Theoblogger

2008-10-06T17:16:00.001-07:00

Unanswered Prayers?

Several years ago there was a popular song that said, "Some of God's best gifts are unanswered prayers”. I like the idea of the song. It basically says that we think we know what is best for us, but sometimes what we pray for would have actually turn out badly for us. As they say, "Be careful what you pray for, you might get it”. There is wisdom in that, because sometimes we really do not know what is best for us. In hindsight we may recognize that what we wanted might not have been best for us. That is a great insight and very true, however I do want to challenge something the song writer says. Often I hear that phrase "unanswered prayer" from people. So the only type of prayer that gets "answered" is the one in which we get what we want?

First, that implies that the purpose of prayer is to tell God what we need and want and to get it. In this mode of thought, prayer is a tool to get through life, to get out of jams we have gotten into. Perhaps, it is a tool to demand of God not just our legitimate needs, but also our desires. When we don't get what we pray for, we assume God did not "answer our prayer". There is a certain kind of anger at God in that attitude. It insists that God must be the great Santa Claus in the sky, giving us what we want and desire. There is a whole popular theology that sees God this way. It says that if we "claim the promises" of God, we can have everything we want including all the material wealth we want. People who don't get what they want from prayer, according to this view, do not have enough faith. These folk never consider that what they want may be harmful for them. They never ask themselves, "What does God want?”. When prayer becomes a means to an end, there is no relationship with the Divine. There is no priority in our prayer given to what God wants. God's sole purpose is to fulfill our wishes and dreams.

If we assume prayer is a tool to get what we want, it becomes easy to say that God did not answer our prayer. Does it ever occur to us that God might have said "no"? Is it possible that God will grant our request at a later time, but now is not the best time? The idea of "unanswered prayer" implies God is not listening. We assume God does not care for us if we do not get what we want. It assumes that prayer is a wish list, or maybe a ransom demand. God's silence is interpreted as a rejection of us and our perceived need. However, we do not always know what is best for us, so God’s “no” might be for our good.

Jesus, when facing the cross, asked that the cup of suffering be taken from him. He asked it three times. Each time, however, he added "not as I will, but as you will". Jesus lived the prayer he taught us to pray, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven". God invites us into relationship with himself and God does hear our prayers, granting them according to his will .We must not look at prayer as a tool to get what we want, but as a communication and communion with God. It is a two way communication. We are invited to ask God for our needs. The problem comes in not also praying that God's will be done. When we ask a friend for something and don't get what we want, does that necessarily mean our friend does not care about us? Some would say yes, but it is not always true. A friend is not a friend if they say yes to harmful things. Real love and friendship endure by communication. That is what prayer is. We ask, God loves us and bids us to do so, but we must accept God's answer. We learn that what we think we want is not always best for us. Like Jesus, we must acknowledge God's sovereign will, and accept it. Like Jesus, God is with us in our suffering. Jesus became like us to show us God is with us, even to the point of suffering and dying. We may pray that God will move a mountain; we may say that God did not answer our prayer if the mountain stays in place. What if God has given us the equipment and guidance to climb the mountain? Maybe we don't see that because we are attached to our solution to our own problems, not God’s.

Ultimately this is what the country song I quoted is trying to say. Sometimes what we want is not what is best for us, and what we get is what we really need. However, that does not mean that God has not heard and answered. Prayer is a communion with God, not a list of demands. God is always with us in our sufferings and our needs. Let us pray for what we need and even want, but let us realize God can say no. That sometimes is the best thing for us!

In The Peace of God's Presence,
Jim Stahr

2008-06-17T18:15:00.000-07:00

The Limits of Theology

I will bet you never thought I would say that! Sometimes modern western theologians are accused of being overly influenced by Greek philosophy in our theology. While certainly the church was influenced by those modes of expression, our doctrine comes from the Bible and early Christian tradition itself. The ancient Christians saw God as a great mystery. God cannot be contained or fully understood by any created being, even humans. God can be known through Divine revelation, but the entirety of God is totally incomprehensible. Theology arises from the lived experience of the Church in its journey, and derives from the Church's worship of God and life of prayer. We in the western Church assert that but put much more trust in our mind's ability to understand God. Under the influence of the precision of Roman law and the influence of Medieval Scholasticism, we have put much more stock in the ability of the intellect to understand God. We Protestants have particularly been influenced in that way. We believe that precision of theology must be achieved before worshipping together can take place. While I think most Protestant theologians would agree that certainly our worship and prayer inform our theology, our emphasis on the mind and especially on agreement to very precise doctrinal statements, has led us to the many fractures we see in the Western Church today. It is time for us to allow God to put the awe, wonder, and mystery back into our theology.

Now, so far that history lesson has been about as dry as, well, most theological statements! All Christians would agree that it is the living relationship to the triune God that makes our beliefs come alive in us. If we limit the infinite God to our understanding we have reduced God. Then we reduce salvation to some formula, whether a creedal formula or a fundamentalist principle. Not long ago a fundamentalist preacher told me that it was not enough to acknowledge Jesus as Lord, the most ancient confession of the Church, but one must also believe in the Bible literally from cover to cover to be saved. The books of the Bible are written individually and have no concept of themselves as constituting one book. The Bible treats the confession of Jesus as Lord as the saving confession. We must not add things to this when preaching salvation in Christ.

As a Protestant Christian, I affirm that the Bible is the Word of God. Catholics and Orthodox would too. But salvation is for the whole person. When we reduce it to just a mental exercise, we kill it. As a Presbyterian, and a Confessional Christian, I believe the creeds are important in guiding us, and forming us in what the Church believes and confesses. There is a place for our intellect. If Bible and creed are not influencing us, then our faith is reduced to personal or denominational opinion. Those who minimize the Bible in theology assert whatever seems good to them as truth. Those who confuse the Bible with God, or Creed with final ultimate and complete revelation, also reduce the unknowable mystery of God to words. Our intellect is part of our salvation. So are our emotions, our spirituality, and our life in the Community of Faith. We are saved as whole people in the full theology of the Church, not just as souls, or minds, or as bodies, but as whole beings.

So, the Bible is God's Word and points beyond itself to the living God. The creeds tell us what the Church has, and will continue, to believe and confess in her pilgrim journey on earth. What other Christians have believed and experienced through the ages is important. The faith is not an exercise in individual belief and opinion. As the Church worships we are lead to a collective experience with God and informed through Word and Sacrament. Through corporate and private prayer, we come into a personal and saving relationship with God, and confess the saving confession that Jesus is our Lord. Salvation is holistic, it cannot be reduced. The purpose of theology, and all that the Church does, is to bring us into a living relationship with the living Christ, to draw us into that mystery which will take us a lifetime to begin to understand, and to send us forth to serve a lost and hurting world with the Good News. We will never know God fully, but we do know from the Bible, our historic Confessions, and our own collective and lived experience, what God wants us to do. God has given us a relationship to himself, and has shown us how to serve God in this world, and enjoy God forever. This is the purpose for which we are created. Personally I am glad there is mystery in our relationship to God, it means we must grow on, it reminds us that we are created beings and human, only God is infinite. It reminds us of the grandeur of God and the reach of our faith. There are limits to theology because we cannot fully know God, but we can know our relationship to God and go forth to serve in love. Let's get to it.

In the Mystery of the Triune God,
Jim

2008-05-29T20:09:00.000-07:00

June 2008 Newsletter

Words

In this political campaign year, words and their meaning become very important. Each candidate, from every party, will be trying to get their message out. There is nothing wrong with this; it is a part of being a free society. Sometimes these words become personal and ugly, and we know that some of these attacks work. I will leave that to the candidates, parties, and electorate, to work out the political ethics of attack ads. My point for this newsletter is that words have meaning and can be the instrument conveying powerful symbols both positively and negatively. They say "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me". That was taught to children for a long time to teach them not to respond to those who taunt them. There is some truth and some falsehood to this. We have all known people who are the name calling type. Many times we just ignore them. We have all known people prone to hateful sarcastic outbursts, denigrating the person on whom they look down. Most of the time we ignore them, because their taunts are unimportant. We also know that words can do grave harm. Parents who verbally abuse their children cause the child to grow up hating themselves and with a lack of confidence in their abilities. They may even grow up to be verbally abusive themselves. There are indeed words that can hurt, and words that can do damage. Words, and the ideas they can convey, are very important.

As Christians we inherit a reverence for words from Jewish tradition. We know their power. By a word of command, "Let there be light!” God created the universe. Therefore God's spoken word became our reality and our life. We Christians believe that the Living Word, Jesus Christ, became flesh and lived among us, died a human death, and rose to give us new life. He is the Word of love God spoke to us, uniting us forever to God and saving us. Jesus is what God has to say to us, and we are forever changed. As Christians, we also believe that God inspired the writers of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures. We call these writings the Word of God. If we speak more precisely, the scriptures are the written word of God. They direct us to a living relationship with the triune God. They are the authority and directive force of our lives when used by the Holy Spirit to make us alive in Christ.

Along with sacraments, which are the word of God enacted in the Church, we preach the word of God. Most of us think that this means a sermon in churches on Sundays, holy days, and other occasions. It does mean that, of course. Recently, in the political arena, the words of certain preachers came into public knowledge. The words of all the preachers involved, on both sides of the spectrum, were outrageous. It seems to me that this is the old human tribal tendency to vilify those who are different from us. We want to paint a clear and uncompromising picture of our goodness in contrast to our enemy. The problem is in the delivery. In the 34 years of my pastoral ministry I have heard pastors say really negative and hurtful things in their pulpits and personal conversations. I know these people to be good Christians who sincerely serve Christ. Sometimes we become so afraid of those whom we perceive to be enemies we react with our verbal violence. We call them non-Christians if they disagree with us on even trivial matters.

There is a place and a time for strong and uncompromising speech. It is an art to know when and how to use it. I am not sure that I have grasped that art at all. There are times when Christians must make clear statements about evil and oppression in the world. However, I think now we are in a time for the Church to speak healing words in our culture. We are severely divided about many issues. People on all sides are hurting. Sometimes Christians on all sides are doing the hurting. They go beyond taking a stand on issues to belittle and even speak hate speech toward the enemy. Yes Jesus did confront evil and he did so uncompromisingly. He also told us to love our enemies. We can stand for right and not be verbally aggressive. Loving our neighbors can be difficult. Loving our enemies is a tall order. Let us try to make stands for right with respect for others. Let us speak words of healing and blessing wherever possible. Maybe then the world will become less skeptical about the way of Christ. Let's begin today! Whom can you bless on this day that the Lord has made?

Yours in the Living Word,
Jim Stahr

2008-05-08T16:02:00.000-07:00

Can't Have One Without The Other!

No I am not talking about love and marriage, but about life and death, cross and resurrection. Note the reversal in those two ideas. Our normal way of thinking is life first, then death. But the faith reverses things in the light of Jesus resurrection. It is cross and resurrection, death to life. In the death of our Lord Jesus, we have life, death and life again. That is why Jesus is unique and both are essential.

A few years ago the Mel Gibson movie "The Passion of the Christ" was shown during Lent. It portrayed what the title said it would, the death of Jesus. This movie moved many people and may have brought a few to faith. It showed the great lengths our Lord took in order to win our salvation. However, in my mind, two hours of beating Jesus and crucifying him and two or three minutes of his resurrection puts the emphasis in absolutely the wrong place. At the very least there should be a sequel to portray all of the appearances of Jesus and his ascension, ending in Pentecost. Yet, for many Christians, the cross has much more significance than the resurrection. I have never been able to figure that out. Why would the cross be the most important thing? I grant it is of supreme importance to our atonement and forgiveness, but is it the ultimate thing to which to cling?

