Passion – John 12:20-33

Readings for today:

First Reading – Jeremiah 31:31-34
Psalm – Psalm 51:1-12
Second Reading – Hebrews 5:5-10
Gospel – John 12:20-33

 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

In the second Star Wars movie made, The Empire Strikes Back, there is a scene between Yoda, the wise old Jedi Master, and Luke Skywalker, his young Jedi-in-training.  On the planet of Dagobah, Luke’s X-Wing Fighter (his spaceship for those unfamiliar with Star Wars) is sinking in a swamp.  Luke is frustrated because to him, it means he’s never going to get off this planet.  Yoda tells him to use the force to lift it out of the swamp.  Luke, feeling and sounding uncertain, says he’ll try.  Yoda sharply responds with “Do, or do not.  There is no try.”

We have a lot of different sayings for making a decision and going all in.  I’m sure some of you can think of a few that you say.  The point of all of them is that there comes a time when you must make a decision.  Either you are all in or you are not.  We cannot tiptoe along the fence forever; at some point, we need to decide one way or another.

In our Gospel, Jesus said “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.  Those who love their live lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”[1]  Basically, Jesus was saying that we have to go all in and be fully committed.  That grain of wheat will do nothing if it only partially goes into the earth, or if it just lays on top of the soil.  It must get planted if it is to bear fruit.

As Christians, we are called to do the same thing.  Jesus revealed this to John in Revelation 3 about the church of Laodicea, a group that was full of lukewarm Christians who were baptized but paid more attention to temporal, worldly, matters than what the Spirit called them to do.  He said “I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot.  I wish that you were either cold or hot.  So, since you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”[2]  Essentially – you don’t get to be baptized and claim Christianity and not do anything about it.  Either be fully faithful or not.  Don’t pretend to be faithful and then live a life contrary to it.  Like the grain of wheat, we must be fully committed to our faith, or not at all.  If we are not fully committed, or as Jesus said, hot, on fire with faith, we will not bear fruit.  We don’t get to be baptized and then do nothing.  We don’t get to show up to church once a week, or a month, or a couple times a year, and do nothing beyond that and call ourselves Christian.  We either need to be all in or not.  We must be passionate about our faith.

Passion is a state or outburst of strong emotion, an intense desire or enthusiasm for something.[3]  Projects that get off the ground do so because someone is passionate about it.  People who are the most successful in their careers are that way because they are passionate about what they do.  And that success is not necessarily measured in a promotion or not.  Think of the teachers you had when you were going through school.  The ones we learn from the most are ones who are or were passionate about their teaching.  Even something like going to the grocery store – when an employee cares about their job, it shows, and it makes the experience of going to the store better.  It’s pretty clear when a person is at a place simply for a paycheck and not because they actually care about what they are doing.  It’s clear when a person comes to church or events because they are told they have to do so.  The enthusiasm is not there, and it ends up souring the experience for them and others around them.

You know what?  There are things in our lives that we have to do and don’t necessarily want to do.  We have a couple of choices.  We can be grumpy about it, or we can embrace it and go all in.  I don’t necessarily enjoy changing diapers, but guess what – it comes with the territory of being a parent.  I could complain every time I change a diaper, or make it fun and take it as an opportunity to connect with my child.  I don’t like having to be away from my kids for long weekends, but as a chaplain, I have to do so.  I could complain about it and be crabby the whole weekend, or I could, as we often say, embrace the suck and find the fun in it.

On a more serious note, going all in or not can be a matter of life or limb or death for us.  After operations or procedures, doctors will often get patients up walking, or to physical therapy.  We sometimes question why so soon to get someone up walking or moving.  The reason is so that those limbs start moving right away, so they don’t atrophy or so scar tissue doesn’t build up and render those areas immobile.  That means sometimes working through pain.  But if we never work through the pain, we get stuck.  Our range of motion gets lost, and in some instances, can never be regained.  If we aren’t passionate, fully committed, we won’t be able to work through the pain.  Sometimes working through the pain takes encouragement from others.  We can do amazing things, more things than we give ourselves credit for a lot of times, but we sometimes lose sight of that.  Having a person next to us, telling us we can do it, can make all the difference.  And if we listen close enough, we’ll hear the voice of God coming from inside ourselves and from those whom God has put in our paths for that moment.

You know what else is described as passion?  Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross.  Jesus?  He was all in.  He was that grain of wheat that was planted and died, which bore much fruit.  He did this for us, so we could be freed from sin.

