Jbradley2234′s Blog

Oh John Wesley…

Today’s session is a continuation of the previous days session on Globalization. We began today’ session three scriptures that scream social justice and social change.

Amos 5:21-24
Matthew 25:35-40
John 14:27

These three scriptures call us to a different way of living then one might choose. The scripture from Amos is a particularly difficult scripture for us to here in the US because of the value that we put on our Sunday morning worship. And though we do not give burnt offerings or offerings of fatted calfs but we are called to tithe and of course as Methodist we love to eat. But this scripture tells us plain and simple that God does not delight in these things. Not to say that these things are in themselves inherently bad, but what is bad is the security that we get and feel because we feel like because we have gone to church or tithed to our church that we have some how fulfilled our obligation but being a Christian is not about obligation, it is about a giving of ones self freely.

This is a very Wesleyan idea that although prayer, scripture reading and spiritual discipline are important but John Wesley felt that helping people took precedent . It is the idea that “however zealous we are for works of piety, [we] should be be more zealous for works of mercy”. Wesley wrote “Even reading, hearing, prayer are to be omitted, or to be postponed, ‘at charity’s almighty call’ – when we are called to relieve the distress of our neighbor, whether in body or soul”.

Can we as the church universal say that we are willing to put aside our religion when the cause requires something other than religion to meet the needs of our neighbors. Would we as a church be willing to cancel church one Sunday and in stead have the whole church meet at a homeless shelter and help our neighbors in the community. We must not turn our services and worship centers into hollow temples for sacrifice of worldly offerings while our neighbors in our community and around the world hunger and thirst, shiver and shake for lack of proper clothing or shelter.

Jesus speaks to this pretty bluntly in this Matthew scripture. He essentially is asking us “are we doing all that we can for those in need?” I think that if we are to be honest with ourselves we would know that we are not. But the problem comes really with the feeling that it isnt our job, it isnt our responsibility to help someone that I do not even know. Jesus says plain and simply if you do not help the least of these you are not helping me. We are called not just to help those in our neighborhoods and communities but around the world. We all have a limit to the amount of work that we can do but the real question is have we reached that point, or can we do more. There is always more that we can do.

I know that in these economic times the ability for many people in the middle class has gone down BUT there is something that we can all give. John 14 Jesus tells us that he leaves us with a certain peace, it is given not as the world give (with strings attached, my mother always told me that nothing is free) but given as Christ gives, free with no strings attached. This peace given freely allows us to act without fear of whether we are secure in our faith and relationship with God. God love us, we know this, but just as my facebook status say, God never gives us gifts so that we may simple hold on to them and revel in how great it is, but we are called to take the gifts that we are given and spread them through out the world.

I know that many of the things that I write are very idealistic and may seem like it is outside the realm of reason, but one thing that we can all pass no matter what our financial position or placement in the world is peace. We can through the spreading the Love of Christ to others in turn share the Peace of Christ with the world. May we find that love and peace for ourselves so that we can spread it through out the world, and remember that ALL that we have is a gift from God given not to hold on to but to share with the world. Thanks be to God.

As I sit here in my apt. I think to myself how lucky I am. I have a family that supports and loves me, friends who care for me, a group of youth that inspire me and a God that loves me. I am truly blessed. But as I sit here, I cant help but think of others in the world, all over who have no family, no friends, no inspiration and no faith in a higher power, no faith in a God that Loves and cares for them. This saddens me a great deal. This is not a note so much as it is a prayer, a prayer to the millions upon millions of people in the world who at this very moment feel alone.

We have been created with the need for others. From the very beginning of time with Adam in the garden we see that we are in need of others. This is not a flaw in God’s design but a blessing. However, for those on the opposite side, in the waiting and in the loneliness it is a curse. The need to be comforted, to feel loved, to feel cared for. So often we tend to overlook these simple things, and in doing so forget that others may be lacking in what we take for granted. In a world where people go hungry and thirsty while others throw away excess the very least that we can do is recognize these people, to see them where they are, to go to them where they are and to be with them.

I pray for those with out hope, with out inspiration, with out love. May they see that although they feel alone, hopeless and defeated, that there is a God who loves them, so much so that that same God would send the people out into the world to be that love. May we spend our lives showing that love, and not get lost in our own greed and discomfort. May we not be afraid to give of ourselves freely as Christ gave of himself freely to us, holding NOTHING back but giving all that we have, because in the end if I have everything that this world has to offer but have not loved, then I have not done what I was sent here to do. God is Love, and so can you be. 

From the people who find themselves alone on a park bench to the ones who live in a house surrounded by everything you could ask for, may everyone who finds themselves lonely at this moment in time no matter what the circumstances find peace in this there moment of loneliness. – Amen

Its Late and its a Saturday Night, well technically its Sunday Morning @ 2:30 and I cannot sleep. I cannot sleep because my mind quite simply wont let me. I was talking to my friend Elizabeth and I jokingly said that its times like these when I feel like God has something for me that God wants me to see. That there is something here that wont let go until I wrestle with it and so after thinking and reading and thinking so more I have given in and thus I have decided to write. 