As I have said nearly every Lent, the cross is important. In it we find the mystery of our forgiveness through Christ's sacrifice. There are many theories of atonement in Western theology. The Western mind wants to understand the meaning of things, particularly in our culture. None of the theories of atonement are easy to understand. They give us no more than a partial glimpse of what atonement is about. If the cross is ultimate, then death is ultimate. It is life, death and nothing. Then there is the fact that the cross was a common punishment for state criminals who were not citizens of Rome. I have seen estimates as high as 300,000 crucifixions in the Holy Land in the time Rome ruled it. What is one more dead traitor to Rome? Two other people died the day Jesus did that day. His death was not unique. Why is it that only one of those deaths, that of Jesus of Nazareth, is revered as atoning by a billion people on earth today? Of course it was because Jesus was the incarnate God and because he rose from the dead. So, the thing that makes the cross unique and atoning is who Jesus was and that he rose on the third day. God alone can give us the gift of life eternal. It is a gift of grace!

Why then do that certain groups put more emphasis on the cross, rather than the resurrection? I think it is partly their burden of guilt. They believe they deserve that punishment, but Jesus took it for them. Are we to spend our lives wallowing in our own sins? Is there not some resurrection for us to Christian joy and love of life, rather than constant guilt and looking past death toward where we are going to spend eternity? We become a death cult when we put the cross ahead of the resurrection. That is something to be pitied, for the earliest Christians saw the resurrection as that which gives life in this world and into the next world as well. The broken relationship with God which our sin has created, which brought on death, is reversed in the resurrection. We can be really alive because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We can be assured of life as the ultimate good gift from God. We can be sure that no evil will destroy our relationship with God. Yes, life seems to be a case of life, then death. But it is really life, death and life, for believers

As we continue the journey of Lent, the holy spring of the Church, the shadows will grow darker, and the shadow of the cross, and of death, will be cast upon us. That shadow reminds us that we are dust, and to dust we too shall return. Then will come the full burst of the light of the resurrection! The cross is of immense importance, but it is not ultimate. Good Friday is not the high holy day we are preparing to celebrate, but the festival of the resurrection of Christ. Yes in Lent we do focus on the fact that is all too apparent in human history, we sin, and we die. But that is penultimate for Christians. We also live a life that is eternal. Otherwise Christianity would really be as depressing as people sometimes think it is. Yes there is the darkness of Holy Week. There is also the light of resurrection. We must have the cross! We must have the resurrection! We can't have one without the other! As we continue the journey of Lent, seeking God's mercy, remember the life that lies beyond the darkness of sin and death. As we ask for God's mercy, remember the profound gift of forgiving love that God gave us. We live and will live eternally because Christ is risen.

In Hope,
Jim Stahr

2008-05-08T15:49:00.000-07:00

The Third Person

When I was a youth I wondered why the Apostle's creed gave so little time to the third article of the creed, "I believe in the Holy Spirit". We spent a lot of time on the Son, and somewhat more on the Father. Why so little on the Holy Spirit? I learned in my theological education that the third article of the Creed is the whole last paragraph, and not so neglected after all... "I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting" is the work of the Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son. The holy Church, the communion with those Christians who are now with us, and those who have gone before us, the forgiveness of sins, the life giving resurrection of the body in the last day, and life eternal, are works of the Holy Spirit within the triune Godhead.

We are the church. We are a community of flesh and blood that is called by God to do his work in the world as the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit is God's life within us and among us, breathed into us by the Father and the Son. The biggest problem I have with that idea is that the church is so sinful and fails often. Of course, when I feel that way about the church, I forget that, I too, fail and sin often. We have this sort of Gnostic heresy as Christians generally, and Protestants particularly, that somehow being a body of flesh is bad. The only hope we have is to survive in this world, keep the faith, and wait for a better world as spirits in heaven. There are several problems with this idea. Note how much human flesh is important in the creed. We say that the Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, was "born of the Virgin Mary". That shook many people who heard the original message of the church, in the words of the Nicene Creed; Christ was "incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary". It was a scandal to many that God would come in human flesh, and incarnate means just that, of a human mother. Human flesh was honored to have God incarnate as one of us. Life in this world is not seen as bad, but a gift from God. Further, Jesus was bodily raised. A lot of people when I was in seminary felt that it was more intellectually pleasing and more scientifically plausible to say Jesus was spiritually raised and not bodily raised. Well, the Gospels go to great lengths to deny Jesus is a ghost, a spirit without body, and affirm he was raised and ascended in a human body, albeit glorified. Also, from a scientific point of view there is no more absolute scientific evidence for a ghost than a dead person rising from the grave. It is not anymore intellectually honest to believe in one form or the other. Jesus is raised in the flesh. Without that, the Gospel is out the window. Also, the Creed says we believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Note that, while we may be spirits sustained by God's power and in his presence after death, that is not the final and perfect form of humanity. Rising as human flesh at the last day is our final state.

I also questioned why Jesus' teachings were not emphasized as important in the Creed, as if they did not matter. What I learned also applies to the shorter articles concerning the Father and the Holy Spirit. The Creed put emphasis on the areas of controversy, and Jesus' coming in the flesh and dying like all humans were areas of controversy. Jesus’ teachings, the Father creating the world, and the Holy Spirit sustaining it were not areas of controversy. So, it is assumed that the work of the Holy Spirit is to glorify the Father and the Son, and to empower us to live and obey the will of God, as Jesus revealed it. Without the Spirit, scripture says, we cannot even say "Jesus is Lord", our saving confession.

What does all this heavy theology mean? First, God affirms our life in the world and in our own humanity. This life is not "hell" while we wait in this supposedly "horrible" world for a better heaven. In fact, God has given us life physically and spiritually as a gift. God has chosen to become flesh in Jesus Christ to be like us, so that we may grow into what God wants us to be. We have not yet fully become what God intends for us, but that does not mean God cannot use us in this world. In fact, life is so good that, in the resurrection, Jesus extended its bounds for eternity. Yes, we fail. Yes we are sinful. By the power of the Holy Spirit, God raises us up again, and again. Far from saying "this world is not my home" and perhaps "this body is not me". We are saying this life in the world, with all our sinfulness and failures, and with all the pains we suffer, is good and we have a mission here and now. As Pentecost comes again, when we mark the Holy Spirit being breathed on the Church, let us rejoice in the gift of life and resurrection power given us by the Source of life itself. This is a life that will one day transform this world. THAT is Good News!

In The Spirit's Love and Power,
Jim

2008-03-30T14:41:00.000-07:00

What Happens When You Miss Church!

In the twentieth chapter of the Gospel of John, Thomas, one of Jesus' disciples, missed the gathering of the apostles on Easter evening after the resurrection. He missed a lot. The reports of Jesus' empty tomb, and of his being seen alive and risen, were coming in. A wonder, bewilderment, and excitement came over the young faith community that was to become the Christian Church. Thomas missed it. The natural fear and depression of what happened on Good Friday still haunted him, and the real threat of what could happen to him perhaps also caused him to go into hiding. When told the Lord had risen again, he said he would not believe it and said he would not believe it unless he saw the nail prints in Jesus' hands and his wounded side. The next Sunday he gathers with the apostles and Jesus comes in and shows Thomas his wounded hand and side. He tells Thomas to "be not faithless, but believing". Thomas has been called by many since that time, "doubting Thomas". A "doubting Thomas" now is anyone who does not believe in the face of evidence, a skeptic. So, we have branded this brave apostle and martyr for Christ by this one incident. This Thomas who was the first person in the Gospels to address Jesus with a full confession of faith, "My Lord, and my God"! Thomas like most modern people was naturally skeptical of the idea that a dead man had been raised. Wouldn't you be skeptical? He is branded by his worst moment. Sometimes we are too, but it really is not fair. The writer of John is trying to tell us something about belief in the risen Christ, not about the supposed sin of doubt.

Where is Thomas when he remains in doubt? He is by himself, lost and alone. Where is he when he comes to make the full confession of faith? He is with the community of faith, and there in the presence of the risen Christ. That is what the Gospel writers want us to know about how the risen Christ is experienced. In our evangelical culture, we have come to emphasize a "personal relationship with Jesus Christ". The individual and God in relationship has come, in the view of some Protestants, to be what faith is about. Some will actually tell you that is all the faith is about which, from a Reformed perspective, is not the case. John's story of Thomas, as Christ’s with other appearances of Christ in the other Gospels, always show the risen Christ present in the community of faith. It is the community in which the risen Christ is primarily seen as risen. That is important for us. While Reformed Christians differ with some others in saying that the institutional form of the church is the same as the "church invisible" of believers, we do believe that the community of faith is the primary way we know the risen Christ.

Does this mean we are saved by the church? I don't think so as a Protestant Christian. What John IS saying to us is that, when we isolate ourselves from the believing community, we remain in our doubts and fears. It is the strength we draw, by the power of the Holy Spirit, from the risen Christ's presence among us that strengthens our faith and makes it possible to fully confess Christ as Lord. So, while going to Church does not save us in our Reformed understanding of faith, it is still where we hear the Gospel, share in the risen Christ as his risen community, and grow. So, the personal relationship is important. It is central to our salvation, and it comes through the command of Christ in the community of faith. When we gather as Central, we do not gather as 90 saved individuals, but as one body. We are part of each other. So, when you miss church you miss the risen Christ. You may feel some mornings that you miss little when you miss church; it is just the same old thing. In fact, many churches feel that they have to fill every moment with excitement in worship to keep folks coming. However, what we miss church, we cut ourselves off from other believers, and we misss Christ's presence in his body the Church. That presence is quite exciting to me. I hope it is to you also. It is something to think about when we feel we can go it alone in matters of faith.

In Christ's Risen Service,
Jim
Soli Deo Gloria

2008-01-28T16:15:00.000-08:00

The Stories That Define Us

We all have stories that define who we are, where we think we have been, where we are, and where we believe we are going. We have them as a nation. Our stories about our country’s wars, our country’s values, our country’s foundations, all define who we are and how we act as a nation. Our stories of our denominations define our religious point of view. Our stories of ourselves define who we are and what we think about ourselves and others. Since our lives are lived in the forward progression of time, we create stories in our living. We have funny stories, tragic stories, stories of wrongs done us and wrongs we may have done. The question is, are these stories accurate reflections of the truth of our lives, and how to they relate to the larger story of our faith.

The Church year tells the story of Jesus, who is the Lord and Savior of the world. We are about to begin the Lenten season again. This season can seem somewhat dark as it ends in seeming tragedy, then suddenly we find Christ is raised. Shouldn’t we just ignore the dark part of the story and go straight to the happy joy of the empty tomb? Why the journey of the cross? Well it is part of the story. It reminds us that we are people whose life stories do not always live up to the call of God in Christ. We have heard that call and been saved by God’s grace. We know sin is part of our story, but God’s work in us raising us from death to life is the ultimate story of faith. Therefore we can look at the story of how we have lived and acknowledge that our story includes those elements of our lives that were less than our call as Christians. We can repent and turn back to God and prepare to be renewed. The Lenten season is not some kind of sadistic season in which we grovel before a tyrant God. It is a joining of our story to the story of Christ who loved us, gave himself for us, and made new life possible in the ultimate renewal of his resurrection. How does your story compare to the story of Christ?

