Word of Life Church Podcast

<p>Jesus Christ is the light that enlightens every person. In the light of Christ we know that narcissism is a deformity of the soul because in the life of Jesus we see self-sacrifice. In the light of Christ we know that materialism is a wrong orientation of the soul because in the life of Jesus we find no greed. In the light of Christ we know that nativism is odious because in the life of Jesus we see radical hospitality.</p>

<p>When you are grieving and in great pain, pour out your lamentation to God, but hold on to your ticket. Remember that life is a precious gift, affirm the goodness of creation, love every leaf and every grain of sand, and trust God. Trust that, in the end, God is able to make all things work together for good, that God will wipe away every tear, and that God will make all things new.</p>

<p>When we encounter tragedy, the question is not, Who can we blame? The question is, How can we help? If the framing question in tragedy is, Who can we blame?, then we end up doing the work of the devil. But if the framing question in tragedy is, How can we help?, we will do the work of God.</p>

<p>The Book of Job exposes the satanic practice of blame. The book presents a test to the reader: Can the reader hold onto what God says about Job — that Job was blameless. Most readers cannot. Eventually they are seduced into agreeing with the arguments set forth by Job’s accusers. Most readers end up forgetting what God has said about Job and agreeing with what Satan says about Job. This shows us the insidious lure of the satanic temptation to blame a scapegoat. It’s a temptation that really only Jesus can save us from.</p>

<p>“The essential thing in heaven and in earth is that there should be a long OBEDIENCE in the same direction that thereby results, in the long run, in something which makes life worth living—virtue, art, music, dancing, reason, spirituality—anything whatsoever that is transfiguring, refined, foolish, or divine.”<br>–Friedrich Nietzsche</p>

<p>Jesus shows us what it means to be family. We are fully seen and known by him. Even after diving deep into the details of our lives he still calls us family. This is how we are called to love each other as well. To go out of our way and be troubled by what troubles others is the love Jesus challenges us to live.</p>

<p>It feels good to be chosen, because it communicates to us that we are wanted. It communicates that not only are we welcomed, but we are wanted. It creates a sense of belonging. Psychologists since the 1950s have said that a sense of belonging is a fundamental human need. You feel like you belong when you know you have been chosen. As followers of Jesus we have been chosen, not for salvation, but for a vocation, for a mission to bear the image of God in the world. We live in a wolf-world and Jesus isn't sending us out to be a better version of the wolf. Jesus is sending us out like sheep among wolves. Jesus is sending us out to be distinctly different, a chosen and holy people. It is through our holiness, our distinctiveness, that we fulfill God's call for us.</p>

<p>You were made to worship, because you are human. Worship is a human quality. We all have the capacity to look towards something outside ourselves, to give attention to some version of the good life, to give our hearts and devotion to something or someone. This is what worship is and we were made for this. Our hearts were made for worship just as our bodies were made to move. We were made for worship. For followers of Jesus, God is looking for worshipers who will worship God in spirit and truth.</p>

<p>From Moses to Mary we see God calling individuals to specific tasks and special vocations through peculiar and powerful events. This can leave us awestruck and distraught at the same time, wondering what our calling may be and if we have missed our calling. In Christ we discover that we are all called and our calling is more about who are becoming than what we are specifically doing.</p>

<p>We are created to be people of peace. Jesus is present with us in the midst of our fears and worries. Rather than participate in the chaos Jesus invites us into the peace of His presence through prayer. Prayer is the place that makes space for peace.</p>

<p>There is a sense in our day that the drive for more is driving us crazy. Jesus wants to liberate us from this madness of more, setting us free to rest in his grace. Jesus says to us, “Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest.” May we learn to walk the way of thankfulness and trust, seeing more than enough wherever we look.</p>

<p>The second most important question a person can answer is "Who are you?" This question follows the most important question "Who is Jesus?" As we look to Jesus and the cross we can honestly answer, "I am loved." Shame is soul-crushing and can keep us from believing the truth about who we really are. The good news is that shame has been defeated by Jesus' death and resurrection. The words of shame are not who we are. We are people who are loved. In the words of Henri Nouwen, “We are not what we do. We are not what we have. We are not what others think of us. Coming home is claiming the truth. I am the beloved child of a loving Creator. We no longer have to beg for permission from the world to exist.”</p>

