The Waking Dreamer: 2025

Tuesday, August 12, 2025

Waiting?

Luke 12:32-46[1]

Most of us don’t care much for talk about the “second coming of Christ.” Part of the reason for this is because of the people out there who are talking so much about it. They do so in a way that is confusing at best and offensive and even dangerous at worst. Over fifty years ago Hal Lindsay published the book, “The Late Great Planet Earth,” where he famously (or infamously) predicted that Jesus would return in 1978, or at the latest 1988. And of course, Jesus’ “return” would usher in all kinds of catastrophes for “unbelievers.” None of that happened, but people still followed his teachings and bought his books. He wasn’t the first to try to predict a specific date, and I’m sure he won’t be the last. Many self-styled “prophets” throughout history have wreaked havoc and at times even cost the lives of their devotees. One recent example was David Koresh, the messianic pretender whose “predictions” and “proclamations” about the “end times” led a splinter group of Seventh-Day Adventists to a violent clash with federal authorities near Waco, TX. Most of us don’t want to be associated with that kind of corruption.

I think another factor that inhibits our enthusiasm about the so-called “second coming” is that those who tend to make a big deal about it seem to use it as a “scare tactic.” You know, Jesus could come this very day, so you better get right with God or you might be “left behind.” By now, the “Left Behind” series of books written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins is “old news.” But back in the day, they were all the rage. Although they were novels, way too many people believed that what they portrayed was an accurate presentation of biblical teaching. The central feature of the series is the premise that those who trust in Jesus will be “rescued” from the catastrophes to come, while the others will be “left behind” to suffer. Again, this kind of fear-mongering is something most of us don’t want to be associated with.

Part of the problem is that most of us start out with several false premises when we’re dealing with this question. In the first place, talk of the “second coming” of Jesus is confusing. If Jesus has to “return,” then where did he go? Didn’t he promise, “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt 28:20)? The standard answer is that Jesus is with God, but he will return one day. But that presupposes that somehow God and Jesus are somewhere else, “separated” from us right now. By contrast, the Bible clearly teaches that God is present with us always, actively working for good in our lives and in the whole creation. I would say it’s more consistent with our faith in Jesus as “God who is always with us” to speak about his future “coming in power and glory” to finish the work he’s still doing among us.[2]

A further problem is that people who are preoccupied with “figuring out” the end time want to know all the details: when, how, and what will happen.[3] But typically, that obsession stems from a sometimes desperate effort to assure themselves that they will be “safe” and their destiny is “secure.” When you combine that with the fact that they’re convinced that those who are “outside” the church will be violently destroyed along with the whole creation, it creates an image of Christian Faith, not to mention an image of God, that not only blatantly contradicts the Bible, but is downright offensive. The Reformed theologian Shirley Guthrie, who literally wrote the book on Christian Theology for Presbyterians over fifty years ago, points out two problems with this approach. First, when we’re dealing with the Bible, it’s always best to rely on the clear teachings of the whole of Scripture rather than obscure books like Daniel or Revelation.[4] Second, when we ground our hopes regarding the future in God’s whole story, we have more than enough reason to look for Jesus’ future coming as a time not for violent destruction but for the “renewal of life” for us and for all creation. In short, the whole Bible assures us that God is for us, not against us!

And the Bible does have a lot to say about this future coming. All the hopes that the Hebrew prophets had raised about God renewing and restoring this world to the peace and justice and freedom of his merciful reign are focused in the New Testament on the future coming of Christ in power and glory. But the Bible consistently avoids paying any attention to all the juicy details that self-styled “prophets” have used throughout the ages to manipulate their followers. Rather, the message is that since we look forward to the day when Christ will come and set things right, then we ought to live our lives accordingly. It’s that simple and that hard. Time after time we are called to be “ready,” as Jesus does in our Gospel lesson for today. But none it has much of anything to do with all the talk of fear-mongers who threaten people with being “left behind.”

Our Gospel lesson gives us a different perspective on what it means to be “ready.” Here Jesus tells a parable about servants waiting for their master to return from a journey, and the servants cannot possibly know the exact day or hour of their master’s return. Jesus says that those servants will be “ready” if they are found “waiting” when the master returns. But I don’t think that means that they were just sitting around passively waiting for the gate to open. Obviously, these servants had tasks that needed to be performed on a daily basis. And so their “waiting” and their “readiness” involved continuing to do their jobs, taking care of the master’s household, tending the garden, tending the livestock, performing any maintenance that the estate needed. In other words, being “ready,” being “alert” means doing what they have been instructed to do as if the master were right there with them. I would say that when live every day like that, we don’t have to worry about being “left behind,” or wonder about the details of our final destiny.[5] We know it’s secure in the hands of our loving God and our faithful Savior!

I would say this perspective on what it means to be “ready” for the future coming of Christ is much more consistent with biblical teachings. Despite those who revel in their charts, we really cannot know when that day will come. And contrary to the fear-mongers who try to scare people into doing their bidding, Jesus said, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Lk. 12:32). That doesn’t mean it will be easy. It doesn’t mean we can sit around doing nothing. It means that we are called to do what we’ve been instructed to do. We’re called to live in the manner we’ve been taught to live.[6] And we’re to do that every day, knowing that in a very real sense our “master” is here with us right now. And so we can go about our business, the business of the mercy, and peace, and freedom, and compassion of God’s kingdom, in the confidence that what we do is pleasing in God’s sight. It seems to me, as we do that every day, we remain ready, waiting actively for Jesus’ final victory!

[1] © Alan Brehm 2025. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 8/10/2025 for Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.

[2] Technically, the NT speaks of the future “coming” of Christ as his final victory It is therefore not correct to speak of a “second coming” or a “return,” since “Christ ... remains present in the Spirit.” See Hendrikus Berkhof, Christian Faith, 529.

[3] Cf. Shirley C. Guthrie, Christian Doctrine, 2d ed., 386, where he states bluntly that “Christians ought not place their hope in all kinds of fantastic speculations about a future they cannot really know anything about.” Earlier he quotes John Calvin to the same effect (ibid., 382): “it is foolish and rash to inquire concerning unknown matters more deeply than God wants us to know”! This quote is from John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 3.25.6 (found in vol 2, p. 997 of the 1960 Library of Christian Classic edition by John T. McNeill), where Calvin is discussing the “intermediate state,” or what happens to us between our death and the final resurrection. Even though that is a different matter than we’re discussing, I think Calvin’s words aptly summarize Jesus’ words in Acts 1:17 in response to the disciples’ question about the timing of the kingdom: “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.” I don’t think it’s a coincidence that what Jesus tells them to focus their attention on is the instruction to “be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:18).

[4] Guthrie, Christian Doctrine, 385: “the clearest biblical sources for helping us to understand the Christian hope for the future are not Daniel and Revelation.” Instead (ibid., 386) we look to “the God whose plans and promises are made known to us in the whole story of Israel and in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.”

[5] Cf. Fred Craddock, Luke, 165: “readiness ... consists of continuing faithfulness to one’s duties. When that is the case, uncertainties are no cause for alarm or anxiety.”