None of us can live his perfect and sinless life. That is the point of this penitential season. However, we can look to him, turn back to him, and bring the stories of our lives more into alignment with the call he has made to us. Lent is a time of turning back to Christ, of giving ourselves to him in love and service, because he gave himself to us. It is a time to remember that our lives are short and, for our own sakes and the work of God’s Kingdom we are called to renewal. Let Lent be a time of reflection about how the story of your life ties in to the grand story of redemption God is working the world. You are a part of that. We are not condemned, but loved beyond measure. Repentance in its root meaning in Hebrew is “to turn back”. Let us turn again to him, that his story may be ours, that his life in us may renew us and the world around us. We then will find our stories merging with other Christians and with Christ’s own story as we become his instruments of love in the world.

2007-11-25T15:22:00.000-08:00

Expectations

What do you expect? One might hear that negatively, such as when someone fails to meet expectations and someone says it implying the person is not capable of much anyway, a sort of put down. One might hear it when someone asks for or prays for something unrealistic and another says it to them as a response, implying that you expect too much. Neither of these are very flattering usages, but what we expect is important. We can have negative expectations, or positive ones. Often our expectations cause us to behave in ways that will make the expected positive or negative outcome happen. Expectations are powerful for they shape who we are and how we respond to the world. They can affect how our children feel about themselves and whether they grow up to be positive or negative in their self-assessment and their reaction to the people around them, and the world at large. Sometimes, our religious beliefs and expectations can enhance our work in the world for God, and sometimes they can hinder it. Advent shows both sides of the issue of Advent expectation.

Some folk had certain expectations of what the Messiah would do. Most Jewish people expected, and some still expect, a Messiah that will politically liberate the people and teach them the way of God. It is the message of the Gospel that the people missed the Messiah because of their expectations; they were programmed to look elsewhere and did not see what God was doing in one tiny corner in a manger in Bethlehem. Caesar Augustus commanded and all the Roman World came to be taxed. The King Jesus had only a manger as a throne. Only his humble family, low status shepherds, and gentile Magi were open to God's possibilities. What do you expect? Will it cause you not to see God's coming in your life and in our world?

The other side of expectation is shown by those very people. Mary believes what the angel has said, risking even death by stoning for having a child out of wedlock. She says "Be it done to me according to your word". She is open to God's possibilities even when they are not according to accepted expectations, and even involve personal risk for her. Joseph risks social humiliation. Just when he is going to end the betrothal, an angel speaks to him in a dream to tell him to marry Mary because her child, the Coming One, is the work of God and is God's Son. Joseph accepts the message with the expectation that God is sovereign and can operate as God wills. The shepherds lived on the margins of society and they are open to hearing the angel’s message and responding by going and greeting the new born King. The Magi were high ranking astrologers, most likely in the Persian royal court. They are gentiles and therefore outcasts, and they practice fortune telling, an art forbidden in Jewish Law. Yet they are open to God's call to go on the long journey to find the infant King.

What does this tell us? Well, in a way it tells us to be open to all of God's possibilities. If our faith is so rigid it blinds us to God’s actions, something is wrong. In effect we are telling God that he must perform to our interpretation of his will. The result is that we may miss God's work entirely. It tells us that even religion can cause us to miss God. Many folks now think they know EXACTLY how Jesus will come back and when. The expectations are so rigid that it may cause them to miss what God is doing in the world now. Some of our Christian people have such narrow expectations about how God acts and through whom, that they can miss unexpected places in which God is working. Our God is a God of surprises. It makes faith alive with expectation. Sometimes our very faith, when too narrowly defined, can cause us to be spiritually asleep. The life of faith is intended to be alive with excitement. I wonder how many of us expect God's coming, not just at the end of time, but today. “This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

As Advent dawns with Christmas soon to follow, what attitudes keep you from seeing Christ's coming? Where do you expect to see Christ today? Maybe a more important question would be, where are you not expecting to see God today? It may be just at that point where God is speaking to you. Think about it as we make the journey to the manger. Live in expectation, not just of Christ's coming at the end of time, but his coming today. Christ is here! "Come thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free"!

In Expectation,
Jim Stahr

2007-10-14T13:26:00.000-07:00

God Wannabes

I owe much of what I believe about human nature to Dr. Arnold Black Rhodes who was the Old Testament Professor at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Louisville. A. B. was a well known person in the Presbyterian Churches of his time, having written a Biblical Survey book that was very popular called, "The Mighty Acts of God". I took Hebrew from Dr. Rhodes and Exegesis of Genesis. In his explanation of the book of Genesis, in the Fall of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3, he pointed out that the voice of temptation, the serpent in the story, invited the primordial couple to eat of the trees and "be like God". Dr. Rhodes said that the first sin, and the root of much of human sin, is that we want to be God! We are, in essence, God wannabes! I don't know if that is the only sin that is original, but it is a powerful one in human dealings. We seek power and control, we seek to be "masters of our own destiny", we seek to control and manipulate others. We have a tendency, if not careful, to want to bend nature and others to our will. We are indeed God wannabes. We pretty persistently, without the grace of the Holy Spirit and a lot of our own co-operation in spiritual growth, will make our will and our own egos, the center of our world.

We are made in the image and likeness of God in Genesis, and that means we have powers other beings in God's creation don't have. We are also fallen and sinful and that effects how we look at the world. At one time, and perhaps it is still true of some, liberal Christians believed we were going to "bring in the Kingdom" by our own efforts. The idea was we were born good and socialized to evil. If we could just improve society we would have the Kingdom of God. After the Holocaust, that pretty much went out the window. Human beings seem to mess things up. In the case of the Nazis they were bent to do evil. In other cases, people who are well intended starting out still find they love power and abuse it. Even those of us who may not have real political power over others desire to possess others for our purposes, to manipulate them into doing our will, to possess them as sexual objects, to have influence and power over others for good reasons even, but find we like the power and it can turn selfish. It makes us feel in control, we are indeed God wannabes.

I don't believe people are born evil, should hate themselves for their natural tendencies or any such thing. We do need to be honest about our sinful desires though, that we do have these tendencies. We do need to continually confess that and hate sin, though not ourselves and others. Our sins are so innate that it takes the power of God to change us, through God the Son, Jesus our Lord. Right now Christians, because they fear the changes in our society, are trying hard to exercise political control because they are afraid. There are certainly legitimate ways for Christians to try to influence society for the better, especially in a democratically governed society, with which we are blessed. w When we act out of fear and want Christians to have raw power over others to enforce our wills , it is we who want to become gods, we just are not trusting God, for God's perfect love casts out all fear.

In my personal life I find that there is great peace in letting go and letting God be God. I can't control everything, and believe me I am a control freak, and often a God wannabe. We cannot, however, control everything. Peace comes when we let go of our control efforts and let God be God. We are mortal and tend to mess up, God is Almighty and in control. Of course, letting go and letting God be God means accepting the agenda of love of God in Christ and letting Christ be our Lord, and his way of love our highest good. We give up the right to determine the direction of our lives and give that guidance to God. In what areas are you trying to be your own God? How is that distorting the purpose of your life? Think about it!

Peace to All in Christ's name!

2007-10-07T15:20:00.000-07:00

Truly Alive!

The ancient second Christian generation writer Saint Iremeus said: "The glory of God is a human being fully alive!” Our own Westminster Shorter Catechism says:Question: What is the chief end of man?

Answer: To glorify God and enjoy him forever.

This is hardly the depressing negative Christian faith that some Christian liberals and secular folk say is the heart and essence of an orthodox Christianity. In fact, these two statements from the ancient Church and the Reformed tradition suggest something quite different. They suggest that a Christian is someone who enjoys and lives this life to its fullest. That is quite a contrast to the death orientation of much of the Church. Questions like "Where are you going to spend eternity" and "Do you KNOW you will go to heaven when you die?" dominate the evangelical wing of the faith. Those are important questions, but they do seem to imply that the purpose of life is to die and go to heaven. There are versions of this in all forms of Christianity. Most Americans seem not to believe in the traditional concepts of heaven and hell, therefore trying to scare them with these concepts or entice them to heaven may be a futile effort in a society that is only nominally Christian. However, I don't think it is biblical to say that the only goal is preparation for death. I think that we do live eternally, but I see Christianity as preparation for life, with that life being eternal in this world and the next.

The emphasis on Christianity as a death cult puts all the emphasis on the cross. Biblical and confessional faith does say that the cross of Christ is of central importance to the forgiveness of sins, and to the grace of eternal life. But it is also who Jesus was, and the resurrection, that give the cross its power, otherwise Jesus is just another poor person crucified by the Roman government as a rebel. The death emphasis seems to have really come into Christianity in the second thousand years of our existence, when the Black Death and other scourges spread so rapidly over Europe and killed up to one third of the population. Then there was very little comfort to be offered in this world, with so many dying, and it was natural to look to the promise of the world to come as our hope in the face of such devastation. That is the assurance and hope of the Gospel. However, it is not all there is to it, for even then the life, death, and resurrection of Christ inspired many Christians to take great risks to help the sick and dying. Even in the face of devastating suffering and death, the resurrection of Jesus not only motivated folk as to where they would spend eternity, but to serve and even risk helping others, because they were alive to life and mission in this world.

It is not a big distinction, but an important one. Instead of standing and staring into heaven and waiting to die and get out of this suffering life, real Christianity relieves us from sin, guilt, and self obsession and opens us to life and service. It makes us appreciate life in its fullness with the promise of an eternal life as well. The world then is the staging area, the place where we are truly alive. A death oriented religion sees this world as only evil and dark and the only hope is to leave it. An alive Christian will open his or her day with "This is the day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it"! Alive faith is thankful for this one time gift of life we have, and the chance to see God in everything today. Fear based faith clings and tries to protect what we have and get to heaven. An alive faith is open handed and hearted realizing how precious and brief life is. Life is a gift of God. We can use it selfishly and fearfully, or we can live it openly and joyfully and look for ways to share that joy.

Am I not minimizing suffering? Is there not a time, when great suffering comes, to surrender life, even willingly knowing that there are things worse than death? Does not war and evil dominate our world? Yes they do, and yes there is a time when all Christians will surrender life willingly to God. I would argue though that some of the most alive and caring people I have ever known, who appreciate life the most, are those who have known great suffering. Some are embittered, but those with hope in Christ can let God transform their suffering into hope and even service. It is God's way to bring life from death! That is the central meaning our resurrected Lord gives us, and with him in eternity, and in a completely restored and renewed world when Christ returns.

It is not so much a disagreement I have with the promise of life eternal, but a different focus. One point of view sees this life as essentially useless except for the central question of where we are going to spend eternity. The other sees life as a gift of God to be appreciated, rejoiced in and used this day in God's service, with the promise of endless life. There is much suffering in our world, but Christians must not give up the hope that in the end life wins!

May God grant us to be truly and fully alive!

Yours in Christ's Eternal Love,
Jim Stahr

2007-08-24T18:39:00.000-07:00

September Newsletter

The Celtic Cross

Most who get to know me know I have an intense interest in, and derive spiritual benefit from, Christian symbolism. I collect Eastern Orthodox icons and have many in my office. The same is true of the Celtic cross. I became interested in it when I became a Presbyterian for it is one of our denominational symbols. Actually, that particular type of cross is claimed as a heritage symbol by the Welsh, Irish, and Scottish people. It is also claimed as a symbol of the Roman Catholics in Ireland as well as the Irish Church, which is Anglican. We receive it as a Presbyterian symbol from the Scottish Kirk, our mother church for those of the Presbyterian branch of Reformed faith. Our own denominational symbol is stylized on elements of the Celtic cross.