One of the lectionary texts for this week is 1 John 5:1-6 in case you would like to read it. I will quote from it in certain places but it is my inspiration if you will, for this note. There was a time when I was younger where I felt as though I lived two separate lives or in two separate worlds. Growing up after my mom married my step dad I was in a weird place. I didn’t exactly like the idea of change and was very attached to my grand mother. I would spend the week days with at home and would spend just about every weekend at my grand mothers. This had always been the case even before my mother remarried but became different at this point in my life. I also spent much if not all of my summer with my grandmother. I felt as though I had two lives, the one with my parents and the one with my grand parents. I the same token I felt like I had two worlds that I lived in, the one where I went to school and the one where I went to church. Seeing as how I didn’t go to church in the same town i went to school these two were seperate. I had a group of friends for school and a group for church. 

The people at church knew that I wanted to become a minister but the people that I went school with didn’t as much. Its not really cool when you are in high school to tell people you want to be a preacher, doesn’t really send the girls flocking to you. But I always felt at home in the church, it was quite literally my sanctuary. It was where I felt comfortable and where I went when I wanted to feel closer to God, when I wanted to make sure that God heard me. It wasn’t until i was older that these two worlds started to come together. I think going to Lon Morris College (a methodist junior college) maybe this possible. I was in a mixed environment of secular (for lack of a better word) and religious. In this environment I was able to merge the two worlds and become comfortable with who i was and who I would become. being around others who wanted to go into ministry gave me both a feeling of comfort and a feeling that I wasn’t alone. There was a strong sense of community at Lon Morris College and I attribute so much of who I am to the teachers and ministers that taught me and became my friends. 

I feel like I was blessed because I was given an opportunity to mold my two worlds together into one world. Or more precisely I was allowed to let the part of me that was real and true to what God had created me to be, to shine through no matter where I was. There is a problem in the church that has become the church, and it is the problem of the two worlds. It is the idea that there is the world that we speak of inside the walls of the church, often times seen as idealistic and the world outside the church that is more realistic. Something happens to us when we leave the church and all the worries and problems of the world take over our lives and the idealistic parts of who we are and what we can accomplish get pushed aside. Being a political science major I seem to always revert back to political science but I see this so often in the way we view politics. I will use this example only because it is relevant to the topic at hand and not to get into a debate over who knew what but we look at the issue of torture. Inside the walls of a church the idea of torture is inconceivable in my mind. The idea that we would, even for safety, torture other human beings is completely incompatible with the teachings of Christ. Yet when we step out into the real world the issue becomes foggier. Its not quite as easy a decision for us. Another issue is War, it is incompatible with the teachings of Christ but outside the walls of the church we see it as a necessary evil at times.

Along with these idea we often times find it burdensome to take on what we are charged to do in church. We find it difficult to find the time to feed the poor or help the needy. We find it difficult to squeeze in the time to visit someone and if we do find the time and actually do it we feel sometimes as if it is a burden of sorts, one we may gladly bear but one all the same. The reason that I cannot sleep is because I feel inspired to say at this point in time two things. First that the ways of Christ are not burdensome they are a gift and if we are living in two worlds it is time to stand up and say enough.

1 John 5:3 says this : “3For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome,” God did not give us these commandments so that we would be weighed down by the burden of try to live this way or that but so that we would be free. To me it seems quite simple, “Love God, and Love your Neighbor as yourself.” I know your thinking well its harder than it seems and it may be but only because of how we live our lives not because God wanted to be burdensome. In fact I feel personally called to live a simple life much like the lives of the people in the early church. I don’t need a big house or a fancy car, the newest this and or the latest that. I have in the past few months come to terms with the fact that I will never live that sort of a life of excess because I personally believe that a life lived in excess is not what I am called to. I feel as christians we are called to a life of simplicity, and that life is not burdensome but yet rewarding and meaningful in a way that is immeasurable. What is more burdensome, tons of credit card debt and loan payments and living above your means or even right at your means, or living a life where simplicity is key and not having debt and trying to “keep up with the Jones’” as my mother would say. 

There is something that happens to us when we decide to live a simple life, we are freed from so much worry that we are able to focus on what really matters, others. God’s commandments are not burdensome, they are a gift, a gift so often times view by the world as a burden. 

And here comes what I stared at and stared at before I felt as though I got it, this is the greatness of God. “And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. 5Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” 1 John 5:4 I wrestled with this because I had to cut through the war like metaphors to get to the real substance. If you were to read this and simply take it for what it says then you would see that our faith is what allows us to conquer the world, but we think of it as conquering or taking something over, but what if the writer is not say in conquer in terms of taking over but merely breaking the hold. Jesus conquered sin and death through the resurrection and in the same token we can conquer the world through our faith. In our faith we are set free.