[6] Donald K. McKim, another major contributor to the teaching of Christian Theology to Presbyterians, wrote in Introducing the Reformed Faith, 177: “If we believe the ultimate future is about God’s liberating rule, then the church and all followers of Jesus Christ will do whatever we can to point toward this future reign and to enact God’s coming kingdom in history today.”

Tuesday, August 05, 2025

A Whole New Wardrobe

Colossians 3:1-17[1]

I usually learn a few things from teaching confirmation class. Not necessarily about faith, mind you, but about popular culture and where our young people are. A couple of years ago, one of our students told me that I dress in a manner he called “bougie.” I’d never heard of that word, so I didn’t know what it meant. One of the other students assured me that it’s a good thing. As I understand it, the idea is that he thought my wardrobe is stylish. That’s the way many young people use the word “bougie” these days. Well, as you may know, I’m interested in words, so I looked into it. As is often the case with “new” words in our language, others use it in a different way. To some “bougie” means “fancy,” or “flamboyant,” or even “overly pretentious.” I looked up “bougie” and discovered that it comes from the term “bourgeois.” That’s a philosophical word used to describe the “showy” behavior of middle-class people with recently acquired wealth. And, originally, when “bougie” became a slang word in American English in the 1970’s, it referred to people trying to “act rich.” But as words change, these days, “bougie” simply means “stylish.” What began as a rather sarcastic criticism has become a compliment.

In our lesson from Colossians for today, Paul talks about changing of clothes. In reality, what he’s really talking about is changing one’s life, which is a lot harder for us than changing clothes. Throughout his letters, Paul addresses the change of life that ought to accompany a person’s profession of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord. All the ways in which we can live that harm or diminish ourselves or others are like clothes that have been so stained as to become unwearable. Or they are like clothes that have become worn out or that simply don’t fit us anymore. When you have clothes that you can’t wear anymore, you get rid of them. Paul’s meaning is that in place of those harmful ways of living, we’re to “clothe” ourselves with the qualities that defined Jesus’ way of life.

In particular, Paul calls us to live with “compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline” (Col 3:12, MSG).[2] That in and of itself is a tall order, if you really think about what it means to make those qualities the defining marks of your life. Above all, he says that we’re to “wear love” like a “basic, all-purpose garment” (Col 3:14, MSG) That shouldn’t come as a surprise to us, since the whole Bible teaches us that God wants us to love our brothers and sisters—all our brothers and sisters. None of this is new to most of us. But I’m not sure whether we understand the motivation for it all. It’s not just that you’re supposed to be a good and kind and nice person. Since Christ died for us, we’re also called to die to all that characterizes a life that is selfish and harmful to others (Col 3:5-9). More than that, because Christ has been raised to new life, and we have been “raised with Christ” (Col 3:1), we have his new life within us.[3] What Paul is really asking us to do is to clothe ourselves with Jesus. His way of life, his love, his character, and all that goes with it, are to be the “new clothes” in our wardrobe.

That might sound easy enough for us. Changing clothes is something we do all the time. But what we have to remember is that most people in that day only had one set of clothes. Having more than one set of clothes was a sign of wealth. The wardrobe that many of us tend to keep in our closets would have been available only to the richest of the rich. Everyone else literally wore the same set of clothes day after day. So when Paul talked about a change of clothes, that would have been significant. Working-class people may have been able to replace their clothing more than once a year.[4] But most people simply wore their clothing until it was too stained or too threadbare to wear in public.

I think the point we should take away from this is that “changing clothes” wasn’t something that happened often for most people. It was a significant act. That’s why Paul could use it as an analogy for the difference our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord should make in our lives. It should be a big deal. In fact, it was such a big deal in that day that some people were shunned from their families, some were fired from their jobs, and some were even expelled from their communities as a result. Faith in Jesus Christ as Lord may have changed everything in their lives! In our day, I’m not sure that’s the case for us these days. Ironically, our faith in Jesus Christ may be just as insignificant as changing clothes is for us. We typically change clothes more than once a day, at least. We have work clothes, we have gym clothes, we have dress clothes, we have casual clothes, and we have comfortable clothes we only wear at home. Changing clothes for us is no big deal. I wonder whether professing our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord has become as insignificant to us as changing our clothes.

Lately I’ve been exploring some of the reasons why people outside the church don’t come to church. I think this may be another reason. Our faith just doesn’t seem to make much of a difference in the way we live. In fact, sociologists have documented that the lifestyles of those who are in the church aren’t much different from those who are outside the church. When we fail to demonstrate the difference our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord makes in our lives, we fail to give anyone a reason to be here. Participating in church is just another option for Sunday morning, like the varied options of clothing we have. To some people, it’s just a waste of time. If we don’t have anything better to do, we go to church. But who wants to waste their time with something that doesn’t really make a difference in their lives or in the lives of anybody else? I’m not sure I have the answer to that question, but that’s a question that I wonder about when I think about Paul comparing the difference our faith in Jesus Christ makes in our lives to changing clothes.

Going back to where we started, I personally don’t think the way I dress is all that special. I’ve had the suit I’m wearing today for twenty years! I try to keep my wardrobe fresh, but the way I do it is by shopping clearance sales. Sometimes that works out, and sometimes it doesn’t. My daughter assures me that I most definitely do not dress “bougie.” I’m okay with that. I want to look my best, but I also want my clothes to be practical. And by that I mean that I can get away with wearing them for a long time by just adding fresh touches here and there. I pay attention to my wardrobe, but I’m not much of a shopper, so I don’t make a big deal out of it.

As we reflect on our lesson for today, I think most of us would like to hope that our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord is far more important than the clothes we wear. Perhaps a better analogy for us would be a completely new wardrobe. Not many of us ever completely change our whole wardrobe at once. That’s what Paul is calling us to do. But I would say that for most of us it’s all too easy to get caught up in the push and pull of our lives. So much so that we really don’t pay that much attention to how we live. We don’t put much thought into what we say, and whether or not our words harm others or help them. We don’t put much thought into how we interact with people. Our own experiences, the stresses and the frustrations, the fears and the hardships, as well as the joys and celebrations of our lives just occupy us so much that we may forget to think about being intentional about “clothing” ourselves with Jesus Christ each day. Some of us may need to clear out a whole wardrobe that does not fit well with our faith. In place, we may need a whole new wardrobe. Paul calls us to put on the qualities that define Jesus’ life: his love, his compassion, his kindness, his humility. When we live this way, I believe that people will be drawn to join us. Not because of who we are, but because of the way we demonstrate the life of Jesus Christ in the way we live each and every day.

[2] Cf. E. Lohse, Colossians and Philemon: A commentary on the Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon, 147: “All of the five terms that describe the new man’s conduct are used in other passages to designate acts of God or of Christ.” (compassion: Rom 12:1; 2 Cor 1:3; kindness: Rom 2:4; 11:22; Eph 2:7; Tit 3:4; humility: Phil 2:8; 2 Cor 10:1; patience: Rom 2:4; 9:22).