This cross is usually a traditional cross with a circle either in the middle or supporting the arms of the cross around the outside of it. The more classical expression is the latter. It was custom in pagan Ireland to set up standing stones to mark sacred places. When Ireland became Christian, the newly baptized pagans baptized this custom and made marked their sacred places with stone crosses. Most had circles etched in the center, but soon the stone crosses became so large the circles were used to support the cross beam because the weight of the stones might cause the beam to break off. That is just a theory but one that seems to make sense as to why the cross in its most common form, has the outside circle. So much for the engineering, what does it mean?

The cross of Christ, of course, symbolizes his sacrifice for our sins and his death as atonement for those sins. That is standard. Some think that the Celtic form is related to the ancient Greek letters chi and rho, which were the first Greek letters of the word Christ. The two letters were used in the ancient Church, as they are today, as a monogram of Christ. Thus we are reminded that Christ is the center of our Christian lives and the reason for our redemption. The circle around the cross symbolizes eternity. Thus it reminds us of the resurrection and Christ's gift of eternal life. It also symbolizes the eternal love of God for us. Sometimes you see a Celtic knot in the decoration of some crosses. The is an inter-linked line that has no beginning and no end. It symbolizes eternity also, and the gift of eternal life. It also symbolizes the fact that all of our lives are inter-related and all the events of our lives interact and are a part of God’s plan for the world. There are other meanings, but these are the basic ones.

What does it teach us? As a symbol, it reminds us that Christ is the center of who we are, and the center of the life of his Church. We do not live for ourselves and die for ourselves, but grow into Christ's likeness over our lifetimes. The cross is that to which all Christians cling, for in Christ's saving act upon the cross, we are forgiven and renewed. We who are vulnerable, who suffer and die, can commend our lives to God, who has given himself for us in Jesus Christ. That is basic Christian doctrine. However, the circle reminds us that God loves us eternally, and the resurrection raises us from death to life in this life, and the world to come. Life is the center of everything. It is a gift, both in the biological and spiritual sense. The Celtic knot reminds us not only of that eternal love of God and eternal life that God gives us, but that all is inter-related in our lives. Our actions have consequences, and we are here to make those consequences for the good and for God. All that happens to us is related to God's work in the world, therefore we can trust in his grace that holds us securely. When we see the Celtic cross, we are reminded of what our Presbyterian Confessions say, echoing St. Paul in the scriptures, "In life and in death we belong to God". God's love is our center, our heart and our redemption". The ancient Gaelic prayer we often sing says it another way"

Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart,
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art,
Thou my best thought by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

May we walk with Christ and live our lives centered on God's love!

Grace and Peace,
Jim

2007-07-17T19:49:00.000-07:00

Living An Ancient Faith In A Modern World

On August 16, 1989, I visited two churches on a special trip. The first church was Saint Martin's church in Irslingen, Baden Wuertemberg, the Federal Republic of Germany. This is the ancestral church of my family in that little village. The second church was Saints Peter and Paul church in a near-by village, Goesslingen. The first church was the church of my great great grandfather Jakob H. Stohr. The second was the ancestral church of his wife Augustina Scheible. Saint Martin's dated from about 1000 A.D. and Saints Peter and Paul from about 700 A.D. I was not in either church very long but the visit had a very profound impact. Here my family had worshipped for a thousand years or more. Here my immigrant ancestors had said good-bye to their family and world they knew to come to the United States. If I say the moment is holy to me it would be a profound understatement!

This strengthened my sense of connection to my family's faith from ancient times and to my Christian faith. I became aware of all the lives of faithful Christians who had gone before, passing the faith on to future generations. I learned what the creed meant by “the communion of saints”. Then I thought about my seminary education. I had many professors at LPTS that taught the ancient faith in its modern and Reformed expression. I also had some who primarily wanted to "update" the faith in one way or another. “The ancient faith was patriarchal and therefore inferior. Traditional Christianity was oppressive and should have several elements relegated to the trash heap of history. Historic Christians were bad people who went about killing people, or making them emotionally ill. Do away with that they taught”. In short, make up a faith that makes sense to you and do away with anything you don't like!

As a Christian, though Methodist at the time, I drank in the spirit of the Reformed Tradition. The ancient and holy faith did need to be cleansed of the accretions that were not in keeping with the biblical tradition. Many of my professors often quoted the famous Reformation by-word "The Church Reformed and Ever Reforming". That phrase meant to them that we needed to ditch anything that kept us back from a scientific world view. They often forgot the second part of that Reformed phrase, "...under the Word of God". It was not a matter of changing just anything, but taking ourselves back to the original intent of our Christian biblical faith. That is very different. I bought into the idea of a new faith for the 20th century then, I don't so much now.

What an arrogant judgment on our ancestors, on my ancestors! They come across in this scheme as a bunch of evil men who want to oppress people . However, that was not my experience of my grandfather, who was the grandson of the immigrant. Nor was it the impression he had of my immigrant ancestor, his grandfather. I saw, and still see, their faith as wise and loving and caring. Did they suffer from the human prejudice and bigotry of their age? Yes they did! Were they sinners? Yes, they were! I have some of those traits too, though I am not proud of them! I am also aware that the official structure of the church has been, more often than not, guilty of what my professors taught As a Christian, though Methodist at the time, I drank in the spirit of the Reformed Tradition. The ancient and holy faith did need to be cleansed of the accretions that were not in keeping with the biblical tradition. Many of my professors often quoted the famous Reformation by-word "The Church Reformed and Ever Reforming". That phrase meant to them that we needed to ditch anything that kept us back from a scientific world view. They often forgot the second part of that Reformed phrase, "...under the Word of God". It was not a matter of changing just anything, but taking ourselves back to the original intent of our Christian biblical faith. That is very different. I bought into the idea of a new faith for the 20th century then, I don't so much now.

What an arrogant judgment on our ancestors, on my ancestors! They come across in this scheme as a bunch of evil men who want to oppress people . However, that was not my experience of my grandfather, who was the grandson of the immigrant. Nor was it the impression he had of my immigrant ancestor, his grandfather. I saw, and still see, their faith as wise and loving and caring. Did they suffer from the human prejudice and bigotry of their age? Yes they did! Were they sinners? Yes, they were! I have some of those traits too, though I am not proud of them! I am also aware that the official structure of the church has been, more often than not, guilty of what my professors taught As a Christian, though Methodist at the time, I drank in the spirit of the Reformed Tradition. The ancient and holy faith did need to be cleansed of the accretions that were not in keeping with the biblical tradition. Many of my professors often quoted the famous Reformation by-word "The Church Reformed and Ever Reforming". That phrase meant to them that we needed to ditch anything that kept us back from a scientific world view. They often forgot the second part of that Reformed phrase, "...under the Word of God". It was not a matter of changing just anything, but taking ourselves back to the original intent of our Christian biblical faith. That is very different. I bought into the idea of a new faith for the 20th century then, I don't so much now.

What an arrogant judgment on our ancestors, on my ancestors! They come across in this scheme as a bunch of evil men who want to oppress people . However, that was not my experience of my grandfather, who was the grandson of the immigrant. Nor was it the impression he had of my immigrant ancestor, his grandfather. I saw, and still see, their faith as wise and loving and caring. Did they suffer from the human prejudice and bigotry of their age? Yes they did! Were they sinners? Yes, they were! I have some of those traits too, though I am not proud of them! I am also aware that the official structure of the church has been, more often than not, guilty of what my professors taught. I also know that there were many faithful priests, ministers, and laity who did their best to be what Christ wanted them to be, who did not consent to some of the things that have been done in Christ's name.

Certainly, the ancient faith in this modern world can be informed by psychology, sociology and the sciences. Certainly, the Holy Spirit can and does lead us in ever new and renewing directions, but in concert to the biblical and confessional faith. We repent of and correct our sins. We learn ever more of the implications of the Gospel. I do not feel any need to think myself a "superior modern" at the expense of the believers who have gone before. That is another form of arrogant prejudice. As Jesus indicated, we who enter the Kingdom bring forth things that are new in our service to Christ's Kingdom. Let us learn from our world! Let us reform the ancient faith under God's Word when needed without looking down on our ancestors in faith. I wonder what Christians a few generations from now will think of our "superior modern faith"? Will it look old, outdated, and prejudiced? That is something to think about as we live this ancient faith in this modern world.

In Ancient Faith Renewed by God's Spirit,
Jim Stahr

2007-06-24T14:17:00.000-07:00

Living The "Converted" Life

Many Protestants and other Christians have adopted the idea of instantaneous conversion. This comes from the Great Revival tradition of Christian faith. The simple message of God's love changes us from "sinners" to Christians the minute we accept Christ as our personal Savior. Then we are saved forever in Christ, or so long as we remain faithful, depending on what sect of Christians we are talking about. I absolutely accept that those outside of Christ are saved when God calls them and they answer that call. That is one of the foundation stones of the Gospel from the ancient Church onward. The problem arises when we look at conversion as something we get, and then we have it and need nothing more. Our job is to defend that salvation against all challenges of temptation. There is nothing more to it. This was not the message of the Great Revival, which also preached a call to discipleship. It is a watered down version of that Gospel and the Christian Good News in general. We can be saved in an instant and converted from unbelief to belief in an instant. Really being converted. though, takes a lifetime.

Conversion, in the Bible, the ancient Christian faith, and in our Reformed tradition is more than just getting something and keeping it. In the parable of the talents, Jesus tells of three stewards of a household who each receive money from the householder to invest or use in his absence. Two of them take a risk and double or more what they make for their master. The third fears the master's judgment and buries his talent, taking no risk, he preserves his talent, (a unit of money) and gives the master what is his. Amazingly, those who take the risk get the praise of the master, hearing him say "well done". The one who takes no risk, receives no reward, even though he did not lose anything the master gave him. One of the things this parable tells me is that there is risk to salvation and faith. We must risk losing to gain for our Lord. Those who view the Christian life as a static thing they get when they accept Christ as their Savior and there is nothing more to it, are the ones who come up short. Conversion is risk. Conversion is growth. Salvation is free, but conversion is a lifetime of work growing and risking for Christ. Conversion of our lives is a life long process.

The Gospel is not just get saved, and "show up" at church. The Gospel is "get saved” and "grow up" into Christ. That is long work because we sin. That is the work that never ends. But what is the risk of faith? Well, it seems it is the risk of any growth. We have to allow God to change us, to show us the inadequacy of old points of view, of old ways of behaving. It may mean giving up petty hatred and bigoted ideas. It means lowering our natural defenses and inhibitions and being vulnerable in the world. When we love, we may love people that our society does not value, and that may make us the subject of scorn and rejection by, dare I say, even the righteous. Jesus' life shows us the vulnerability of love. We are called to have our lives converted to that end also.

But, you might argue, my interpretation of Christian life is utopian and impossible in the "real world". My first answer is that it is comforting for us to believe that, then we don't have to try. My second answer is that it is, of course impossible. It is a goal toward which we are growing and being converted. We are never "there". We will always be on the path and needing forgiveness and renewal. It is also impossible because we can't do it alone. God converts us. We have to be open to him in prayer, confession and willingness to be converted. We are called to move from trust in our own ideas and actions toward God's love. It is a life time of work. But conversion begins each new day! What is holding you back and keeping you from becoming the person God wants you to be? Maybe now is the time to start!

In God's Saving and Converting Grace,

Jim Stahr

2007-05-27T15:57:00.000-07:00

Trinity Sunday

1+1+1=3?

