#60 Remembering the Reformation

Happy Reformation Day! It's been 500 years since Martin Luther kicked off the Reformation. Obviously those of us who belong to the Protestant denominations that developed out of the teaching of Luther and the other Reformers have been greatly affected by the Reformation. The Roman Catholic Church, too, has changed much in the past five centuries, and those changes are at least partly due to the Reformation. We can and should be grateful for the assurance of salvation that comes from being justified by grace through faith. We also can and should be grateful for easy access to the Bible, for worship in our own language, and for the ability to participate in worship through singing.

But over the past 500 years, Jesus Christ's church has become more and more divided. We've reformed quite a bit, but there's a lot of reforming to do. After 500 years, I think it's time to shift our focus. Let's stop using our theology to divide; let's not treat our fellow Christians as strangers. And, Protestants, please, please, please, stop talking about "Christians" and "Catholics." Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, and Reformed Christians have all signed a wonderful document that describes our shared belief that we are made right with God through faith, not works. (Learn more here!) Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant Christians all affirm some version of the Nicene Creed. I sincerely hope that Jesus doesn't wait nearly 500 more years to return, but assuming that He doesn't, let's spend the next 500 years working together more and more. Let's make it our goal that in 500 years that are many, many fewer denominations than there are now.

Look, I know we have theological differences. I'm not saying we should relax our dedication to faithfully interpreting the Scriptures. But having differences in our beliefs shouldn't stop us from working together to serve our communities or from coming together for Bible studies or from meeting together for special worship services (even if we need to stay away from communion/Lord's Supper/eucharist/mass). And let's be honest. Some of our differences really aren't weighty enough to keep us separate. Revelation describes the church as the most diverse group of people ever assembled (see, e.g., Rev. 7:9). Think of the powerful witness it would be if we could belong to the same congregation even with our differences of opinion. There is one body and one Spirit, just as we were called to one hope when we were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Let's pray for the Spirit to bring us to more complete unity. Let's try our hardest to work together. By God's grace, let's keep reforming according to God's Word to be more like our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Grace and peace,
BMH

#59 I Got Guns in My Head and They Won't Go

It's been a few weeks since the horrible shooting in Las Vegas, but I can't get it completely out of my head. A single mass shooting is too many. But here in the U.S. mass shootings happen frequently enough that they hardly surprise me. They scare me; they sadden me; they disgust me. But I can't say I'm surprised any more. I just want to know how many people have died. Thankfully we haven't seen other shootings as deadly as Las Vegas.

I'm worried about the threat of more mass shootings. But I'm also worried that we're getting desensitized to this sort of violence. I'm worried that we'll soon accept that these shootings are part of life—if we haven't already begun to think that way. I think we need to stop and remind ourselves again and again that this is not the way things are supposed to be. This is not the way things have to be. We need to stop and empathize with those who are suffering from these shootings. We should lament the pain that such violence causes. We should cry out to God to ask why so many families are left mourning for a daughter or a son or a sister or a brother or a mother or a father who's died. We should ask how long God will allow our world to continue down this agonizing, violent path.

But I think we should also face the reality of human evil and human violence. We should also examine ourselves. Have we started believing the lies of the world? Have we confused violence with strength? Have we convinced ourselves that we need to be armed to be safe? Have we accepted that guns are a natural part of life? I think that if we follow the Prince of Peace, we need to pray for reformed vision to see the world that Jesus is bringing. When the disciples misunderstood our Lord Jesus and tried to defend Him with swords, He rebuked them. Our God gave Isaiah a vision of a world where swords are beaten into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks, where all the garments of war are burned. God's Spirit scolded those who found their security in military might instead of God.

Now I know God commanded the Israelites to go to war under Joshua and wipe out the inhabitants of the land of Canaan. But that's a one-time thing. God was working out a specific purpose and a specific punishment on those peoples. And really all of the Israelites' wars through the time of David were the slow, full working out of God's special command. And I also know that Revelation describes Jesus returning as a warrior. But in both of these cases God Himself is taking specific action against specific groups. None of us can claim to have God's perspective or God's perfect judgment when it comes to violence. (Plus Jesus comes to fight what is the truly the war that ends all war.)

I'm not naive enough to think that we humans can eliminate violence. I'm not naive enough to think violence and weapons will disappear before Christ returns. But I refuse to believe that the only way to face the threat of guns is with more guns. I refuse to believe that I must arm myself in case violence breaks out around me. I refuse to believe that weapons can give me security. I won't tell you how to vote on gun issues. I won't tell you which position to take in the gun debate in the U.S. I won't tell you whether or not you can have guns or how many guns are too many guns. But I will ask you to reflect on this question: when it comes to guns, weapons, and violence, how can you and how can we live like people whose true citizenship is in heaven, who are journeying toward our home in the renewed world under the reign of the Prince of Peace?

Grace and peace,
BMH

#58 I Spent the Day with Superbabes

Today Lanie and I had quite the set of adventures. (You'll find this post much more enjoyable if you click on either of the videos below and listen to the theme from Superman [top] or Man of Steel [bottom] as you continue reading.)

