Advent - Waiting is Active

Advent is a season of waiting. A season of hope. A season of preparation. A season of joy. We are able to wait because we are people of hope. We are people of hope because we believe that God is faithful and active in bringing about redemption. When we lose sight of God’s faithfulness, we slide into business, fear, and the need to make something happen. In short, we reach out to take hold of the vapor that is trying to be the source of our own security. God is the only one who can bring us peace, joy, and security. When we try to force those things on our own, we try to hold on to a vapor and we clinch our fists tight to not let it go. Advent is a time to remember that God is faithful in bringing about redemption. So, loosen your grip. Relinquish control. Let God be God and find rest in knowing that God is faithful in bringing about redemption. 

This “rest in knowing” is not a posture of laziness. Nor is it inactive. Our waiting for the coming of Christ is an active waiting. In this active preparation, there is rest because we are at peace rather than buying into the business and chaos the world has to offer in their forms of security. This coming week of Advent, we are going to focus on how waiting leads us to preparation, how waiting is always active. When we look at the birth story of Jesus in Luke, the obscure person who stands out to me, as a person of active waiting, is the prophet Anna in Luke 2:36-38. 

We know very little about Anna. She is a prophet who is an elderly widow. We know her father and her tribe. When we read between the lines, as Luke and the other gospel writers encourage us to do, we see connections to Hannah 1 Samuel (Anna is the Greek form of Hannah). In 1 Samuel 1, we see Hannah, barren and tormented by Peninnah, crying out to God for a son whom she will dedicate to his service. Samuel was born to Hannah and then spent his life in service to the Lord. At this point in Luke’s narrative, he has already drawn parallels between Mary’s song (Luke 1:46-56) and Hannah’s song (1 Samuel 2:1-10). The Gospel writers expect their readers to be familiar with these stories and draw connections.

What parallels do you see between Hannah’s story with Samuel and Anna in Luke 2? 

One thing I noticed in my readings that I haven’t noticed before is that Hannah dedicated herself to prayer and crying out to God for a blessing and then followed through when the prayers came to fruition. Anna also dedicated herself to worship, fasting, and prayer till she saw God’s movement towards redemption. At the moment she saw Mary, Joseph, and Jesus, she gave thanks to God and began proclaiming the good news of the one who was going to bring redemption. I don’t know if Luke was intending this connection, but I see both women fervently active in their waiting for God’s action and then responded once they received God’s response.

In the case of Anna, she continued in her dedication to active waiting for near eight decades. I imagine there were lots of young couples, with baby in tow, who were at the temple for dedication. Anna’s eyes were prepared through her active waiting to recognize where God’s action was going to take place. 

In this season of Advent, what does preparation look like in anticipation for what God is doing in the world? 

What do we need to learn about worship, prayer, and fasting as means for developing eyes to recognize where God is working?

The world looks very different right now and we’re entering into a new terrain as a church. Will we look back to how things were done in the past or will we look forward to how God might take us into new pastures? Either way, we need to learn to wait on God, see how he is working and meet him there.

Advent - Waiting with Hope

Waiting. We don’t like it. It’s not popular. People even abhor it. We don’t like to wait. When we wait, we don’t feel like we’re in control. We feel powerless when we have to wait. Henri Nouwen, one of my favorite spiritual writers, says that people who are fearful have the hardest time waiting, “because when we are afraid, we want to get away from where we are. But if we cannot flee, we may fight instead.” Fear leads people, and even whole communities, into destructive actions because of what might happen. Out of fear, they take action into their own hands. They strike first because they are too afraid to wait. The more fearful we are as a people the harder waiting becomes. Because of our fear, we are prone to take actions into our own hands, question God’s methods, and put trust in anyone who can assure our safety.

When we open the first few pages of Luke, we find six figures who are all in the position of waiting: Zachariah and Elizabeth, Anna, Simeon, and Mary and Joseph. The whole opening scene of Luke’s gospel is filled with waiting people. Each of them is a figure of “waiting Israel” and therefore a figure of “Christians in waiting” for Christ. Each week in this series we will look at each figure and the message we need to hear about waiting for Christ. 

-       Nov. 29th Waiting with Hope – Elizabeth and Zechariah 

-       Dec.6th Waiting is Active – Anna

-       Dec. 13th Waiting with Peace – Simeon

-       Dec. 20th Waiting Births Love – Mary and Joseph

One of the beautiful pictures of waiting when Elizabeth and Mary are in view is that they both receive the message that they are going to have a son (Elizabeth via mute Zechariah). This gives us one of the first lessons about waiting, those who wait do so because they have received a promise that permits them to wait. Elizabeth and Mary both receive something that is now at work in them, like a seed starting to grow. The important message we receive from these two exemplars of the faith is that we too have already received the seed, the Holy Spirit, within us to bring about a transformation in us. 