Sunday June 3rd is Trinity Sunday in the life of the Church. This is the one distinctive doctrine of Christianity that is difficult for most people It is also a doctrine that makes other monotheists question whether Christianity is not a tri-theistic religion. We insist that we are indeed monotheistic. As the Jewish people, whose Bible makes up 2/3 of our own Scripture, we believe there is one God and only one. Within that Godhead there are three Persons dwelling in perfect unity. Each Person is fully God, and not 1/3 of God. The Father is fully in the Son and Spirit, and each person shares the same being in that way. Therefore we are not tri-theistic. The doctrine is complicated and, if approached as a math problem as above, does not make much sense. There is no doubt that it is scriptural, though not spelled out as explicitly as in the creeds. Jesus said, "I and the Father are one". Paul said, speaking of Jesus, "The Lord is the Spirit". Thomas makes his confession of faith after the resurrection, and says to Jesus something no good Jew would say, unless he believed that Jesus was one God with the Father. He confesses, "My Lord and my God".

We probably get into trouble trying to explain the doctrine intellectually. In most lectionary study groups I have been in, preachers start talking about how they are going to do the children's sermon. I don't remember ever discussing children's sermons in these groups on any other day of the Christian year. Perhaps, in discussing how to do the children's sermon, we are really trying to figure out how we can understand the doctrine in a simple way. We talk about the wick, the candle and the flame being three yet one. Sometimes we talk about H2O and say it can be water, liquid, and gas. However, these are all inadequate, for no created image can ever explain God. Water is not in the 3 states at the same time. God is all three and yet a complete unity. The question of the Trinity will not be solved as a math problem. The doctrine, while based on scripture, is also explained in the Greek philosophical categories of the 4th and 5th centuries in the Nicene Creed. The Trinity starts from the experience of the Church. God the Father created heaven and earth. In God the Son we find our salvation, and in God the Holy Spirit, we find our peace and power as Christian people. God is above us, God is with us, God is among and within us. The doctrine rises out of Christian experience, spirituality, and worship. The theological categories explain the experience.

Now that we have gone through the long theological discourse, what does it mean for us? Why is it important for us? First, it shows that God is love and wants to dwell in community, that God wants a relationship with us. God's very being is in community. The One is in a community of Three and yet is still One. Each of the Divine Persons relates to the others within the Divine Being. God created us in the Divine image so that we could be in relationship with God and each other. We receive salvation because the Father sent the Son, and we are related to God through the Holy Spirit who unites us to the Father and Son. In other words, God is love and wants a relationship with us, because that is God's nature in himself. Secondly, it means God loves us, and does not reject us, but wants to redeem us. Finally, it means we also are created not just for union with God through the Trinity, but with each other. We are made in God's image, we are baptized into the name of a relational God, and are then called to grow in sharing and reflecting God's love and grace to others. God loves us and is active with and in each of us. This is what we celebrate on Trinity Sunday. This is our understanding of our relationship with God. May God help us to grow in relationship to himself and to our neighbors, as we share in the divine grace and carry out God's mission in the world.

Peace and Joy,
Jim

2007-05-21T17:00:00.000-07:00

Pentecost

Pneumatikoi

The term Pneumtikos is from the Greek word for "Spirit". 'Agia Pneumatos is the Greek word for Holy Spirit. In the Eastern Orthodox tradition "pneumatikoi", a plural, are people who are specially gifted by the spirit and can hear confession and offer sage wisdom to spiritual seekers. The best translation might be "Spirited ones" or "Spirit gifted ones". As Presbyterian Protestants we believe that all Christians are pneumatikoi. I mean that all of us are gifted ones, by the Holy Spirit. Paul says we have received our spiritual gifts for the common good. Some have certain gifts of wisdom perhaps and others of service. Some are called to ministry and others to music. Each person, who is sealed by God's Spirit in baptism and confession, has a calling. We are all pneumatikoi, each with our individual gifts from God
s Holy Spirit, but serving the church and the world as part of our service to the risen Christ.

Some of us don't take that very seriously. In most communities of faith and of other types of human community, there is something called the 80/20 principle. Eighty percent of the people do twenty per cent of the work, and twenty per cent do eighty per cent of the work. That seems to be universal, and with little possibility of changing it. However, what if we changed that to at least 50 per cent of the people sharing their gifts? It is not likely to happen but each of us who has been made a Christian by God's grace must ask the question: "What are my gifts and how can I better use them for the work of God's Kingdom in the world"? This may be a major call to some kind of service, it may be a call to better serve in the local church, or it may be a call to be a better Christian in our daily lives. What gifts do you have? How can they be placed in God's service by the power and grace of God's Spirit?

At Pentecost, the 50th day after Easter and end of the Easter Season, we remember the coming of the Spirit upon Christ's Church. Often we emphasize empoweredness for the church to go out, proclaim the Good News, and be instruments of God's peace around the world. As individuals and congregations we may not be able to change the whole world, but how we can help in our part of it? What are your gifts? How are you using them in God's service? What is God calling you to do with them?

In Fire of God's Presence,
Jim

2007-05-17T10:47:00.000-07:00

Ascension

What Goes Up, Must Come Back!

Today, May 18, 2007, is Ascension Day, the 40th day after Easter. It is a day not much noted among many Protestant Christian. It has been a bit of time since Easter, and the excitement of Easter, if not the Easter message of God's eternal life-giving love, has evened out a bit. What does the Ascension mean? In the Acts 1 story, the disciples are given final instructions to go and wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit. They have asked Jesus when the Kingdom will come. He tells them it is not for them to know, but they will be empowered to proclaim the Gospel to the world as witnesses in Jerusalem and to the ends of the earth. But, for the moment, they must wait for the power of the Spirit to come upon them.

This waiting is offset by the fact that, as Jesus ascends, the men are standing and gazing into the heavens. Why would'nt they be, that is a sight you don't see every day. Some "men", who appear to be angelic figures, tell them to stop gazing into heaven, for Jesus will come back. Until he does, Jesus has given them something to do. The implication is that they are to quit hanging around and do what Jesus told them! As I said, for the time being that something was wait. The season of Easter to Pentecost has the 10 days in it from Ascension Thursday to Pentecost Sunday called in some churches "Ascensiontide". It is shorter but is similar to Advent, a period of waiting. When Pentecost comes the church will be empowered by the Holy Spirit in the Acts story. Until then what Jesus commands is to wait.

That is hard for me and probably for a lot of American Christians. There seem to be two tendencies in American Christian spirituality, one is to totally stand and gaze at the heavens, and the other is some for of activism that distrusts any waiting as spiritual escapism. The spiritual formation movement can fall into quietism, which is not its goal. Quietism is a highly individualistic form of spirituality that makes the disciple feel good through various prayer and meditation disciplines, but makes the spiritual experience of peace and union with God the goal of faith. It often does not translate into living the gospel. None of the monastic, or Protestant Christians, who lead this movement advocate that, they say it is tendency to be guarded against. Other forms of this are more evangelical, obsession with heaven to the exclusion of discipleship on earth is a form. It often does not translate into the nitty gritty of following Jesus. The resurrection of Jesus gives us eternal life, but also makes possible discipleship, loving God and neighbor, on earth. It is a very active life. Withdrawal from presence in the world is not the goal of Christ for us.

Activism has both conservative and liberal forms, usually in the political arena. It may express itself in service ministries to the poor and needy. It may be politically involved. It often has a suspicion of meditation and prayer as taking energy away from the desperate need for Christian activity. It follows Jesus, but denies the fuel necessary, prayer and meditation, to avoid despair and burn out. A lot of these kind of Christians leave ministry maybe the faith, because they believe in change and don't see it quick enough.

Ascension to Pentecost remind us that there is, as I have said before, a flow to Christian life. We are called and commanded at times to wait and receive power. We are called at other times to out in the power of God to witness in word and deed in the church and the political arena and the world at large. This flow can be done at the same time in our lives. Right now I feel in a growing active spiritual phase, but other areas of my life are still and waiting. Sometimes in our lives we are in a more active and others in a more waiting period. The trick is to know that "this same Jesus" who ascended into heaven, will come again. It does not all rest on our effort and accomplishment. It takes the quiet to give that perspective in our action as witnesses.

So, where are you, as a Christian. Do you need more time for prayer and meditation? You may tell me you don't have that time, but most of us are busy. Can we not find time when commuting from place to place to pray and reflect, even though we should not zone out when driving! I have found that one way helpful in expanding my prayer. It can be done it is a matter of habit formation. On the other hand, what areas of your Christian life are calling you to action? That, too, is an important question. Jesus has ascended, we are called to periods of waiting and action. Where are you on this "grid".

Peace in the Risen Lord,
Jim

2007-05-03T16:49:00.000-07:00

Questions

Recently I preached a sermon by that name and I have given it more thought just this week. It seems to me that questions are as useful to the spiritual life as answers, perhaps more so. Too often we Christians give the sort of answers that could be printed on bumper stickers. Some of the facts of our faith are that simple. However, when we go through life we gain question about living. Henri Nouwen reminds us that the kind of questions we ask will determine the kind of answers we get. If we ask psychological or sociological questions those are the kind of answers we get. It is the same with scientific answers. As much as I value theology, if we ask "head trip" kinds of questions, we will often get answers that are intellectual but spiritually unsatisfying.

We need all of the disciplines above to be sure in our world and understood in their proper role they are beneficial. Spiritually, however, they can be unsatisfying. We can get many answers to questions of faith from the disciplines of human thought, but they are not ultimate answers. They are, at best, approximate. To try and make biblical faith fit into scientific categories, for instance, is to compare "apples and oranges". They ask different questions, and use different methods. To put faith in the Bible, as many Protestants do, as the book that has every answer and we don't need science and the other disciplines, is to abuse the book. The Bible is the Word of God and it is a book that does point us to the ultimate source of answers, but there are questions of science that it does not answer we the same definitive answers it gives, say, for who the living Jesus was and is.

How do we get to ultimate answers. Well, we don't if you mean the "head trip" kind of knowledge. We do if we see our answer as a living relationship between ourselves and the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit. I would argue that theology does, and should arise out of our worship and service of God. That involves hearing the Word in worship and private reading. It involves communal life through the church and its sacraments and it also involves being open to the Spirit to lead us. Rather than see the faith as a body of beliefs we have and defend, but never grow into, limits our sanctification into what God wants us to be. This involves living interaction with the Bible, the Church, and our own individual lives. We grow in grace. We grow in understanding, but we, in the best of worlds, realize that we have not, and cannot know a God that is beyond all knowing. The adventure of the Christian life is asking God what God wants of us and being open to the answers that are found in the Word of God, the Great Tradition of the Church in its Confessions, the living community of our brothers and sisters in Christ, and in individual prayer and worship. Instead of looking at faith as something on which we have "cornered the market", let us be humble enough to grow into Christ likeness. So what is the ultimate question? "Lord Jesus, what would you have me do with my life". Well that is one, maybe you can come up with others. Let us grow into the Mystery!
Shalom In The Risen Christ!
Jim

2007-04-26T20:48:00.000-07:00

Through The Doors

On Easter evening ten of the remaining eleven disciples were in a house in Jerusalem hiding with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish religious authorities (John 20:19ff). The risen Christ comes through the locked doors and says “Peace be with you”. As the story progresses he shows the disciples his wounded side and hands to prove he is alive. Jesus says, “As the father has sent me, so I send you”. Then he breathes on them the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Thomas, the disciple missing on Easter evening is back with the the others. He is told that the disciples have seen the Lord, and he does not believe. Now he, and anybody that doubts something, or is skeptical, is called a “Doubting Thomas”. That is quite unfair because of what happens next. One week later Thomas is with the disciples and, once again, “though the doors were shut”, Jesus comes and stands among them. He shows Thomas his hands and side. Now, far from doubting, Thomas makes the first full confession of faith saying, “My Lord and my God.” Jesus pronounces a blessing on those who have not seen and yet believe. The scene closes there.

