Prophets

Last night at Bible study, we have been studying Deuteronomy. We have spent the last 20 weeks focusing on the Torah. These first five books of the bible were as important to Jesus and the disciples as are the Gospels for modern Christians. Our study group felt that it was important to have a better understanding of these books and how they can inform us today. Studying Leviticus was interesting. We are now beginning to look at the purported last words of Moses.
One part of the lesson for last night discussed how to know legitimate prophets from those who are false prophets. We have encountered in other studies an equal concern about false apostles or prophets who will lead people astray. We find Jesus warning that there will be false prophets who will preach in his name, Paul also warns people about those who lead people away from the basic tenets of the early church, and certainly we find the greatest warning in Revelation. The concern is how are we to discern who is a prophet and who is false. In our discussion, we felt it would be great if there were some sort of checklist that one could have that would help us make that decision.
From the Jewish Study Bible, Deuteronomy 13:2-4 states, "If there appears among you a prophet or a dream-diviner and he gives you a sign or a portent, saying 'Let us follow and worship another god--whom you have not experienced--even if the sign or portent that he named comes true, do not heed the words of that prophet or that dream diviner. For the Lord your God is testing you to see whether you really love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul." As we were discussing this, we began to look at what criteria we would use to determine whether one is speaking the word of God or just wanting to advance some personal agenda or idolatry. We agreed that a prophet is one who speaks for God. My old testament professor Dr. Washington often stated that a prophet was not a fortune teller but forth telling of God.
We in our discussion began to look at the number of people who purport to be prophets speaking for God in our world today. Some seem to be more concerned about exalting themselves than exalting Jesus or God. So one criteria would be is the prophet trying to sell their latest book or service for their own profit. Another criteria would be is what are they saying compatible to scripture and especially to the Gospels. If they seem to be preaching hate, division, exclusion, then we might question whether or not they are indeed prophets. The gospel of Jesus Christ speaks of love, accountability, and service.
As we were discussing this, we felt that as difficult as it can be to discern those who truly speak the word of God it is important that we continue to reflect on that which others speak and to be able to compare the words spoken to God's written word. For the world today continues to have both prophets and false prophets.

a moment of quiet in the midst of chaos

In my last reflection, I stated how difficult it was to take time in quietness to spend time in prayer and meditation. When I met with my covenant group, several pastors commented about the difficulty we all face in finding the place, the time, the center without the world intruding through noise, interruptions, and other intrusions of busyness whether worldly produced or even in our "monkey chatter," thoughts that continue to run through our heads when we try to quiet ourselves. Wednesday, I was going to talk about something entirely different but ended up talking about our need for quiet moments. I used Psalms for Praying by Nan Merrill to look at the 23rd Psalm as a breath prayer. I would invite those who read this to find some means to do centering prayer either through meditation, guided imagery, chanting, lectio divina, or breath prayer. Maybe one of the things we can do is to learn about centering prayer and the importance it has in spiritual renewal and formation. Jesus would spend time off by himself in prayer. God created Sabbath as a means for us to take time to re-center ourselves in God's spirit.
I know that there are many times that I become scattered in thought and spirit. When I am able to practice centering prayer, I find myself energized and focused in thought and deed. This is one of the reasons that John Wesley spoke about the importance of spiritual disciplines. This has been something throughout the history of the church that has been emphasized for faithful disciples. One thing that one could do would be to use a centering prayer of breath breathing in and saying God let your face shine upon me your servant; as you breath out save me in your steadfast love. Psalm 31:16. If you can do this for 5 minutes each day, you might be surprised about what might happen.

