Tue, 23 October 2007 The As United Methodists prepare for this significant event in the life of our Church, there are some perennial issues that are already arising. Let me explain: I received a letter recently urging me to work with my congregations and draft petitions to General Conference that get really tough on a certain topic: homosexuality. In short, what they want is that I would rally my people to stand firm in saying that homosexual persons who won"t repent of the lifestyle are not fit for membership in the Church. I haven’t received any letters from "the other side� but I imagine they’re making similar efforts in similar avenues. Homosexuality has been a contentious issue in our church, and present at every General Conference since 1972. As the UMC came into existence in 1968, it should be plain that we’ve been wrangling on this since we’ve been born. You’re probably wondering: what has happened in the last 36 years of debate about this issue? Not much. True, denominational policies have slowly swung to a more conservative position — but overall, roughly the same proportions of votes for or against, every time. Neither side is gaining any ground. In other words, my friends, it’s a stalemate. How does one resolve a stalemate? Quit fighting, and find a different way to confront the problem! So am I going to lobby on this one? YOU BET! But I’m going to lobby differently than the manner in which the activists want me to lobby: It’s really very simple: I would really appreciate it if my brother and sister United Methodists would arise and tell both sides very firmly , “ENOUGH ALREADY!� Do I have an opinion on homosexuality? Of course I do, and I am sure that you do, too. I arrived at my conclusions after a great deal of prayer, study of scripture, and consultation of historic church tradition, as well as current thought on the issue. As I am sure that you did as well. So please don’t think me disrespectful in saying that a lot of people have gotten so focused on this issue that they are missing the real point behind all of this struggle. My opinion on this one issue of homosexuality is not a primary point. I don’t think yours is, either. In this commentary, I am deliberately not expressing my conclusions on this issue because I believe it would only obscure the bigger (and most important) issue: we are losing all ability to work together for the greater glory of God’s Kingdom because we’ve gotten so divided and distracted on ONE issue. If you really want to know my position, ask me (privately), and I will tell you (privately). If you and I don’t agree, I’m fine with that. I love you even when we aren’t eye to eye on something! Isn’t that part of the nature of the true church?
I would think that the I do not believe the right answer to the question of homosexuality is to simply deny persons of homosexual orientation membership in the Church. Or, put another way, here’s why I am not for tossing out gays from my churches because they’re “unfit� for membership: It’s not godly or fair. If I toss out gay people because of their unrepentant attitude, there are a number of unrepentant persons that, in all fairness, I should also excommunicate:
This could become a very long list, but I think you get the point. I’m a pastor. What shall I do with all these sinners? Oh, hold on a moment: I forgot that I should also give myself the old heave-ho since I wrestle with sin as much as anyone and I’m never 100% successful in resisting it. Please don’t misunderstand what I am saying. I am not attempting to make sin less important. The Bible is very clear about sin, and that “... all have sinned and fall(en) short of the glory of God.� (Romans 3:23 NIV) Have we forgotten that the absolute, God-given truth that sin is sin? Whether you cheat on your spouse, murder your neighbor, or steal from someone — it’s all sin. Sin is sin. Period. If we are going to “get tough� on the practice of homosexuality because, as the Discipline states, it is “…incompatible with Christian teaching,� perhaps we should, in all fairness, get a lot more specific (and tough) on all sin, whether controversial or not. It’s also a clear, God-given truth that if you want to receive God’s salvation, you must repent of your sins, devote your life to following the Lord Jesus Christ and give up conscious sin. There is no salvation apart from Christ and His Church, and a place of eternal misery awaits those who will not accept Jesus as Lord. But it’s also an absolute, God-given truth that there is grace for those who truly seek transformation. As the “children� of John Wesley, we understand this to be the process of perfection in grace: how God, by His grace, transforms us into the persons He always meant for us to be. The Church is an instrument of God’s grace. No one should be deprived of the place where it’s most likely that you will be influenced to turn to Christ and live for Christ. The final judgment of the condition of our souls will be well-handled by God on Judgment Day. Let Him handle this one! This doesn’t mean unrepentant sinners should be able to go anywhere or do anything in the church. A person who’s unwilling to repent of clearly identified sin should not be a leader in the Body (the Bible’s clear on this, too). But why on earth should we shut him or her out and away from what is needed the most? Expelling people because they’re stuck in sin denies them the opportunity to truly experience a holy transformation they won’t find elsewhere. As I said, this debate is going nowhere in the Church, nationally or locally, despite all of the “politicking� on both sides. We’re stalemated. It is time to consider a different tack. The Apostle Paul wrote in Second Corinthians about a thorn in his flesh that God would not take away, no matter how much Paul asked Him (see 2 Co 12:7-9). Perhaps it’s time we United Methodists ask ourselves, “Why isn't God removing this thorn from our flesh?� It seems a valid question to ask! Perhaps it's time that we work for peace in our “valley� by first celebrating what we hold in common: the foundation of our unity — the salvation of Jesus Christ. The next step is that we do ministry and bring glory to God instead of giving the media ammunition to report on “who attacked whom at the General Conference.� We may never reach consensus on this issue. Why not use all of this energy differently — and create peace instead of division? We will surely bring more glory to the Father in this way, than by breaking the Body. This is my hope and prayer. Peace, my friends!
