Needs

Abraham Maslow (1943) posed a very famous theory of human motivation that contained a heirarchy of needs.  Maslow said that we tried to meet our physical needs (food, water, air, health), our security needs (shelter,safety, stability), our social needs (being loved, belonging, inclusion), our ego needs (power, influence, recognition, prestige) before we were motivated to meet the need of self-actualization (beauty, creativity).  Maslow's theory is required reading for the social sciences and for those pursuing higher education in many fields.

I have another theory about needs.  I believe God created us with desires, needs and instincts that are tied to the physical.  But I think there are other more powerful needs that relate to a statement from Ecclesiastes.  In Ecclesiastes 3, Solomon writes "and God has placed eternity in our hearts."  I think this is related to how we were created.  God breathed life and spirit into us and placed in people something of the divine that longs for things beyond the physical.  Every society (even people who are dealing with infirmity and physical/mental limitations) seeks the spiritual.

Our problem is we try to fill our lives with the physical that we can see, touch, feel and manipulate.  All the while, I think God is pointing out the beauty, grace and wonder around us every day.  I wonder if we are getting more and more imbalanced in pursuing the physical world?

I ride my bicycle often.  When I ride on my indoor bike I don't really worry too much about being balanced because it would be difficult (though not impossible) to fall off.  My indoor bike is safe, effective,climate-controlled and I can watch TV when I ride there.  When I ride outside I must be more attuned to my surroundings.  I have to watch for cars.  I must keep tabs on the weather.  I can't be distracted by my devices.  And I must make sure I keep my weight balanced, for if I do not, I will fall.  And these days, I don't heal quite as fast from those events where "the road rises to meet me."

Maybe we can take this analogy into our daily life.  I think God wants me to be much more focused on the spiritual world.  Our society pushes us to the material and physical.  Catch this new show.  Watch this sporting event.  Check on your Facebook page and see if your are getting enough "likes."  Ride inside where it is safe and climate-controlled.  God is telling us, "come out of that world."  See the beauty of nature.  See the people around you.  Go to the Food Giant and experience the good and bad of interacting with your neighbors.  Jump into life instead of asking God to give you a safe, secure, antiseptic setting that will always be protected but dull.  Get your life into balance and you might just find life abundant!

Amphibians

In his book Rumors, Philip Yancey makes a wonderful observation about people.  He states that we (humans) are really amphibians.  In nature amphibians are creatures that live their lives in 2 realms.  part of their life is spent breathing through gills in water.  During the adult part of their lives they breathe air into their lungs.  Yancey's comment poses that we live our lives in both the physical and spiritual realms.  In one realm we are physical beings.  In the other we are spiritual beings.

The Bible is rife with references to these two realms.  Elisha's servant believed all was lost as he and Elisha were about to be attacked by an enemy (1 Kings 17:2).  The servant was living in the physical real.  He only believed the things he saw with his eyes.  Elisha prayed to God asking that the servants eyes would be opened so that he could see the provision of God.  God said "yes" and the servant saw "chariots of fire" surrounding them and the enemy (yes, it is where the movie title came from).  The lesson?  Elisha's reaction to the enemy and the impossible situation was to pray and ask God to do His thing!  Maybe if we prayed for God's will and jumped into that will, we could follow God out of the oppressive and impossible situations in which we find ourselves.  God's help is already available and there.  So ask God to let you see the spiritual realm.  For seeing with the eyes of the Spirit reveals the true reality of life.

Another story finds Elijah holed-up in a cave, hiding from King Ahab and Queen Jezebel (1 Kings 19).  Elijah sees the impossible task of escape and the obvious (to him) reality that he is alone in his work of being God's prophet.  God sends him out to the cave entrance.  God shows Elijah a fire, a whirlwind and an earthquake.  God is not in any of them.  Then God sends a gentle whisper and God is inside the whisper.  God reminds Elijah that He has all of this under control.  Elijah is not alone.  There are others who are "zealous for the Lord."  At the beginning of this cave story God asks Elijah "What are you doing here?"  I think this is one of the lessons from this passage.  The question can be read, "What are YOU doing here?" "Elijah, YOU don't belong in a cave filled with fear, doubt and uncertainty!  You will find me out there in the danger and beauty of doing my will."  The question could also be, "What are you doing HERE ?"  "Elijah ... you are here in the physical realm.  Don't you know I have created you to live, love, work and see in the spiritual realm!?  You are an amphibian, spending too much time worrying about your physical needs.  Get up, get out and get to work!"

