Long May You Run

...this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.   Philippians 3:13

Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.    Psalm 34:14 

The Apostle Paul could run with the best of them. Early in Philippians chapter three he tells of all his reasons to boast--a Hebrew, a Pharisee, a persecutor of the church and blameless under the law. He had been a smart, hard-charging religious leader among his people. But now he counts all of that as refuse. Oh, he's still running; but he's chasing after something else, even from his prison cell. He's chasing after Jesus and the heavenly calling of God.

What are you running after? Is it worth the effort?

Psalm 34 reminds us that if peace is going to happen in our lives and in this world, we're going to have to chase it. It must be pursued. I wonder what the world would look like if we took all the resources we expend on pursuing security--the trillions of dollars, the human life, the technology we devote to military use--and used it to pursue peace.

How are you being a peacemaker? Is peace a pursuit for you or just a vague hope?

The philosopher and mystic Simone Weil said: "Pain and suffering are a kind of false currency passed from one hand to another until they reach someone who receives them but does not pass them on." Maybe in our post-9/11 world, this is where the pursuit for peace begins.  

Down to get up--Philippians 2

From his prison cell, Paul writes to the Philippians, "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves."

Apparently, Paul had received word about what was happening in the church at Philippi. We don't know exactly what the conflict there was about, but there was division and contention of some kind. Paul calls for unity and humility. As an illustration of the humility he encourages, Paul points to Christ "who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death--even death on the cross."

We've heard this text many times and have read the early creeds, so this christological hymn doesn't strike us as odd perhaps, but to the Greco-Roman mind, this notion of a heavenly being taking on human form to be humiliated and shamed in the worst possible way--death on the cross--was ludicrous. Developing and maintaining one's honor and good name in the community was very important. We speak of societal pressure to climb the corporate ladder in today's world. Well for the ancients, it was social necessity.

But Jesus didn't climb; he descended. It was through this shameful defeat that God lifts Jesus up and gives him a name higher than any other, "that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord."

How might God be calling you now to descend, even when every fiber of your being longs to ascend, to be strong and to dominate? Where do you need to listen rather than speak? To whom do you need to say, I was wrong?

Humility scares us because it always is accompanied by vulnerability. Yet, that is the Jesus way.  

I'm Here for You--Philippians 1:21-26

For to me living is Christ and dying is gain. If I am to remain in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which I prefer. I am hard pressed between the two: my desire to depart and be with Christ for that is far better; but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you. Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy and faith, so that I may share abundantly in your boasting in Christ Jesus when I come to you again.

The life of an Apostle, for Paul, was a life of suffering. He's writing to the Philippians from the deprivation of prison. He mentions elsewhere his many hardships: countless floggings, stonings, shipwrecks, hunger, thirst, nakedness. It's clear that Paul needs to retain a life coach. Things don't seem to be going too well.

No wonder he ponders the options. If he dies in prison (which certainly eventually happened), then he will be joyfully with Christ. If he remains alive, he can more fully fulfill his mission as an Apostle but, no doubt, he will continue to suffer. What would be best? Interpreters have wondered whether Paul is just turning these ideas over in his head or if he actually is trying to decide to live or die.

A central them in this letter to the Philippians is joy. The word occurs over and over again. Paul makes the decision to continue in the flesh for the joy of encouraging and strengthening the Philippians in the faith. He has a purpose, a calling, a responsibility. And though he suffers, he finds that joy emerges even from the most painful places of his life, because he is needed.

When Fred Rogers received an Emmy for Lifetime Achievement in 1997, he said: "We've all had special ones who have loved us into being. Would you just take, along with me, 10 seconds to think about the people who have helped you be who your are? Those who have cared about you and wanted what was best for your life." After the silence, he said: "Whomever you've been thinking about, how pleased they must be to know the difference you feel they've made."

Who has encouraged you and shaped you into the person you've become? Is there a way you can express your gratitude to them? Who is with you now that you can nurture and encourage? May you find joy as you fulfill this purpose for your life.
 

Vacation Thoughts

I took some time off in August to go to California with my family. My oldest daughter, Ali, returned home in early August from spending a year in Chicago with Mission Year. It was good to be able to spend time with her again. Of course, riding in a minivan for 30 hours with a family of six in hot California is a pretty intensive way to re-integrate into the family, but all in all we had a great time connecting with each other as well as with extended family who live in California.

Tomorrow is the centennial worship service at Woodland Park Presbyterian Church where I serve as pastor. As I look forward to tomorrow, I find that I have plenty for which to be thankful--a church that has served faithfully for 100 years in north Seattle and a houseful of loving family who are all together again. God is good.

May you find peace this day and be aware of God's goodness to you.

Blog problems

I've been having some problems with the comments portion of my blog. I'm still trying to work these out. Hope to have the problems resolved soon. Meantime, please read Romans 8. Good for the soul.

Obedience is Difficult--Romans 7:15-25a

I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate (vs. 15).

Monday morning I came to the church as usual but this time went straight to the sanctuary where the day before, in worship, I had encouraged the congregation to write on Post-It notes simple acts of obedience that they feel called to practice and place these on or in the baptismal font as a sign of their commitment to follow Christ. The scripture that day had been from Romans 6 where Paul proclaims that through baptism we are freed from sin and enslaved to God. A slave obeys the master. This seems offensive and anachronistic to us; we value individual freedom quite highly and are repulsed by the institution of slavery. Yet Paul was surrounded by it and found it to be an apt metaphor for the free life lived in the Spirit. Paradoxical, I know.

As I prayerfully read the notes, even the soggy one I fished out of the water, I was moved by the strong spiritual aspirations reflected in these commitments. We do want to align ourselves with God's work of shalom in the world. We do want to heed the call and be God's ministers of healing and reconciliation in a broken world. We want to be obedient.

But obedience is difficult. Paul knows that. He is not kidding himself or others with this talk of enslavement. Romans 7 attests to that. As you read this text, note the confusion and powerlessness expressed by Paul. Can you remember a time when you experienced the same thing? You know what you should do, but doing it is just so hard!

As you read this text, identify the good news amid this confusion and powerlessness. Put that on the biggest Post-It note you can find and please don't ever, ever forget it.

Pentecost--Acts 2

On this Pentecost Sunday we wait for the emergence of the Spirit to fill our lives and eliminate our problems. But God's Spirit doesn't work in that way. We are filled with God's Spirit and our problems just begin, because we see the world with new eyes and recognize fully that our attitudes and beliefs are not consonant with this new vision.

Maybe we read Galatians and learn from Paul that the Law (scripture) is a great schoolmaster but at some point we need to grow up and learn to live by the Spirit. For him that meant that Gentiles could come to Christ through faith with nothing more required. For us maybe that means that homosexuals have the same freedom. Our old formulas for who is in and who is out of God's favor gets turned on its head. We have to make adjustments.

Perhaps our first reaction to the news that Osama Bin Laden had been killed was to party in the streets with other Americans, but somewhere deep inside there is this gnawing sense that we are simply continuing the cycle of violence and not really making our world a safer place. This thought certainly makes us feel out of place amid the celebration and self-congratulations, and we're afraid to say any such thing at the water cooler.

Yes, one can get all kinds of strange ideas when one gets filled with the Spirit. It can complicate one's life.

Has the fire touched you yet? Are you willing to be touched?