did not react well to the comment. Actress Alyssa Milano commented “Great! You can make a lofty donation to the Time's Up Legal Defense Fund that is available to support your father's accusers.” Others reminded Ivanka that her father was a sexual predator and that because of her dad she had no right to comment on Oprah’s speech.

I am not convinced that the backlash was warranted. I think that Ivanka has a right to both stand up for the end of sexual inequality, harassment, and abuse while loving her father and seeing the best in him. And maybe the most important person to the cause, if a redemption of Donald Trump is indeed possible, is his daughter Ivanka. If there is anyone who can show a dad the error of his ways, it is often the daughter. For the TIMESUP movement to be successful, what is needed is not just the punishment of those who have harassed and abused in the past, but for the abusers to see their error in their actions and reform their behavior. This reformation and redemption of people lies at the heart of the Christian message. Christianity has never been about sending all of the evildoers to hell; it is about changing destinies and behaviors of those who commit wrong actions and allowing them to move to the other side of the moral argument.

This was Paul’s story. Once Paul persecuted the Christian Church. Once he was pivotal in the punishment and execution of Christian leaders. But all of that had changed. Now he protected the Christian Church and worked to preserve it in a way that no one who had known him previously would have believed. If there was a real-life example of a change similar to the change that happened in the fictional Ebenezer Scrooge, it is found in the story of the life of Paul. If there is one thing that we need to try to remember it is that we are all “used to be’s.” There is something inside of all of us of which we are not proud. And the world may want to define us by who we used to be, rather than judge for our current place in the journey or by who we have become, but God leaves what is past in our past. All that is concerning to him is our actions in the eternal now.

So what do we do with the Ivanka Trumps of this world? Ivanka has the right, just like every other woman, to not be sexually discriminated against or harassed or abused. And as much as many of us are frustrated with the actions of Donald, it is not her responsibility to change her dad. She must love her dad and through her actions show him what is important to her. And we might be surprised at how those simple actions might change the Donald’s behaviors. Or not. But ultimately what happens to Donald Trump is not the responsibility of Ivanka.    

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Galatians 2

Now about our brother Apollos: I strongly urged him to go to you with the brothers. He was quite unwilling to go now, but he will go when he has the opportunity. - 1 Corinthians 16:12

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 16, 2018): 1 Corinthians 16

Film producer Nicholas Klein commented that “First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. And then they attack you and want to burn you. And then they build monuments to you.” We are most definitely fickle in our handling of other people. And some of the most successful people in the world had had their moments when they were declared to be failures. All of us experience pain in this life. The secret to success is found in the actions that we take when we are in the midst of that pain.

Paul has written this letter because of the conflict and pain that existed in the Corinthian Church. And part of that conflict was because the people had chosen different leaders as the champions of their cause. Some claimed to be followers of Paul, others followers of Apollos, and still others declared their allegiance to the apostle Peter. Of course, the “holier than thou” crowd claimed to be followers of Jesus, but there is no indication that they meant this is a genuine way. And the reality was that there were significant differences between each of the men that the people had chosen as their ultimate leader.

Peter was the historical choice. He was the one who had walked with Jesus, who Jesus had chosen to be one of the twelve. But the downside of Peter was that he seemed to struggle with the Jew/Gentile division throughout most of his ministry. Intellectually he understood that God accepted the Jews and Gentiles equally, he was a signatory to the resolution of the Jewish Council in 45 C.E. (Acts 15), and yet it was tough for him to move past the requirements of the Jewish Law. Those who wanted to keep aspects of Jewishness front and center in the Christian Faith, possibly even in upholding Saturday as the day of Worship instead of Sunday which was at this time growing in appeal to Gentile Christians, probably chose Peter because of his allegiance to the Jewish Law.

Apollos was the great orator. He spoke well and could quickly engage his audience, grabbing their attention so that he could tell them the Gospel story. For those who maybe wanted to be entertained, and please do not read that as a negative, there is nothing wrong with enjoying a good, entertaining speaker, then Apollos was the obvious choice.

Paul was the great teacher. He was an intellectual giant. He may not have been a great speaker like Apollos, and he wasn’t present with Jesus during his ministry like Peter, but he seemed to have been uniquely chosen by God to advance Christian message of grace, forgiveness, and love, and to put the Christian message into words that everyone could understand.

As Paul closes his letter to the Corinthian Church, he seems to understand that there has to be a meeting between the church and the leaders to heal the wounds. Paul says that he plans to come soon. He has some other obligations he has to take care of, but the Corinthian Church should expect to see him in the coming months.

Some have argued that Paul was the great general of the early church, but this passage would seem to argue against at least the hierarchical aspect of that image. Paul desires that Apollos would come. (Interestingly, he makes no mention of Peter who he calls Cephas.) Paul has urged Apollos to make arrangements to go to Corinth, but he has no authority to compel him to go. And at this moment, Apollos has no interest in going to Corinth at present. He most likely is acutely aware of the way that his ministry has affected the Corinthian Church and did not want to get back into the conflict. But Paul insists that Apollos will come at a time that is convenient for him.

But for now, the time has come to heal wounds of the church and genuinely chase after Christ. Peter, Apollos, and Paul have been ignored, ridiculed and attacked. But if the church was to be truly Christian, it was now time to get beyond these very human leaders and to start building metaphorical monuments to the real leader of the church, Jesus Christ.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Galatians 1

And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. – 1 Corinthians 15:14

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 15, 2018): 1 Corinthians 15

One of my favorite movie scenes is from the 1991 Comedy “City Slickers.” Mitch (Billy Crystal) and Curly (Jack Palance) are riding with the herd, and they fall into a conversation about love, life, and missed opportunities. Curly finally looks at Mitch and asks “Do you know what the secret of life is?” And then he holds up his index finger. “This.” Mitch purposefully misunderstands the statement and responds with “Your finger?” Curly just moves on with the conversation. “One thing, just one thing. You stick to that the rest don’t mean sh**.” Mitch’s response is probably the response all of us would have had if we were the ones riding with Curly. “But what is the “one thing?” Curly’s response to our question is spoken with a smile from the old cowboy. “That’s what you gotta figure out.”