[3] Cf. Michael Barram, “Colossians 3:1-17,” Interpretation, 59 (April 2005): 190, where he says that “the living Christ provides the basis for all Christian conduct”; and further, these behaviors become “the norm for believers because Christ is alive and reigning with God.”

[4] For a summary of research about this, see Dafna Shlezinger-Katsman, “Clothing,” in The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Daily Life in Roman Palestine, 362-81, and on the availability of clothing related to wealth and poverty see Gildas Hamel, “Poverty and Charity,” in ibid., 308-324, esp. 318-19.

Tuesday, July 29, 2025

The Great Mystery

Colossians 1:15-28[1]

One of the blessings and curses of our culture is the way we put everything in a “box.” That was how philosophers and scientists taught us to make sense out of the explosion of knowledge that began a couple of hundred years ago. We might not even be aware of the “categories” we use to understand our world, but of course it is the role of philosophers and scientists to point out these things to us. Some of us are familiar with the mail-order catalogues that used to come from department stores like Sears and Roebuck or J C Penney. I’m not talking about the flimsy little ones we get these days. These were catalogues that included “everything, including the kitchen sink”! They were the “Amazon” of their day. But unlike Amazon, where you can just start typing what you’re looking for into a search box, those massive catalogues had a huge index at the back. That’s how you found what you were looking for. The index was an alphabetical listing of all the items for sale with an indication of the page number where you could find what you wanted. But even the index was so big it was divided into categories.

I think most of us have just become used to looking that the world through the lens of a huge “catalogue.” It just seems “natural” to us to break things down into their parts and sort them into the “right” categories. But there are other cultures that emphasize the connections all things and all beings have with one another. It’s a different way of looking at the world. I would say the world into which Paul wrote the lesson from Colossians for today was more like that than like our world. I think that’s especially the case with the way Paul connects Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord with everything and everyone. Because he is the “is the visible image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15, NLT), he’s connected to all of creation. That includes not only the world and everything and everyone in it, but the entire universe. I know that’s hard for us to wrap our heads around, but Paul can say not only that “through him God created everything” but also that “he holds all creation together” (Col 1:17, NLT). Paul’s view of Jesus Christ goes far beyond the simple teacher from Nazareth who died on a Roman cross outside Jerusalem. He’s that, but he’s also so much more.

What makes the difference here is Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and his ascension to the right hand of God. That pointed the Apostles back to Jesus’ existence as God’s son from all eternity, and therefore his role in the work of creation. But it also convinced them that Jesus is the one who rules over all things in God’s name now, and who one day will bring all God’s plans to fulfillment. This is the “great mystery” that belongs to Jesus the Christ. We see this in our lesson from Colossians as well: the purpose of Jesus’ death and resurrection was for God to “reconcile everything to himself” (Col 1:20, NLT), or as version we read for today puts it, “so that all beings in heaven and on earth would be brought back to God” (Col 1:20, CEV). We might say, “all beings in the whole universe.”[2]

Again, that language might sound strange to us. There are some places in the New Testament where the language of the Gospel, including Paul’s preaching and teaching, seems to limit salvation to only a few. In the Jewish world, salvation was for Jewish people, and only for Jewish people. All the gentiles, or the “heathen,” were condemned for their ignorance. Unfortunately, there have been many theologians up to this day who have promoted that mindset. Tertullian, a Third-Century teacher said it first, “extra ecclesia nulla salus est.” That means “outside the church there is no salvation.” Only those in the church experience salvation, and no one else. That line of thinking was carried on by some of the most influential theologians in the history of our faith, and many believe it to be the “received truth” of the Christian faith to this day.

But there have always been other Christian scholars and teachers who have taken the language of our lesson for today more at face value. While we cannot ignore Jesus’ real humanity, there is much more to who Jesus Christ is. Paul alludes to this in our lesson for today when he tells gentile believers that God’s “wonderful and glorious mystery” is that “Christ lives in you, and he is your hope of sharing in God’s glory” (Col. 1:27, CEV). What we may have a hard time imagining is just how hard it would have been for any Jewish person living in the First Century to say that about any Gentile person. I agree with a number of others who think that the fact that people who would have been assumed to be permanent outsiders responded to the Gospel in faith made the Apostles rethink a lot about their faith, especially whom they included and whom they excluded.

For too many people, the church in our culture has been known primarily for whom we exclude, especially to those who are outside the church. I would say this is another reason why some people avoid church so much these days. But I believe that we can take seriously the hints that in Jesus Christ, God is up to something bigger than perhaps we’ve ever dared to imagine or dream. That “something bigger” is nothing less than fulfilling the promise of the resurrection that says that “In Adam all of us die. In the same way, in Christ all of us will be made alive again” (1 Cor 15:22, NCV). Paul says it a little differently elsewhere: “Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone” (Rom 5:18, NLT). And in our lesson from Colossians for today, we hear the astounding statement that the Gospel ultimately extends to everyone and everything in the whole universe! Paul calls this the “mystery of Christ.”[3]

What difference does this “great mystery” about God’s work through Jesus Christ make for us in our daily lives? Well, for one thing I think it calls us to be open to the fact that our faith contains more than we can put into our “boxes.” God is bigger than we can imagine or conceive. And in our lesson for today, we learn that so is Jesus Christ! Despite what the psalmsinger said, God does not resolve the problem of injustice in our world by “breaking down forever” the villains (Ps 52:5). In Jesus Christ, God resolves the problem of injustice by reconciling all things to God. God undoes the evil of those who arrogantly presume to abuse their power, as the prophet Amos describes. But he does so by “making peace” through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Essentially, he brings us all, oppressed and oppressors alike, back to God. That version of salvation is hard to put into any “box.”

I would say another important lesson for us is that that we, as members of Christ’s “body” on earth, all participate in this “great mystery” right now. And more than that, we all have a role in fulfilling God’s big plan to save the whole creation. If you doubt that, perhaps your Jesus is too small.[4] Part of this great mystery is that every time we act with integrity and kindness, every time we seek to make love for God and love for others the principle of our lives, everything we do in this world to spread just a little of the justice, freedom, and peace of God’s kingdom to someone who needs it, we’re contributing to the fulfillment of God’s big plan. That’s not because we’re anything special, but rather it’s because Jesus Christ who reigns over all things as Lord even now is working in and through us to fulfill God’s big plan to save the whole creation. It may be hard for us to wrap our heads around all this, but I think our Scripture lesson calls us to marvel at the wonder of it all, and to be grateful that we have the chance to participate in something so awe-inspiring!

[2] Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics 4.3:756 speaks of “the alteration of the whole situation of man and his cosmos as already accomplished in Jesus Christ” as he is in the process of fulfilling God’s determination ” to reconcile everything to himself” (Col. 1:20). Some would dispute this theme in Barth’s Dogmatics. It’s true that he takes a different approach in the earlier volumes. But it seems unavoidable to recognize it in volume 4. It would seem that Barth underwent a transition in his thinking about the extent of salvation during the twenty plus years of writing the Dogmatics.