Let me clarify, these things that hold us down that separate our two worlds can be joined through our faith, when we allow our faith to become not just who we are inside the church but who we are 24-7 then we no longer have to worry about thinking in two different ways. We no longer see torture in two ways but in one, the way of truth. We are not conquering to take over the world and make it into something else but we are making it so that we are no longer bound by what the world says. It isn’t a fight to force the world to live one way but to say that we aren’t bound in the ways of the world. The world says we need to torture to stay safe, I say we don’t. I say we love God and we Love our Neighbor as our self and if our neighbor is a criminal then we treat him or her with dignity and respect. The world says sometimes war is necessary I say that he who lives by the sword dies by it, well Jesus said that. There are other means such as diplomacy. Is there anyone who feels that if we treated every nation and every person as a child of God and spent our time feeding and clothing the poor and making sure that people had the medicines and basic needs that we have, is there anyone who feels that would make people dislike who we are and what we stand for. If we spent what we spend on war on making sure people around the world had what they needed, is there anyone who feels that the world would be a worse place for it and that we would be seen as arrogant and self serving? The reason we are seen this way is because in stead of doing these things we pick sides and we fight wars, we act only when it is in “our best interests” we do whatever it takes, we torture if we need to as long as it keeps US safe. The reason that we are seen as arrogant and self serving is because we are. 

The fact of the matter is that we don’t have to be this way, we have been given the gift not burden of Loving our neighbor as ourselves. We don’t have to live in two worlds, we can live in one world unbound by its societal norms much in the way that Jesus did. We can follow in the footsteps of Christ and be radicals and it all starts with a concept that seemed radical years and years ago and still seems radical in the world we live in, to Love God and Love our Neighbor as ourselves. I promise you that if can take a page from the early churches playbook and simplify it will go a long way to relieving the burdens of the world and allow us to focus more freely on caring for the needs of others. If we can allow our faith in God to become who we are and not just what we say then we can be freed from the greed and self service that is so common in our society and we can focus more on others.

I will close with this idea, I feel we have to take an inventory of our lives and find out what is important. When we look back on our lives will it be consumed with memories of us trying to get whatever we can, the newest this or the latest that, will it be us trying to climb to the top of the corporate ladder so that when we turn 60 we can retire instead of 65 or 70. And if this is what we have devoted our lives to, the real questions is has this stopped us or held us back from doing what we can to make the world a better place? Having money is great and retirement sounds great but if we get there and we have not feed the hungry and clothed the naked, if we have not visited the sick or in prison if we have not cared for the least of these the what have we done with our life. The simple fact is that if we look back and have not done these things, no matter how much stuff or money we have, we have failed, plain and simple.

So its been a while since I have written a note so this has the potential to be really good, or really bad, Either way it is what has been on my mind for a week or so now and I need to just get it out. First things first if you want to get a little background to this note the check out this song by Joshua Radin, it really got me thinking about these two things, Envy and Fear, and how they work against us. So before you read any further feel free to check it out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvzINsg1PKo

Lately I have found myself pondering what it is that stops us from doing what is right? what is it that stops us from living up to our full potential? what is it that stops us from doing the true will of God? There are probably many things that do this, however, a lot of our fault can be found in two simple words, envy and fear.

When I look at the Israelites after they came out of Egypt I am shocked at just how often they make the same mistakes that we still make today. They are so impatient, greedy, stubborn, all the things that you would think a people would not be if they had just witnessed a God that had brought them out of bondage, but yet humanity has a way of sneaking in a bringing out the worst in who we are. We are no different today. There are so many lessons that we could take away the mistakes of these people yet here we are, going through them all over again. When we look at envy in this country it is a real problem. We are taught growing up that the “American Dream” is to make lots of money have a nice house a, couple cars, and we look to many different places to get there. We look at athletes, actors, wealthy business people, we envy what they have and want it for ourselves. We want to invent the next big things like google, or to play pro ball and get paid the big bucks, and we wonder why so many people in this country have bouts with depression and arent happy with their lives, because the truth is everyone cant be an athlete, or an actor, or singer, but we can all WANT to be, and when we realize we cant be then we are forced to settle for something that is less than. 

So it makes me wonder, we value these people for what they can do and they make a lot of money, like obscene amounts of money for entertaining us yet the people that are teaching our children are making on average 40,000 dollars a year. The people who are shaping the minds of the next generation of people are valued at a far lower price than people that play for our local sports teams. The fact of the matter is for MOST teachers it isn’t about the money, its about the service. And so we reach this idea, what is more important getting paid or serving in some way? We live in a society that values money above service, yet this is incompatible with the teachings of Christ. 