We (people) worship the physical.  We adore beautiful people.  We love things that feed our physical needs.  We marvel at those who can deliver words that are filled with passion, yet we fail to parse what those words are saying (because we focus on the physical).  We love beautiful music that moves us, and I believe God-inspired music does speak to our spirit, but lots of music isn't God inspired.  We revere royalty, rock stars, athletes who can jump high and run fast, actors and political figures.  We are caught in the physical realm and we cannot seem to get out.  God is asking, "What are you doing HERE?!"  In God's question is the call to get up, get out and jump into God's realm.  You will find the Spirit in worship of God, fellowship with other believers, connecting with God through the means of grace (prayer, communion, service, giving, focusing on others), being in dangerous places where God is working, experiencing the discomfort of the people God sends your way, making hard decisions that your family won't like and praying for God to let you see beyond the physical realm.  Out there you will see (if you look) a whole realm filled with God-stuff, beauty and chariots of fire.  So, what are you doing HERE?  Randy

I'm Sorry

There is a seldom-used virtue in Scripture and in the reality of life.  It is the virtue of responsibility.  You haven't seen it often because most bad actions in today's world are the result of other factors.  "My environment caused it."  "They made me do it."  "They did it so I can do it too."  "I was drinking."  "The dog ate my homework, power bill, house payment bill, appointment book, etc."  In an excuse-rich society I want to take a moment to say "I'm sorry!"

To quote Dr. Seuss "I have puzzled and puzzled 'till my puzzler was sore.'"  Why are there so many things in societal behavior that are so wrong, so 'off-the-track' and so anti-Bible?  I have decided that I will begin to accept responsibility for some of these by saying some specific "I'm sorrys."  I will be speaking to younger generations, which seems to be almost everyone anymore.  Here goes.

I'm sorry for not telling you that your specialness isn't because you are inherently good.  The Bible says our hearts are naturally deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9) and that all of us (Romans 3:23) have succumbed to our fallen nature.  Your specialness and my specialness and the specialness of those kids we have told they are 'princes' and 'princesses' is because they were 'fearfully and wonderfully made' (Ps. 139) by a God that imparts His image (Genesis 1) into our lowly selves.  Our spark of the Divine is because of the love, goodness and gift of God.  We neither deserve it nor adequately acknowledge it.  Let's stop feeding our kids, grand kids and great grand kids the idea that they are somehow worthy of royal treatment.  I wonder if this colossal error is part of why we have so much anxiety, depression and other mental disorders that arise when kids (and adults) find that their behavior (they know their own thoughts and motives) fails to ascend the false pedestal on which we have placed them.

I'm sorry for failing to lead you to God.  I have used sermons, Bible lessons and scolding to tell you the words of the faith.  Then, I have set my personal priorities which I am quick to say belong to me.  I forget one vital thing ... you are watching.  So when I have a chance to prioritize God first with money, time, talent and action, I have a propensity to 'walk on the other side of the road' (Luke 10:31).  My righteous words have too-often been followed by self-centered actions.  You see it when I spend time, money and my precious right to vote.  And I rationalize my behavior by absolving myself from the responsibility to follow my holy talk by sacrificial action.  I have placed my needs above the needs of God, speaking volumes by my actions. I am sorry!

Finally, I am sorry for showing you that we should be guided by feelings.  A person, in rationalizing their behavior, told me we should follow our feelings implying that feelings come from God and who we are.  Then I remembered a story from Scripture.  Jesus is alone in the wilderness (Matthew 4), hungry, thirsty and seemingly powerless.  Satan sees his opportunity and plays games with the feelings we all have as humans.  "Jesus, don't you feel hungry?  Why don't You turn these stones to bread?"  "Jesus, don't you feel alone and unwanted?  Why don't you test God by casting yourself off a precipice?"  "Jesus, don't you feel powerless and out of control?  I can help you GET the power you deserve."  Satan is always reminding us of our feelings and how we deserve to respond to them.  I'm sorry I have empowered and encouraged this in my kids and grand kids.