<p>Mama, take this badge off of me<br>I can’t use it anymore<br>It’s gettin’ dark, too dark to see<br>I feel I’m knockin’ on heaven’s door<br><br>Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door<br>Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door<br>Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door<br>Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door<br><br>Mama, put my guns in the ground<br>I can’t shoot them anymore<br>That long black cloud is comin’ down<br>I feel I’m knockin’ on heaven’s door<br><br>Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door<br>Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door<br>Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door<br>Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door</p>

<p>Jesus just left Chicago<br>And he's bound for New Orleans<br>Well now, Jesus just left Chicago<br>And he's bound for New Orleans<br>Workin' from one end to the other and all points in between<br><br>Took a junk through Mississippi<br>Well, muddy water turned to wine<br>Took a junk through Mississippi<br>Muddy water turned to wine<br><br>Then out to California through the forests and the pines<br>Ah, take me with you, Jesus<br><br>You might not see him in person<br>But he'll see you just the same<br>You might not see him in person<br>But he'll see you just the same<br>You don't have to worry 'cause takin' care of business is his name</p>

<p>Now I've been happy lately<br>Thinking about the good things to come<br>And I believe it could be<br>Something good has begun<br><br>Oh, I've been smiling lately<br>Dreaming about the world as one<br>And I believe it could be<br>Someday it's going to come<br><br>'Cause out on the edge of darkness<br>There rides a peace train<br>Oh, peace train take this country<br>Come take me home again<br><br>Now I've been smiling lately,<br>Thinking about the good things to come<br>And I believe it could be,<br>Something good has begun<br>Oh, peace train sounding louder<br><br>Glide on the peace train<br>Come on now peace train<br>Yes, peace train holy roller<br>Everyone jump upon the peace train<br>Come on now, peace train<br><br>Get your bags together,<br>Go bring your good friends, too<br>'Cause it's getting nearer,<br>It soon will be with you<br><br>Now come and join the living,<br>It's not so far from you<br>And it's getting nearer,<br>Soon it will all be true<br>Oh, peace train sounding louder<br><br>Glide on the peace train<br>Come on the peace train<br>Peace train<br><br>Now I've been crying lately,<br>Thinking about the world as it is<br>Why must we go on hating,<br>Why can't we live in bliss<br><br>'Cause out on the edge of darkness,<br>There rides a peace train<br>Oh peace train take this country,<br>Come take me home again<br>Oh, peace train sounding louder<br><br>Glide on the peace train<br>Come on the peace train<br>Yes, peace train holy roller<br>Everyone jump upon the peace train<br><br>Come on, come on, come on<br>Yes, come on, the peace train<br>Yes, it's the peace train<br><br>Come on the peace train<br>Oh, peace train</p>

<p>I want to live, I want to give<br>I've been a miner for a heart of gold<br>It's these expressions I never give<br>That keep me searching for a heart of gold and I'm getting old<br>Keep me searching for a heart of gold and I'm getting old<br><br>I've been to Hollywood, I've been to Redwood<br>I crossed the ocean for a heart of gold<br>I've been in my mind, it's such a fine line<br>That keeps me searching for a heart of gold and I'm getting old<br>Keeps me searching for a heart of gold and I'm getting old</p>

<p>Saw you stretched out in room 1009<br>With a smile on your face and a tear right in your eye<br>Could not seem to get a line on you, my sweet honey love<br><br>Berber jewelry jangling down the street<br>Making bloodshot eyes at every woman that you meet<br>Could not seem to get high on you, my sweet honey love<br><br>May the good Lord shine a light on you<br>Make every song your favorite tune<br>May the good Lord shine a light on you<br>Warm like the evening sun<br><br>When you're drunk in the elevator with your clothes all torn<br>And your late night friends leave you in the cold gray dawn<br>Just seen too many flies on you, I just can't brush them off<br><br>Angels beating all their wings in time<br>With smiles on their faces and a gleam right in their eyes<br>Thought I heard one sigh for you<br>Come on up, come on up, now, come on up now<br><br>May the good Lord shine a light on you<br>Make every song you sing your favorite tune<br>May the good Lord shine a light on you<br>Warm like the evening sun</p>

<p>You say you want a revolution <br>Well, you know<br>We'd all love to change the world<br>You tell me that it's evolution<br>Well, you know<br>We'd all love to change the world<br>But when you talk about destruction<br>Don't you know that you can count me out<br>Don't you know it's gonna be alright<br><br>You say you got a real solution <br>Well, you know<br>We'd all love to see the plan<br>You ask me for a contribution<br>Well, you know<br>We're all doing what we can<br>But if you want money for people with minds that hate<br>Well, all I can tell brother is you have to wait<br>Don't you know it's gonna be alright<br><br>You say you'll change the constitution<br>Well, you know<br>We'd all love to change your head<br>You tell me that it's institution<br>Well, you know<br>You better free you mind instead<br>But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao<br>You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow<br>Don't you know it's gonna be alright</p>