[3] Jürgen Moltmann in Sun of Righteousness, Arise!: God’s Future for Humanity and the Earth, 140, quotes Christoph Blumhardt, a 19^th century German theologian who believed the impact of God’s redemption extended beyond individual salvation, as saying that this is his “confession of hope”: “That God might give up anything or anyone in the whole world—about that there can be no question, neither today nor in all eternity … The end has to be: Behold, everything is God’s!”

[4] Cf. Jürgen Moltmann, The Way of Jesus Christ: Christology in Messianic Dimensions, 276: “in personal faith a rebirth is experienced which will one day extend to heaven and earth; and the church prefigures and foreshadows the temple of the Holy Spirit which the whole cosmos is destined to become. It is only the cosmic dimension which gives the human, historical experiences of Christ their all-embracing meaning. We can only think of Christ inclusively. Anyone who thinks of Christ exclusively, not for other people but against them, has not understood the Reconciler of the world” (emphasis original). Cf. also ibid., 278: “Christology can only arrive at its completion at all in a cosmic christology. All other christologies fall short and do not provide an adequate content for the experiences of the Easter witnesses with the risen Christ. If Christ is the first-born from the dead, then he cannot be merely ‘the new Adam’ of a new humanity. He must also be understood as the first-born of the whole creation.” He continues to discuss Karl Barth’s “cautious consideration” of this “possibility” in the passage cited above and intentionally “develops” it. As a result, he concludes, ibid., 285: “the church must be seen as the beginning of the reconciled cosmos which has arrived at peace.”

Tuesday, July 22, 2025

Simple Actions

Colossians 1:1-14, Luke 10:25-37[1]

My Grandmother’s sister, Ruth Jackson, was the first woman to become an orthopedic surgeon. Anywhere. In fact, the association of women Orthopedic Surgeons is called the “Ruth Jackson Society.” She was quite a gutsy lady—just becoming a doctor was hard enough for a woman in those days. Her passion combined with her compassion for people led her to break into one of the most elite “men’s only” clubs in that day. In fact, Orthopedic Surgery is still that way to this day, a century later! When my aunt Ruth was treated for a neck injury, she was unhappy that orthopedics in that day was a “hands-off” discipline. They took x-rays, used neck braces, and prescribed traction for patients without ever actually touching them. So she pioneered a “hands-on” approach to treating neck injuries. She literally wrote the book on the treatment of neck injuries—a book that went through 4 editions and was translated into various languages and was the standard text around the world for many years.

Growing up with Aunt Ruth was both wonderful and difficult. She taught me to shoot, to fish, and to drive, among many other things. She could be incredibly demanding of a boy who she wanted to follow in her footsteps. I still remember the time at her dining table when she insisted that any nephew of hers was going to learn proper table manners! I was 6 years old! Obviously, it stuck with me all these years. In fact, the whole family expected me—both implicitly and out loud—to do something “spectacular” just like Aunt Ruth. They didn’t insist that I go into medicine—though she applied a great deal of “arm twisting” to get me to do just that. But whatever field I went into, it was clear that I was expected to do something “spectacular.”

We live in a world where it seems more and more that you have to do something “spectacular” in order to make a difference. I think this is in part due to the fact that instant communications have made our world much bigger for all of us. With access to news about so many problems that are so widespread all over the world, it can be so easy for us to think, “I’m just one person,” and “I can’t really make a difference.” I think this is especially the case in our culture where we almost worship “celebrities.” How many of our kids at certain ages dream not of becoming doctors or lawyers or teachers, but rather famous actors or musicians or athletes? To some extent, that’s just youthful exuberance. But I think some of it comes from our near obsession with people who are “famous.” And for some, that notion that you have to do something spectacular or even become famous can be linked to feeling valued by those you love.

I think that our lesson from Paul’s letter to the Colossians this week gives us some help at this point. In his letters, Paul talks about the Christian life in a way that is pretty down to earth. It’s a matter of “bearing fruit” and doing “good work” (Col. 1:10). I would remind you that “bearing fruit” in the Bible is a metaphor for the quality of your character, not “getting results.” It’s about who we are, not what we accomplish. Here and elsewhere in his letters, Paul talks about the Christian life as a matter of simple actions, like “walking the walk,” and not just “talking the talk.” These and other incredibly ordinary activities are what it means to live in a such way as to “honor and please the Lord” who redeemed us (Col 1:10-14). It sounds like the life that Paul envisions for those of us who would follow Christ is really nothing spectacular at all. It’s a matter of focusing on simple actions in our daily living.

That might seem too cliché to merit our attention, until you think about the Parable of the Good Samaritan. After all, what did the Samaritan do that was so “spectacular”? All that kind soul did was to notice the one who was wounded, actually take time to stop, and care enough to bind up his wounds. And then he saw to it that this wounded man could have the time he needed to recuperate. It’s a story of simple actions: mercy put into practice, compassion that goes the second mile. Stopping, caring for him, putting him up at the inn, were all simple actions. Nothing spectacular. But they made all the difference in the world to “the one who fell among robbers.”

It seems to me, contrary to our culture that is obsessed with all things “spectacular,” it is when we are engaged in simple actions that we make the most difference in another person’s life. I’ve studied with world-renowned theologians and Bible scholars. But the most influential person in my life was my brother, Douglas, who was mentally and emotionally handicapped. It was just the gentleness of his soul that impacted me so deeply. To paraphrase one of my favorite spiritual writers, Henri Nouwen, the Christian life is “mostly hidden in the ordinariness of everyday living.”[2] It’s not something that makes headlines in the news.

When you get right down to it, that’s the only place we can really make much of a difference in the life of another human being. We mere mortals rarely achieve the level of influence that can truly make a difference for hundreds or thousands of people out there. For the most part, we can touch a life here, a life there. And we do that through the quality of our character as displayed in simple actions, not anything “spectacular” we might do. It’s through the way in which we actually relate to people, the way we actually treat other human beings, not through any great “achievement,” that we really have an effect on others. From that perspective, the Christian life is a matter of simple actions that constitute living out the grace and mercy and compassion of God. I see a lot of pain and suffering in this world. When we live in a world of hurt like that, it makes it all the more important for us to live out God’s grace and mercy and compassion in simple actions every day.

[2] Henri Nouwen, Here and Now:Living in the Spirit, 103: “The compassionate life is mostly hidden in the ordinariness of everyday living.”

Monday, July 21, 2025

Free Enough to Serve

Galatians 5:1, 13-26[1]

I recently spoke about one of the reasons some people give for not being involved in organized religion. It’s because they see the church as “full of hypocrites.” And I suggested in that sermon that one reason for that criticism is that they hear us saying one thing while they see us doing something very different. I think another reason why people avoid religion is because, truth be told, we can come across like very selfish and self-centered people. Especially when it comes to salvation. When we make salvation all about “me, my, and mine,” what other people may hear is that we really don’t care about anyone else.