Saturday April 12

I am in my office preparing for Sunday's services. I have been reflecting on several things that people have said to me over the last few days. I have also been thinking about what it means to live faithfully in the post-resurrection and post-modern world that we currently are living. One way of being faithful is to take time each day to spend in quietness and prayer. In this hectic world it is easy to find oneself constantly bombarded by interruptions in our ability to take a Sabbath time to be with God. Even on my day off I am often interrupted with phone calls that have nothing to do with my life. It seems that any time I make the effort to find some quiet time the phone will ring and it is some telemarketer trying to sell me some extended warranty on my car or have we got an offer for you that will make your life better. Maybe that is why I spend so much time in sermons and scripture pointing that there is a difference between living a life based on the world and a life based on God. Religion is not immune to this dualism. Holiness sometimes is a product that is for sale, offered as entertainment, and if one is holy one will be prosperous. In looking at the passage 1 Peter 1:17-23 that I will preaching on, the author writes that it is not gold or silver that is our salvation but the sacrifice of the living word of God, Jesus. What will feed us? Broken bread and a poured out life. And how are we to respond by loving one another.
Another aspect that is important to me as a United Methodist is looking not just at Scripture but also how others have reflected on those Scriptures. Maybe people will criticize me for looking at John Wesley and the ideas that he had but that is what we are about. He stated that scripture was the primary source of what we should use to make decisions regarding our lives. He also stated that we can be informed by tradition, experience and reason. I believe that God continues to speak to us today as much if not more than 2000 years ago. I believe it is important that we remember that our God is not dead, on vacation, or is absent from our lives. God continues to present to us. We are called to live a holy life as God is holy. Today that matters as much as it did when the Christians were a minority group persecuted by the empire that surrounded them. Christianity at the very early post-resurrection days was not about power but about salvation and love. I believe many great theologians talked about that from Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Barth, Gonzales and others. To not spend time listening to them is to deny their insights that may be very helpful for us in our faith journey. Much like reading modern insights such as the Last Lecture.
I have been rambling on but I have been seriously reflecting on what it means to live faithfully and the struggles that we have. I don't buy into the "prosperity gospel movement" or totally into the entertainment mode. I do believe in being accountable to each other and to God. We are constantly facing choices between what the world says and what God says. As I continue to look at 1 Peter and the post-resurrection life, this struggle is not new. It comes down to what is it we see as a priority in our lives and what will we choose.

The Last Lecture

Somewhere I was not aware of Randy Pausch and what he had said in his Last Lecture. I recently got an email from a bookstore that told about the book that he had co-authored. The title of the book was "The Last Lecture" written by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow. I went out and bought the book and finished it within 3 hours amidst laughter and tears. To say that I was inspired by what Randy had to say would be understating my feelings and thoughts. For those who may not know Randy is facing a fight with cancer. I will not go in depth about that as he and his wife have not wanted too much to be known to their children right now. Read the book or listen to the lecture at www.TheLastLecture.com.
What I found inspiring was his attitude about living your life. Last night at our communion service I shared some of what he had to say. Some of his ideas was to really achieve your childhood dreams and enable the dreams of others. He refuses to obsess about his illness and rather to appreciate the life we have and the time that we have for we never know when that changes. I was reminded of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew who asked the rhetorical question, how much time can you gain by worrying? We can complain and as Randy stated as others have also, if we would put a tenth of the energy we put into complaining to working toward a solution what a better world that would be. At the same time, it is ok to be realistic about what is but not to the point of giving up or complaining about it. Rather would it not be better to take what is and accepting that move on in life and not quit living or loving. Where would we be if Jesus knowing what was going to happen to him would have given up and told the disciples that they were on their own.
Randy talks about head fakes that he had learned from his middle school football coach. He uses that in his teaching others by telling stories that teach something while the listener is focused on the story. Much like the parables Jesus used to teach. Following Easter, our church has been focusing on what it means to fully accept the sacrifice of Christ and how we in faith are called to live. The head fake is that using stories we are calling people to live faithfully, not giving up, not complaining, but taking the abundance of God's grace and sharing that. This week we will look at 1Peter 1:17-23. Read what Peter has to say and compare it to what Randy has to say and dare I say look at what the world has to say about faith, hope, life and love. I strongly recommend reading the Last Lecture and also read the scriptures especially Matthew. Then we can look at what is it that I place my faith and hope in especially during difficult times.

traveling home

I am sitting in Seattle Washington as I write this and about to return home to Springfield. Many of you know that my father-in-law passed away the Tuesday prior to Easter. We had his funeral on Good Friday. That day I began to come down with the influenza A that my wife had. Easter was a long Sunday and then I spent the next four days at home. Thankfully I did recover quickly so that I could attend a training event here in Seattle.
As I was traveling, I flew on United Airlines which I had not done for quite some time. There was an interesting event that occurred in the Denver airport as I was about to embark on the plane. United has a special red carpet club for the frequent and first class flyer's. Those like in many airlines embark first. What was interesting that there was this small throw rug that was red with a short entry to the person taking tickets. When the people had boarded, the ticket taker took a rope and closed off that short entry making the rest of us go around to the longer entryway. I had met one of the other Nebraska participants at Denver and remarked that this could make a good sermon.
What if during communion we had a separate way of coming to the table that was only reserved for those who were special either by giving or by service. They would receive the elements first and then we would close that entry way and open up the longer way for all of the rest of the people. Somehow what I observed could be seen in some churches that pander to those who have some sort of status or elitism within the church. I wonder what James might have said about this or even what would Jesus say.
I plan to be back at work later Thursday. I am planning on doing another blog to reflect on the sermon for Sunday.
Keep me in travel prayers and God Bless.