We cannot walk on the line forever.  At some point, we have to choose to go all in or not.  If we are not fully committed to something, be it practicing our faith, being involved in an activity, our jobs, our families, it will show.  And those things will suffer.  As Yoda said, do, or do not, there is no try.  We need to either do it or not.  Jesus did not try to save the world.  He did save it.  God did not try to create.  He did do it.  We cannot try to follow Christ.  We need to either follow Him or not.  We cannot try to live out our faith.  We need to either do it or not.  And to do it, we need to find our passion.  It is passion that changes things.  Passion drives us to succeed.  Passion drives us to be involved.  It was Christ’s passion that saved us and changed the world.

Amen.

© 2018 Stephanie Christoffels.  All Rights Reserved.  Used with permission.

[1] John 12:24-25, NRSV (All Scripture comes from the NRSV unless otherwise noted).

[2] Revelation 3:15-16

[3] http://www.dictionary.com/browse/passion?s=t

It’s Time to…Play – Midweek Lenten Series 2018

Readings for today:

First Reading –Psalm 150:4-6
Second Reading – Matthew 18:3

 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

It’s time to… play.   Most days after picking up my oldest from school, we walk the two short blocks home.  He loves to climb up the giant snow pile behind the power substation in the alley.   A few weeks ago, after we had that big snowstorm where we had 16 inches of snow, that pile got even bigger.  Typically, I just watch him climb up the pile and slide down, laughing all the while.  On that particular day, though, he said, “Mommy, climb up the pile with me.”  With his backpack in hand, in my snow boots and dress pants, I obliged and climbed up that pile.  I had forgotten how much fun it is to climb up a snow pile.  And I also understand why people climb mountains.  It’s thrilling.

There’s an old proverb that goes something along the lines of “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”  (Yes, it’s also from the movie The Shining.  No, I have not actually watched it.  No, I will not watch it.)  The point of this proverb is that if all we do is work and never have any play time, we’ll be dull, boring, uptight, and miss out on life.  Very true statement.  Now, the opposite – all play and no work – is just as bad.  We are called to mix both work and play together. Balance.

Jesus told His disciples “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”  We forget about childlike wonder of things, viewing the world like you’ve never seen or experienced something before, like a baby does when she’s learning to walk, or clap, or climb the steps.  Being carefree.  We get told as we get older it’s not dignified to run, or jump, or climb up a snow pile.  The more we hear that, the more we believe it, and the less we are willing to play.  Monday night after the snowstorm, my husband and I went outside after we got the kids to bed and started shoveling the driveway.  Not ten minutes later, our middle child came out in all of his winter gear to help us.  Normally we would have told him to get back to bed, but you know, sometimes it’s okay for kids to stay up a little later and help turn work into play, and help us realize that something that seems like work at the time can be fun.

I think also that we turn play into work.  We take the fun out of it by having a bad attitude instead of relaxing and having fun.  We think about all of the things we have to get done and could be doing at that minute instead of playing.  We can also see it as a waste of time.  But this keeps us from being fully present in the moment.  This is what play is about – getting completely lost so we can be fully present in the moment.  I’m not talking lost like I don’t know where I am.  I’m meaning the lost where you lose track of time and simply enjoy yourself.  Where you go on an adventure and discover more about who God created you to be.

I love going to wedding dances with my mom’s side of the family.  Some of my family members are fantastic dancers, like my cousins who can swing dance like professionals, or my son who I think may have a future in breakdancing.  Some of us, not so much.  But we have a blast when we get out there on the dance floor, because we aren’t worrying about what others think of our dancing.  We get lost in the moment and just have fun.

In our Psalm, King David says to praise God with tambourine and dance, strings and pipe, clanging and crashing cymbals.  Make a joyful noise unto the Lord.  Play, create, daydream.  Allow yourself to be consumed in the activity.  Be spontaneous.  Go on an adventure.  Know that God delights in our discovery, in our play.  If you don’t think He does, remember that God is the potter and we are the clay.  God molded us out of that clay.  He created.  He essentially played in the cosmic sandbox of the universe.  And He continues to create.  He calls us to do the same.  Whether it is seizing a moment, or planning a play date in advance, or taking an opportunity to get creative with supper some night – play.

God created us to engage in play.  Jesus told us to be like children – be willing to relax, have fun, and not take everything so seriously.  Don’t be afraid to climb a snow pile in your dress pants.

Amen.

© 2018 Stephanie Christoffels.  All Rights Reserved.  Used with permission.

The Snake and the Cross – Numbers 21:4-9

Readings for today:

First Reading – Numbers 21:4-9
Psalm – Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22
Second Reading – Ephesians 2:1-10
Gospel – John 3:14-21

 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

A fear of snakes is one of the most common fears people have.  And while children are not born fearing snakes, studies have shown that they are skilled at picking snakes out in pictures, and if they are exposed to negative ideas of snakes early on they are more likely to develop a fear of them.  I will be honest and say that when teaching my kids the names of animals, I taught them that the name for snake was “Icky.”

