God Holds a High Bar: How High Must We Jump?

Doesn’t life seem like a series of hurdles and high jumps?  Once our child is toilet trained he/she can enter preschool.  With each grade of school we’re tested and tested before being promoted.  To prepare for college or graduate school we must master the ACT or SAT or MCAT or LSAT.  When we’re out in the world earning a living, we must jump through hoops for the promotion that will ensure that we can afford a bigger house or just the basics of insurance and a car that runs.  Even approaching retirement means we calculate if our savings are high enough or deep enough to carry us around the track.

God too holds a high bar.  But God’s bar works differently than the worldly standards that track our days.  God’s bar takes many shapes which we at Trinity will explore through our summer sermon series:  “God Holds a High Bar.”  We’ll look at God’s bar of faith, doing justice, loving others, committing ourselves to Christ, and serving the lost/lonely/last. 

In Luke 7: 1-10, a centurion – a soldier of authority in the Roman occupying force (ie. often considered and “enemy” of Israel) – sends Jewish elders to Jesus asking Jesus to come and heal one of the centurion’s servants or slaves.  First, this request is a remarkable commentary on the centurion’s compassion and care for one of his own who would be considered last in the hierarchy of society.  Second, the centurion’s faith in Jesus as a healer is also remarkable.  Third, the elders point to the centurion’s worth and love of the Jewish people as a rationale for why Jesus should heed the centurion’s request.  But the centurion contradicts such status or worth accorded to him, saying “Lord [notice his regard for Jesus’ worth], do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.”  (Luke 7: 6b) And with that, and from a distance, Jesus heals the servant/slave.

According to this healing story, the centurion, although a man of authority, is humble and modest and in response, Jesus exclaims, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” (Lk 7: 9)  God’s bar of faith here does not depend on the centurion’s ability to command his troops.  God’s bar of faith here does not depend on the centurion’s accomplishments such as building a synagogue for the Jewish people.  God’s bar of faith is not a hurdle or high jump which we, like the centurion, must master.  God’s bar of faith is a response to the centurion’s faith – his trust in Jesus the person who can heal.  The centurion’s faith is a gift which he neither “deserves nor earns.”  In contrast to the worldly bars to promotion and advancement, God’s bar or standard of faith is manifested when we cling to and trust in the person of Jesus with our utmost confidence, putting our “all-in-all” into our commitment to following or running along with Jesus our Christ. 

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Shelley

We Can't Know All of God

What are the different roles you maintain?  If asked I'd list my highest priorities as Christ follower, mother, wife, pastor, grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend.  Although my list gets longer as I contemplate my roles as a member of the Presbytery of Northern KS or as a member of the Topeka community, I notice that my roles aren't so much job or duty related, but they are relational.  I am defined as one of God's children by my relationship to God and to my neighbors, both near and far.  Yet in all these roles at different times and places, I am always me - myself - one person.

Looking at John 16: 12-15, we see that God is defined in relationship to Jesus and the Holy Spirit. As Jesus says farewell to the disciples (and to us), he makes promises for our sustenance.  Here he promises:  that the Holy Spirit (the spirit of truth) will guide us in Jesus' absence; that the Holy Spirit will tell us what we need to understand what is happening; that He will send the Holy Spirit; that He and God the Father share all things; that the three are so intermingled that they are a trinity of love and knowledge.  Notice that "trinity" is not specified here or anywhere else in scripture.  Instead people of faith have taken this scripture (and others) to explore the mystery of God.  Although we cannot know all things about our transcendent God, God desires to be known.  One way to "know" God is how God is revealed in creation (Creator God) or through the stories/parables/challenges of Jesus or the promises with his resurrection or through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

The doctrine of the Trinity shows us how God relates to Godself and to us.  The image of perichoresis is one metaphor for envisioning these relationships.  Peri means around (think perimeter) and choresis is the origin of our choreography.  Envision God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in a mutual dance of love and accountability to one another with anticipation of each other's actions - interchangeable in their knowledge of each other.  Envision the Irish ceilidh in which a pair of partners engage with each other with the same movements and change partners and engage again in the dance.

What does the doctrine of the Trinity have to do with us beyond a way to know God?  We are all created in the image of God.  As we participate in a dance of mutual love and service with each other, we are transformed even more closely into the image of God.  If we participate in the dance with the Godhead at the center, calling out moves/guidance/encouragement, do we not bring the kingdom of God on earth a bit closer to realization?  Through the variety of roles that our trinitarian God plays in our dance of life, we can see and know and relate to God as we experience God as Father/Creator/Sovereign or through Jesus as Redeemer/Counselor/Friend or the Holy Spirit as Sustainer/Power/Presence.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Shelley

Holy Spirit Holes

Where are the holes in your life? Is it where a loved person has left? Is it where a child never was? Is it the loss of physical ability or memory? Where are the holes in your life? Are the holes physical, emotional, mental, spiritual?

Read Romans 8:22-27 & Acts 2:1-21 to hear about Holy Spirit holes.

For the disciples, following the Ascension of Jesus, there was a big hole in their life without the bodily presence of Jesus. Sure, he had promised to send the Holy Spirit, but what did that really mean? Where was their friend they ate with, they laughed with, they cried with, they prayed with? Where was their teacher who confused them with stories, who challenged their perceptions? Moreover, what were they supposed to do now? Their lives were so filled with holes they must have looked like Swiss cheese.

