Visions From Our Story: the Disciples Empowered

    So what now? While it may appear to be a simple question the history of empires and the world often turn on how it is answered. This past week I watched a bit of Ken Burns' documentary on the Civil War. The episode I saw was on the battle at Gettysburg. The battle finally turned on what is called Picket's Charge. The Southern commander, Robert E. Lee, ordered one of his subordinates, Picket to send his entire brigade into the heart of the Union lines. The Union soldiers were hidden behind fences and trees while Picket's soldiers would have to cross more than 300 yards of open fields before they reached the enemy. The results were as horrendous as many of the southern commanders feared…the destruction of Picket's forces, the loss of the battle and essentially the loss of the war. As the battle ended both sides had to ask themselves…what now? The south answered with an organized, yet life-saving withdrawal to Virginia. The northern troops answered by staying where they were, refusing to capitalize on their advantage, a mistake which led to almost two more years of warfare.

    So what now? That was the same question which faced the followers of Jesus after the resurrection. Though they were not as scared as they had been following Jesus' death and burial, they were not willing yet to follow-up on the advantage that the resurrection offered. The advantage that the resurrection offered was that the powers of Rome, and I suppose hell itself, were not mighty enough to destroy Jesus and the Promise he proclaimed. Though crucified he was now alive and was calling his followers to action. Yet he had told them that they would have to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit before they could launch their world transforming mission. This must have seemed an odd thing to ask because while the Spirit was not an unknown entity to first century Jews, it was not at the heart of their faith. First century Judaism was focused on the Torah (the Law of Moses) and the Temple (the place where God was thought to reside). Yet wait they did.

    On Pentecost (a long standing Jewish holy day) the Holy Spirit arrived. Like an overwhelming flood of power it flowed over and into the disciples. The Holy Spirit transformed the disciples from a bunch of fishermen, tax collectors and ruffians to a faith focused "army" whose mission was to transform God's people into a spirit empowered Promise proclaiming community of faith. The question of "so what now" was answered with a resounding call to a new way of living based on the life and work of Jesus. Immediately upon the arrival of the Spirit the disciples (including women) emerged from their hiding place and engaged the world in a way that altered history forever. Peter took the lead and by proclaiming the good news about Jesus led more than 3,000 people in a single day to become part of this new Christ centered community.

    So what now for us? I believe that as we search for our vision we need to remember that it has to be Spirit inspired and Spirit led. As with any organization it is easy for the church to fall into the trap of visioning for ourselves as if we are merely another human institution. In other words we organize, market and vision for the church as we are a business. What we have to remember however is that we are a spiritual enterprise. This means that not only are we to act differently than much of the world, we are to draw our strength and power not from profits or customer service, but from the Spirit itself. We are to be a supernaturally inspired and directed community. Any vision worth having then needs to be founded upon prayer, passion and the presence of God's Spirit.

Visions From Our Story: The Promise Lives

It happens every year. Spring training arrives and baseball fans are filled with hopes and dreams of glory. This will be the year for their team. This will be the year that the impossible happens and their team plays David to the leagues' Goliaths. Unfortunately following spring training there is the regular season where reality sets in. And the reality is that only two teams will go to the World Series and only one will win. The fans of the other teams will end their seasons in great disappointment and frustration. They will go back to their off season lives hoping that one day a miracle will occur and the world will be set right with their side winning.

In a sense that is the way the people of Israel looked at the messiah business. There had been dozens of wannabe messiahs who had come and gone. They had raised armies. They had raised hopes. They had encouraged the people. They had faced the Romans. They had died. But like good baseball fans the people if Israel did not give up. They believed that one day their David would arise again and lead their team, their nation, to victory.

This was their hope in Jesus. While Jesus did not appear to the usual messianic suspect people rallied around him. His teachings focused on a radical obedience to the living God. His healings showed the presence and power of God. His ability to out fox his opponents showed promise. People flocked to him and wanted to make him their king. But as the story often goes, so went Jesus. He was betrayed, arrested, tried, convicted and crucified. Hope faded. People look to next season and the next messiah.

What would be different this time though, was that there would be extra innings. According to Matthew, Mark and Luke, as soon as the Sabbath was over (Jesus having been buried immediately before the Sabbath) some women went to Jesus' tomb to complete the rituals required for an appropriate burial. When they arrived at the tomb, the stone covering the entrance (the tomb was a small cave dug in the side of a hill) was rolled away, the body was not there and a messenger or messengers (the stories vary at this point) from God informed them that Jesus was not dead but alive.