<p>“There must be some way out of here,” said the joker to the thief<br>“There’s too much confusion, I can’t get no relief<br>Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth<br>None of them along the line know what any of it is worth”<br><br>“No reason to get excited,” the thief, he kindly spoke<br>“There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke<br>But you and I, we’ve been through that, and this is not our fate<br>So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late”<br><br>All along the watchtower, princes kept the view<br>While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too<br>Outside in the cold distance a wildcat did growl<br>Two riders were approaching, and the wind began to howl</p>

<p>Justice is the presence of God’s healing presence in the world. It's God’s ongoing work of setting right a world gone wrong. When people are suffering, where the strong oppress the weak, when people are suffering lack, the justice of God comes. When the brokenness of our world keeps people pushed aside and robbed of dignity and value, the justice of God comes to heal and restore. When we do justice and love kindness we are joining God in God's mission on the earth.</p>

<p>Just like we have four directions and four seasons, we have four Gospels. These four distinct, yet complimentary witnesses, give us a full portrait of Jesus Christ. We need all four Gospels just like we need the whole body of Christ. Luke, the third Gospel written, gives us the most human picture of Jesus. It's from Luke that we see the prayer and table practices of Jesus.</p>

<p>On Trinity Sunday the church emphasizes that the living God is a Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Trinity is not a word found in Scripture, rather it is a formulation within the Christian religion drawn by the church from Scripture in concert with the Holy Spirit. It took the church three centuries to arrive at the creedal statement about the Trinity set forth in the year 325. In the Council of Nicaea we see how the Holy Spirit works with the church in the development of the Christian religion. But I also know that some modern protestants balk at Christianity being referred to as a religion. So today I want to address the question: Is Christianity a Religion?</p>

<p>Visions are for when you’re holding on tight and are looking for direction. Dreams are for when you’re letting go and have less to lose — or something like that. Visions are prose and need a plan. Dreams are poetry and only need be dreamt. Visions are still a little bit tethered to what we tend to think is possible. Dreams are a portal to a world where all things are possible. We are free to dream of that which we have no idea how it could come to pass. Much of the Bible is the poetry from those inspired dreamers we call prophets.</p>

<p>The ascension of Jesus given to us in Acts 1 pictures Jesus going up into heaven. Jesus has gone up into heaven until the day when he brings heaven down to earth. So what is Jesus doing up there? In the Apostles' Creed we confess, "He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father," a place of authority, so when you hear “ascension” think “promotion.” Jesus was promoted to the right hand of the Father. Though hidden from our eyes, we believe Jesus is ruling and reigning over the earth from the control room of heaven.</p>

<p>In the closing chapters of the Bible, the lost garden of Eden and Abraham’s sought-after city are combined in the garden metropolis of the Lamb. The arrival of New Jerusalem is celebrated as a great wedding. Just as Jesus began his ministry at the wedding in Cana, now the ascended Christ presides over the marriage of heaven and earth. The tragic divorce between heaven and earth is now reconciled by the Lamb. Today every local church is to be a suburb of New Jerusalem.</p>

<p>The book of Revelation is the most prophetic book in the Bible; it’s a prophetic interpretation of the cataclysmic events of the AD 60s and 70s; it’s a prophetic critique of the Roman Empire and thus all empire; it’s a prophetic exposé of the idolatry of civil worship; and most of all, the book of Revelation is a prophetic depiction in sign and symbol of the ultimate triumph of Christ. It’s from the Apocalypse that we gain the Christian eschatological hope of God in Christ making all things new.</p>

<p>When we dare to read the book of Revelation we find all manner of strangeness — angels and demons, dragons and beasts, bowls of blood and a bejeweled city, angels with four faces and locusts with human faces, cryptic numbers like 144,000 and 666, a beast with seven heads and ten horns and a lamb with seven eyes and seven horns, a great whore drunk on blood and a pregnant woman clothed with the sun, three frogs that deceive kings and an angel that tells John to eat a scroll, wars in heaven and wars on earth, blood as high as a horses’ bridal and angles falling like stars, lakes of fire and rivers of life, a fallen Babylon and a New Jerusalem!</p>