In the song "Watercolor Ponies" Wayne Watson reminds us that leading our children is not for the squeamish ... "Seems an endless mound of laundry, and a stairway laced with toys, gives a blow by blow reminder of the war, that we fight for their well-being, for their greater understanding, to impart a holy reverence for the Lord."  We are in the war and in the wilderness.  We are buffeted on every side by an enemy whose greatest tool (I believe) is to suggest that we follow feelings, personal priorities and entitlements toward a very self-focused world.  It is a war that can only be won by following the one who has preceded us in this wilderness.  He knows the enemy.  He knows us.  He knows our tendency toward self.  And He tells us (and shows us) the way forward and out of the wilderness.  I don't know who you will follow, but I will try to lead my family to follow the Lord!  And Lord, I will try to do this in a way that will not cause me to say, 'I'm sorry!"  Randy

Heirlooms

In our world of internet, ordering anything (groceries, clothing, cars) with a click on a touch-screen and news traveling the world in seconds,  I have the sense that some of us are frustrated.  We aren't totally frustrated with computers and devices (I use mine every hour, including to write this blog).  We even tolerate the internet, though we see its many dangers and snares.  But I wonder if our frustration relates to the feeling that, in the midst of changes that rush past at the speed of digital communications, something has been lost.  One of those things might be our heirlooms.

The dictionary defines heirloom as "a valuable object that has belonged to a family."  On this coming Sunday, just before the 4th of July (our country's birthday) I want to reflect on this definition.  

First, heirlooms are valuable.  Many of you have voiced your frustration that our country's heritage isn't viewed as either valuable or necessary.  The struggles of striving for freedom and the growing pains of a country that has moved forward in fits of ineptitude mixed with moments of unimaginable heroism are the bookends that have formed us.  And we must revisit those, mull over the good and the bad and learn from those harrowing times.  Then, remember that history is a great teacher but a terrible home.  We can't live there (we can't find the living among the dead [Luke 24:5])!

Second, heirlooms are valuable things that are corporately owned.  In our nation and in our Church, we possess lessons, states-people, events, infamous personalities and heroes that brought us here.  As humans and Americans we all 'possess' these heirlooms (whether we want them or not).  Our corporate DNA includes Billy the Kid, William Whipple, Willie Nelson, Billy Graham and Billy Carter (all 'famous' Williams).  Whether they were good or bad (or totally unknown) does not matter.  They are in the air we breathe, the dirt beneath our feet and our corporate consciousness.  We own 9-11, 3 Mile Island, the Vietnam War, Roe v Wade, Gettysburg and even the highs and lows of a small town called Abbeville.  It is all a bit like what an old pastor said about Jesus ... "you can't wash Him off your hands, you can't get Him out of your mind, you can't wear Him off."  We own, as our heirlooms, all of these things and people.  Acts 4:32-33 shows the Church owning and sharing it all ... including the glory of the resurrection and the betrayal of the grave.

But we must be careful!  In the Bible, Ezekiel was told to eat a scroll containing God's Word for the people.  It was sweet in his mouth but became sour in his stomach.  It is a reminder that truth has a sweet and sour element.  Our society has a propensity to purge, forget or rail against past people and events that are distasteful or disagreeable.  History books are rewritten with the "correct" history based on editing by politically-correct writers.  Church doctrine is rewritten based on the context of society rather than on the truth of the Gospel.  Older people are dismissed as being outdated and irrelevant.  And we forget and lose something of who and what we are.  Because when we flippantly throw away our heirlooms, we rip the very fabric of who we are as a nation and as a Church.

John Legend writes a love song called "All of Me."  There is a line in the song that expresses his love for "all your curves and all your edges, all your perfect imperfections."  Maybe this is how we should look at the journey from there (July 4th for America, Pentecost for the Church) to here.  Maybe it is wisdom to accept, reflect upon and treasure the bumps, bruises, victories and failures that we have encountered along the way.  Maybe, without the highs and lows, we will lose our way and have no heirlooms upon which to base our perspective or build our future!  Randy

The Biggest Chain

As  a pastor I have met many people with many issues and questions.  There are addictions, loss of loved ones, questions about the Bible, questions about the nature of God, denominational inquiries and a myriad of issues that come about every day.  But maybe the hardest and most universal issue is a chain that is very hard to break ... forgiveness.  Though we address this issue at every communion service and every time we say the Lord's Prayer people would rather do most anything than work to forgive.  And, in truth, forgiveness is one of the most difficult tasks we will face as human beings.  I think three of the major reasons for our inability to forgive are these ... self-righteousness ... the clear guilt of the other person ... our unwillingness to accept God's Word as applied truth.

We don't like to view ourselves as self-righteous.  But a friend came up to me one day and said, "They will regret doing that to me!"  That little phrase is filled with the pious idea that harming ME is a great sin that deserves and even greater effort on my part to keep that injustice on the front burner.  It is a chain that consumes and holds us back.