We too are in a time of disorientation, in a time where our lives both individually and collectively are filled with holes. What does church mean to people in 2013? What does it mean that Sunday mornings don't work for young families? What does it mean that our sisters and brothers go to Christ in death? Trinity is filled with holes of people who have been here and are gone - filled with holes of groups and activities that used to flourish.

In some medieval churches, there were trap doors in the ceiling known as Holy Spirit holes. On Pentecost Sunday, a few brave people would scale the roof of the church. Then, with the reading of the Scripture, a wooden dove would be lowered through that hole. And red rose petals would rain down like tongues of fire. Normally, we would say having holes in the ceiling is a bad thing. But in these churches, these were holes where the Holy Spirit would slip in, dramatically, surprisingly, with sighs too deep for words.

Like the disciples being surprised by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost - when things seemed the worst - maybe we too can be surprised by the rushing in of the Holy Spirit. The holes in our lives might just be the places where the Holy Spirit can slip in, can do something new, can radically change our plans and our lives. The problems, the challenges, the cracks in our lives are the places where the Holy Spirit can bring grace to shine through. The holes in our lives are places where God can re-create something new.

So bring your holes on Sunday. Bring your doubts, your worries, your fears, your anxieties. For we don’t have to be afraid of being broken, of holes in our lives – for those are the places where the Holy Spirit can enter to give us what we need for the next step in our life together.

Grace and peace,

Pastor Kate 

Looking Up

Look up. What do you see? Blue sky? Sunshine? White fluffy clouds? Scary storm clouds? Trees blossoming their spring blooms? An office or school ceiling? Look up! Do you see anyone? A plane? Birds flying through the air? Look up! Wait, watch out for that pole! 

Read Psalm 47 and Acts 1:1-11 to prepare for worship on Sunday. 

This Sunday we’ll celebrate the Ascension – Jesus being lifted up, Jesus exalted on high, being seated at the right hand of God the Father until He comes again in glory. The Ascension rounds out our Easter journey that began 40 days ago – the ascension completes the resurrection. Jesus moves from being lifted up on the cross to being lifted up in a cloud of glory, departing bodily from the earth and the disciples. 

I can picture the disciples, jaws on the floor, one more amazing miracle they get to witness. Even after Jesus disappears from view, they are so shocked that they stand there, looking up at the empty sky. That probably explains why God sent two messengers to bring their eyes back to earth – “You Galileans! Why do you just stand here??” Have you ever felt like the church was just standing here? Have you ever asked Jesus “Is now the time? Are you going to restore the church to her 1950s heyday? Are you going to lift up the church once more as an institution to be respected? Is it time to restore the kingdom?” Sometimes we get stuck waiting, staring at an empty sky, waiting for Jesus to just do something already – forgetting His commands for US to be the witnesses, for US to claim the power of the Holy Spirit. We get caught looking up, forgetting to look around us for those in need of food, of water, of healing, of resurrection. 

The Good News is that through Jesus’s life, death, resurrection, and ascension, we too are invited to take part in life, death, resurrection, and ascension – not only at the end times but in our daily lives. We now experience what it is like to lose somebody, the mixed emotions of grief and relief, of sadness and gladness as we enter through transitions in our life. We know what it is like to be emotionally resurrected one more time. And hopefully we have those moments where, as CS Lewis describes, we are “surprised by joy” – we are lifted up into the very heart of God. 

Let us look up in awe of our risen Lord, who prays for us at the right hand of God the Father; but let us not forget to look around, to be witnesses even to the ends of the world. For we the church are charged to be Christ’s body in the world today. We are charged to testify to the power and the glory – that our Lord, who submitted to death, is now alive – that through that power the Church can be alive today too. Praise be to God for looking up and looking around. 

Grace and peace, 
Pastor Kate

Best Parting Gift Ever

When you graduated (high school/college/graduate school), what was your best ever or most meaningful parting gift?  When you prepared to take your first job, what was the most comforting gift?  When you moved into your first neighborhood, what was your most practical gift?...............As we change our neighborhoods (not just where we live, but also our community and network support system), what are our fears?  How do we cope with a perceived lack of control?  What do we experience as we change directions or change our stages of life?  Who and what do we need?

Jesus is all too aware that his processional toward death means he's leaving his disciples behind to function without him.  The Gospel of John 14: 23-29 is part of Jesus' farewell to his disciples as he makes promises to them and on their behalf.  Jesus promises his and his Father's love for those who obey his Word and follow him.  Jesus promises the presence of the Holy Spirit as Advocate - ie. Friend, Comforter, Counselor.  And Jesus promises a peace that does not mimic the world's peace (absence of turmoil, violence, and war), but a peace that is above and beyond whatever the world might provide.  Jesus promises a peace that offers both comfort for troubled hearts and courage in the midst of our fears.

Jesus' words seem unrealistic when he says, "Do not let our hearts be troubled."  Really?  In the midst of endless wars worldwide, terrorism, recession fears, fighting over immigration and gun control and abortion - we're told not to worry?  Peace as the world gives implies that all these worries will be washed away and that our fears will cease.  But  Jesus says, "My peace I give to you.  I do not give it as the world gives." Jesus doesn't promise that our fears or worries or brokenness will cease.  Instead Jesus promises that the power and presence of the Holy Spirit enables us to tread through turmoil confident that our timidity will be replaced with courage.  The Holy Spirit empowers Christ followers to cling to their faith as our driving force, knowing that we can endure and face our future with expectation about the possibilities and cling to hope, knowing we are children of God.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Shelley