I use this phrase “incompatible with the teachings of Christ” because apparently it is being used to ralley the troops in the Methodist church behind not amending the constitution to be more inclusive. This note is not about said ralley but the simple fact that if we are going to really use lines to deny people then lets make sure that all we do and teach are “compatible with the teachings of Christ”. So when a president declares war then as a church we should stand up and say that we do not support it, why? because our church believes that WAR is “incompatible with the teachings of Christ”. With the same token when we live in a society that values money over service then we stand up and say that is “incompatible with Christ teaching”, Jesus was not about being rich, but was about giving. When He tells the fishermen Simon (Peter) and Andrew to cast their nets and they catch so many fish that they have to have help pulling them in, they then leave that fortune sitting on the beach and follow Jesus. Many others gave away or sold what they had and followed Jesus. So here we have this idea that its not about the money but about the service, about following Christ, so one could say that a person that amassing large amounts of wealth is “incompatible with Christ teaching.” I dont know, maybe thats taking it a little far and some mights say well Jesus never said that you shouldn’t be wealthy, but he also never talked about homosexuality. But I digress because this isnt about the issue of homosexuality but that envy, this idea that we may all one day be millionares or have lots of money is polluting our society and getting our priorities out of wack.

Why is it hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom, because the more money we get the more we start to care about money and how much we have. As long as we live in a society that envy’s the “cribs” of someone famous, in my opinion, we will have our priorities out of place. It seems to me the happiest societies are those that both take care of their needs but also take care of the needs of others, call it socialism or whatever you want but what is more important, personal wealth or a society that has its needs met. The early Christian church made a strong statement about this when many of its followers sold what they had and gave it to the needy. They cared about the needs of others. Look up the word poor on any bible site and see what the old testament says about taking care of the poor. So why do we have such a problem with this?

Well let me ask you this, why is it that we dont pull over and help someone who is stranded on the road? Why do we think twice about letting someone in our house to use our phone? Why are we do we refuse to give money to a homeless person on the side of the road? Most of the time its cause we are afraid, its because of fear. We are afraid they might hurt us, we are afraid they might take the money and do something else with it and make us into fools. SO often we let fear stop us from doing something that we feel we ought to do. We are called to take care of the poor, but fear gets in our way. The phrase do not fear is mentioned over 200 hundred times in the bible, and as Donald Miller says “the supposition is that you are going to get scared.” Can we really care for a world that we are afraid of. I love my family to death, but when I start talking to them about going somewhere like Africa what they all tend to tell me is “thats good but just dont go somewhere dangerous.” My first thought is that why? I know you are afraid for me but if there are people in need in dangerous places then it most likely means that they need even more help. 

Its not that we arent supposed to ever be afraid, but that we CANT let that fear paralyze us into not acting. Moses was def. unsure of what God had told him to be, but He eventually went forth with the will of God. David when fighting David was not afraid, if anything he was eager, and why because he knew that God would keep him safe, he had faith that he would be taken care of. And so maybe we lack a sense of faith that God will take care of us, or that God will take our gesture and turn it into something that changes a persons life. Maybe this is idealistic, it def fits with my MO, but what is more important to live a life of service to the needy or to live a life that is all about making money and climbing the corporate ladder. As Christians we are called to be more, to want not wealth but to want the needs of God’s people to be met. 

I say all of this to say what I say a lot, but I feel is important, we are called to visit the sick, cloth and feed the needy, visit those in prison. We are called to live a life of little so that we may live a life full of grace and love. Helping people is more than just giving money to your church or to a charity, its about relationships, its about coming face to face with people and learning their stories and caring for them no matter what. Having a relationship with someone often times amounts so much more for both persons involved then just giving money.This is our real calling, to be servants like Christ, and do whatever it takes to feed the hungry and cloth the naked. If it means selling what we have then lets do it. If it means living in a house that is one room smaller, then do it. If it means sharing a car or using public transportation then do it. And then not just giving the money and being done with it, but get involved with how it is used. Volunteer at a shelter, or help with an after school program, so whatever you can to make this world a better place for the least of these. I feel like if we could do this it would go a long way to solving a lot of the problems that plague our society and our world. 

May we know that in all we do and all we give God is present with us, and find joy in the heart of a servant. May we put aside our envy of others, our greed for more, and our fear for whatever it is that is holding us back from doing the God’s will.

While watching a video by one of my favorite authors Donald Miller, I got to thinking about this idea of Story. He talks about this concept and the power that it has in our lives and it is absolutely correct. The time line of humanity can be found in the stories surrounding it. They captivate us and teach us, they show us the way and give us hope. Stories give us snap shots of the world and how it works or worked in the time period of the story. When something as simple as the time period is changed the story itself can seem to take on a whole different look. Also what seems to be interesting is the ability a story has to shape the lives of those who read it whether it is true or not. 