Waiting is never moving from nothing to something. Waiting is a movement from something to something more. To put it another way, the Spirit within you grows and redeems the parts of you in need of redemption (John 14:15-17). The Spirit is the promise that gives hope. It calls us to action and preparation. It brings us to peace in a world of chaos. Finally, the Spirit of Christ in us then births love into the world. We will explore each of these themes in the weeks to come.

For this Sunday, we are going to look at how Luke Zechariah responds to the good news of what God is going to do in the world around him. Take some time to read Luke 1:5-25. Place yourself in the story and listen to what God might be speaking to you through your reading. When I think about Zechariah, I am reminded that I have a tendency to speak too often and about too much. I can rationalize quickly how God does or doesn’t work in certain ways. We have a tendency to question. Question what? Everything. So, we talk. We plan. We question. We make claims on what the future holds because in our talking we also try to take the reins from God because we like to have control of our future. In all his talking, God gives Zechariah the gift of silence. This silence then gives birth to hope. 

Take some time this week to reflect on your life. Where do you put your hope? What areas of your life need the gift of silence so that you can fully listen to the God of Hope? 

During this season of Advent, let’s develop the posture of waiting by scheduling times to be silent before God. As the Psalmist writes in Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God.”

Life of Exile - Give to God what is God's

It is weird living in two Kingdoms at the same time. As Exiles, the Jews still believed God would return and bring reconciliation and redemption. They had to develop an “exile ethic” that kept a balance between their loyalty to the nation where they lived and their loyalty to the kingdom they were from. This tension looks like a form of loyalty and subversion. We see this with Daniel and Co. taking on new names, positions within the government, and adopting the Babylonian education and culture. But then they continue to hold to their food purity codes that set them apart for God. This week, I want to look at another familiar story that’s focused more on the “and Co.” of Daniel and Co. In Daniel 3, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refuse to bow down to a statue erected by Nebuchadnezzar. Only the one true God receives their allegiance, adoration, and worship. 

What are some things in the world around you which ask for your allegiance, your worship, or adoration? 

I’ve found that it is often easier for me to spot the idolatry in other people than in myself. Take time to examine yourself, sitting in silence asking God to reveal in you the things that come into conflict with your allegiance to him. Here are some questions I ask myself for this kind of reflection: What receives most of my time? Energy? Passion? Money? Etc. What angers me the most? What excites me the most?

These questions do not point directly to the idols in our lives, but they help lead to deeper questions to revelation. 

This exile ethic was carried back into the Promise Land when the Jews went home. They arrived home to a destroyed temple inside a destroyed Jerusalem (Ezra-Nehemiah). They were back in the land, but it doesn’t quite seem to be all that God had promised. In the generations to come they would exchange one oppressor for another till the time of Jesus. They were exiles in their own land. They were home but not. This becomes one of the major themes of the New Testament (which we looked at in 1 Peter). 

Jesus’ ministry and message were all about the coming of the Kingdom of God. John the Baptist prepared the way by calling Israel back to the wilderness to “reenter” the land as people of God’s Kingdom through Baptism. This is also what happens in our Baptism, we enter God’s Kingdom as citizens. We enter his Family, through New Birth. 

The question is, what does this exile ethic look like for those who claim the Kingdom of God? The Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7) is one of the best places to go for Jesus’ “exile ethic” or “Kingdom ethic” for how his followers should live while living in exile. Don’t just be good citizens, go above and beyond in your goodness so that you are a light to the nation you live in. Read through the Sermon on the Mount. 

Which teachings do you find the hardest to live up to? 

When you loosen your grip on “winning,” how much easier is it to love your enemies, bless those who persecute, turn the cheek, go the extra mile, etc. (5:38-48)? 

Finally, I want to look at Jesus’ comments about “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s” (Matthew 22:15-22, Mark 12:13-17, Luke 20:20-26). This passage is usually focused on for why we should pay our taxes. I want to look a little closer at a nuanced distinction Jesus is making in what he says. Jesus is asked about paying taxes. He answers with a question about “images,” and then says, “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” 

What has the image of God that should be given to God?

What happens when the things that belong to God are given to things that hold another image?

Dwelling in the Word for this Sunday be on Matt 5:38-48. Send me a message if you would like to share what you’re hearing from God in this text.