This story seems too fanciful to believe. Yet the women or woman (again the stories vary) encounter the living Christ and are overcome by both fear and joy. The women raced back to tell the rest of Jesus' followers that he was alive. The followers didn't believe them, not simply because the bearers of this news are women, but because God would not resurrect individuals before the end of time. God would not raise Jesus without raising all the other righteous while at the same time establishing God's kingdom on earth. Needless to say the followers of Jesus were a bit surprised and afraid when Jesus appeared in their midst as well. The realization of the resurrection forced them to rethink their understanding of God's Promise and how that Promise was being fulfilled in Jesus. The powers of this world, sin and death, had been defeated and God's reign had begun in a new and powerful way. This event would change the world forever.

This portion of the story is critical for any vision we offer. The story of Jesus resurrection reminds us that the powers of this world that cripple creation (humans and the natural world) are no match for the love and grace of God in Jesus Christ as lived in the church. Our visions then need not be restricted in their scope and in their hope. We need not be afraid to offer up audacious visions of what God would have us to do…not because we are great, because there is nothing God cannot do.

Visions From Our Story: The Promise Appears to be Finished

The coming of the Promise in Jesus' work (the blind were given sight, the lame walked, the hungry were fed and the poor had good news preached to them…in other words God's kingdom was breaking into the world) was celebrated. Everywhere that Jesus went he gathered crowds. The people were hungry for someone who taught with power and authority. They wanted to believe that there was someone who cared enough about them to bring the love, grace and power of God into their lives. In a highly stratified society (stratified by wealth, citizenship and occupation) few religious teachers (rabbis) would pay attention to women, the poor and the outcast. Jesus while not focusing exclusively on those groups made sure that they were included in the heart of his ministry. And so people celebrated.

This way of Jesus, while being celebrated by much of the populous, was not appreciated by the existing religious or secular power structures. It was not appreciated because it undermined the teachings of the religious traditionalists. It undermined their teachings because people began to believe in Jesus' theology of inclusion (all are welcome in God's kingdom) over against the traditionalists theology of exclusion (only the best Jews were welcome in the Kingdom). Jesus' Promise proclamation undermined the secular powers because Jesus taught a radical allegiance to the Kingdom of God over against all other allegiances (whether to Jerusalem or Rome).

It was these challenges to authority that ultimately led to Jesus' death and crucifixion. Neither the religious nor political authorities could allow Jesus to live. His teachings of a radical allegiance to the God of Israel and to God's Kingdom (over against religious traditions, Jewish nationalism or Roman rule) meant that he was a threat to everyone. The easiest way in which to be rid of Jesus was claim that he was a political revolutionary. While there was little evidence to back this claim it was sufficient for the Romans to act. The Romans ultimately viewed Jesus as one more revolutionary, wanna-be king who needed to be executed as a warning to others who would try and bring about some sort of Kingdom which rivaled Rome's.

Jesus' crucifixion as a failed revolutionary stunned his followers. If Jesus was indeed the one true bringer of the Promise then he ought to have brought the authorities in Jerusalem and Rome to their knees. Even though he had predicted his death on numerous occasions the disciples were still caught by surprise. His death scattered them and most of his followers made the decision to melt back into society and resume their former lives. The Promise seemed dead.

As we seek our own vision what we can take from this portion of the story is that we are called to a radical allegiance to God's Kingdom. This means that our relationship with Jesus Christ is to inform the choices we make in every area of our lives, from home, to school, to work, to our checkbooks and to how we engage the world around us. While we can pledge allegiance to country, company and kin, those allegiances are always secondary to our allegiance to Christ. The love and grace of Jesus Christ is to ultimately guide all that we are and all that we do both as individuals and as communities of faith.

Visions From Our Story: Jesus the Messiah

So why didn't everyone flock to Jesus and declare him to be the chosen one of God? This is a question that has disturbed people from the time of Jesus until now. When we read the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) we read stories of amazing healings, transformational encounters and miracles of feeding and forgiveness. From our lenses (that of 21^st century Christians) we can see what we believe to be the obvious. Jesus was the messiah, the Son of God and God incarnate. We shake our heads and wonder about those who were near him, that they could be so obtuse and not see what we see.

The problem with this kind of thinking is that we have the advantage of two thousand years of Christian interpretation and the Gospels themselves to show us the way to our particular set of beliefs. What we need to remember is that in the time of Second Temple Judaism (this is how the time of Jesus is referred to…the time of the second Temple in Jerusalem…the first one being destroyed by the Babylonians and then a new one built after the people returned from exile) there was no consensus as to who the messiah would be or how he would accomplish his task. And the idea that a human being could somehow be God incarnate was a heresy to be avoided at all costs.