From birth to death we are told stories and tell stories. When we are young people sing us nursery rimes and we are fascinated by whether the cat is actually going to catch the mouse, or how high the count will count today. These stories, these scripts gently and every so slightly mold who we will become. We are taught Adam and Eve, Noah and the Ark, Moses and Pharaoh, each with their own lessons, their own morals. At this point the lines of fiction and non fiction are blurred, they are just beginning to be developed. We are sent to school and taught history and learn about the lives of men and women who to us seem to be 10 feet tall and bullet proof. Warriors, and thinkers, Actors and Statesmen. These lives and their stories shape our lives, how we view our culture, how we view the world. But as we get older something happens and the stories that we are told turn into stories that we live, no longer do we rely solely on the experiences of others but we go out into the world and we make experiences of our own. We test the knowledge that we are given, we test its very being in a way that can only be done by living. God turns from this story book character into this diety, this almighty but at the same time becomes real like we have never known. We start to understand what the term “The Living God” means. Not just life in the sense of human, but in the sense of relationship, in love and sacrifice. We realize that though it may not read the same as Abraham we communicate with God, we walk with God and talk with God. As we grow older the stories that we experience, they become us, they ever so slightly build upon one another to make up who we are, what we stand for. We go from listening to stories, to telling the stories of our lives. 

I love a great story, growing up I would stay with my grand mother and grand father and in the mornings when they would get up I would awake with them and as they drank their coffee in bed I would find my way in between them and with my hot chocolate in my coffee mug would listen to them talk. They would speak of all sorts of things, but nothing made me happier then when they would reminisce about things in their past. From there experiences in Germany to the raising of my mother and uncle, even the stories of their own childhood, I hung on every word. These stories became apart of me, a part of who i would become. Maybe not a major part but there is no doubt they helped shape the person that I am today. I remember when I first started preaching, I had a horrible time filling a 15 or 20 min. sermon. Mine were more about 10 min. which by the nodding man in the third row from the backs standards was just about right. I met pastors who were on television and they had to have their sermons to a brisk 25 min. no more, no less. I wondered how they did this every single week. I had the bible part down, but it was lacking. I was 21, and what I realized was I was lacking those life experiences. The funny stories of being here or there, theses stories always seemed to take up a good 5 min. and more importantly seemed to be able to stress the points that were being made. Since I had no money and no real drive to see the world I did what any reasonable person would do, I bought a book with a bunch of really good stories.

As we grow its as if our stories become more important then the stories we hear. All of the sudden our story becomes all that matters, and the stories of the bible become less and less important. Don’t get me wrong we still love a good story but we become picky and short on time. Remember when you were a kid and you watched cartoons and no matter what was going on it was great. A coyote is chasing a roadrunner with a mallet and some dynamite. Never once when I was a kid did I think do myself, “This is ludicrous, a coyote would never try this hard for a road runner that to be completely honest doesn’t look that appetizing anyway.” No, we found it fascinating how persistent this coyote was. Never once did I question this idea of Turtles learning Karate and being trained by a rat named splinter. We accept these things cause whether rational or not they make for a good story. As we grow up something is lost, we become discontent and wonder why a hammer and dynamite, and why for that bird. We think to ourselves, those turtles wouldn’t last a minute against someone with a rifle, or a half a brain. Or even thinking turtles? why turtles? aren’t they frightened easily. We lose our sense of story to a certain sense of reality. 

Why is it that we have no problem with kids learning in school from books of fiction, but yet any mention of someone not taking the bible literally becomes hierarchy. Do we feel that the books our children learn from are any less able to teach basic principles because they did not happen, or books based loosely on events. So why is it that this idea that the story of Jonah is a story and didn’t really happen such an earth shattering things for some Christians. If the whole bible were to be proven to be simply a bunch of stories with none of it actually happening, would that make the teachings in it any less important. Would it not still be better to live by its principles. Would it be any less important to take the teachings of Jesus upon ourselves, to love one another, would it not still make for a better world? a better life? I am not here to argue the infallibility of the bible for in all truth it is not for me to say. The bible is in so many ways a mystery to me but one that I am content with. I accept its teachings and its message of love, grace and forgiveness. I see my humanity in it and realize that true or not I am the Israelite, I am the Philistine, I am the Pharisee and I am Pilate. I am both David and Saul, the best and the worst. I have within me greatness and I have within me flaws. Whether or not these stories are true or not, they ring true to me, they ring true in me. I take these stories upon myself and carry them with me to remind me of my humanity. To realize that only by the grace of God am I “saved”. Only by the grace of God are we all “saved”. My faith hangs on the trueness of the stories as they apply to me and the people around me, not to whether the words are infallible or not. 

Dear Lord if I am wrong in my thinking and in my ways may you see past them and into my heart and know that I only long to come to know you more, to understand you better, to live in such a way that pleases you. Lord may you see past my humanity and into my very soul and see that I long only to serve you in the best way that I know how. Taking your words and applying them to my life in a way that makes them come alive in me. See that I yearn for the same things that your Son yearned for, Justice, Peace, Love, and Grace amidst a world of injustice, war, hurt, and vengeance. And may I never loose sight of the bigger picture of a world that longs to be reconciled with its creator.