length: Category: general -- posted at: 5:41 PM Comments[0] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tue, 25 September 2007 Sorry folks -- no audio this week. Should be recording again next Sunday. “Taking the First Step� Luke 16:1-13 September 23, 2007 The parable of the dishonest manager is a Bible story that has given scholars fits for centuries: Jesus seems to be praising the dishonest manager’s behavior. In general, this story has three ways that Jesus seems to be advocating for the disciples – all of which can be difficult to swallow, because they seem to contradict other things that He has said. (1) Are we to be “shrewd?� The first way starts with verse 8: “…For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.� (NIV) This seems to be a statement about how those who obey God can be naïve about the workings of the world, and dealing with worldly people. You could draw the conclusion that Jesus is saying, while we shouldn’t be dishonest, we should be shrewd in our dealings. The problem with this point of view is exposed is by looking at the Greek word translated as “shrewd,� which has also been used to describe the behavior of the snake who was the tempter in the garden of Eden. So, we will want to tread carefully with this interpretation! (2) The Things We Do Continuing to verse 9, depending on Jesus’ tone, this could be either a positive or a negative comment. (Again, we don’t know what tone Jesus spoke these words with). If Jesus is speaking in a straightforward tone, he’s apparently saying that while all money corrupts, his followers should use it to do good and thus earn themselves a place in heaven (“eternal homes�). This is worrisome, because it would seem that Jesus is giving a green light to “works righteousness,� where the goodness of our deeds determines whether we get into heaven or not. That’s pretty “old covenant,� if you ask me! If Jesus were speaking sarcastically, he could have been saying that those who use money to gain friends like the dishonest manager did face final condemnation and another kind of eternal home, an unwelcome one. Hmmmm. (3) Faithful and Honest? Verse 10 offers more advice – that seems to make some sense: “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.� (NIV) Sounds good – but didn’t Jesus praise the manager for his dishonesty a few verses back? What to do with this parable? The bottom line is, this story is in the Bible, so we should consider what God can teach us through its details. It might not be as clear as we’d like it to be, but there is something in here that the children of light can adopt from the children of this age – but only for the right reasons. Let’s put this into context with a story that is just a story, though it could happen these days: A mom and a dad were sitting in the family room when their two children, ages 10 and 12, walk in. “We’ve got a question,� Chris, the younger one announces. “We know you two are worth about 800 grand, we were wondering when we get our shares.� OH MY GOODNESS! This is quite a shock. The parents had never talked to your children about any financial arrangements more than when to expect their allowances. The other thing was, this “800 grand� that they mentioned was remarkably close to their actual worth! So the parents were sitting there, trying to catch a breath and decide what to say when Frank, the older child, says, “I told Chris that we each get our 400 G’s when we turn 18, but he says we have to wait until you both die. Who’s right?� After a painful silence, the father finally says, “Just who says we are worth that kind of money?� “Nobody told us,� Frank responds. “We used Google and looked it up on the Internet.