While there was no clear consensus as to the "who" or "how" of the messiah there was consensus as to the "what" of the messiah. The "what" was the messiah would drive the Roman's from the land and restore Israel to its status as an independent nation where God's rule and reign and law would be observed. They would establish a political Kingdom of God. Israel would become a theocracy (in some ways like modern day Iran) where only God's people were allowed. Ultimately Jerusalem would become the center of all worship throughout the world as people realized that the God of Israel was the one, true God.

Looking at the life of Jesus through this lens then what we see is that Jesus was not fulfilling these expectations. Jesus was offering a very different version of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God in Jesus' teachings was the fulfillment of God's rule and reign and not Israel's. What I mean by that is that Jesus had come to lead the transformation of the entire world into the world that God had originally intended for God's creation. This is a world in which people live in loving relationships with God, one another and with the world around them. This is a world in which people strive for peace and justice; caring and compassion.

This mission in which Jesus was engaged then pitted him against many people, both Jews and Gentiles. It pitted him against those who desired a political overthrow of the Romans. It pitted him against those who used the Law of God (the Law that is the Torah...the first five books of the Bible) as a way to exclude people from the community of faith and from God's Kingdom. It pitted Jesus against those who believed the Temple (and its rituals) in Jerusalem was the be all and end all of faith. It pitted Jesus against the Romans who believed that all people needed to give allegiance to them above and beyond any other allegiance. What Jesus was doing then was redefining (or actually clarifying) the role of the messiah as the one who was bringing the Kingdom of God for all people.

In terms of our vision then we would be wise to see Jesus in this role…as kingdom bringer and not merely saver of souls. By so doing we honor his work and find our own calling and mission in the world. For if we follow the kingdom bringer then perhaps we are kingdom co-workers with him.

Visions From Our Story: The Promise Made Flesh

The Promise was now held captive by those who believed it was a promise just for them. The Promise that God would use Israel to restore all of creation (the fulfillment of God's promise that Israel would be a blessing to the entire world) did not seem possible since Israel believed that the blessing was simply the restoration of their political independence. In other words the Promise was all about Israel and not the world. We can't blame Israel for losing sight of its larger purpose. In the midst of war, exile and poverty it is easy to lose the big picture and focus instead on immediate needs and desires. God however had not lost sight of the larger picture.

God's promises are eternal. God does not get sidetracked but constantly moves forward with God's plans to restore creation and remake the world. Thus, as our communion liturgy puts it, "when the time was right God sent his only son Jesus into the world." God was going to complete God's plan even when the people who were supposed to be helping to complete it were part of the problem.

The sending of Jesus into the world was not "plan B" for God. Some people have intimated that God had hoped that the restoration of the world would ultimately be accomplished by Israel's obedience to the Law (Plan A) and only when they were unable to accomplish the task did God decide to send Jesus. This view does not coincide with scripture. From the beginning of the Biblical story Israel was to be the incubator of the fulfillment of the Promise, not its completer. The final fulfillment was always to be an act of God. Humanity, because of its self-centeredness, would never be capable on its own of breaking the power of sin in the world. Only God could accomplish this and God would do so through Jesus.

The Bible looks at Jesus through many lenses. The scriptures describe him as a prophet, teacher, rabbi, messiah (Christ), Son of God, Son of Man and The Word. (Next week we will look at how Jesus defined himself and his mission). The Apostle Paul shines his own light on Jesus and Jesus' work here on earth referring to Jesus as "our peace" (Ephesians 2:14), one who was "in the form of God" (Philippians 2:6), "the first born of all creation" (Colossians 1:15), and "Lord" on multiple occasions. Each of these descriptions adds something to our understanding of the person and work of Jesus.

Ultimately our tradition (the Orthodox Christian tradition accepted by the vast majority of Christians over the past 1,500 years) affirmed above all other views of Jesus that in the person of Jesus we see the fullness of both God and humanity at work. This view was not always taken for granted but was arrived at through Bible study, prayer and debate. One of the reasons the church arrived at this conclusion, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to God, was the very fact that scripture makes it clear that human beings (as noted above) cannot fulfill the Promise themselves. And since Jesus' actions initiated the fulfillment of the Promise to save and restore the world then God must have been at work in Jesus in a way God is not and cannot be at work in and through other human beings.

Where this leaves us in terms of our own vision is that this Jesus whom we worship and follow shows us the very heart of God. By making Jesus Christ the center of our lives we are making God the center of our lives and our corporate vision. Thus the Promise can live through us.

Visions From Our Story: The Promise Held Captive

We began this series of weekly updates with a vision of a marvelous creation (Genesis 1 and 2) in which God was living in right relationship with all of God's creation (humans, animals and creation itself); and all of creation (humans, animals and creation itself) were living in right relationship with God and with one another. This good creation was disrupted by humanity's self-centeredness and refusal to listen to the will of a creating and loving God.