There are these times in life when the people that you care about, the people that mean the most to you do things that make you so proud to be friends with them, or family with them. Sometimes your just proud to know this person. There are these stories in the bible that just make you proud that say “That is my God!” There are certain stories that seem to give you incredible insight to what kind of God we have. It gives us an idea of what kind of God we serve. 

One of my favorite stories in the bible is one that I feel like a lot of people overlook, its the story of Hagar and Ishmael. In Genesis 16 we find what I feel is a story that gives us incredible insight into who our God is. Just a quick lead up to what i want to talk about. So we know that God had promised Sarah a child, but Sarah had lost heart and so she send Abraham to bed with her servant Hagar, and the bore a son Ishmael. When Hagar found out she was pregnant she seems to look differently at Sarah, and so Sarah gets angry and Abraham says “Do what you have to.” So Sarah scares Hagar off and she flees. So we come to the good part. In verse 7 is says “The angel of the LORD found Hagar…” The angel of the LORD asks where she is going and then tells her to go back and submit and the LORD will increase her descendants and they will be too numerous to count. 

Oh to have a God that when we are wandering in the desert will find us. It reminds me of the story of Mary sitting outside the tomb on Easter morning, and she is sobbing, and Jesus walks up to her and asks her why she is crying. At this great moment of sadness Jesus came to Mary. How amazing is it that we serve a God that comes to us, that find us in our times of need. This is a clear difference from the other Gods of the time. The other Gods were tied to these idols and required offerings, but OUR God doesn’t require these things, doesn’t even require that we search for God. Hagar was not searching for God, but God found her. 

So in the next chapter we see Abraham get his name change and a reaffirmation of God’s promise for a son by Sarah and once again, promises “And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.” So God is promising to take care of Ishmael, even though it was a lack of faith that was the reason he was born God doesn’t seem to hold this against Ishmael. God could have said, this is not how this is supposed to go. But instead he say “I will take care of him”

The God the we serve is a God that takes care of his children.When Isaac is born Sarah sends Hagar and Ishmael away, so so they enter the desert once again. This to me is the most beautiful part of the story. When the water was gone Hagar puts her child under a bush because she cannot bare to watch her child die in her arms. As she sits alone, “God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. 18 Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” Gen. 21:17-18

God comes to Hagar once again says that he has heard the boy’s cries and tells her to go be with him, and once again promises to make a “great” nation of him. How wonderful is our God that time and time again when we find ourselves in the desert and we forget the words that we have been told, that God doesn’t get angry and say “What is your problem, don’t you get it?” but is there for us and continues to assure us that we are taken care of that our needs will be met and that we have great things in front of us. 

God keeps his promise to both Isaac and Ishmael and made great nations out of both sons. Isaac the Father of the Jewish faith and Ishmael the Father of the Islamic faith. Oh how many questions this brings up in terms of salvation and what kind of God we have. This may get me into some trouble but I really have a hard time believing in a God that would create a nation of person, a “great” nation of persons that were doomed to an eternity separate from God. I have a hard time believing that the same God that came to Hagar in the desert, that spoke with Abraham, and promised to watch over this boy would do this only in life and not in death. Now this is my own personal beliefs and am not trying to convert or change minds but simply looking at it from the view point of Love, of Gods Love, of God’s Most Perfect Love. 

Ishmael was as much a child of Abraham as Isaac was, whether Sarah thought so or not. God saw promise in this boy, so much so that the bible says that “God was with the boy as he grew up.” That is my God, that is the God that I serve, one that does not leave his Children but watches over them. Its what gives me hope for the millions of children in Africa that will grow up without parents, that God is with them. For the children all over the world, that are in need. God has not given up on them and neither should we. God had not given up on them because he has called each and everyone of us to respond and to help the “least of these”.

We in America seem to have such a negative view of our Islamic brothers and sisters, we hold resentment for the actions of a select few and use this to fuel our hatred for people who are different. To think that a negative ad in a campaign can be as simple as calling someone a Muslim. Trying to strike fear into people to sway their vote. Tons and tons of emails being sent out and forwarded by people afraid. This is so sad, I feel like the same God that watched over Isaac also watched over Ishmael. The same God that made a nation for Isaac, made a nation of Ishmael. If God can care for both sides then why can’t we? It is apparent by the scripture that Abraham loved both his sons. It seems to me that its quite simple, the command is to Love. Not just people who agree and not just people who are like us to but simply love. To love all of God’s creation. Idealistic? Maybe. 

But it seems that I don’t have to be 100% right to Love someone, they don’t have to be 100% right for me to Love them. It seems to me as difficult as it may be its actually pretty simple. “Love your Neighbor as yourself.” Who is your neighbor? Any and Everyone! That is what my God looks like, that is the God that I serve. A God that is big enough for all faiths, and beliefs. The God that find us in our loneliness and promises to watch over us, to love us and take care of us.