In seminary I was taught not to allegorize scripture in preaching and teaching, though that is a time honored ancient way of interpreting the holy pages. John, however, is an exception. He often gives obvious allegory in his Gospel. An example is when Nicodemus comes to Jesus “by night”. Jesus tells him he must be born again. Nicodemus does come in the literal night, but he is also in spiritual darkness. Jesus, the light of the world illumines Nicodemus. I believe the same can be said for the doors in the Easter story above. The disciples' very realistic sense of fear of the authorities causes them to literally lock the doors to protect themselves. Thomas closes his heart to the possibilities the message. The doors of his heart are as locked as the doors to the room. The risen Jesus comes right through the locked doors of our hearts as he did in the doors of the room.

Sometimes our hearts are closed to God by fear, and sometimes to each other. Note that it is in the community of believers that the Disciples experience the risen Jesus. Thomas is away from the “church” and his doubt remains until he is with the people again. The risen Jesus walks through our fears that lock us in and bids our fears cease. He does this most often when we are with other Christians. Alone, we face doubts; together we can meet the risen Jesus even if we have not literally “seen the Lord”. We receive a commission from Jesus to proclaim his love--- across all doors we erect of race, religion, social status or nation. Christ goes through all doors The church is also called to do so in his power. Together, as a community, we proclaim the resurrection to the world. Christ’s love moves us out of fear to faith and causes us to love those the world finds hard to love.

What fears hold you back? What fears hold our church back? What fears hold the universal Church back? Christ transcends them and causes us to as well. Let us draw strength from being together in worship and service in the community of the resurrection.

In Peace and Risen Life,
Jim

2007-03-29T15:51:00.000-07:00

The Place Of Our Resurrection

In the ancient Church in Ireland, Christian monks often practiced a certain type of pilgrimage. They would set out on a journey with no particular destination in mind. They called this “searching for the place of their resurrection”. The point was to go to that place to which they felt drawn by the Holy Spirit, and establish that place as their hermitage and, in keeping with the vow of stability, remain there for the rest of their lives. More often than not other monks would join them. Sometimes a whole community of people seeking spiritual guidance would gather around them. This search could take years and often involved leaving their homelands far behind.

On the most basic level, of course, the phrase means they are looking for a place to live until they die, and from whence they will experience their resurrection at the return of the risen Jesus. On another level it also meant they were looking for a place to put down spiritual roots, to die to self, and experience spiritual resurrection in the power of God’s Spirit. They did not see this conversion as something would happen instantly. They saw conversion as the work of God, but often plodding and slow because of the resistance of our own human wills. It took much prayer, study, and service to die to self in this life, and be raised to God in this life and in the world to come. Human sin is not easily overcome, but if we are open to God’s life and work with in us, we will see progress. Thus a place of resurrection is also in this world as we seek to grow in grace and become better disciples.

We are celebrating Easter on April 8th this year. As I write this we are very much into the life of springtime with an early warm up. We are reminded that life emerges from death in the warmth and beauty of spring. Unlike the natural world though, resurrection is not a natural occurrence. It is a gift of grace. Jesus lives! He lives as an act of God the Father restoring his life. He lives giving life to us, raising us from the depths of death and sin to life, and making us new by his grace. The work of our own resurrection is here and now. This place is the place of our resurrection. This time is our time of eternal life. Jesus lives and life takes on a new meaning. A song of life began that first Easter Sunday that sweeps us along in a chorus of God’s love for all eternity. As the scriptures say, “today is the day of salvation”. Know the life of the living Christ within, and know a life that is eternal in this world and the next. Know a life that can be difficult and challenging, but the reward is discovery of the power of love and life. Jesus lives and so do we! This is the place of our resurrection. This is the time to come to life. He lives, and we are alive! Glory be to God for the gift of life into eternity!

In His Living Grace,

Jim Stahr

2007-03-27T10:15:00.000-07:00

The Seventh and Final Word of the Cross

"Father, Into Your Hands I Commend My Spirit".

Once again Jesus is quoting the Tehellim, the Psalms, as a faithful Jew. This is Psalm 31:5 which reads,

"Into your hand I commit my spirit; for you have redeemed me O Lord, faithful God". (RSV translation).

I am not sure how this text is used in Judaism, but in the liturgy of the hours, the ancient daily prayer of the Church, this prayer comes often in the night office, obviously the last prayer of the day. Sleeping is a time when we relinquish conscious control of life to God, it is therefore an appropriate point to recite the text. Here Jesus is, of course, dying. He has declared his work on earth to be finished and leaving his entrance into death and the world to come to God. He has lived well, and in ancient Christian terminology is dying a "holy death". He is dying as he lived, with life in the hands of God, the Father.

Jesus said that he was "the Way, the Truth, and the Life". In him we have a relationship to the triune God. He is our way to God. In him with find the truth by which we live our lives. In him we find life in this world and the world to come. In fact, we live the whole context of our lives as Christians dependent on God. The Lord's prayer reminds us of our dependency on "our Father who art in heaven...". Jesus taught us to live lives of faith and trust in the Creator. As we grow in grace, we learn more and more to commit our spirits daily to God. We learn more and more that the One who has given us life and all good, has given us salvation. We learn more and more what a gift of grace each day of our lives is. We commit our spirits each day to God, and when we come to our hour of death we can may that ultimate commitment of all that we are, and have been to God. We do this in assurance of forgiveness when we have failed, comfort in our spiritual legacy to family friends and church and God, and expectation of the hope of eternal life.

Because of Jesus we can be awake to the truth that we are in God's loving hands each day of our lives, and will be for eternity. This is all because of his love for us, given and demonstrated on the cross for our salvation. Let us live our lives committed to his care and love.

In The Assurance of God's Presence And Love,
Jim

2007-03-20T18:26:00.000-07:00

The Sixth Word of the Cross

"It is finished!"

We are coming to the end of the journey near to the death of Jesus for our salvation. On a theological level this word of the cross is a announcement that Jesus has completed the work that the Father had given him in the world. On another level, it is the surrendering of his life and mission to the Father and he is dying the way he lived, trusting in God. On and even more basic level, he is recognizing this is the end of his life. Whatever the meaning of this word to any of us, it does recognize that we, as followers of Jesus, have a mission to complete in our lives. It is not the mission of salvation which he accomplished on the cross for us by his grace, but a mission to reflect that redeeming love to the world. We are called to lives of trust in God like Jesus. We are called to let God set the agenda of our lives in that sovereign love. Often in my years of ministry people have struggled to know what God wants of their lives. They wish that God would tell them as clearly as he seems to in the scriptures, what the Divine One wants of them. My answer is invariable. "Love God with all your heart, mind soul and strength" and "Love your neighbor as yourself". That is the mission to live the love of God and neighbor in the world and to proclaim God's love. Many times we get the feeling that somehow winning souls for Christ is our mission. Did Jesus not tell us this in Matthew 28? Yes, and that is not done just by telling somebody "the plan of salvation". It is also accomplished by showing the world by what we say and do that God is love. In the end we will be able to say "It is finished". Yes, we will fail at times, yes we will do wrong. But God is with us and will teach us how to love God and neighbor. Then, when we come to the completion of our passing, we will hear the crucified and risen Christ say, "Well done good and faithful servant". What does God want of us? To be loving and fulfill that mission on earth. If we complete that, however long it takes us to learn it, and however much we fail at times, we can say with confidence at the end of the day and at the end of life, "It is finished!",

In Christ's Service,

Jim

2007-03-15T18:33:00.000-07:00

The Fifth Word Of The Cross:

"I Thirst!"

This is, on one level, the simple cry of a man crucified and dying slowly in the Palestinian sun. Suffering for Jesus was real because he was fully and completely human as well as fully and completely divine. I have seen those "Lord's Gym" tee shirts that were popular some years ago. They depicted a mighty superman savior who could left the sins of the world. The church, in contradiction to that idea, sees Jesus as fully human as was well as fully divine. Jesus does suffer for us. Jesus does die for us. But he dies in a state of human weakness. Many Christians don't like that idea, they want a Savior who is not like us, who was never weak. That Savior then was merely pretending to be human, and was not completely so. The church, however, teaches, that it is in the fact that Jesus suffers and dies with the suffering of his oppressed people that makes the cross a saving sign. We believe in atonement, which is a word that was created to translate the Greek idea. It comes from At-one-ment. God is completely at one with us in Jesus. He suffers like his people, like us. He thirsts and suffers and dies. It is in this oneness of the cross that somehow, in the mystery of the incarnation, God joins us that we may be lifted to God in Jesus' the resurrection.

Some people see the second coming as the same thing. Superman Jesus is going to come flying in and save us from all the bad people around us. Well, Jesus comes in judgement, but those he judges may be quite surprised when they find that those who are judged are those who are the least compassionate, even if they are Christians. They are those who, having received the mercy of God in free grace, refuse to extend it to their fellow human beings. People are suffering all around us from poverty, disease, sin and oppression. Jesus showed mercy to such. Often we Christians show only judgment. A thirsting Savior suffers as our neighbors do. He who thirsted on the cross gives us the Water of Life and calls us to be compassionate toward the suffering. A thirsting Jesus calls us to the best of what is in us, to help the poor, oppressed and suffering, knowing that in serving them we are serving Jesus.

Our Savior suffers in weakness so that we may have God's strength in our weaknesses, and that we may be instruments of healing to others. May we look on those who suffer from all forms of disease and the effects of the harshness of our world with mercy. May we render aid to Jesus in our suffering neighbors.

Peace,
Jim

2007-03-13T16:46:00.000-07:00

The Fourth Word Of The Cross:

"My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?"

When I was a teenager a friend of mine asserted that Jesus sinned twice. he asserted that the first time was in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus asked that "this cup pass from me", which meant the cross. the second time, be believed, was with this word of the cross. On the first point it is not a sin to ask got to remove the challenge. Jesus ultimately said the prayer we all are called to pray, "thy will be done". On this word of the cross one must ask: How in the world can you sin quoting scripture? Jewish life is suffused with the Tehillim, the Psalms. They form the Jewish people as they have formed many Christians. Jesus is quoting Psalm 22:1 . It begins as a psalm of despair, and ends in trust in God. Here is the full quote in the New Revised Standard Version of the Psalms:

22:1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest.

The psalm goes on to affirm the holiness of God and to express trust in God's will. We have the idea sometimes that to express human emotions that seem to be negative is a sin. These emotions are part of what we are, and part of being human is feeling abandoned by everyone, including God. We don't want to believe we are weak, but we are. It is no sin to express our frustration and anger, even with God. What burdens do you carry that make God seem far from your cry? Jesus is expressing human emotion, but also finding hope in the scriptures. Read the psalms, they range from beautiful to hateful, yet they all do the same thing. They all keep the relationship with God going by staying in communion with God. If we are still talking to God, we must believe God is there? The scriptures don't teach that it is a sin to feel forlorn, or abandoned. The Psalms are full of these kinds of expressions. If we don't feel them we are not allowing the full range of what it means to be human to be a part of us. What psalms give voice to your sense of abandonment, of your sense of thanksgiving joy and hope. In our despair we keep the relationship with God going, even when we are feeling lost and abandoned.