� Brings you into the modern age, doesn’t it? Keep in mind, this story is just a story – but what it illustrates is very possible. You no longer have to be a member of Forbes 400 or Fortune 500 to show up in databases. If you have stock options, a high salary or significant business sales, there’s a good chance that at least some of that data is available online. Some kids have discovered that they can find those reports by sifting through the filings of the Securities and Exchange Commission to locate the info, or using real estate Web sites like Zillow.com to calculate the value of the family homestead and vacation homes. Even if the kids can’t find a specific mention of their parents, they can still look up average salaries in the professions of their parents and make an educated guess. Nowadays, kids can be pretty shrewd – at an early age! Were the Internet been around in New Testament times, the dishonest manager would surely have used it to his advantage. Living well on his income from the rich man’s properties, but not doing his duties diligently, he’s affecting the returns his boss is expecting. And the boss knows something is going on. The portfolio is taking a dive. But the manager is a shrewd dude – so shrewd that even the boss is impressed! Maybe the teaching of this parable is that initiative is a good thing that we can learn from the children of this world – because it can increase the strength of the church in a way that is pleasing to God. Initiative has a definite role in the life of the church. There’s every reason to use our best and strongest abilities, including our initiative, for kingdom purposes. Think of how often we speak of wanting our memberships to grow, of reaching further into our community, and of making sure that the unchurched hear the gospel. Now think of what percentage of our membership really take that to heart and put it into practice. In this sense, we who walk in God’s light would do well to adopt the persistent initiative of the children of this age. Here’s another way to think on this: the manager resorted to drastic action in an urgent situation. The church needs to take drastic action to make sure it does the work of the There’s a story about a husband and wife who were out in their car on some errand, with the husband doing the driving. The wife was sitting at the other end of the bench seat, by the passenger door, and she was in a pensive mood. She said to her husband, “Remember when we were first dating? When we went anywhere in your old car, we sat as close together as we possibly could. Sometimes you even put your arm around me. What has happened to us? Our relationship doesn’t seem as close as it used to.� The husband considered that, and then he said, “Well, I haven’t moved.� If we think of God still sitting in the same place — meaning that he has not withdrawn from us — and we feel some loss in the closeness, then we can better understand who needs to make some movement. God took the first step. Now, we must take the initiative and respond – and get the gospel where it is needed the most. Take the initiative, and make the invitation to someone who needs to respond. Will you do this, today?
Sources consulted: “Smooth Operator,� Homiletics, September 2007 ACCS, Vol. NT.III, Luke (IVP, 2003) NIV KeyWord Study Bible (AMG, 1996) Bock, Darrell L. Luke (Zondervan, 1996)
length: Category: general -- posted at: 9:48 AM | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sat, 22 July 2006 Hi folks... Yes, it has been a while since anything posted to Faith Seeds. My apologies for not getting this up sooner -- I moved to a new pastorate in late June, and we have been very busy getting settled and running in our new parish. Right now, I am to the point of working out my recording issues, so I can have audio to post here! I hope to have that worked out in the next two or three weeks -- so by early August at the latest, Faith Seeds should be back up to speed. Thanks as always for reading and listening -- we'll see you "on the other side." Blessings, Pastor Russ length: Category: general -- posted at: 2:01 PM Comments[0] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thu, 20 April 2006 An
old man sat on a riverbank, obviously awaiting a nibble, though the fishing
season had not officially opened. A uniformed officer stood behind him quietly
for several minutes. “You the game warden?� the old-timer inquired. “Yup.� Unruffled,
the old man began to move the fishing pole from side to side. Finally, he
lifted the line out of the water. Pointing to a minnow wriggling on the end of
the line, he said, “Just teaching him how to swim.� There’s
a case of not being ready to confess a wrong! What
is the one thing you’ve done that no one else will ever know about – and you’ll
never tell? Gives
you a chill to even think about it, doesn’t it?