Life of Exile - Blessing the Nation

One of the pervasive themes of the Bible is the theme of Exile. Most of the Old Testament was put together by the Jews who were carried off into exile by the Babylonians. They compiled their oral histories, law codes, and other writings passed down over generations. They told and retold their stories in a way to make sense of how they got to where they are, who their God is in light of it all, and where they are going from this point moving forward. The Bible begins with God’s display of power over all other gods found in creation. He is the one who created a world of peace and tranquility (opposed to the other creation stories of Babylon where the world was born in chaos through war between other gods – see Gilgamesh). This paradise, called Eden, is our true home. 

Home is not only a place but an identity. Our identity in God’s beautiful creation was to be his image bearers. This means we reflect his glory in every way. Reflecting God’s glory as his image bearers does not come just because we are made in his image. We have to be connected to God and in submission to him as God. When Adam and Eve reached for the fruit of the knowledge of Good and Evil, they essentially were telling God that they no longer needed his guidance as to what was good or evil. They could determine this for themselves. As a result, they were removed from the Garden of Eden, no longer having connection to the Tree of Life (Gen 3:22-24). This is punishment and also grace. 

How is it grace? In our sinful brokenness, the image of God in us is now diminished. God does not want us to live forever in our brokenness but wants to restore us to our rightful place as his image bearers within a perfect creation he created as good. We are no longer home in either our location or our bodies because we are not connected to God the way he intended for us to be. Humanity is now exiled and in need of coming home. 

The story of the Towel of Babylon (Babel) is a symbolic story of every nation that will come along to establish itself as the place where humanity will find home (protection) and identity (name for themselves). Every nation that comes along, according to this Biblical narrative, is just another in a long line of Babylons who provide a false sense of “home” but always fall short of God’s intention for creation and his humanity. Israel, in their rejection of God as King, becomes another type of Babylon and this leads to their exile from the land to then be scattered throughout the actual Babylon.

Jeremiah (29:4-9) writes to the last group being carried off into exile with words from God telling them how they should live: 

4 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” 8 Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. 9 They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord.

If you were carried off into exile, what kind of response do you think you would have? What are the key elements you hear God telling the people about how they should live as foreigners in the land?  

This passage becomes key, not only for Israel trying to figure out their place in the world of exile, but even more so for the early Jesus followers who were trying to make sense of this new life they were called to live in Christ. 

As Christians, what happens when we forget that we aren’t home here? What are the biggest temptations when the world changes around us? How does Jeremiah 29 speak to how we should interact with the nation in which we live?

This Sunday, we will look deeper into Jeremiah 29’s call for how we live as citizens. We will look at the example of Daniel and his friends in the beginning of the Book of Daniel. Take some time to read Daniel 1 and 3 and look for the example Daniel and friends show for how to live a life of blessing to the nation while committing full loyalty to God. 

What happens when we blur these lines and assume that our commitment to the nation is the same as commitment to God?

What are some idols in our nation that we are asked to worship that come into conflict with our allegiance to God? 

These are the hard questions each of us must continually wrestle with when we seek to reclaim the image of God in our lives and begin to return to our true home.

Dwelling in the Word for this Sunday will be Paul’s echo of Jeremiah 29 in Titus 3:1-11.

How are you challenged with this passage? Convicted? Encouraged? Send me an email with your reflections as you sit with this text and I’ll offer them to the church as encouragement towards growing together.

Life of Exile - Longing for Home

Have you ever had the feeling that you aren’t quite at home where you are? Even though you are settled in your house, you have your routines, and you’re surrounded by family, you look around and everything you see around you just makes you not feel like this is really your home. Most of you have felt that at some point and I’ve heard many of you articulate it. God has made us for being in his presence and we aren’t at home till we fully rest in his presence. As Augustine once said, “Thou hast mad us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.”

The Bible has a major overarching theme that we often miss that communicates this another way. We are people of exile till God finally returns to reclaim this place as our home. This theme permeates all of scripture from the moment we were exiled from the garden in Genesis till the moment the garden is restored in the New Creation in Revelation. 

In this short series, we will look at what the Prophets and Jesus say about how to live as exiles in the world. This overarching theme in scripture is also seen in the rhythm of the Christian calendar. As we go through this series, looking at what is means to be good citizens here and now, we are approaching Advent (Nov 29) and the anticipation of God returning to us in the coming of Christ. Keeping the coming of Christ in mind, we look forward in hope for what God is doing and will do to bring this world to back to his original intention for it. 