In Christian Hope,
Jim

2007-03-09T11:50:00.000-08:00

The Third Word of the Cross

Woman behold your son, son behold your mother

I see the words of the cross as words of grace. Often what we are ultimately concerned about reflects the most important values in our lives. The apostle John and Mary, the mother of Jesus, are at the foot of the cross. As first born in the family, Jesus has cultural and religious responsibility for his mother. Christian tradition, and this action of Jesus, seem to indicate that Mary was a widow at the time of Jesus' death. As first born male, Jesus has family responsibility. Why not James, the brother of Jesus, he was the first head of the church in Jerusalem? It appears James was not yet a believer in Jesus as the Messiah. Paul records an appearance of the risen Jesus to James. Tradition says that is when James became a believer. Therefore, Jesus entrusts Mary to his spiritual family. John is faithful enough to have been at the cross when the others fled. He is called upon to care for Mary and tradition says that he did this until she passed at Ephesus.

Our relationships are important, both those of blood and those of spiritual kinship. As Jesus is dying he knows the importance of loving and caring for each other. I wonder, in our sad divisions, if we really see our families and friends as entrusted to our care by Jesus? Do we know how important family ties are, do we take are faith ties to others seriously? Often the connections of both human family and faith community are dysfunctional. Maybe if we realized they are trusts given to us by Christ and here on our journey to support and love us in return, we would approach this differently. It might make a difference in how our families function and our faith communities. What if the way we treat each other is the way we treat Christ? We are entrusted by the crucified and risen Christ to the care of each other. How can we best appreciate and go about this?

In Christian Love,

Jim Stahr

2007-03-05T16:13:00.000-08:00

The Second Word Of The Cross

Today You Will Be With Me In Paradise

The "Good Thief" is promised, upon his request of Jesus to be remembered when Jesus "comes into his Kingdom" that "Today you will be with me in paradise". The request was for the coming of the Kingdom. The thief was promised that presence today. The promise of eternal life is one of the great comforts of Christian life. We do affirm and afterlife. That is the ultimate purpose of this Season of Lent as we journey toward the empty tomb of the Paschal Feast. But please note something in what Jesus said. He told that person that he would be in paradise with Jesus today. We are promised we will be with Jesus in the world to come, but we who are living are with Jesus today. We live so much in our past, perhaps feeling anger and pain about it, or perhaps glorifying the past as better than the present. Neither past nor future exist. There is only now. There is only today. Today, whether our lives are going as we wish, or we are going through extreme difficulty, is the only day we will find our salvation. Today is the only day we will "be with Jesus". As the New Testament says, "today is the day of salvation". Jesus is near us, and concerned about us in life and in death. In life and death we belong to God. The risen Jesus says to us, "...I am with you always, until the close of the age". Paradise is today as well as in the future, for Paradise is where Jesus is. Heaven is promised in our future, but heaven is also today and now. May God grant us to find life in the present, and know him all of our days and into eternity.

In The Peace of The Cross
Jim Stahr

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2007-02-27T16:28:00.000-08:00

March Newsletter:

The Way of The Cross

We are on the journey of Lent now, traveling to Jerusalem with Jesus to remember his death and resurrection. These events give our Christian lives meaning, but there is darkness before the dawn of Easter. We are almost a pathologically death denying culture, finding Lent too negative in this culture of optimism. Mortality and sin are not the favorite subjects of anybody, but they don't have to be things that are only negative. No matter how much we may resist the idea of death it is a reality. No matter how hard we may fight the idea, there are places within us that resist the way of Christ. Those dark places are there and are a part of who we are. These parts of our being are not the whole of who we are and we are not defined only by the darkness within us, but to deny that the dark places of sin within us exist, is to deny reality.
Part of being human is to have a “shadow side”, as psychologist Carl Jung called it. If we deny that it is a part of our being, we project it on others and then react to the perceived darkness in them. How many of us have ever known a Christian who believed themselves to be “right with God” and yet they attacked, at least verbally, anybody who disagreed. Those “other people” were the ones who are trying to harm the faith of all the innocent and holy people. It is, of course these folk who are angry and harmful. Why is that? They do not recognize their own shadow side. They see themselves as all good, and the enemy as all bad. If they would only acknowledge the dark side of themselves, they could be less judgmental of others. But that requires us to acknowledge our sins, and that we are part of the darkness as well as the light. .

The death of Jesus exposes our sin. It does so because it shows the lengths we will go to in order to preserve our own power both individually and as a people. Rome felt the people it dominated were inferior and wanted to maintain power over those inferior people. Romans saw themselves as good people who wanted to bring light to the world. Then there are the religious who want to control others and what they believe. They also don't want to lose power and a king who claimed to be a descendant of David could easily bring Rome down on them. As religious people too, we often want power over others, we want to suppress those of different opinions. We want to win at the world's game. The religious authorities who committed the crimes against Jesus were the Jewish, but we Christians have been just as good at being lethal in what we have done in the name of God. Love was crucified by the political and religious forces. The death of God's Son exposed those forces of destruction that tried to destroy the Messiah in the name of God. The cross exposes all the ways we manipulate others, use our religion and politics against others, and want to conquer others in the name of God. Our own sins are there in the story; they are running away with the disciples, wanting to crush weakness in ourselves and others, and manipulating situations to get our way. Were we there when they crucified our Lord? Yes! We do all those things too. Look at our world in the extremes. There is political and religious killing going on in the name of God. Look at our denominations split by people who want to defeat the other side, rather than love our neighbors.

Just when we are exposed and condemned, we hear, “Father forgive them, they don't know what they are doing”. That word coming from the cross human sin fashioned for Jesus, sets us free. We can acknowledge our darkness and receive forgiveness. We can then live the lives to which Jesus called us. Lent exposes our darkness in order to bring us to the grace that redeems. So we look to the cross as a sign of hope, for we will soon find the Risen Christ among us.

In Hope And Peace,

Jim Stahr

2007-02-23T18:26:00.000-08:00

The First Word of The Cross:

"Father Forgive Them They Don't Know What They Doing"

It's Lent again. This seems to be a season nobody likes. It is not infrequent that I even have people ask me why we have to go through this season. A season that begins with the statement, "Remember mortal that you are dust, and to dust you shall return" and ends with a cross surely can't be anyone's favortie season. Still there is something to be said for a period in which we reflect on sin and death. On sin because it is our common lot. We all go astray in minor, and somtimes major ways. Our reflection on our own dysfunctional relationships to God, life, and others, are not intended to make us feel bad about ourselves. These reflections are to remind us that we can be better and more loving. We do this by letting our life's challenges turn us back to God for the gift or grace. We reflect on death not to be morbid, but realize we only have a certain amount of time to do what is most important in life, to receive and share that grace and love God has given us.

The first word of the cross is a reminder that we come to Lent this year as a return to grace. Even from the cross our Lord Jesus receives and forgives us. In his dying moments he forgives those who committ the most brutal torture ever devised by the human race. He also forgave us our failures. Lent is not a morbid time, but a time to reflect on how we use the time God has given us. Let it be a return to Jesus and his grace this year.

In Lenten Peace,
Jim Stahr

2007-01-26T16:40:00.000-08:00

What's In A Name ?

The holy name of God in the Old Testament is YHWH. It is a name Jewish people never pronounce because of the commandment not to take God's name in vain. In the King James Bible it was sometimes translated Jehovah. That translation is completely wrong and that name never appears in the Bible. Among many Christians the divine name is pronounced Jahweh, or more often, Yaweh. That is our best guess. By the time of Jesus, only the High Priest pronounced the sacred name of God, and then only on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), when he went into the High Holy place in the Temple in order to carry out the atonement rituals. So, after the destruction of the Temple, the actual pronunciation of the Name was lost. Jews now substitute either the word Adonai, which means Lord, or the word HaShem, which means "The Name". Modern Christian translators follow Jewish tradition by substituting "The Lord" where YHWH is written. Thus the Hebrew of Psalm 23 literally translated would be, "YHWH is my shepherd I shall not want." But we substitute "The Lord" for the divine name of God.

What does the name mean? In its basic form it can mean "He is" following the revelation of God to Moses "I am that which I am". It also can mean "I will be that which I will be". In fact, Jewish scholars say that the name contains every form of the verb "to be" that is possible. Thus the infinity of God is emphasized in one name. Both the Jewish and Christian traditions emphasize God as a transcendent mystery. This captures the fact that God "was and is and ever shall be". God is not limited by the human mind or ability to comprehend or express the divine presence. God is, above all, through all, and in all. God is changeless and unmoved by time and space.

This is all a nice theological idea, but what does it mean for you and for me? Well, if God transcends time and space then God is never absent from any detail of our lives however small. God was there before we were born and after we pass away. Also it means God is sort of a verb. God is active for us throughout all time, and is active in showing us the divine way. We may feel that God is not there, or that we can escape God's presence, but God subsumes all that is and is present in it. God is there. Since the divine name is a verb, God is involved in our lives. God reveals himself to us through God's actions. In the Christian understanding God became one of us in Jesus so that we might have a relationship to the infinite God. Finally, we can never understand completely what God is or what God wants as a plan for our lives. God is infinite and beyond our understanding except in so far as God has revealed himself to us. In Christ we understand what God does for us and asks of us. The Infinite loves us and will lead us. Yet we are created and finite, our minds are not big enough to fully understand and contain God. Our lives come to be and pass before a God who is eternal. We must grow in our understanding of God but we will never attain the fullness of understanding. Therefore, we should realize that, beyond a few basic points, our lives are mysteries to be lived in trust and not problems to be worked out and solved. We cannot claim that we who are finite, have ”cornered the market” on what we know of God. God is life now and forever. In Jesus we become alive in God. Let's live lives of faith and trust basking in, and sharing, the love of God in a broken and sinful world.

In The Peace of God's Presence,

Jim Stahr

2006-12-22T16:49:00.000-08:00

On Mystery And Certainty
The Christian faith is a much more theologically defined religion than are the other two monotheistic religions of Judaism and Islam. We have the definition of the Trinity, the definition of Jesus’ nature, (That he was both fully God and fully human), and other creedal beliefs. Add to that the various denominationally specific beliefs and you get quite a well defined, some would say over-defined, faith. We proclaim our certainty in a lot of matters. Some of these matters, such as the professed belief in the absolute scientific accuracy of the Bible by fundamentalists, are not proclaimed by Scripture itself, but are interpretations of the Scriptures and the history of the beliefs of a particular Christian group. Naturally, as an orthodox Protestant Christian, I believe that some definition is necessary. However, when it comes to lesser beliefs, when we insist that we are right, and anyone who believes what is contrary is not a Christian, we are over-defined and in need of more than a little mystery to counter balance our certainty.

We have just come through the observance of Advent and the celebration of Christmas. Here we see a great mystery. We see God incarnate in human flesh. Many people have profound disagreements with our belief in the Incarnation. They do not believe that God would limit himself to confinement to one human life. The Christian faith teaches that the very Word through which God created the universe is flesh in Jesus. His relationship to God is unique, unlike any before him or since. While God can dwell within us, by the power of the Holy Spirit, that does not make us God. Jesus was God in the flesh. Can I explain this? No! I don’t want to explain it. In Jesus we have the unique plan of salvation for all. What about those who don’t believe? What about those who can’t believe? What about those whom Christians have hurt to the point that they feel they can no longer believe? Some will say that are condemned to hell. Some will say through Jesus all are saved, everyone, they are Universalists. I simply stand in awe of the incarnate One and the mercy he has shown. I believe God is extremely merciful and I hope in God’s mercy, but I won’t answer those questions for two reasons. First, Jesus said only God can make those judgments. The second is I am sure God is greater than I can believe or imagine. It is enough that I find my salvation in Christ, and I am called to share his light, for he is the Light of the World. Leave the status of others to God.