The story continued with a vision of God's efforts to restore the marvelous balance and relationships which were the intent of God's creative work. We watched God work with Abram (through which God promised to bring about the restoration of the good creation), with King David (from whose lineage God promised a new king would come) and ultimately with King Cyrus of Persia who restored Israel (after her exile) in order that the promise might be fulfilled.

What we might wish for at this moment in the story (the last 500 years before the birth of Jesus) was that the nation of Israel would realize its calling and set its mind and will to the task of working with God to restore the creation. Unfortunately this is not what happened. The trauma of loss (of its freedom and sense of invulnerability) made the people of Israel grow inward rather than reach outward. The leadership of the nation believed the only way to maintain its identity as a distinct people of God was to erect higher and higher walls in order to be separate from the peoples around them.

We see this in the two books of Ezra and Nehemiah. These twin books (they are in fact one story in two parts) tell of the amazing and heroic return of the God's people to the land. We can read of the bravery of ordinary men and women who stood against immense pressure to give up the quest to restore Israel. The dark side of this return however was that the leadership did everything it could to insulate the Jewish people from the people who loved around them. This even took the form of having Jewish men who had married foreign women during the exile divorce their wives and commit to never again marry outside the faith.

It was during this time as well that the party known as Pharisees had its beginnings (though it would only take final shape in the time of Jesus). The Pharisees were those who believed that one way to insure the separateness of the Jewish people was by keeping the laws of God in minute detail. They were not legalists as such, but they were determined to maintain the integrity of the Jewish people at all cost. This desire for separateness meant that the promise of God to restore creation was held captive because of the fear of outsiders. In fact even the vision of this restoration was lost and replaced with a vision of restoring Israel only…a fact with which Jesus would have to contend.

The challenge before us a renewed people of God in Christ, is to never hold the promise hostage. Our calling is to usher the promise into the world in order that the world might be slowly, but surely redeemed. Granted none of us can complete this task of restoration, only God can do that. None-the-less we are baptized into the body of Christ in order that we might be co-workers in Christ to restore what humanity rent apart. So any vision to which we ought to conform our lives should be one that sets the promise free, rather than one that holds it tightly for as if it is our possession and not God's promise for the world.

Visions From Our Story: The Promise Comes Home

The story of the people of God is a long and complicated one. Within this complicated story one of the great themes that emerges over and over again is that of exile and return. This is in fact the overarching framework of the entire Bible. Thinking back to the beginning of our story we remember that creation was the perfect home for Adam and Eve. Their unwillingness to listen to God had them "exiled" from paradise, thus causing all of creation to groan and long for the perfection of the original creation. The Promise given to Abraham, that through his family the world would be blessed, is the promise that God would work to bring all of creation (humanity and the physical creation) back to the condition in which God originally created it.

This theme of exile and return once again comes into focus when the people of Israel traveled down into Egypt and became captives. Through Moses the people were freed and after a forty year journey traveled home to the land "flowing with milk and honey." They came home to the land promised to Abraham.

The next exile episode is the one we read about last week in which the Judah was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 B.C. E. (one of the great Middle Eastern empires) and the Jewish leadership was sent into exile in Babylon, which is modern day Iraq. The people of God struggled with this exile as much or more than with any of those that had preceded it. They struggled because they had believed that because they possessed the Temple (what they thought was the very throne of God) that God would not allow them to be destroyed. Fortunately the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel let the people know 1) that the nation fell because of its self-centered vanity and not because the gods of Babylon were greater than the God of Israel and 2) the fall was not the end. God would indeed, one day bring God's people back home.

This return began in 538 B.C.E. when the Persians under Cyrus obliterated the Babylonian Empire and instituted a new way of dealing with subject peoples. The Persians allowed each nation to worship and live as they pleased as long as they paid their taxes. In fact Cyrus not only allowed the Jews to return home but sent money to help them rebuild Jerusalem and its Temple. For this reason the scriptures refer to Cyrus as "messiah", the only time that such a term is used for a non-Jew. The story of this return and rebuilding can be found in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.

The story of exile and return is a reminder to us that the way of following God is not always a straight and easy path. The church, as with Israel, lives in a real world with real issues and real pressures to take paths that do not always conform to the way of Jesus (see our Revelation 2:12-17 as an example). The challenge before us as we seek our particular vision is to trust that even when we do get off track God in Christ is always ready to redirect us (to bring us home from exile). This means that we do not have to wait for the perfect vision for our church family. We can, as Martin Luther put it, "sin boldly", meaning we can do our best to serve God trusting that in God's grace even when we are not perfect God will still use us. The challenge is to find a vision, get going and trust the Spirit will use us to do great things. So as we progress in our vision casting process, realize this process will be ongoing as we travel together in the way of Jesus.