Curly is probably right, but boiling down life to one thing is never easy. Life is a multifaceted adventure. Yet, at the same time, we somehow feel the truth in Curly’s statement. Life is about one thing. And somehow, our mission to figure out that one thing and stick to it.

Paul seems to have figured it out. He knows the one thing, and it is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I have always argued that the most important day on the Christian calendar is neither Christmas nor Easter. It is Good Friday because it was on Good Friday that the debt that we bore because of all of the wrong that we have done was paid in full. If Easter Sunday happened without Good Friday, then we would know that death had been defeated, but it wouldn’t matter because we would still be living under the penalty of sin. And the penalty for sin is death (Romans 6:23). But the truth is that the Easter weekend events actually support each other. On Good Friday our penalty is paid, but on Easter Sunday God shows through the raising of Christ from the dead that the payment was accepted. I still think that Good Friday is the most important date on the Christian Calendar, but I am equally convinced that the Easter Weekend events need each other to find their meaning.

Paul would seem to agree, even going as far as to say that without the Easter resurrection, our message and faith would be useless, or maybe better phrased as without power. The message of critical importance to us that God’s forgiveness is both deep and wide comes straight out of Good Friday, but the power of that message is found in Easter Sunday – and, therefore, Easter Weekend essentially becomes a single event. This is our one thing, without which our message, faith, and lives are without both power and meaning.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 16

What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up. – 1 Corinthians 14:26

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 14, 2018): 1 Corinthians 14

Author Seth Godin argues that “The devil doesn’t need an advocate. The brave need supporters, not critics.” There is a level where we all need to be encouraged and understood. The problem is that often, in the midst of our own dysfunction, it is hard to see the encouragement that the other needs. Too often, for one to be encouraged, another has to be criticized or chastised. We are all the brave, and we all need to be supported.

The church has often been known for shooting its own wounded.  Maybe we just can’t help it. After all, we are all wounded. And, sometimes, it seems for one to be encouraged, someone else must criticized. It is as if we are sitting on a child’s teeter-totter and for one end to rise, the other end must be lowered. We struggle with the idea that every one of us, on this journey to make sense of this world, is a card-carrying member of the brave. And in the midst of our struggle, every one of us needs, and deserves, to be encouraged. The brave need supporters, not critics. And the devil doesn’t need an advocate.

I get that, at times, we are all hurting. But somehow we have to remember that the person next to us, or the one that we feel has disrespected us, is hurting too. And the church is commanded to be a place where we can be built up, but not at the expense of another person. If encouragement can only be offered by criticizing someone, then it is the devil that is alive in the details.

To the Ephesian Church Paul would write this instruction: “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (Ephesians 4:29). I have to admit that sometimes I fail at this, but I honestly try.

And so, Sunday has rolled around again. Wherever you are, regardless of the church you attend, this is God’s will for you. Be an encouragement to those around you. Be a supporter of the brave and my prayer is that someone will, in turn, support you, because you also are numbered among the courageous. We don’t need critics. We do need to be surrounded by love, and this is my hope for every church, and every gathering of people, on the planet

Welcome to Sunday. Go and be an encouragement.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 15

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. – 1 Corinthians 13:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 13, 2018): 1 Corinthians 13

Edward Wood, the 1^st Earl of Halifax, said that “True merit, like a river, the deeper it is, the less noise it makes.” If you have to keep on proclaiming you credentials or leaning on your education, then maybe you cannot do the job you are attempting to complete. Some would argue that without declaring your expertise to the world, no one will know what you can do; that we are noisy because we think we are advertising our competence in our area of expertise. Maybe, but I think that Wood might reply that if we have merit, the noise we are creating advertising our talent would be unnecessary.

But if true merit is quiet, love is even quieter. Love often seems to go unnoticed, until it has somehow been removed and we are forced to go through life without it. It is then that we find that love has been speaking in a loud voice, we have just been deaf to her instructions.

I have to admit that the idea of love presented by Paul in his First Letter to the Corinthians has always challenged me, probably because I live in a world of noise. The question, in this case, is simple. What is it that is the proof of the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life? Is it the ability to speak in tongues? Many people that I am or have been in contact with would say yes. Yet, I am not convinced, partially because of Paul’s words here. Faking speaking in tongues is relatively easy. Is it the ability to produce miracles? Maybe, but I know many miracle workers who would never argue that they are in possession of the Holy Spirit of God. These ideas just form the noise of our religious thought. I am convinced that the proof of the Holy Spirit’s activity in our lives is wrapped up in how we love and how consistently it is that we love. Do we love some or do we love all? Do we love just when things are going right, or is love so pervasive in our lives that love even when it is hard to love? It is into these quiet moments of God that the Holy Spirit begins to speak. It is loving in the hard moments of life in which the power of the Holy Spirit is revealed. If I love, it is not because of me. It is because of the Holy Spirit inside of me.

So, I aim to live in this quiet love of the Holy Spirit. I have decided not to chase after the gifts that others may believe is proof of the Spirit in my life. It is not that I don’t desire them because I do. And maybe, once I get this love thing down, there will be time to chase after these other noises. Maybe, but I somehow doubt it. I want to be perfected in love, to love so much that there is no room for anything else in my life. And I think that sounds like a long and tough road. My prayer needs to remain - God, let the noise of this world and the noise of my faith pass me by. Teach me to love as you love, and that will be enough for me.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 14