I think that’s a sad state of affairs. The Gospel is about Jesus Christ making the ultimate sacrifice, giving his life away selflessly so that we could all live together in the freedom, peace, and joy of God’s love. And somehow, someway, too many of us who profess faith in him do so in a way that strikes the people around us as so utterly selfish and self-centered that it turns them away from the community of those who claim to follow Jesus. To some extent, I can understand that. Too many in the church have focused on their own salvation to such an extent that it can come across as if they have no concern for anyone else’s salvation. Surely those of us who follow Jesus must share his concern for the whole human family!

I think part of the problem is that we can get caught up in our own “stuff” so much that it’s hard for us to look past it and really care about those around us. It’s a natural thing. And it’s true for all of us. It’s part of being human. Our life experiences are what are most real to us. But we can get so bent out of shape about our malfunctioning cell phones (just for example) that we lose all sight of the fact that there are many people in the world who have to walk miles for clean water! Now, I don’t want to suggest that what preoccupies us is always as trivial as a malfunctioning cell phone. We have much bigger concerns that, very naturally, occupy our attention. But the “optics” of that mindset don’t make for a favorable portrait of the church and those of us who are devoted to it.

I think our lesson from the book of Galatians for today addresses this question. Paul emphasizes the freedom we have in Christ. A big part of that freedom is that through his faithful obedience to God even to the point of death on a cross, and by placing our faith in him as our savior and lord, we’re set free from all the guilt and fear and all the other “stuff” that might plague us. For Paul, the cross means that God has “justified” us. That’s the language of the Bible. It’s a theological word for the idea that God accepts us and loves us just as we are. Unconditionally and irrevocably. Paul was insistent that we don’t have to do anything to earn that love and acceptance. In fact, he made it clear that if the believers of his day thought they could do anything to earn it, it would cancel out the message of the gospel!

We can read a passage like this and think that freedom is simple: you don’t “do the works of the flesh” and you “do the works of the Spirit.” But in reality, true freedom is something that’s really quite complicated. For one thing, if you look at the vice lists in the New Testament and think that any one of those behaviors excludes us from God’s love and acceptance, then we’re all in that boat because we’ve all fallen short in some way. And if you look at the “fruit of the Spirit” and ask whether we consistently embody those characteristics in our daily living, the answer is “sometimes we do and sometimes we don’t.” It’s a tough list to live up to. Freedom is something that’s quite complicated.

Many in our society think freedom means “I can do whatever I want, whenever I want to.” But that’s not freedom. It’s just “license.” As in taking liberties that aren’t necessarily thoughtful, kind, or caring to others or to ourselves. License differs from freedom in that in that it means doing whatever we please without thinking about how it may affect anyone.[2] It’s a matter of indulging ourselves however and wherever we want. License means choosing to ignore that there are always consequences to our actions and choices. And such blatant self-indulgence never results in real freedom. We can do whatever we please whenever we want as much as we can get away with, and never feel truly loved, or accepted, or valued as a person. And when we lack that basic foundation in our lives, we are never truly free. Freedom is complicated.

I think that’s one reason why Paul insists that the gospel of salvation through Jesus is a free gift. It makes a difference in how we not only look at ourselves, but also how we treat others. Recognizing that the only “justification” that really means anything comes to us through Jesus and the unconditional acceptance God extends to us through him frees us from all that would bind us in this world. That also frees us from all the ways we might think we have to bolster ourselves by putting down others. Trusting the gift of God’s unconditional acceptance frees us to serve one another, all others, in love![3] The only way to truly find freedom is to give yourself away in love, and the only way to truly give yourself away in love is when you find freedom from all that can bind us in this world.[4]

If we truly find that freedom to love, we’re naturally going to extend that love to everyone. We’re naturally going to be concerned with the salvation of the whole human family, not just ourselves. We will be motivated to serve others in a way that truly brings “liberty and justice” to all, in a way that recognizes the dignity of every person, regardless of race, gender, ability, or class. Serving others in love starts with recognizing the dignity of every person. Now, I will be the first to admit that it’s incredibly difficult to live out this level of love and freedom all the time. We all have a variety of influences within us that get in the way of giving ourselves away to others in love. What St. Paul wanted the people of his day and ours to know is that what God has done for us in Jesus sets us free to explore what it means to share love in a community of people, like this one, who are committed to sharing God’s love with the whole world.

[2] John Paul II, in “The Gospel of Life,” 19.3, said that we have “a notion of freedom which exalts the isolated individual in an absolute way, and gives no place to solidarity, to openness to others and service of them.” See J. Michael Miller, C. S. B., The Encyclicals of John Paul II, 808.

[3] Cf. Jürgen Moltmann, The Church in the Power of the Spirit, 188. He says that the church is the “fellowship of the justified, who no longer have to justify themselves” He goes on to insist that this freedom sets us free to serve others in love. As I have suggested before, I believe this is idea of freedom to love is a central theme in Moltmann’s understanding of the Christian life. It runs throughout his discussion of the church’s identity and calling; he begins the idea that Jesus establishes the freedom of God’s kingdom by sacrificing himself for others (117), by breaking the powers of oppression through the resurrection (98-99), and by assuring us that we are accepted by God, and therefore enabling us to accept others (188-89); therefore Moltmann understands the freedom of God’s kingdom as that which enables us to serve one another in the effort to bring freedom to others (84, 195, 278, 283-84, 292); he construes this life under the concept of “friendship” which Jesus models and we are called to emulate those who are “open for others” and who “love in freedom” (121, 316).

[4] St. Augustine said it this way: “love, and do what you will”; cf. Augustine, Homily 7 on the First Epistle of John; http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/170207.htm.; See John Caputo, On Religion, 3-7, 24-28, 109-116, 134-36, 139; cf. similarly, John Calvin and W. Pringle, Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul to the Galatians and Ephesians, 160 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc): “He who loves will render to every man his right, will do injury or harm to no man, will do good, as far as lies in his power, to all.” See further, Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, 4.2:732-33.

Partners

Psalm 8[1]

I think many of us wonder about the meaning of our lives. That’s not just something that we do when we’re young. Through all life’s changes, we can find ourselves wondering what our lives are about. For some of us, we find meaning in our families and our homes. For others, our lives are more geared toward our careers. For others, it’s all about community involvement. For still others, the meaning of life may be focused on the experiences we have the opportunity to enjoy. For many of us, we find meaning in life by trying to balance a combination of these factors. Life’s changes also mean that our quest for meaning in life is a moving target for most of us. At the different stages of life, we can find ourselves wondering “who am I?” and “what is the meaning of my life?”

The psalm singer who wrote our lesson for today reflects on that very question. Like anyone else, the psalm singer apparently was moved by the vastness of the night sky to wonder about our place in all of that. He asks, “When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—the moon and the stars you set in place—what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?” (Ps. 8:3-4, NLT). It’s a common experience to feel a sense of awe when you see the beauty of a clear night that seems so full of stars. And it’s common to wonder at our place in the universe when we feel that sense of awe.

