Tag: Way of Jesus

Leading For Good, For All

Your influence is your leadership.

For a community and organization to forsee and flourish, people must use their influence for the common good or what our founders referred to as the Commonwealth.

That means character and integrity must be evidenced every day, along with accountability and friendship, since no one can be successful alone.

There must be a spiritual center to the common good- we are not just thoughts and actions, we need a power greater than ourselves to guide, convict, and compel us to do what is good, true, beautiful and just for all.

The following Psalm was part of the Scripture for the lectionary reading this morning:

“But they flattered the LORD with their mouths;
they lied to him with their tongues.
Their heart was not steadfast towards him;
they were not true to his covenant.
Yet God, being compassionate,
forgave their iniquity,
and did not destroy them;
often he restrained his anger,
and did not stir up all his wrath.
He remembered that they were but flesh,
a wind that passes and does not come again.”
[Psalm 78.36-39, NRSV]

Psalm 78 is a poetic summary of the turbulent relationship between God and the leaders of Israel. It highlights God’s faithfulness to them and their inconsistent loyalty. It’s a vulnerable song, laying open the reality of being God’s people.

God has to put up with leaders who don’t trust him, who profoundly wrong one another, and bring shame on his name – and yet God has bound himself to his people and must find ways to care for and correct them, to reprimand and transform them.

People follow leaders. God works through leaders.  I look up to leaders who help me look up to God. It’s so painful when the leaders I looked up to who helped me look up to God were also at the same time looking down on other people and taking advantage of them in despicable ways.

The psalm puts in perspective the stories that continue to emerge of abuse by Christian leaders towards women, children, other men, the church, and the world.

While this news is “old news” in that abuse and sin has always been part of humanity, America and the Christian religion, it also highlights the need for “good news” – the leadership of Christ Jesus the Lord.

Through his example and Spirit, Christ convicts a society and people of sin, humbles us to repentance and fosters transformation towards loving kindness in all things.

It’s disillusioning to hear of Christian leaders who hurt those they serve.

Especially when it is influential American Evangelical Church pastors. It’s not just “those Christians” who do terrible things, it’s now my tribe, my role models, the pastor that deeply shaped how I think about and do ministry with the church.

This renews my resolve to treat everyone with dignity, to not abuse anyone, and faithfully follow the Lord. But it also makes me question myself and to be brutally honest about “but for the grace of God, it could have been me.”

Like the psalmist recalls, it is easy to flatter God and others while ruminating and planning dark things. No one is righteous, everyone has sinned, which is why lament and repentance are essential to the Christian community.

We lie to God and ourselves when we insist on how good we are while glossing over what is wrong with our culture, our thoughts, and actions. Sometimes it takes death and brokenness to open our eyes to the sins we’ve committed and been blind to. 

It’s not just a matter of will-power to resist the temptation to lust, greed, gluttony, pride, and envy. It’s not just a mind and body struggle, but also a spiritual struggle with power.

The more influence one accumulates, the more checks and balances, the more accountability and friendship is needed to support spiritual practices so that you and those you influence become more humble and kind, wise and just in your dealings with everyone.

Staying attuned to the presence of Christ in all places and times is central to it. The sacrificial, generous, wise, courageous, patient and compassionate leadership of Jesus can be real within us, and through us.

Lead for good, for all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You Are What You Remember

Memories make us who we are.

The memories you hold on to, record, photograph, retell, shape who you become.

We know that humans equate perception to reality. We participate in reality based on what we choose to remember. These chosen memories shape how we perceive ourselves, our family, our marriage, our children, friends, work, church, neighborhood, our county, etc.

For some of us, we have a disposition to only remember the sunny stuff, that which makes us smile, look good, and be happy. Others of us tend to remember what went wrong, what we regret, and how life has not gone how we wanted it.

Remembering is also a central part of the Christian scriptures. 

The Eucharist, or what Christians also call Communion and the Lord’s Supper is given to us by Christ Jesus as a way to remember him, the gospel, and his call on our life to follow him. We read Scripture to remember God. It’s how we become Christians, “remembering” the stories that came before us to make it possible now to have a life in communion with Christ.

The New Testament Gospels and Epistles are shaped by memories, written by Christians to remember the life, ministry, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus and the acts of the apostles across the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

In the Gospel according to the apostle Matthew, he includes some of the story of Judas betraying Jesus at the Passover Meal. The story of betrayal is fascinating and heart-breaking, and by remembering it, we learn more about the depths of Jesus faithfulness to his disciples and his forgiveness of our sins.