The focus passage for Sunday’s lesson will be the story of the Towel of Babel in Genesis 11:1-9. This week we will focus on longing for Home. November 15, we will talk about what it means to be good citizens while keeping allegiance to God (Jeremiah 29 and Daniel). Finally, November 22 we will look at what Jesus says about being citizens who bless the nation where they live while being subversive for the Kingdom of God.  

Dwelling in the Word this Sunday – Romans 8:28-39

First Peter 3:18-22 and 4:12-5:14

Peter has spent much of his letter encouraging the church in their time of suffering. It is hard to associate with what he is saying because many of us have never been in a place of suffering because of our belief in Christ. I have never lost family, a job, friends, or anything of the sort because of my life dedicated to following Christ. In many ways, the culture of the church and the culture around us are not terribly different so it is difficult to distinguish Christians from non Christians. 

One thing we need to pay attention to throughout this letter is that Peter sees the Church as an alternative community and provides clear expectations for those who claim to live the Christian life. If we continually raised the bar with one another for our discipleship to Christ, would persecution then follow because of how different our lives would be compared to the world around us? Our text this week begins in 1 Peter 4:12.

At that point, our suffering brings us alongside Christ. We know Christ better when we undergo suffering. I think about the Apostles in Acts who celebrated and praised God because they were counted worthy of persecution. In my prayer for the cup on Sunday, I prayed that our lives would be worthy of persecution. I meant that but at the same time, I didn’t. We honestly don’t want to be persecuted. It is painful. It is disorienting. So, maybe my prayer needs to be for God to help me to let go of everything I am holding onto that keeps me from clinging onto Christ and Christ alone. At that point I will have all that I will ever need. Maybe then I will have the courage to pray for persecution.

This prayer of relinquishment is what I believe frames the section I skipped on Sunday, 1 Peter 3:18-22. This little passage on baptism is packed with deep levels of theology that I’d like to explore this Sunday as a way to bring Peter’s letter to a close. Here are a few things to reflect on to prepare for Sunday: What did Jesus have to let go of in order to embrace the suffering of the cross? What did he have to hold tight to in order to embrace the suffering of the cross? Jesus finds himself in the unagreeable parts of the afterlife. What did he then proclaim? What does any of this have to do with baptism?

Peter ends his letter calling the elders of the Christian community to set the example of what life looks like as a follower of Christ. He then calls those who are younger to take the position of submission and for everyone to clothe themselves with humility towards one another. When the community of Christ followers is looking to one another in humility, they will be able to take their stand against the devil. What we do as a family has deeper ramifications in the batter against the dark forces of this world. Do you believe that? 

Finally, Peter says he is writing from “Babylon” (5:13). Why is it important to recognize the empire you live in as the place of exile from God? 

Peace to all of you who are in Christ.

First Peter 3:8-4:11

Our culture is in a power struggle over who will determine morality for the culture. We find ourselves as Christians in a peculiar situation where we might be tempted to engage in this fight for power. The call of Christ to pick up our cross and follow him is one of sacrificial living in a world that is willing to do its worst to us. Throughout Peter’s letter to the churches, he is calling for this kind of living. A kind of living that reflects the love of Christ. One of the more baffling things about Jesus is that he is God in the flesh, and he got invited to the wild parties. He was the embodiment of everything that was good and sinners felt comfortable with him. How do we reclaim that kind of Christian witness? Peter, in this past week’s text, tells us to “keep our conduct amongst the Gentiles (non-believers) honorable so that they will glorify God” (2:12) and that by “doing good, we will silence the ignorance of foolish speaking” (2:15). In short, we are called to lead with our lives in how we proclaim the Gospel to the world. 

We show honor to everyone, the President, Governor, Police, etc. We show honor to everyone we meet, those who disagree with us, those who want to do us harm, those who are “ruining our country,” etc. We show honor to everyone. Christians should be known for their love, humility, integrity, peace, and joy. What are we known most for?

This week we will be in 1 Peter 3:8-4:11. Read this section and reflect on these questions:

• Why is suffering a good thing? Suffering from persecution and inconveniences in life are two different things entirely, but how you handle inconveniences in your life will determine how you might handle persecution. In what ways can the little inconveniences in life help you handle harder hardships and even persecution? 

• Family isn’t the only way to talk about the Church, but it is the primary descriptions for Peter. Spend a moment reflecting on how you understand the church to be family. How does the church being family help you become more like Christ? How does it help you live as a citizen of an alternative Kingdom to the kingdoms of this world? 

• Finally, Baptism is at the center of this section. What does baptism have to do with family, suffering, and how interact with this world?