What about actually confessing it to another person? Confession
is a profound act that lays us open to our core – if we have done so with truth
and honesty. The
act of confession is something we typically associate with our Catholic
friends: you go to a priest, who hears
your confession of sins, and the priest offers you absolution as God’s
representative. Sometimes,
we’ll hear of confession, and remember the moment when accepted Christ as your
Savior, and prayed the sinner’s prayer – when we confessed our sins before God,
and received assurance of God’s acceptance. In
any case, confession is something that represents a cleansing of our souls –
see verse 9, “if we confess our sins, [God] is faithful and just and will
forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.� (1 John 1:9, NIV) One
important thing that John seeks to teach us in this text is that Christians are
still capable of sin after baptism. We
still have our free will, and we can still choose to break fellowship with God
– to “backslide.� Another
important teaching of this text is the reminder that Jesus’ death lead to the
cleansing of sin by His blood – and that if we do sin, Jesus is our advocate
with the Father so that the divine grace will not be withdrawn. Claiming
this for our Christian living means that we must be willing to acknowledge and
repent of our sins when we commit them, so that our souls will not be forever
burdened by them. Confession
is a healthy part of the Christian life, and is something that needs to be done
regularly, because it maintains a clean relationship with Our Lord. Whether it is something we do with the help
of a minister or priest, a friend, or alone before God, it is something that is
essential to our spiritual health. The
purpose of this passage is to point out how important it is that we make a
habit of seeking God’s light in every way, and seek to live in that light at
all times. By
way of illustration, think about this:
walk into a room that is well-lit, and try and find a dark place. You will always find that the darkness is the
farthest you can get from the source of the light – or in a shadow. When
we fall short of thinking, feeling and acting in ways that reflect the
perfection of God, we’re like darkness in a lit room. In other words, we are
far away from God – you might even say that we are hiding from God. Christians
who worship a God who is light yet still carry around dark things (vv. 5-6) are
hiding from God. What are those dark
things? Examine your thoughts, your
words, and your actions. Examine the
things you leave undone. There, you will
find the truth. Confession
is important because it acknowledges our imperfection. When we acknowledge that we are sinful and
imperfect and own up to the reality that we haven’t perfectly followed Christ,
God can heal us. In
short, we are participating in the healing of our relationship with God. It’s
just like relationships we have with other people. When we say something dumb, things don’t set
easy until we’ve set things straight in the relationship – on both sides. The relationship between God and His
followers is no different. Confession
also restores our relationship with other Christians. Coming out of the
darkness and into the light grants us “fellowship with one another� (v. 7).
Confession places us back on the common ground of our identity in Christ — as
his co-followers, not as his co-offenders. The
Bible supports this in more than one place.
James 5:16, for example, says, “…confess your sins to each other and pray
for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is
powerful and effective.� (James 5:16, NIV) Putting
this all into practice, though, can be very hard for us. We don’t like to admit that we’ve done
anything wrong – even when we know we are wrong. Two
rural church deacons were having a sociable beer in the local tavern when they
saw their minister drive by and take a good long look at their pickup trucks
parked outside. One
deacon ducked down and said, “I hope the reverend didn’t see us or recognize my
pickup.� The
other replied indifferently, “What difference does it make? God knows we’re in
here ... and he’s the only one who counts.� The
first deacon answered, “Yeah, but God won’t tell my wife.� The
thing is, though, confession in some form MUST be included in our Christian
living, or we will find ourselves caught in a web that won’t let go of us: SIN. Sin
is a monster that holds power and influence over us and very often doesn’t
appear to be a monster. But it goes for
our weakest places, and will always hit us in the dark places when nobody else
is there. When
you were a kid, you might have been worried about monsters under your bed. Remember how they were defeated? Your mom or dad would come in and turn the
light on… and the monsters were out of there!
Confession
works the same way: when we make an
honest confession about the sins we wrestle with, the Lord comes into the room,
the lights get turned on, and the monster loses its teeth. A
popular destination on the internet these days are web sites where you can post
a confession online – anonymously. These
websites are popular because people can bare their souls and not have too much
risk of people who know them finding out. That’s
all well and good – but it’s not a healing kind of confession. It’s anonymous and impersonal. Christian confession is the act where
we take ownership of our wrongs and confess them to a personal God and caring
people. A
good example of just how healing this kind of confession can be can be found in
the 12-Step recovery process that programs like AA use to help clients get back
to walking in the light: §
We
honestly admit our weaknesses, that we are powerless over our darker habits and
that our lives have become unmanageable... §
We
trust God to restore us to sanity ... §
We
turn our will and our lives over to God ... §
We
make a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves, and we are entirely
ready to have God remove all these defects of character ... §
We
seek through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God,
as we understand him, praying only for knowledge of his will for us and the
power to carry that out. Confession
produces a connection with others and a greater intimacy with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. It’s what we all
should seek in our walk with the Lord.