St. Paul writes to Christians in Rome, a collection of believers made up of Jewish merchants and synagogue attenders, Greek and Roman citizens, and those from many different tribes and socio-economic classes – soldiers, slaves, barbarians, the poor and crippled, reminding them: “Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.”

What do the Christians in Rome choose to remember about the poor among them? That they are children of God or lazy? What do they decide to recall about strangers? That they are to be feared or to be given hospitality? What do they recollect about their enemies? That they are to be punished or to be blessed?

Our memories of Jesus will shape what we bring to mind about the poor, strangers, and enemies.

Memories aren’t passive though, they don’t just randomly come to surface, and you are not beholden to what you “happen” to remember. You can do memory work, and you can choose what to emphasize when you remember an event.

There are no “neutral” or “natural” rememberings – all memories are biased, edited, and distorted in some way.

That’s why remembering in community can be so powerful, retelling shared memories helps you remember elements you had forgotten, misunderstood, or edited in such a way that they are now wiser and encouraged because of what others remembered alongside you.

This is central to the Christian practice of Communion, and why it is central to our worship gatherings in church. 

You are what you remember. The YMCA. Church. Home. Neighborhoods. Nations.

You get to choose alot of what you remember.

Becoming grateful for what you remember – in an honest, courageous, humble way – helps you accept yourself and what has happened in your life.

This is important to confessing and repenting, to making amends, and helping heal who you’ve wronged and what’s been broken.

We don’t have to like the pain and suffering that we remember.

But if want it to become a part of our Christian story such that it fuels courage, resiliency, and loving-kindness, then we need to learn to accept what we remember with gratitude and submit it to the Lord (like Matthew and Paul in the New Testament).

The stories you remember and choose to tell around the table, at work, on long car rides, relaxing on vacation, during family celebrations powerfully shape who you are, and obviously how people see and understand you.

We are what we remember. 

Remember faithfulness. 

 

 

Are you ever surprised by who has faith and who has doubts?

It is really quite amazing that anybody believes that Jesus was the anointed King of Israel, was crucified, resurrected from the dead, ascended to his throne, and that he will return someday to make everything all right.

Considering how difficult it was for the first Eleven disciples to follow and believe Jesus, how much more difficult for us today?

Jesus shows up to the disciples with holes in his wrists and feet, he talks like Jesus, looks like Jesus, moves like Jesus – and they still think he is a ghost.

Even though he told them – and at this point, there are eyewitness accounts by others – he would return to them – they still doubt.

While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.

He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet.

And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.

He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. [Luke 24v36-45, TNIV]

Maybe we Christians should go easy on people who don’t believe Jesus.

Maybe we shouldn’t take for granted our own faith. Maybe we shouldn’t be so hard on ourselves when we lack a stronger faith.

Maybe it’s no wonder Jesus was hoping for at least mustard-seed-sized faith from his followers.

Maybe to believe in Jesus we need Jesus.

Jesus’ strategy is interesting;  upon his ascension, he promises that the Father will send the Spirit to become at home in each disciple. Follow the reasoning here:

  • the Spirit that was in Jesus is now in the disciples
  • this Spirit helped Jesus serve and endure and rescue and heal and feed and clothe and celebrate and share
  • that Spirit is in us
  • through the Spirit of Jesus, we have a powerful helper so that we can believe amidst our doubt, live boldly in the shadows of death, and speak the truth in love and grace amidst the lies, greed, and anger of our world.

It’s a miracle that anybody believes Jesus.

Maybe it’s not helpful to focus on all the people who don’t have faith in Jesus. Maybe it’s more helpful to notice everyone who tries to walk by faith.

Maybe in our work to see Jesus in the world, to see and partner with those who do believe, we’ll let Jesus plant more small seeds of faith in the least expected places.

Nobody expected the Jewish Messiah to come from Nazareth. Nobody expected the Galilean fisherman Peter to lead a movement. Nobody expected Jesus to be popular with corrupt tax agents and starving prostitutes.

Maybe we should let ourselves be surprised by who has faith and who has doubts.

He goes about doing his rescue work through the most unlikely of people in the most unlikely of places.

People like you.