But there are several ways in which the questions “Who am I?” and “What is the meaning of my life?” are framed in a unique manner by the Scripture lesson. First, the wonder at our place in a universe that can seem overwhelmingly immense is framed by an affirmation that it is God who rules over all of it. The James Webb Space Telescope recently discovered a galaxy that is 45 billion light years away! As our technology has improved our understanding of just how vast the universe is has increased dramatically. It’s only natural that we should wonder at our place in this overwhelmingly immense universe. And yet, the scripture affirms that God rules over all of it! At the beginning and the end of his reflections, the psalm singer affirms, “O LORD, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!” (Ps. 8:1, 9, NLT). I think he could have just as easily said “, “O LORD, our Lord, your majestic name fills the whole universe!” The questions “Who am I?” and “What is the meaning of my life?” begin and end with the affirmation that God is the one who reigns over all creation. While God’s great majesty may lead us to wonder at our place in things, at the same time, because we are God’s creatures, our lives are by definition endowed with significance.

The second way in which the psalmist frames the questions “Who am I?” and “What is the meaning of my life?” is by placing them in the context of God’s care for all people. Notice that the psalmist doesn’t simply ask “What are mere mortals?” Rather, he asks, “what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?” (Ps. 8:4). Literally, in the Hebrew Bible the psalm singer wonders why God “remembers” and “visits” mortals. The acts of “remembering” and “visiting” sum up God’s works on behalf of his people Israel throughout the Hebrew Bible. That’s the language of God’s care. God continually made the people of Israel the object of his attention and care. But the psalm singer extends that care to include all mortals, the whole human family. Again, the thought that God pays attention to and cares for every human being is one that we might find so amazing that it’s hard to believe. But the psalm singer insists it’s a vital part of the answer to the questions, “Who am I?” and “What is the meaning of my life?”

The third way in which the psalm singer frames these questions is by affirming the dignity of all human beings as partners in caring for God’s treasured creation. He says it this way, “You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority” (Ps. 8:6, NLT). It seems clear that the psalm singer is reflecting here on the description of humanity as a part of creation in Genesis chapter one. Unfortunately, however, the ideas of “ruling” (Gen. 1:26) or having “authority” (Ps. 8:6) over creation have too often been misconstrued. The point is not that this world and all that is in it is ours to do with as we please. Rather it is that we are called to be partners with God in his ongoing project of creation. Yes, there is a sense in which God “rested” on the seventh day from all that he did in creation. But Jesus could say in John’s Gospel that “my Father is working to this day” (Jn 5?), which alludes to the sense in which creation itself is an ongoing project. It can be awe-inspiring in and of itself to think that we mortals have been entrusted with caring for what is most dear to God’s heart: the natural world in which we live and all the people who life in it! In a very real sense, we are partners in the ongoing work of creation by the way in which we do simple things like planting a garden. Those tomatoes that will be turned into pasta sauce and salsa at the end of the season are still growing right now. Some of them are just flowering. That’s creation unfolding right before our eyes. And those who are involved in caring for those gardens are partners in God’s ongoing work of creation. We have all kinds of ways that we can exercise that partnership with God, including recycling and conserving resources.

There are many ways we could approach the questions “Who am I?” and “What is the meaning of my life?” We could approach them functionally, based on what we do. We could approach them philosophically, or from the perspective of psychology. And those approaches have important lessons to teach us about what it means to live fully as a human being. But from the perspective of the psalm singer, one cannot fully answer the question of the meaning of our lives apart from the God who created us and who reigns over all things.

It is fitting on this Trinity Sunday, the day when we remember that we worship the God who is not remote, but rather became one of us in order to redeem us, and who is with us through the Spirit’s continual presence, that we remember we are the objects of God’s unfailing love and care. Always and continually. That has a lot to say about who God is: not a God who is distant and absent, but a Creator who takes great delight in every detail of creation, including the flowers that will become tomatoes and peppers and zucchini our gardens. We see that in Jesus our Savior, and in the work of the Spirit as well. But the fact that God takes such great interest in us also has a lot to say about who we are: we are an important part of God’s project. All 8.2 billion of us are beloved and cared for by the God who is beyond the vast universe. However we answer the questions “Who am I?” and “What is the meaning of my life?”, we cannot leave God’s love out of the equation. God loves us all, and that’s a very important part of answering the questions, “Who am I?” and “What is the meaning of my life?” We are not “mere” mortals who live out our short lives with no significance, but rather we are partners with God in the ongoing project of creation and redemption. I think all of this challenges us to take our place joyfully in the ongoing work of creation and redemption as God’s partners. And we do that as we hold firmly to our confidence that God cares for us, and that we are valued, perhaps beyond our imagination.

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

The Love That Makes Us One

John 17:1-5, 20-26

Perhaps forty years ago I had an experience that, in my mind, demonstrates the bond among those who share faith in Jesus Christ. At least ideally. I was in seminary and living in a suburb of Fort Worth. I had visited the local Baptist church, and the pastor came to pay me a visit one evening when a neighbor was there. As we all chatted, my neighbor remarked that it seemed like the pastor and I were old friends, when in reality we had just met. Of course, we had more in common than our faith in Jesus Christ. He had also attended the seminary in Fort Worth. And we were working in the same denomination. So from the outset we had a lot in common. But my neighbor’s remark that it seemed like we were old friends even though we had just met has always stayed with me. I’d like to think that any time Christians come together, it’s like a reunion of old friends.

Of course, that’s not always the case. There are so many different approaches to living out the Christian faith that we don’t always have that much in common. Some Christians are traditional, some are not. Some are conservative, some are middle of the road, and some are very liberal. And those differences can make it hard for us to feel connected in any meaningful way to people who share our faith in Jesus Christ. In fact, some churches don’t want to be united with those who do things differently, even though they share the same faith in Jesus Christ. And while most of us may not believe that “difference” means “heresy,” practically speaking we know that we simply tend to divide ourselves into groups based on our cultural, political, and social views. Even when it comes to individual congregations, it’s hard to find a church where everyone is on the same page.

This situation is not for lack of trying to promote unity (or even enforce it). Many churches use agreement regarding what they believe to achieve unity. In fact, they can be pretty heavy-handed in the way they impose that “agreement.” Some of you may have had the experience I’ve had going to certain denominations that ask you not to take communion unless you believe just like they do. Other churches seek unity through organizational uniformity, through a ladder of authority that works from the top down. Again, depending on those who are in positions of authority, the situation can be healthy or not. In our context, we seek unity through what is essentially a policy manual, the Book of Order. As much as I love being Presbyterian and believe in our tradition, I would have to say that all these well-intentioned efforts at promoting (or enforcing) unity have in reality been ventures in missing the point. They really haven’t succeeded at producing unity in the church at all.

