Notes From Jon

Each Advent, our home, like many other homes in our small town, is decorated for the season.  And that decoration includes lights.  Some homes have thousands of lights spread across their yards, floodlights lighting the front door, and Christmas trees blazing in the windows.  Others (like ours) have a few lights, or maybe no lights at all outside, but the glow of a Christmas tree warms a few windows.

Then there are the window candles.  We didn’t do this until we moved to Kenbridge, but it’s become one of our favorite decorations – candles in the window, symbolically inviting the Holy Family to find shelter here:  “There may not be room in the inn, but I have room for you!”  Every tucked-away electrical outlet finds its annual purpose, and our windows shine with welcoming light throughout the night.  I can see and feel their warmth as I’m coming home in the evening, or during my morning walk before the sun rises.

There are times, though, when the light gets out of hand.  What is warm and welcoming outside becomes an uncomfortable burden inside.  Like when we notice the bright new addition to our monthly power bill.  Or when we have to make an unexpected trip to the store to get those tiny (but expensive) light bulbs.  Or when it’s time to leave for a trip, and we have to find all those tucked-away outlets again to unplug the lights.  For someone like me, who sometimes has a hard time falling asleep, the extra bright lights in our normally-darkened bedroom windows make it difficult to tune out the world.  For someone like Tanya, who loves a clean and tidy house, the extra lights at nighttime take away one of the merits of nighttime – the short-lived illusion that everything’s as tidy as it should be.

Sometimes it’s enough to make you want to pull the plugs on the things!

We welcome the warm glow of the Light of Christ at Christmas time.  How special this season is, how nostalgic and moving!  But when it comes to letting the Light of Christ into our lives – into all the parts of our lives – things get a little more complicated.  And why?  Because the light that started off as a warm glow from the darkness of a stable, became an almost unbearable brilliance from the darkness of a tomb.

The light can be costly at times, asking us to give things up.  In some strange way, the Light requires that we keep opening doors and windows into new and painful areas.  Like a floodlight, that Light finds its way into even the darkest rooms of our hearts, and shows us things we’d rather not be reminded of.  Sometimes its brightness keeps us awake, spurring us to thought or action at times we’d rather be resting.

“There may not be room in the inn, but I have room for you!” we say.  “Once Christmas is over, though, you’ll need to leave – or at least you’ll need to move into the back bedroom before you get too bright.”

But no matter the cost, the Light heals and frees us, the Light makes us whole.

Oh Jesus, Light of the World, bring your Light into my heart this day.  Let the Light find me out, in spite of myself.  Let it show me the things that need fixing, remind me that things are not as tidy as they should be, spur me to action at times when I’d rather be resting.  And let its brightness consume all the darkness that is in me, until all that’s left is the Light.

On October 26, I interrupted my series on Romans to speak about the difficult financial times we face.  Emotions are high, and anxiety is at a peak as we watch to see what the Dow is going to do today.

How can a Christian respond faithfully in times like this?  The answer might surprise you!

Desperate Times and Desperate Measures
A Christian’s Response to Economic Uncertainty

1 Kings 17:1-16, Mark 12:41-44
(also Matthew 6:19-34)

Intro: Letting Go

I had chances growing up to see all kinds of things.  We went on vacations once a year to places as far north as DC, and as far west as the Grand Canyon.  Strangely, though, I have only vague memories of some of these places.  I remember, for instance, the powerful feeling I had standing at the edge of the South Rim, but I don’t really remember any specific vistas, nor do I remember much of the long trip out west.

Strangely enough, one clear memory I have of growing up is going to the circus.  I remember cotton candy, silly toys that cost a lot and broke before I got home.  I remember animals and clowns – I even remember where we sat one time we went.

And one of my favorite things to watch was the trapeze artists.  What amazing skill they had, to fly through the air from bar to bar, flipping and twirling and ending up in just the right place at the right time.  I wasn’t the most adventurous child, but I could sure dream.  And I often imagined myself as a trapeze artist, flying gracefully through the air to the cheers of thousands.

That dream was shattered sometime in my teenage years, when I visited a particular ropes course on a youth trip.  Read the rest of this entry »

Romans 5:1-8
“Rejoicing in Suffering?”