We have become so certain that we have lost a sense of the great Mystery. By definition, the human mind can only grasp a portion of that Mystery since God transcends all of Creation. At Christmas, in the incarnation of God, we find our connection to God. We cannot and should not seek to explain that point too much. We should stand in awe of the Word made flesh. That brings worship and a living relationship to God. That brings awe at the gift of life and salvation. Naturally, certain facts flow from that, but we don’t need the answer to every question. We first need to stand in awe of God and beliefs will arise out of that relationship to God, and through God’s self-revelation in Jesus Christ. Then we can live in the way that Jesus taught and that will keep us busy the rest of our days! If he is our Lord, let us do what he tells us. The Gospel is not just a belief in a few certainties and then we go to heaven. It is an experience of living relationship with the Word made flesh. Let us stand in awe of the Mystery of God this coming year.
In Christmas Peace,
Jim Stahr

2006-11-27T18:06:00.000-08:00

The Great Silence

Monastic Great Silence is practiced in many monastic orders. It runs for eleven or twelve hours starting about 8 or 9 p.m. and running until about 8 a.m. the next morning. Monks only speak during nighttime prayer services and in cases of necessity. Mostly they remain in silence within themselves and alone with God. Many people who practice silence as a part of their spiritual discipline find it exceedingly difficult at first. We are not used to being alone without background noise, and it can be uncomfortable. A lot of folks are kind of afraid of looking within, because they are afraid of what they will find. Maybe they think that if they see darkness within they will be condemned. Do we think God does not already know us better than we know ourselves? Ironically, from both a psychological point of view and from the viewpoint of Christian theology the opposite is true. What we bring into the light of day will become that which causes us to grow if we offer it to God.

We live in the noisiest time in history. I grew up with television on in the background and I actually find when reading something I prefer to have it on than have complete silence. It is just habit, but not necessarily the best way to study! We have increased the number of devices that keep us outwardly focused with entertainment and music, and that doesn't even account for the noises produced by engines and other means. We need some silence. Of course some of us undergo different kinds of silence such as the silence of a home when a loved one has passed on, or when our children move out. Some of us feel anxiety stress and depression and feel that God is silent when we pray. That is actually a phase of the spiritual life and if we persist we will find it is not true. Many are lonely and experience silence in another way, in the absence of loved ones or friends when they need them. That is a painful silence too. But silence is necessary to growth as Christian people.

In this, perhaps, the noisiest times of our noisy year, we are inundated with the music of the season, parties and services to attend, and shopping to do. Advent, by contrast, is a great silence. We are not celebrating Christmas yet. We are emphasizing the wait of the world for its Savior's first coming, as we wait to celebrate it. We are acknowledging our wait for Christ to return and put things right in our world. Don't get so fatigued with activities from Thanksgiving to Christmas time. Yes, we have much to do, but let us give place to Advent silence a few minutes a day. Spend some time alone with as little background noise as possible. What does it mean to your life that Christ has come? What does it mean in the midst of your joys and sorrows, that he is with you now and will come again. Let a little silence in your life as a place of repose where your soul can rest with God. It will make a difference in your Christmas and maybe your life.

In Expectation,

Jim Stahr

2006-11-14T19:52:00.000-08:00

Best Against Worst

One of the problems with religious debate in our nation right now is that we often compare the best of our argument with the worst argument of the opponents. What I mean is, we look over our debating points and find what we believe is our best point and then look over the opponent's worst argument and thus we rig the arugment so that we win. Thus liberals will always accuse conservatives of being insincere and hypocritical, and perhaps even say that all conservatives want to kill people in the name of God. Then they argue for the best they have of inclusion, pacifism, reconciliation and anything else they think that makes them better. Of course, the same is true on the other side. The conservatives will find extremist liberals who want no restrictions on sexual morality, or other issues of any kind, or don't really beleive in the existence of God and accuse liberals of being amoral and trying to destroy the faith. We do this all the time.

What would happen if we were to discuss, rather than debate, our best against their best and look at our worst and theirs? Maybe we could find some common ground doing that. Maybe we could quit stereotyping others and start listening. You simply can't debate with another by assuming that their intentions are evil. Most people, on both sides, are sincerely trying to find their way in a world where sometimes a clear way is not always obvious. Would this result in comprimise? Perhaps a bit yes, but not always. What I would like to see, as the old song says, is a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Give the other side their props, what's wrong with that? Learn to restate the argument of your opponent in a way that is fair to them. Find the truth in the other side. I imagine you will still hold your point of view, but I also think that you might learn how to debate in a way that is fair to the other side. Divisions are killing the mainline denominations and our national life too. What if we really heard what the other is saying.?Are we afraid they might win us over? If we are does that mean we are so unsure of our argument we don't believe it can stand up to the intellectual test? Why are we afraid of the truth that is contained in the opponents argument? Why do we want to silence it, and stereotype others? If we say "All conservatives are..." or "All liberals want to..." and then insert a negative trait, are we not merely showing prejudice? When we label a certain position with the word "all" we assume that there is no difference between people of a certain point of view. Have we talked to all people from the other side? Maybe toning back the rhetoric and learning to restate the other's argument is a way of loving your neighbor, or even your enemy. It would be a first step out of the morass we are in.
Peace,
Jim

2006-10-30T20:09:00.000-08:00

Death!
Well, at least I got your attention with that stark title and in that Old English font! If you are still reading, it is that on which I am writing this month too. Halloween is a time our culture kind of makes fun of the fear of all things dark and deadly. Death is a subject about which we as a culture are in denial. Even Christians have a form of death denial. I don’t know how many times I have been to a funeral and heard a preacher say things that are really NOT the Good News of Christ. One line is “death isn’t real”. Another is “he or she didn't die but just passed into another room”. This is about as far from Christianity as you can get. We testify each Sunday that Jesus was “crucified, dead, and buried”. Boom! No sugar coating on this one. If Jesus died, death is real. In fact, there was an early heresy that said that Jesus did not die but only appeared to die. God can’t die! Well that is heretical. The creed, and the Bible that support it, are clear, Jesus died. If he did not die, he could not have risen from the dead. Death is real, it is final in this world, and it is often painful for those who go on with their lives having lost a loved one. It is not the last word, but it is as real as it gets.

November 1st is All Saints Day. Reformed Christians have not traditionally celebrated that day, and many still don’t, because we don’t define the word saint as other Christian traditions do. A saint is one who is a Christian. That is the earliest definition and the one used most often in the New Testament. The PC(USA) now has All Saints Day as an option in our liturgical calendar. In our tradition, it is a day to honor those who have passed on believing in Jesus Christ. In fact, it is a festival of Christ, honoring those who have passed into Christ’s presence after living the Christian life here. What we celebrate is the victory of the risen Christ over death, and the promise that our lives of discipleship here do not end with death. It is a celebration of eternal life given to us by the triumphant Christ, just as the world begins to grow dark. It is a reminder that the light of the world still lives and shines even in the darkest of times, and even in death.
Then why do I say it is heresy to say that death is not real? Simply because the Son of God had to be in solidarity with us to the point of dying in order to provide our salvation. He died to atone for our sins by his sinless life. He did not pass as a ghost off to float on a cloud somewhere. He DIED. Only then does the eternal aspect of issues of life and death come in. Jesus rose to give us life, to give us life in this world, to give us life for eternity, and to give the world life at the end of time. Death is real, but it is not God’s final word for the world. The picture of salvation in Revelation is not of a bunch of spirits in heaven forever. Heaven comes to earth, the dead return with the living. God wipes away every tear. Being dead and going to heaven forever individually is not the point. We do go into God’s presence at death, but ultimately God intends for the resurrection and the renewal of this world! That is a much bigger vision and more worthy of the eternal God than just “where you are going to spend eternity”. It is not about Christ getting a victory here or there with individual souls alone, it is about the resurrection of this old world. It is the end of war, the end of hunger, the end of pain and suffering for the world. That is God’s goal. Those are real things and current in our world, and death is all too real, often all too unnecessary. The world we want to live in is the world God wants to create. Those who have died in Christ are in God’s presence, but they long for the day when the world is renewed, and God will wash away every tear. That is what we honor on this day of remembrance. God is going to win in the end. That’s a much better picture with a lot more comfort. That is a Good News worth preaching!

Hoping in Christ!
Jim Stahr

2006-10-21T15:41:00.000-07:00

A Gospel Large Enough

After several days off, and at Kentucky Council of churches, I can now return to this blog. I just finished reading an article sent to me by a Lutheran friend about the recent school shooting in an Amish settlement in PA. The article reminds us that there is something more to Christian life than my own individual feelings and attitudes. It reminds us that we must do things that give testimony to the truth of Jesus' teachings, and not just the doctrines about Jesus, as important as they are. It was written by Sister Joan Chittister. Among several of her points is the fact that the world seems surprised at the depth of faith and forgiveness that comes from the Amish community. Most of us could not easily find it in our hearts to forgive someone who killed our loved ones, much less attend the killer's funeral as a sign of our forgiveness. I don't know if I could show that level of love and forgiveness. Some might say that it came too easilyy and was insincere. Well, their faith practice does not mean it is any easier to lose their loved ones. It witnesses to the fact that they know what the Gospel teaches and want to live into that faith. In a world where our egos and their development are the greatest things we think we can achieve, and our own feelings are the center of our world, real forgiveness is shocking. The Amish do not teach us that forgiveness is easy or cheap. They teach us that there is something to which we witness that is bigger than us, and that we must live toward that life as a witness to the world. They teach us that there is something more important in life than my individual feelings and myself. They teach us that our lives have a Christian context, and we must transcend the self. It is a witness to the eternal context of our Christian lives. I am sure the Amish parents both forgive, and will have to live into that forgiveness. In a world in which Christians justify all kinds of violence, and feel justified in harboring even the tiniest of grudges, no wonder this shocks us. Jesus calls us to live as if the coming Day of the Lord has already begun. Can we do that?

In God's Shalom,
Jim Stahr

2006-10-06T17:01:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid in the 50s and 60s we had three channels on television and rotary dial telephone with a party line, I probably could never have conceived there would be a thing called the internet or the blogosphere. Thanks to John Humphries I now have a "blog" which will be linked to the church's website. A blog for you newbies is a "weblog". The church must utillize everthing at its disposal to spread the word, so I chose the title "theoblogger" for this site.

Those who know me know that I believe most forms of American Christianity have gotten off base. It seems many Christians believe that the person with the harshest rhetoric and most hateful diatribe is the most authentically Christian. Our Lord taught us to love God, our neighbors, and even our enemies. It would seem hateful diatribe is thought to be part of the commandment in some modern versions of the faith. Here I want to try to share my thoughts on what being a disciple means in the present time. Sometimes my remarks will seem liberal, and other times they will seem conservative. I hope they are thoughtful. I hope they will make you think. I do not expect the readers to always agree. It is time, though, for someone to speak peace in a divided age. It is time for a little theology concerning the teaching of our Lord Jesus. I am going to try to share such thoughts about once a week. May God bless us.

Shalom,
Jim Stahr