Fear of snakes goes all the way back to the garden of Eden, when the serpent tempted Eve and God cursed it, saying there would be enmity between the serpent and the woman, and the offspring of both.  Then the Israelites were wandering in the desert and got bit by the poisonous creepers.  Well, let’s go back little.  The people of Israel complained that God brought them out of Egypt and into the wilderness where they had no food and water, and that they detested the miserable place.  “Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died.”[1]

The Israelites, and probably most of us also, draw the conclusion that the Lord sent the snakes to punish the Israelites for their insubordination and whining.  But it doesn’t actually say that God sent the snakes to punish them.  The Israelites drew that conclusion themselves.  They told Moses that they sinned by speaking against the Lord and Moses, and they asked Moses to pray to the Lord to take the serpents away from them.[2]  So Moses did, but God did not do exactly what was asked of Him.

God told Moses to make a snake and put it on a pole, and that if the people who were bitten looked at it, they would live.  The snakes would still be there, and the people could still get bitten.  But if they looked up at the bronze snake on a stick, they’d be healed.

It doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense to us.  How could looking at the serpent heal them from their bites?  It’s hard for us to understand how this could work, because from a modern perspective, we know that you need medical treatment for snake bites.  But the point of the story is not just getting anti-venom for healing from these bites.  It is about lifting up the problem itself and facing it.

Most people do not like confrontation.  If there is a problem, we’d rather bury it and pretend that it doesn’t exist, or ignore it and hope it goes away, or stew about it and talk to everyone about it except those involved.  Why?  Good question.  Maybe we are overwhelmed and want to wait until we have the mental strength to deal with it.  Maybe we have no idea what to say or do.  Maybe it’ll take a little work or creative thinking to solve and we just don’t want to put in the work.  Maybe we don’t think it’s actually a problem.  Whatever the case, it gets ignored, buried, until it grows into an issue that is much larger than it needs to be and maybe even cannot get solved or fixed.  Take a building, for example.  Buildings need to be taken care of on a regular basis, or they’ll develop issues – cracks, leaks.  If those problems are not addressed right away, those cracks and leaks will turn into foundational problems.  I saw a garage this weekend that had what looked like black paint on the walls.  It wasn’t paint – it was black mold.  Apparently some of the shingles had gotten damaged on the roof, and it wasn’t fixed properly.  Every time it rained or snow melted, the moisture got into the garage.  Now the entire building needs to get torn down because it has been damaged beyond the point of fixing.  The structural integrity of the garage was destroyed, and all it would have taken to fix it initially were a few new shingles.

Imagine now that is not a garage, but you, or a relationship you have.  An issue comes up that you simply ignore, or you complain about but do nothing to fix.  It may be an easy fix, or it might take a little bit of work, but for whatever reason you just don’t want to deal with it.  Days, weeks, months, and maybe even years pass, and this issue is still there.  But it’s getting worse, because the longer an issue is around, the more it starts affecting you.  You start to get angry, resentful, bitter.  If it is an illness, you start to get sicker.  Suddenly this small thing has gotten blown out of proportion and what could have been a simple fix now requires long-term care, if it can get fixed at all.  I know I’ve mentioned this before – bad news doesn’t get better over time.  You may as well face it right away and get a plan of action put together to deal with it immediately (or as immediate as you can) before it gets out of hand.

God had the Israelites look at the snake on a stick so they would face and acknowledge their problems right away.  The snakes were not taken away.  Our problems are not all taken away.  We’re going to have them – problems with other people, problems with our health, our finances, our jobs.  But if we ignore them without actually getting to the root of what is going on, they’ll fester.  They’ll get way worse than if we had just dealt with them right away.  It’s like getting a cavity and ignoring it until the point where you need a root canal to fix the tooth, or you need the tooth pulled all together.

Why look at the snake on a stick?  To lift up the thing that is the problem, not to elevate it, but to acknowledge that it is there and needs to get fixed.  There is something else that we elevate.  Last week I talked about the cross, and how humiliating it was for Jesus to be crucified on it, but how He took this symbol of humiliation and turned it into our saving grace.  The cross was turned from an instrument of death to a sign of the resurrection and Christ’s triumph over death and the power of the devil and the promise of eternal life.  The snake on a stick – a reminder that we need to lift up our problems and actually face them.  The cross – a reminder that Christ has triumphed over death, paid the cost of our sin, and gives us the promise of eternal life.

Amen.

© 2018 Stephanie Christoffels.  All Rights Reserved.  Used with permission.

[1] Numbers 21:6, NRSV (All Scripture comes from the NRSV unless otherwise noted).