Last week we talked about the plotline of the story Paul is telling.  The exposition, the narrative hook, the rising action, the climax, and the falling action.  We also talked about how this is not just a novel or some story we’re reading – but that at the climax, each of our stories begin.  We hear the good news, we are confronted with the power and truth of the Gospel.  The rising action asks the question: How will we respond?  Paul assumes we will respond in true faith that changes our lives.

So Paul continues in chapter 5:

Rom 5:1-2 Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,  (2)  through whom we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of God’s glory.

This sounds good so far, right?  But Paul never leaves well-enough alone.

Rom 5:3-8 Not only this, but we also rejoice in sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,  (4)  and endurance, character, and character, hope.  (5)  And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

And why do we have hope?

(6) For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.  (7)  (For rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person perhaps someone might possibly dare to die.)  (8)  But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Woah, Paul.  Why’d you have to go there?  Rejoicing in “the hope of God’s glory” from verse 2, that’s good.  Why don’t we skip a few verses?  There’s no need to talk about suffering, is there? Read the rest of this entry »

Did you think I’d given up on Romans?  I’ve been sorely tempted.  But many of my church folks have told me that these are some of the best sermons I’ve done since I’ve been here.  So I’m continuing.

I think the popularity of these sermons is because they are basic and systematic.  They are basic in that they are designed to speak to the average person with no background in Christianity, but with enough depth that we can all learn or be reminded by studying them.  They are also basic in that they deal with very foundational tenets of the faith.  And they are more systematic than I usually am – my series generally do not last longer than three or four sermons.  Of course, I haven’t (until now) tackled a book more than four chapters.

You may have noticed that I went back and renamed the first few sermons – I renamed the posts by the scripture passage instead of just numbering them “Romans Part 1, Part 2″ and so on.  That’s mostly because I’m finding that as I get deeper into the book, I’m taking more and more time on smaller passages.  Before you know it, I’ll be on “Romans Part 26,” and that seems ridiculous.

Also, between the last post on Romans and this one, I did a very brief sermon on a communion Sunday on the first few verses on Chapter 4 – basically talking about the difference between grace and mercy – grace being what God chooses to give us that we don’t deserve, and mercy being what God chooses NOT to give us that we DO deserve.  It was more of a devotional thought than anything else, and I didn’t type it up.

So, all this to say – here’s the next part in the continuing series on Romans, and Paul’s basic outline of the faith.  As always, remember that this is not a full transcript – only the notes I typed up to get my thoughts together.  So sorry if they’re rough around the edges!

Read the rest of this entry »

 Note: I’ve tried to get back to my semi-regular column in the local paper, the K-V Dispatch.  This is the first I’ve done in a while – it appeared in the February 28, 2008 edition.

These past couple of weeks, the news channels have followed a kind of story they don’t focus on very often:  the U.S. Space Program.  Occasional updates have followed the attachment of a new module to the International Space Station, and tests of the shuttle’s heat shield to make sure there won’t be another accident on reentry.  These stories about space are a rarity these days.  It seems like there are so many things to worry about here on the ground that we left behind the idea of space exploration a long time ago.  Occasional stories have caught our attention – the losses of the astronauts of Challenger and Columbia for instance.  But for the most part, save a tragedy, the eyes of the nation toward space discovery are either indifferent, unknowing, or outright hostile.

The hostility is understandable.  In a society that values things and money so highly, and where people and items are usually judged by the amount of their output, it’s easy to understand why people would see spaceflight as a waste of the government’s money.  And in a time of war, the crunch is even tighter.  And so manned spaceflight is rapidly becoming a private venture – taken on either by a few cloistered government workers, or by billionaires enamored of a new hobby.

What does the space program contribute to our world?  Lots, if you’re willing to look into it.  All kinds of inventions – plastics, medicines, new technologies – would not have been possible were it not for the work of scientists in the zero-gravity atmosphere of space.  And we don’t have to look hard to see that we’re going to need help on this planet before too long; New energy sources, modes of transportation, and places to live are all problems that space scientists around the world are working on.