I think part of the problem is that we’re looking in the wrong direction for unity. We think somehow that we can find it through our own efforts. But in our Gospel lesson for today, Jesus pointed us toward a very different source for our unity with one another. Jesus called his disciples to a unity that’s grounded in the unity of love between the Father and the Son. Jesus prays, “Father, just as you are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us” (Jn. 17:21). He says it in several different ways, but basically Jesus prayed for the disciples, and all those who would believe in the future, “that they may be one as we are one” (Jn. 17:22-23). Clearly, what creates a real and lasting unity in the church is the love that unites Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We know that by experience. Real connection comes from building relationships and developing mutual trust and respect. And for us to have any real unity, we first have to have a relationship in which we feel connected to one another.

I think that all may be fairly straightforward. I guess the question, though, is how we promote the love of God among people like us, who hold very different opinions about what we deem important in life. How do we promote the love that unites Father, Son, and Holy Spirit among people like us who get very attached to our opinions, and who can at times be stubborn about holding onto differing viewpoints? I think what it takes is a unity that’s deeper and stronger than anything we can create ourselves. What really makes the church one is the unity that God creates—the church is the one people of the one God. It’s the unity that Jesus Christ creates—the church is the one people of the one Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It’s the unity that the Spirit of God creates—the church is the one people of the one Holy Spirit. That’s the unity that makes the church—all people who put their trust in Jesus Christ—live.

I don’t believe this kind of unity is about the absence of difference. All we have to do to verify that is to look around the room! As I’ve said before, I believe that one of the signs of the health of any human community is the ability to disagree agreeably. The bond created among us by the presence of the love of God in Christ through the Spirit doesn’t eliminate our differences. What it means is that the differences don’t divide us, they make us stronger. And I think the way that happens is when we respond to our differences by practicing acceptance, humility, and patience. These are ties that bind us together and help us to thrive in the love we share with one another, the love that originates in God’s love for us.

A lot of people have been asking for a long while the question of how the church can thrive in these difficult times. I believe that living out the unity we share in God’s love is one of the most important ways we can work to enhance the health, the strength, and the vitality of this or any other church. In our day and time, the church is divided by race, divided by class, divided by politics, divided by beliefs. In a very real sense, we in the church reflect the divisions of our society at large. I don’t think that’s a good thing, but I also don’t think we have any power to change that, because we’re all human beings. But all these divisions contradict what Jesus said should be our defining trait: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn. 13:35). Because we come from different perspectives and backgrounds, because we have differing opinions and viewpoints, the kind of love Jesus commanded us to show one another can be difficult at times, but I think we have to try.

Even in the best of times, loving others in the way that Jesus loves us takes all that we have to give. But in a world that seems increasingly lacking in love, it can be even more of a challenge. I would suggest that demonstrating the love that makes us one may be the most important way we can show the world that the church is a place to find new life. Perhaps the most meaningful way we can work to draw other people into the fellowship of this congregation is by working on the relationships we have with one another. When our relationships demonstrate a genuine concern and respect for one another, a heartfelt care, I think people cannot help but notice, and I think they’ll be drawn to join us. And they’ll be drawn by the love that makes us one.

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

Keeping God's Word

Keeping God’s Word

John 14:15-29[1]

One of the criticisms regularly leveled against the church by those who avoid it is that “the church is full of hypocrites.” That notion has been around for a long time, and we’ve developed a lot of ways to deflect that criticism. One of them is by responding that we know we’re sinners, but we’re here because we’re forgiven, not because we’re perfect. While I agree with that statement one hundred percent, I think it misses the point. It doesn’t really address the criticism that we in the church are “hypocrites.” That’s because we don’t typically take the time to find out what people mean when they level that criticism against the church.

I think when people call us “hypocrites,” they may be referring to the fact that they hear us say one thing but they see us doing something very different. We claim to follow Jesus, but we fail to practice the love that Jesus said would be the defining characteristic of those who follow him, as the Gospel lesson from last week reminds us (Jn 13:34-35). We say we believe the Bible to be the “Word of God,” but we fail to live out the fundamental principles of the Bible in our daily lives. Principles like “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18). Or, “See that justice is done—help those who are oppressed, give orphans their rights, and defend widows.” (Isa 1:16-17, GNT). Or, “The Lord God has told us what is right and what he demands: Seeing that justice is done, letting mercy be your first concern, and humbly obeying your God” (Mic. 6:8, CEV). Or, as Jesus put it, “In everything, do to others what you would want them to do to you” (Mt 7:12, NIRV). When people see us living in a way that contradicts those basic principles, I’m afraid our actions speak much louder than our words.

In our Gospel lesson for today, Jesus addresses this issue. He says quite bluntly that “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (Jn 14:15). That might sound strange to those of us who are used to the language of grace promising us salvation as a gift and freeing us from the bondage of living by rules. But in Jesus’ day, “keeping” the commandments was a perfectly normal way of expressing a life of faithfulness to God. “Keeping” God’s word meant internalizing God’s truths to the extent that they shaped every aspect of one’s daily life. It meant practicing God’s love and God’s mercy in every aspect of life. I think that’s what Jesus had in mind when he told his disciples that others would know that they follow him by how well they practiced the love he showed them.

I think we can get confused about how the gift of salvation relates to how well we keep God’s word. There seem to be two extremes. On the one hand, there are those who obsess about every little detail of Scripture in a compulsive effort to obey God perfectly, as if their very souls or their eternal destiny depended on getting it all just right. At the other extreme are those who think of biblical teachings as “suggestions” and instead adopt a way of life that looks more like “doing your own thing.” Of course, life is rarely “clear-cut” enough for us to know what the “right” thing to do is in an absolute sense. But that doesn’t mean we throw out the teachings of Scripture altogether.

I would say the true test of how well we keep God’s word is not how much we read it in worship, or how well we can quote it from memory. The true test is whether our actions back up our words. That only happens when we’ve internalized the central principles of Scripture enough, we’ve made them so much a part of who we are, we’ve taken them into our hearts and lives so deeply that we follow them as guides for living when it’s not always clear what the right thing to do is. In our ever-changing world, we are going to be placed more and more into situations where that’s the case. I think when we have truly embraced God’s love, God’s mercy, God’s kindness, God’s fairness, and God’s forgiveness as our basis for living, then those are the principles that will define our actions.

One of the challenges we face when it comes to “keeping God’s Word” is that many of us still think that Jesus somehow makes it “easier” for us. But in my mind that’s clearly not the case. If we just look at the way Jesus deals with some of the Ten Commandments in his Sermon on the Mount, we can see this. When it comes to the commandment, “You shall not kill,” Jesus said not only should you not kill anyone, you should also not give in to the hateful anger that devalues the life of others by the way you speak to them or about them! That one can be pretty hard to live up to! And we might also wonder about what it means to “keep” Jesus’ commandments. In case there’s any doubt, I would say there’s really no distinction at all between the essential commands of God in the Hebrew Bible and the teachings of Jesus. Throughout the Scriptures, the calling is to love God with everything we are and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

The fact that Jesus said that one of the distinguishing marks of those who follow him, of those who love him, is whether or not we “keep” his word doesn’t mean that our relationship with God is something we have to earn. One of the hallmarks of our Reformed tradition is that it teaches us we can never do that. Rather, it’s like a relationship where two people love each other and want the best for each other—not because of some external rule or code of conduct, but because of the love they have for each other. Jesus said that if we love him, we’ll follow his teachings, his way of life, his example—simply because the love we have for him compels us to do so. When we do that, then the people around us will see our actions line up with what we say we believe.