We rescued a kitty stuck in a tree:

We did our best to recreate one of my favorite Superman covers (click here for the original):

We flew:

We lifted (and tossed) a huge elephant:

We examined the bottle city of Kandor:

We played with Krypto the Superdog:

We encountered and ran away from Kryptonite:

After saving the day, we were ready to pose for the front page of The Daily Planet:

Life is never boring with the Babes of Steel around!

Grace and peace,

BMH

P.S. One million bonus points if you know what the blog title is referencing.

#57 Persecution

On Sunday, I preached from 2 Timothy 3:10-17 to highlight the Reformation theme of Scripture alone. That passage picks up after Paul has been warning Timothy about the threat of false teachers. Paul urges Timothy to be different than these false teachers by following Paul's example and by standing firm in the truth of the Scriptures (and the Christian tradition that in Paul's time was still being solidified into the New Testament). Because I was focusing on the importance of the Word of God, I didn't have time to deal much with verse 12: "In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." So I'd like to turn my attention there in this post.

Paul doesn't pull any punches here. Jesus suffered throughout His life and especially His ministry on earth, and so the followers of Jesus should expect to suffer. I don't think you could throw a stone into Paul's Christian past without hitting some instance of persecution, and Paul did not think that part of his experience was unique to him. And from everything I could learn, there's nothing uncertain about the translation there. There's no limiting the scope of "everyone," and there's no hint of uncertainty in "will be persecuted."

So what does persecution mean? As best as I can figure, it's not only what most people think when hear the word "persecution." Certainly, Paul's statement includes the idea of death threats, physical harm, systematic oppression, total social ostracism. Those things happen to Christians around the world, and we Christians who don't face those extreme difficulties should never, ever, ever forget our brothers and sisters who do. But there's quite a lot of religious freedom in some parts of the world, and a truly Christlike life is marked most of all by love (see John 13:35), so I'm not sure the full intensity of persecution is realistic for all Christians. So in order to apply Paul's statement to all Christians, I think persecution must include some more benign responses: mockery, harassment, partial social exclusion. I think persecution in this sense might even include suffering that isn't caused directly by other people: spiritual warfare, diabolical calamities along the lines of what Job experienced. The devil doesn't need to use other people to attack God's people.

(To the best of my knowledge, I think that's the best interpretation, but it's also a slightly dangerous one. It's easy to read that and conclude that because everything isn't right in our lives that we must be expereincing persecution for our faith. But for something to qualify as persecution, it must come as a result of a person's beliefs. Not every difficulty Christians face is tied to religion. I'm also a little worried about equating these milder forms of "persecution" with the death threats and total ostracism other Christians face. I don't know what their lives and struggles are like. I maybe need another word for the lighter troubles I described.)

But most of all, what I think the passage means is this: if our lives as Christians are comfortable, if everything is smooth sailing for us, I'm convinced we need to take a serious look at ourselves to see if we're really trying our hardest to live for Christ. Sometimes God does give us times of peace and flourishing, and I would never tell someone to go seek persecution. But I think I and most Christians I know are too comfortable with the world around us. We're too scared to stand up to the wrongs our culture willfully commits and doesn't consider wrong. We're too timid to truly love those our society considers unlovable. We hide our lights under bushels. We're losing our saltiness—if we haven't already lost it entirely. We need to stand up. We need to truly strive to live godly lives. We Christians need to be clearly different from those who care nothing about Christ. We need to be ready for persecution, but we also need to take heart from Paul's testimony: the Lord rescued him from all his troubles. Jesus is always with us to help us through.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#56 Wanted: Discussion

I don't use social media. I don't see a lot of tweets or Facebook posts in my daily life. But that hasn't been enough to prevent me from feeling like I've been drowning in a flood of hot takes, one-liners, and screamed opinions lately. To be honest, I'm sick of it. I'm sick of sound bites and knee-jerk reactions, and our insatiable desire for everyone else to hear our opinion—a desire that I clearly share on some level, or else I wouldn't continue writing this blog.

But the thing is, I can't just be sick of it. I can't just wash my hands of all the grandstanding and name-calling and endless rambling. As much as I'd like to, I can't just ignore all of this because there are real issues that precipitate these deluges of opinions. While I don't think it's worthwhile to argue about the U.S. flag and the national anthem, I think that those monologues are hiding a really important conversation about institutional and systemic racism in this country. There are other important conversations out there, too: conversations about immigration and the government's proper role in health care and gender identity. What I think I'd like—and what I'm pretty sure I need—is discussion. I'd like to sit down and talk with a few others who hold a variety of positions on specific topics.

So I've made it this far, but here is where I'm getting stuck. I don't know if or where these conversations are happening, nor do I know how to go about starting these discussions. And I'm also not sure how much I can participate in such a conversation before I start running into spreading my own political views—something I as a pastor definitely want to avoid. But even if I think about simply facillitating or listening to learn what members of my community think, I'm still not sure how to begin. Here's where I feel I simply don't have enough experience as a pastor. I'd like to model love and concern for others. I'd like to practice respectful listening. I'm not sure where the sweet spot is between being too cautious and being too aggressive, between being too involved and being too detached. I'd like to listen and think deeply and learn. I'd like to respond wisely and lovingly to serious issues and help others do the same. I'm just not sure how to do it. I need some help.

Grace and peace,
BMH