Let us pray: Most merciful God, we
confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word and deed, by what we
have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our
whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry
and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us
and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the
glory of your name. Amen. Sources
consulted: “Post-a-Sin,� Homiletics, April 2006. NIV Bible Commentary, Volume 2
(Zondervan, 1994) KeyWord Study Bible (AMG, 1996) Ancient Christian Commentary on
Scripture, Vol. IX (IVP) New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume XII
(Abingdon) length: Category: general -- posted at: 6:42 PM Comments[0] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sat, 15 April 2006 Study: The Beatitudes (Matthew
5:3-9) How can we apply the principles of
this teaching of Jesus in daily life?
length: Category: general -- posted at: 2:26 PM Comments[0] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fri, 10 February 2006
I never imagined that I would be writing an article like this when I started this blog last year... but things change. I read an article recently in a North Dakota paper about how much identity theft is going on even here in the wide open spaces of the North Dakota prairie! I know that not everyone who reads and listens to Faith Seeds is from North Dakota -- it's just that, perhaps stereotypically speaking, this part of the world is not what folks usually think of as a place with a crime problem. Yet, this is truly a naive conclusion that allows us to be "easy targets" for those who wish to take advantage of others. I don't say this to be alarmist, and get my readers and listeners all riled up. I am doing this to help spread awareness of how easily identity theft can happen to any of us -- and how easy it is to protect yourself. No hysteria needed! If we would all take some simple precautions as we go about our daily lives, we'll be in good shape for everyday security. Most of it is just plain common sense: when you get mailings that contain financial solicitations and you aren't going to make use of them, destroy the documents so they cannot be hijacked. When you are using the internet, take measures to keep your logons and passwords private (I use a freeware package called Access Manager 2 that stores my user names and passwords safely). And watch out for the phishing email scams that have become so common as of late. Keep your antivirus program and firewall software up-to-date. If you use a router in your computer setup, change the administrative password and configure your router to reject anonymous login attempts. It really doesn't take much effort to keep your sensitive information safe. The main thing is that first, you should do it -- and then maintain your security. And now... back to our regularly scheduled sermonizing! Peace, Pastor Russ Whaley length: Category: general -- posted at: 5:12 PM | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mon, 16 January 2006
(These are the notes for the 15 January 06 sermon) -- audio later. Thanks for your patience! --Pastor Russ
Text reference:Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 Our culture is terribly obsessed with staying young. It's not good enough to grow old gracefully. You have to hold on to the glory of youth as long as you possibly can. The cosmetics industry and practitioners of plastic surgery cater to millions of people every year who want some way to hold back the tyranny of time. New procedures are continually being developed to make an outer "lift" easier, less painful, and more affordable. Why this obsession? There are many reasons that might be mentioned, but really it all comes down to one thing: we are deeply afraid of becoming unlovely and useless. Spiritually speaking, this means there are many who miss the true beauty of human beings. After all, we ARE created in God's image. Perhaps we shouldn't worry so much about what the world thinks of our appearance, and instead, concentrate on God's design of the human person. But... the messages of the world can get you down! That's when it's time to remember the light of God working within you to bring your soul up when it's sagging. God accepts us -- regardless of how we sag, wrinkle, or bulge. In the story of Samuel and the sons of Jesse (1 Samuel 16), this is illustrated as David is ultimately identified as the future king of Israel. If God thinks that we are "wonderfully made," isn't His opinion enough for us? God knows us intimately and our very existence began with the breath of God. In other words, we are truly miracles of God. What the world considers outward beauty doesn't matter in God's eyes. We should indeed take care of ourselves. Healthy living is only good stewardship of what God has entrusted us with. But we shouldn't let our motivation become wanting to look better so the world will grant us more self-worth. In God's eyes, we have infinite worth -- eternally. God knows us better than we know ourselves. Will you trust Him enough to invite him to search, know, and test you, to see if there is any wicked, hurtful way in you? If you will, step forward and let God forgive you and transform you through Jesus Christ! length: Category: general -- posted at: 12:09 PM Comments[0] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mon, 16 January 2006
Greetings everyone, Thanks to a goodly round of the flu and colds (both myself and the family), there have been no posts for some time. In addition, as we moved to the basement in both churches for fuel conservation in the winter months, I have been unable to record the last three weeks! I am happy to report that we are all more healthy now... and a recording solution has been arranged. More posts to Faith Seeds are coming forthwith!
Blessings to all in the New Year! Pastor Russ length: Category: general -- posted at: 12:06 PM Comments[0] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||