<p>The New Testament gives us about eight accounts of Jesus appearing to people following his resurrection. First to Mary Magdalene in the garden; then to a group of women as they left the empty tomb; to Cleopas and his wife on the Emmaus Road on Easter afternoon; to ten disciples in the upper room on Easter evening; to Thomas a week later; to seven disciples beside the Sea of Galilee; to all of the disciples on a mountain in Galilee; and finally, as to one untimely born, to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus. What all of these appearances have in common is that they all contain an element of surprise. To encounter the risen Lord is to be surprised by Jesus.</p>

<p>Thomas, the disciple of Jesus. Thomas the twin. Thomas the one who doubted. But Thomas was no more inclined to doubt than any of the other disciples, it’s just that Thomas had not had their experience; so Thomas had a roadblock to belief. We’re told that Thomas had a twin. Who is the twin of Thomas? We are. In a secular age we’ve all encountered the same roadblock to belief as Thomas. As sons of the Enlightenment and daughters of Modernity we’re all Thomas now.</p>

<p>Throughout Lent we’ve been seeking to encounter the Unvarnished Jesus. In 46 daily meditations and seven sermons we’ve been looking at and listening to Jesus Christ. We’ve seen him announce and enact the kingdom of God by feeding the hungry, healing the sick, casting out demons, and forgiving sinners. We’ve seen Jesus on his long journey toward the royal city of Jerusalem; a journey toward coronation by crucifixion; a journey into danger and death; a journey that ends with Jesus buried in a garden, laid to rest inside a rock-hewn tomb. Now, on Easter Sunday, we see Jesus on the Other Side.</p>

<p>That Jesus was crucified with victims on either side of him presents us with a powerful image: Jesus among the victims in solidarity with them, but simultaneously becoming the dividing point. How we respond to Jesus determines everything. One thief sees in Jesus the possibility of a new kingdom and believes. The other thief, though himself a victim, can’t resist participating in the old way of victimizing others. Only one response leads to the paradise of union with Christ.</p>

<p>Jesus arrived in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday in order to be crowned King and inaugurate the Kingdom of God. During his coronation and passion Jesus stood before all three representatives of the principalities and powers — Joseph Caiaphas the High Priest, Herod the King of Judea, and Pontius Pilate the Roman Governor.</p>

<p>The parable of the prodigal son is one of the most important stories of our faith. As with any truly great story, this parable invites everyone everywhere throughout all time to find themselves somewhere in this tale of a father and two sons. Jesus' brilliance is on full display as he invites us to see the father's love afresh and anew in our own lives. He challenges the notion that we can earn God's love for ourselves or withhold his love from others. Jesus reminds us that the love of the father is readily available in abundance for everyone.</p>

<p>Some Galilean Passover pilgrims had been executed when they rioted against Roman occupation and eighteen people had perished in a Jerusalem building collapse. Jesus commented on these tragedies by saying, unless your rethink everything, you will all perish in the same way. Jesus is not talking about afterlife issues, but warning Jerusalem against embracing the way of war. Jesus is saying to them, if you don’t rethink war and peace according to what I’m teaching, you’re all going to die by Roman swords and collapsing buildings. And this is exactly what happened forty years later when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70 and according to Josephus 600,000 people perished. War is hell. And there is no way to peace — peace is the way.</p>

<p>Salvation is this: to live in the kingdom of God—the kingdom that comes from heaven bringing peace, justice, and human flourishing to the earth, and where King Jesus bestows forgiveness upon all, and finally, at the end of the age, raises the dead.</p>

<p>In the wilderness the devil tempted Jesus with three good ideas:<br>1. Feed everyone.<br>2. Liberate everyone.<br>3. Persuade everyone.<br><br>And who would disagree that these are good ideas? But Jesus discerned the devil lurking in those good ideas. The devil's good ideas were really these not so good ideas...<br><br>1. Feed everyone and forget God.<br>2. Liberate everyone and kill the bad guys.<br>3. Persuade everyone and eliminate faith.</p>

<p>Jesus is the perfect epiphany of who God is. Reading the Bible without the spirit of Jesus is a veiled and death-dealing reading of Scripture. This why Augustine said, "It is not the Old Testament that is done away with in Christ, but the concealing veil, so that it may be understood through Christ."</p>

<p>Loving is a kind of knowing. We know God not only by collecting information about God. We know God by loving the way God loves. We love our enemies because God loves them. God loves the people we hate. When we love those who judge us, make fun of us, insult us, dismiss us, or judge us we see who God is and who we are supposed to be. Hate is a destructive force. When we respond to enemies with hate, it begins to deform our hearts. When we love our enemies we find our true selves and we free ourselves from hate and the need to serve as judge, jury, and executioner.</p>