[2] Numbers 21:7

Superheroes, Foolishness, the Cross – 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

Readings for today:

First Reading – Exodus 20:1-17
Psalm – Psalm 19
Second Reading – 1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Gospel – John 2:13-22

 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Unbelievable.  Pure fiction.  Impossible.  Entertaining but untrue.  Where do you hear those words said?  Often times about fabricated stories, fairy tales, super hero stories, works of fiction.  One common theme within all those is a storyline about someone with supernatural powers who does something to save the world.  And as much as people want it to be true, it simply is not.  There are no flying men from Krypton, there is no woman with magic bracelets and super speed, there is no billionaire with a hidden cave who sneaks around in the shadows hunting bad guys.  Works of fiction.  For some, foolishness.

The story of Jesus is placed by many in this same category.  It’s an amazing story – God becomes a human, is born as a baby and grows up like everyone else.  He then acquires some followers and travels the countryside, healing people, casting out demons, forgiving sins, performing miracles.  He is hailed as the Messiah by His followers and those whom He has healed, and a troublemaker by the leaders of the community.  One of His followers became disenfranchised and for the right price, handed Him over to the leaders who dislike dHim.  He’s tortured in a terrible way, beaten, mocked, and forced to carry a heavy cross (weighing about 100 or so lbs) 650 yards – the distance of 6.5 football fields, after He was already dangerously weak from being tortured.  He then was nailed to that cross, mocked more, and put on display for the people to see.  Crucifixion was one of the most horrible ways to die, and it was reserved for those whom the Roman rulers wanted to humiliate.  Then, after a few agonizing hours, the sky turned black, the curtain in the temple was torn in two, an earthquake rumbled, and He died.  He’s placed in a tomb, but then on the third day the stone is rolled away and He is raised from the dead.  He appears to His followers, gives them instructions, and then ascends to heaven 40 days later.  And He does all of this to save us from our sins, so we can be forgiven. Amazing.  Life changing.

For some, it is also unbelievable.  Impossible.  There is no way this could have actually happened in the minds of many.  They believe it was made up, a fantasy.  They don’t believe it can be proven, and without concrete proof in their eyes, it didn’t actually happen.

We like proof.  We like structure.  We like order.  The Bible does give us something that is orderly, structured, and concrete.  The Ten Commandments.  In our first reading, we hear the laws God gave Moses on Mount Sinai – laws that would give structure and tell the people exactly what to do.  And contrary to what some may think, we actually do crave the structure and order that laws give.  They make sense (for the most part), and the last seven are laws that most can get on board with.  Honor your parents and others in authority.  Don’t murder. Don’t cheat on your spouse. Don’t steal.    Don’t gossip and lie.  Don’t envy other people’s things and try to take them away.  These laws are pretty universal around the world.  They tell us right from wrong.  And they should be relatively easy to abide by (in theory).

The law is much easier to understand than the Gospel.  The law, following the commandments, shows us where we are falling short in our lives.  Where we are screwing up.  If we follow the law perfectly, we will be righteous.  And we are a people who loves to do things ourselves.  It starts from a very young age.  Last week I had the opportunity to watch my niece for a night, and I learned that she does not like being fed.  She would much rather feed herself.  She’s 9 months old.  If my boys ask for something and we don’t do it for them immediately, they’ll go and try to do it themselves.  And I can’t say anything, because I’m the same way.  If someone tells me I can’t do something, I’ll do everything in my power to do it, just to prove them wrong.  When I was in high school, my phy-ed teacher told my parents that I would never be an athlete.  To date, I’ve run two half-marathons, a handful of 10ks, and numerous 5ks.  Never be an athlete, ha!

The law helps us be independent, to try and save ourselves.  The law also convicts us, and shows us where we fall short.  We don’t like to focus on that part as much.  A lot of times, when we fall short, we try to work harder to compensate.  But then, others just give up all together, because it’s a lot of work.  The gospel – that message of Jesus – it’s unbelievable.  It’s incomprehensible.  It tells us that we are saved not because of what we have done, but because of what God has done for us.  Not only that, but it celebrates our God who willingly went to the cross and died in a humiliating way.  Foolish.

But as Paul writes “For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.”[1]  God knows that we are independent creatures who crave the law.  But He also knows that it is not the law that will save us, but the gospel.  The willing sacrifice of God Himself to the cross.  A sign of weakness turned to strength.  A sign of human frailty, which is overcome by the power of God.  We want the law.  We want to dismiss the gospel as a fantasy, as unbelievable.  God knows that we need both.  What seems foolish to us with our human understanding is our saving grace.  We do have a superhero with supernatural powers who saved the world.  His name is Jesus.  Amen.

 

Amen.

© 2018 Stephanie Christoffels.  All Rights Reserved.  Used with permission.

[1] 1 Corinthians 1:25, NRSV (All Scripture comes from the NRSV unless otherwise noted).