Words are very interesting things. I say this because words carry with them so much more than what is on the surface. Words carry, ideas, emotion, weight, and so much more. The written word is sometimes even more complex. It can carry all of the previous mentioned items but they may be masked and not fully apparent. You have too look at so much more than the written words themselves to find the meaning. You look at the context that its is written in. The time period that it is written in, and even who wrote it. What they have wrote in the past and try and break down why they thought the way they did. One person can not just simply carry on where someone leaves off and expect to stay true to the text without some knowledge of where the writer was drawing their inspiration, and purpose. So how is that so many people think that they can simply look at the word of God and completely understand it. So many people refuse to look at context or any of these other things and choose to take what was written at face value. If you ask me its almost as if they are robbing the Word of its meaning, of its luster and purpose in our lives. 

We have to have respect for the scripture and I think that starts by understanding that no matter how much we study or strive we can never completely understand. Whether you take what the bible says literally or not we have to realize that we are limited by our humanity when it comes to understanding God in all God’s glory. I know as proud people it may be hard for us to accept but until we accept this and move ourselves out of the way then we will have trouble understand the true will of God. I do believe that the Bible is full of truths, whether they are literal or not. Whether Jonah was swallowed by a big fish or not does not diminish its ability to teach us that we need to search for the will of God in our lives and not turn away from that. We each have a job to do as a part of the body of christ and as long as we turn away from that then we will no be full. The story also teaches us that even after we accept the call we may still not be content with the results but God will provide. 

So once we realize that we cannot fully comprehend the will of God then we are available to start seeking out Gods will for our lives. Don’t get me wrong, i feel as though a communal relationship is important and that its not just about our relationship with God but our relationship with people. However, that being said we cannot ignore the spiritual relationship we have with God. So we use the word as a guide for this, along with prayer and discernment. The Bible when used as a tool can be so helpful to finding out who we are. Are we a Moses, or Aaron? Maybe we are a Peter, or Paul. Mary or Esther. Each of these person have something to teach us, they have a life that they have come from and are here to help us find our way. Are we a Noah? Do we know that God has something big for us that might not be popular or even sane? (BTW if God is telling you to hurt someone get help) So maybe not so much with the sane, but what might feel insane to others, like spending time in a place like Africa. If this is us then we can find comfort in knowing that God will be with us. If we are able to look stories in this way then why does it even matter if it actually happened or not. We can go 10 rounds on what did or did not happen OR we could take them for what they are, lessons and move on taking what they have taught us and using them in the world to make the world a better place for everyone.

When looking at an issue like homosexuality, one can find few scriptures on it but they seem to cling to these scriptures as though they are a solid foundation to condemn people or tell people that they are living in sin. Here is a little heads up, if you feel that homosexuality is a and that homosexuals shouldn’t be a part of the church because they are living in sin then i would point you to Romans 3:23 which says “for ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We all live in sin, but luckily Jesus took those sins upon himself for the world. If this isnt enough then surely one can look at the life of Jesus as an example on how to Love completely. An example on how to take in the outcasts and sinners and give them both hope and worth. All persons are of sacred worth and if you cant at least agree with that then that is between you and God. This is not for me to say one way or the other, i respect people and their opinions but what i do not respect is people who try and close the doors of the church to any person. If we can say that Homosexuals have no place in the church, then what is to stop people from saying that people who have been divorced have no place in the church. It is not for us to judge, it is for us to LOVE. 

I say all of this to say that words, that the WORD can be used as a tool to both help and hurt. We have to be careful how we interpret God’s word. I imagine that if someone were using my words of love and forgiveness to persecute or look down upon another, that i would probably have a problem with that. Now I am human and luckily Gods grace abounds but when we die do we really want to look back and see that we spent our time using the word to divide people or unite people. Lets not argue on the silly stuff, lets agree on things like a message of Hope, Love, Grace, Faith, and Service. “For God did not send his son to Condemn the world but so that the World may be saved through Him.” So let us not use the WORD as a tool to condemn but a tool to give people hope, to save them from their selfishness, greed, loneliness, bitterness, hatred, from all these things that make us feel apart from God’s love, these things that make us feel unworthy to receive God’s Love. 

The notes that I have written up to this point are meant to do just that. They are meant to show people that they are not alone, and for just about any situation there is help, the is hope, there is love for you. These notes are meant to use the bible as a means of teaching a tool for doing good. I hope that you find them helpful and as uncontroversial as possible. We can debate literalism some other time, which is a debate that i welcome. But tis not the point of these notes.