First Peter 1:13-2:10 and 2:11-3:7

Peter begins his letter celebrating the salvation that we have received as followers of Christ and the new birth it gives us into God’s Family. 1:13 begins with a “Therefore,” signifying that there is a response expected of us based on this salvation. In 1:13-2:10, Peter calls his readers to six responses to this salvation: 1) 1:13 – Hope; 2) 1:14-16 – Holiness; 3) 1:17-21 – Fear of God; 4) 1:22-25 – A familial love for one another; 5) 2:1-3 – a deeper desire for the word of God; 6) 2:5 – Christians are the come together to build themselves into a spiritual house.

This celebration and transformation of and through salvation has challenged me to look internally and examine where my passions point my heart. If I have tasted that the Lord is good (2:3) then my cravings should be for him, his Kingdom, and the church that embodies the kingdom around the world. Anything I hold on too tightly that is of this world intoxicates me and keeps me from having clear vision to see where we need to go. In order to be the living stones built on the Living Stone we must continually crave God and his Kingdom. Everything else is a distraction. We, the church, are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and his special possession (2:9). 

When we know where our citizenship is founded (heaven), then we are able to live a life that is not weighed down by allegiances of this world. We move this Sunday into a hard section of this letter (2:11-3:7). It is a hard section because the voice of our culture screams independence and self-sovereignty and what Peter calls Christians to is, submission. We don’t like the word “submission.” We have a lot to say about our personal rights and will even fight to preserve them. There is a lot to be said about the social changes that need to come with these passages and the liberation of oppressed people. It is understandable why some groups wouldn’t like these passages. What I want to focus on this Sunday are these questions which arises from amongst these verses: 

When you become a Christian, does it make you a better _____? When the church undergoes persecution, is it because of how well we love others? When people reject Christ, are they doing so because of their experiences with his people? 

When I think about the people in NoDa and in the Johnston YMCA who do not know Christ, my hope and prayer is that when they think of our congregation they will be able to say, “I don’t know how I feel about Christ or Christianity, but all I do know is NoDa Church is good for our community and they are some of the most loving, kind, peaceful, and joy-filled people I have ever met.”

Intro to First Peter and 1:1-12

Peter is writing to Gentile Christians using deeply Jewish language. He calls them the “elect exiles of the Dispersion (Diaspora).” If the Jewish Diaspora are Jews exiled from Israel, then Christian Diaspora are Christians who are exiles from where? Heaven. Peter’s major point is that as Christians, we are not at home here. He writes to people who have lost power and position in society because of their choice to follow Christ. They are being persecuted and rejected by society because of their choice to follow Christ and their lifestyle that accompanied that choice. 

Throughout the letter, Peter is going to explore three temptation for a poor response to losing power and position in society: 

1. Blend in with society. Interpret Christianity in a way that doesn’t make you stand out in the culture.

2. Withdraw and hide. Close yourself off from the world, build bigger and thicker walls to keep the world out, and do everything you can to stay safe and not be challenged by the world. 

3. Fight back. Do everything you can to reclaim positions of power in society. If they hit you, hit them harder. If they insult you, insult them back. 

Throughout his letter, Peter is going to say that these three responses to persecution are not the way of Jesus. He continually paints a picture of Jesus as one who endured suffering from persecution and calls us to follow in Jesus’ footsteps. How then should we respond to the world? “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation” 2:12. Basically, rise above the ways of the world so that they see the love of Christ in you and through you. 

The only way we are able to rise above is to first recognize that we are God’s chose and special possessions (2:4-5) and we are not at home in this world (1:1). When we recognize that we are God’s dearly loved Children, and that our citizenship is in heaven, we can let go of the need for power and position in this world and more freely love those who oppose us. 

As we move closer and closer to the election, I hope for Peter’s letter to continually remind us that we are God’s chosen, this is not our home, and love is the only way to respond to this election and those who vote differently from you. No matter the outcome of this election, remember, “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flowers of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” Our true citizenship is in a forever Kingdom so do not put too much of your emotional energy in things that do not last forever.

He begins his letter with an incredibly long run-on sentence (in the Greek). He lays the foundation fo God’s goodness, the salvation that we’ve received in Jesus Christ, the fullness of that salvation that is still to come, how the Prophets longed to know about what we have freely been given in Christ, and ends with a note that the angels long to understand the special relationship we have with God! Peter lays this foundation because when the world rejects us, we no longer have position or power, we are reminded of who we belong to and where our home is and we no longer have a need to fight back.

Next week’s lesson will explore how we are called to live as God’s special people in a world we are not at home in. 1 Peter 1:13-2:10 will be our focus passage and 1:22-2:3 will be the passage for Dwelling in the Word.