Truth be told, our indifference and hostility toward space are a lack of imagination.  Much like the many naysayers who ridiculed or ignored Columbus’ crazy venture around to this side of the world, we simply can’t imagine (realistically) a world outside our own.  And yet, men and women around the world continue to put their lives on the line, year after year, to continue the slow crawl of progress in spaceflight.  Decades from now, when we’re celebrating our first colony on Mars, when the world has come together to push past Mars because Earth has become crowded and used-up… it’s likely in those days that we won’t pause long to remember the folks who, like Columbus, could imagine what those days would look like and were courageous enough to keep acting on it.

So what does all this have to do with God?  This column is called Speaking of Faith, after all.

Like the men and women involved in space exploration today – wrapped up in the “useless” waste of time and money – we are called on a similarly “foolish” mission.  Here we are, placed in a world that’s not really our home… but one in which it’s sadly too easy to feel comfortable.  And when we start looking at things from a “normal” point of view, we might see our mission as foolish.  Talk about good news in a world filled with all this mess?  Help out the poor when there are too many to count?  Work for justice for people who don’t speak our language?  Live as if God were real and made a difference in our lives?  That just sounds crazy!  And it’s close to impossible!

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,” writes Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:18.  And not just to them – sometimes it’s foolish to us, too.  But fortunately, “the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom” (v. 25), and this foolishness is the very power that saves us… and that will one day make our world brand new.

Why stick with this foolish Gospel?  Why keep risking our lives in space?  Why sail around the other side of the world?  Let’s live with holy imagination, like explorers who can see things that others can’t see.  We might just turn out to be right after all.

Speaking of Faith Column

K-V Dispatch

March 14 2007 Edition

Hold on to your hats: Yet another startling new discovery threatens to rock the foundations of Christianity! How many times have we heard this in the last five years? From the questions posed by Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code and the scandalous Gospel of Judas, to the recent discovery of the James ossuary (which, incidentally, was proven a hoax), it seems there is no shortage of revelations these days that strike fear in the hearts of millions of Christians worldwide! The foundations of the Church are crumbling, and Christianity is cowering in the shadow of science and truth…

Or at least, that’s what someone wants you to think.

In 1980, a group of archaeologists discovered a tomb with several ossuaries, boxes containing the bones of the deceased. Names on those boxes include “Jesus, son of Joseph,” Mary, and even “Mariamene,” a name that was reportedly used to refer to Mary Magdalene. The discovery was picked up by Hollywood director James Cameron (of Titanic fame), who has made a “documentary” on the subject. The implications are serious, they claim: Jesus was no more than a normal human being, who was married to Mary Magdalene, and who had children. No cross and resurrection, no ascent into heaven.

It seems everyone’s expecting Christians to shudder in fright. The world watches for some kind of vicious reaction from the Church, like cornered animals who realize their time is up. Sadly, some of us have given it to them.

I could go on for several weeks of columns, talking about the problems in their research, the evidence that disputes their claims. But you’ll see all of that on TV. I think what’s more important is not the story itself, but why we react to it the way we do.

We (as Christians) should not be surprised by this kind of thing at all. The rest of the world is looking through lenses of “un-faith,” and they will always see what they want to see. And they’ll keep looking… and they’ll still be looking years, decades, centuries from now (if Jesus hasn’t returned), trying to find that final straw that will break the Church’s back. And I believe the Church will still be as strong then as it is now, if not stronger.

What does it say about our “faith” when we allow it to be threatened or shattered by scientific discoveries, no matter how well-grounded they may be? What does it say about our God when we allow him to be judged by the whims of scientists and atheists who will read the evidence in their own favor? Is our “faith” based scientific proof and archaeological evidence? Or is our faith based on belief, on the Truths that God has revealed to us?

If you’re looking for scientific proof of God, I’m sorry to inform you that I don’t think you’ll find it. God wants us to have a faith that’s based on him, not on proof. As long as we are here on earth, the struggle will continue – between those who want to prove God, and those who think he’s just baloney. And in the middle will be those of us who just know – not because it was proven to us, but because we choose to believe that it’s true.

Instead of cowering in the corner and lashing out, maybe we’re better off looking seriously at these things and letting them inform – and challenge – our own faith. It’s no sin to ask questions – just ask Job. Rather than allowing our faith to be defined by the latest sensational news story, let’s look first through the lenses of faith and see the truth we need to be reminded of: That no matter what may come our way, God is still there, and he still has the final word.