Mohandas Ghandi famously said that he would become a Christian if he ever met one. Of course, he had met many who professed to be Christians. But his point was that he never met anyone who actually put Jesus’ teachings into practice. He may have been a little hard on some folks, but that’s the challenge we all face. When our love for God and for Jesus Christ truly define who we are, from the inside out, then our lives will publicly display what it means to keep God’s word. We will do it just because that’s who we are, because our love for God and for Jesus compels us to live that way. Fortunately, learn in our Gospel lesson that it’s not a do-it-yourself project. Jesus promised the disciples that “the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything” (Jn. 14:26). And the idea is that the Spirit is the one who will help us live this way. With the Spirit’s help, with the guidance of Scripture, we can live a life of keeping God’s word, which means a life where our actions line up with what we say we believe.

Wednesday, May 21, 2025

Every Race, Tribe, Nation, and Language

Revelation 7:9-17; Galatians 3:28[1]

Robert Frost is one of my favorite poets. Many of us may know if him by his poem “The Road Not Taken.” One of his poems called “Mending Wall” questions the validity of the boundaries in this world. In the poem, Frost puts it this way: “Before I built a wall I’d ask to know what I was walling in or walling out, And to whom I was like to give offence. Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, that wants it down.”[2] Now, what we have to understand is that in Frost’s New England stone “walls” were the “fences” between properties. The poem is about the annual ritual that he and his neighbor performed—walking the wall to replace stones that have fallen off.

In the poem, the “neighbor” insists on holding firmly to the notion handed down to him that “Good fences make good neighbors.” But Frost saw the very forces of nature working against the continued existence of stone fences. Whether it was the ground swelling and contracting, toppling the stones, or it was the action of ice freezing and breaking up the stones, Frost saw the very elements themselves as conspiring to bring down the walls and fences that conventional wisdom insists “make good neighbors.” From Frost’s perspective, God has built into nature itself the intention to continually uproot and overturn walls and fences. But, of course, Frost’s poem was about more than just physical walls. He was talking about all the boundaries and divisions we feel compelled to uphold.

That’s one the points in the vision of the great multitude in Revelation. In that vast throng of people worshipping the one on the throne and the Lamb, all the boundaries and lines and divisions that separate people from one another are erased. Of course, that vision is contrary to the way of the world. In fact, it was contrary to the way of the world from the time it was written down. The way of the world says that only members are allowed. The way of the world says you must wear shoes and a shirt to receive service. The way of the world insists that differences in color and culture constitute absolute boundaries that must be upheld at all cost. This world wants clear boundaries and fences—and laws that reinforce them!

In the Kingdom of God, however, the standard operating procedure is “neither Jew nor Greek, neither male nor female, neither slave nor free” (Gal 3:28). To expand on that statement today, we would have to say that the way of the Kingdom of God is neither white nor black nor brown nor yellow nor red; neither rich nor poor, neither employed nor unemployed, neither middle class nor unhoused; neither native born citizen, nor refugee, nor immigrant, “legal” or otherwise. All are included in God’s vision of new life for the human family. Like Frost’s notion of nature itself conspiring to bring down the walls in our world, God’s Kingdom is designed so that nothing will be left that can possibly divide us!

The vision of the great multitude in Revelation is a startling one. I think the majority of us in mainline protestant churches may have read this passage as if the crowd were composed only of white, anglo-saxon, protestant Christian, middle- to upper-class voting citizens of the USA! In other words, people who look just like us. But the seer of Revelation says that this multitude comes from “every race, tribe, nation, and language” (Rev. 7:9 CEV). In the First-Century world, that was a description of just about every distinction that could possibly divide the human family. It’s an understatement to say that in our day we’ve added to that list! But the point of the vision is that the “great multitude” cuts across all the ways in which we like to divide humanity to “protect” ourselves from “others” who are different from us.

After almost fifty years of studying the Bible, it’s my considered opinion that this vision of the kingdom of God including all people is the focus of the biblical message. Many have tried to frame the “great multitude” in Revelation as a vast throng of Christians from every people group. But I would insist that way of thinking is foreign to the Bible. From start to finish, the Bible tells us about God’s purpose to restore the whole human family, no exceptions. At the start of that great work, Abraham hears the promise that “in you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Gen. 12:3).[3] And the end of God’s project, depicted by the vision of the vast and diverse crowd around the throne in the book of Revelation, gives us an actual image of what that could look like: the whole human family gathered around the throne as “servants of God” (Rev. 7:3)![4]

This vision lies at the heart of the call in the book of Revelation to follow the way of the Lamb who was slain. But Revelation also makes it clear that all who follow that way expose themselves to danger. It’s dangerous to follow a man who was executed for turning the world upside down. It’s dangerous to hold faithfully to the testimony of the Lamb who was slain. It's dangerous to follow the one who wins the victory not by force but by giving himself over to death. And it’s dangerous to choose to follow the way that seeks to erase all the “differences” we use to divide the human family. That’s what the “Lamb who was slain” calls us to do.

We live in a time when it feels like the “powers that be” are obsessed with reinforcing the way of the world and all its divisions. When we embrace people from every race, tribe, nation, and language—as well as all the other “groups” into which we divide the human family, we must expect opposition, hostility, and perhaps even violence. But I would say that it makes a difference every time one of us chooses to follow the radically inclusive way of the Lamb. I would say every time one of us chooses to follow this way, we are continuing the process of “turning the world upside down” that Jesus began. And we can take comfort from the assurance that the Lamb who was slain will one day be revealed as the one who has won the victory! On that day, the biblical vision of God’s Kingdom will be fulfilled, where all the walls and fences and boundaries and divisions are torn down. In the meantime, the assurance is that when we choose to cross a boundary to show God’s love to any who are excluded as “different,” we are making a contribution to that final victory.[5]

[2] Robert Frost, “Mending Wall,” from North of Boston.

[3] Cf. Richard Bauckham, “The List of the Tribes in Revelation 7, Again,” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 42 (1991):99-115; cf. 103, where he emphasizes the vision of the innumerable multitude as a fulfillment of the promise to Abraham and his descendants.

[4] Cf. Balmer H. Kelly, “Revelation 7:9-17,” Interpretation 40 (July, 1986): 294, where he says this passage presents “an unalloyed ‘gospel,’ a seeing and hearing of the final justification of Christian hope.”

[5] Cf. Jürgen Moltmann, The Church in the Power of the Spirit, 293: since the Christian community is “the sign, the instrument, and the breaking-in” of Christ’s reign and therefore of the new creation, it “is therefore not an exclusive community of the saved, but the initial and inclusive materialization of the world freed by the risen Christ.”