Many of you are saying, "But that person is totally guilty of the injustice!"  Why do we equate guilt and forgiveness?  Don't we pray "forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors?"  Please listen to what we are saying and praying.  Our debtors actually owe us something.  They are the guilty.  But the prayer says we also have debts.  We also are guilty.  Jesus modeled this kind of forgiveness on the cross as He forgave us in the depth of our guilt, betrayal and sin.  Forgiveness does not directly relate to the guilt of the other person.  It relates to our mindset, our attitude and our willingness to step into the likeness of Jesus where we are all called!

And finally that last one ... he/she is my enemy.  Matthew 5:44 says "love your enemies."  In His teaching from the Sermon on the Mount Jesus says that we are called to be different than the masses.  His implication is that everyone loves those that love them.  It is harder to love people that hate us, mean us harm and cause us grief.  Why are we supposed to love them?  The simple answer is that we say we are Christians.  The label means those that bear Christ.  If we are filled with Christ how can we not be filled with the one thing He died for ... "behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29)?"  It is a worthy question and one we must haggle with as we learn forgiveness.

There is a Jesus Culture song called "Break Every Chain."  The words say, "there is power, in the name of Jesus ... to break every chain, to break every chain, to break every chain."  Do we accept this as merely an unattainable ideal or as the truth of God to be applied to our lives?  It is a good and hard question!  Randy 

Lessons

Proverbs 1:5 and Hebrews 12:5-6 are passages that remind us of the cumulative nature of learning.  I remember learning geometry and loving the logic and structure of this mathematical discipline.  In math teachers use building blocks to give you the tools to solve problems and to build a foundation for the next level of learning.  When you have mastered one discipline you have the tools to go forward with the next.  Without learning the discipline of each process, you get stuck and confused with the next level of learning. 
Dr. Seuss observed ... "It is better to know how to learn than to know."  In Dr. Seuss' view the process of learning (knowing how to learn) is the key to building worthwhile, usable and practical knowledge.

Proverbs 1:5 says the wise can become wiser because they are smart enough to receive guidance.  One time a woman wrote a letter to a Bishop from another conference.  The letter confronted that Bishop about something that had been allowed in violation of the United Methodist Discipline.  The Bishop responded to the woman by telling her how his level of learning, study and understanding was vastly superior to all of those who criticized him.  The haughty response reminded me that we, as lifelong learners, must be willing to learn from experiences, study and life.  When we reach that place where we cannot receive correction, discipline and criticism then we have ignored both the Proverb (1:5) and God's teaching about learning from our father in heaven.  Learning should never stop for the Christian!

I have made many mistakes in life and I am still making them.  Sometimes, when I am licking my wounds from a mistake, I reflect on my father's advice that would have kept me from making that mistake.  Were our earthly father's perfect?  No!  But we all have a heavenly father that disciplines us and corrects us.  That father IS perfect. He gives us advice and a loving discipline that will help us with the big and little issues we face in daily life.  These lessons sometimes challenge us, sometimes stress us and sometimes they even hurt.  But Hebrews 12 says ... "My dear child, don’t shrug off God’s discipline, but don’t be crushed by it either. It’s the child he loves that he disciplines; the child he embraces, he also corrects."  We are sons and daughters of our Father and King!  God disciplines because God cares about His children!  THAT is great news!  Randy

So What?

I have encountered many people who seem to be living inside things that are past ... things that have victimized them ... things that (in the scheme of life) don't amount to anything.  For some reason we, as people, give power to things that have no power and fail to appropriate power form the sources available to us.  It is an enigma, especially for people who profess to be Christians.

At Annual Conference Bishop Swanson delivered our opening message on Revelation 21, reminding us that God said, "And the sea will be no more!"  John is in exile on a barren, small island called Patmos and his prison is surrounded by water.  In John's message of hope he reminds us we worship a God that will destroy the barriers between us and the places God will take us.  His visible, ever-present, oppressive barrier of a feared and stormy sea will be gone in an instant by the power and word of God.

What if we remembered that?  What if we understood God's desire for us to live as faithful people that know God's provision and power will deliver us from the things that life throws our way?  What if we believed this so strongly that we could see past the obstacles to the goodness and grace of a God that always keeps His promises?  What if we lived by faith ...not by sight?

Great questions ... for God will speak and the sea will be no more!  Randy