<p>In Matthew's account of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus opens his sermon with the Beatitudes -- eight blessings. In Luke's account of the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus also opens his sermon with the Beatitudes -- this time four blessings. But in the Sermon on the Plain Jesus also pronounces four woes. Luke's Gospel reminds us that the Kingdom of Christ brings both blessing and woe.</p>

<p>You may feel like a sinner; you may feel guilty; you may feel like a failure; but none of that matters. Keep believing in the boundless mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ and you will see the goodness of God in the land of the living.</p>

<p>The Bible is a dangerous book — especially if you emphasize the parts people would rather overlook. In his hometown the people of Nazareth tried to throw Jesus off a cliff. Why? Because Jesus told the stories prophets tell — and no prophet is accepted in his hometown.</p>

<p>Throughout history the Bible has been misused to justify wars of conquest, genocide, the institution of slavery, women held as property, and any number of other egregious abuses. But to do this we have to ignore the greatest truth the Bible gives us: Jesus Christ is Lord of All! As Christians we are not allowed to use the Bible to disobey Jesus! All Scripture is fulfilled in and by Jesus Christ. So if we don’t see it in Jesus, we let it go—because even the Bible must bow to Jesus.</p>

<p>Every baptism is a new Exodus from the bondage of Egypt and a new entrance into the Promised Land of freedom and forgiveness in Christ. Every baptism is a spiritual incorporation into a new Israel — an Israel no longer defined by ethnicity, circumcision, and Torah observance, but defined by faith, baptism, and loyalty to Jesus. This new Israel is what the Apostle Paul calls the Body of Christ or the New Humanity.</p>

<p>On January 6 we commemorate the epiphany granted to the magi from the east—Persian astronomers, astrologers, magicians who discerned an auspicious sign in the stars and made a thousand mile journey to worship the Christ child in Bethlehem. These magi were the first Gentile worshipers of the King of the Jews and with their famous gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, they foretold that Mary’s child would not just be King of the Jews, but King of Kings. After seeing and worshiping the infant King indicated by the Christmas star, they returned to their own country, but by another way, because they would never be the same.</p>

<p>When we think of Jesus we mostly think of the man of his ministry years. At Christmastime we also think of the baby Jesus lying in the manger of Bethlehem. But there’s one episode in the Gospels that takes place between infancy and ministry. It’s the episode of the boy Jesus when he was in Jerusalem at the age of twelve</p>

<p>In the eighth century BC the Hebrew prophet Micah of Morasheth said that Bethlehem would be the place where a new king of the Jews would be born. Bethlehem was a small village five miles south of Jerusalem, but it was also the place where three hundred years earlier King David had been born. In other words, Micah was prophesying that in Bethlehem a new kingdom of Israel would begin. But we who know the Christmas story can say much more than that — we can say that Bethlehem is where The Second Half of Human History began!</p>

<p>When God lives among us salvation will swallow up our sorrows, sweep away our troubles, and we will fear no more. When God lives among us our salvation will have come. Salvation is not a program or a plan, salvation is not three steps or four laws—salvation is what happens when God lives among us.</p>

<p>During Advent we prepare the way for a “second coming" of Christ into our lives. Yes, Jesus Christ shall come again to judge the living and the dead. Amen. But the living Christ also comes to us again and again in fresh new ways, and we must prepare the way for these new comings of Christ. We prepare the way by cultivating a willingness to change. Dietrich Bonhoeffer put more bluntly: "When a human being confronts Jesus the human being must either die or kill Jesus.”</p>

<p>Advent is for waiting. And our Advent hope is rooted in sacred memory — the memory of the story of salvation that we tell through the Christian calendar. We begin the year-long telling of the salvation story, not by celebrating, but by waiting — waiting for God to act. But that’s the problem, we don’t really like waiting, because waiting is not having. Waiting assumes a kind of poverty, we wait because we lack. And in our Amazon and Instagram age of one-click consumerism and careful image cultivation we a conditioned to be ashamed of our poverty, of our lack, of our having to…wait. In our waiting it can feel like the embarrassment of sitting alone at a table for two and telling the maître d' that our date will show up any moment, yet inwardly we’re already feeling the shame of having been stood up. Our waiting has been in vain and we feel ashamed. But here’s the message of Advent: None who wait for God will be put to shame.</p>