::If this note seems a tad out of order it is, this is to be some sort of a preface to the Notes entitled When the Bible Meets Real Life…::

There are those people in the bible that just seem to get a bad rap. For whatever reason I find myself sticking up for these people. Advocating not for approval of what they did but advocating their humanity, their imperfection. Take Jonah for instance, it would be easy for us to criticize many of the decisions that he made in his long and painful trip to Nenivah. From disobedience, to trying to not standing up during the storm that he was the reason, even is vengeful attitude towards the people of Nenivah, even after their hearts were swayed. Its as if he wanted to see them destroyed, can you really blame him? He did get swallowed by a big fish after all. Im sure there wasn’t much about that experience that was pleasant. Granted it was his fault, but how often we make mistakes and suffer the consequences the whole time asking ourselves why this was happening to us. Its only till later that we realize that we are the cause for what is happening, the decisions that we have made have brought us to this point. Not others, not God, not the devil, but our own selfish, greedy, imperfect, humanity.

So I find a place in my heart for these characters, whether biblical or not. One of the more controversial figured would have to be Judas, the betrayer. I have seen movie after movie and just about everyone has Judas as this sneaky conniving little twerp from the get go. You usually don’t have to look very hard to pick Judas out of the line up. Maybe this is accurate portrayal or maybe there is more to this. Some scholars believe that Judas only meant to sell out Jesus in order to force his hand and speed up the revolution that he and all the other Jews were waiting on. Make sense, when backed into a corner Jesus would have no choice but to strike, its basic instinct right? Who knows what Judas was thinking, I don’t tend to focus so much on that part, but on what happens after. Matthew 27:1-5 depicts the rest of the story, Judas was “seized with remorse” (NIV). He would go one to hang himself. Judas fully understood what he had done was a terrible thing and was so moved that he could not bear to live any longer. How much pain must drive a person to hang themselves. 

Yet I find myself finding pity for Judas, because within Judas’ story I see myself and I see the world. How often we sell out Jesus, sometimes for a lot lets that 30 silver. We forget his message and take his words for granted. Yet unlike Judas we can sometimes have very little remorse for what we do. But I think that where the real sell out comes is not Jesus personally, but it is the least of those. It is the ones that we choose not to help and choose not to help. I was just looking at pictures of the people of Darfur, and as Americans we have so much that we take for granted. I saw pictures of people who didn’t have clean drinking water, yet I sit here with two or three cans of half empty sprite on my desk. Kids are dying of Polio, a disease that we “cured” more than 40 years ago, yet children die from it, along with Malaria, and something as simple as diarrhea. The numbers are staggering. I say all of this not to guilt trip, but to prove that we all turn our backs on people, on God’s children.

It happens here on the streets of Houston Texas, Katy Texas, and so many more. The number of homeless children in an area like Katy is far higher than I would have imagined. Such an affluent area should not have any homeless children in my opinion. But yet the need is there but how many of us see it, recognize it? I would imagine that it would not be that hard to find out if one was willing to dig. In fact I know it isn’t because i know of people who have. We are capable of so much, of doing such good when we work together as a community. 

All of this translates into what I feel is a lot of the problem with the world today. We hold ourselves back from greatness by focusing so much on the things that don’t matter, or focusing on the negative. Looking at the bad parts of humanity, its not hard to find. Turn on a tv, or radio. Check out the news and you will see what is wrong with the world and every once in a while we will get our feel good story. Of course as fast as it has come then its back to the bad, or on to the sports or onto the weather. Its so easy to see the worst in people, all the failures and short comings. The imperfection in who they are what we judge people on. The simple truth is its not our place to judge people, not our place to see the worst in people, it is our job, our calling, our charge to see the best in people. To want all people to succeed and to do whatever is in our power to help them. 

I have been called an idealist and young, and I do not dispute this for one second. I am both young and Idealistic, but I do not see this as a problem. I believe idealism is what leads to real progress. Think of it this way, Ideally we may want to feed everyone, provide healthcare for everyone, and give a top notch education to every child, and we may strive for this goal and we may never reach our goal in our lifetime, but i feel that in trying to reach this goal we have not made the world any worse. We have only done all we can to make it better. But if we say it isn’t possible, if we live in a world of cant and wont, if we are realistic and say that there will always be poor people and there is much we can do about that, then who are we helping. Its almost as if its submission before even trying. 

I mean doesn’t Jesus tell us in his own way to live Idealistically. To not loose sight of perfection, and though realistically we may never attain this perfection, that we should not EVER stop trying. Maybe I do need more balance in my life, when it comes to Idealism and Realism, but for now I choose to be young, I choose to be idealistic. I choose to see not what others say that we are capable of but what I know we are capable of. I choose to see the the best in the world, the best in people, the best in myself and do all I can to multiply that in my time here.

So many times when I search for guidance or answers to particular questions or ideas I find myself looking at the life of Jesus Christ. I know many of you are thinking, “Well duh” but I dont believe it is that simple, and i don’t feel that just because you are a Christian you instinctively look to Jesus for your answers. I know this may sound a bit odd but so many times I hear people talking, “Christians”, and I find myself asking the question what would Jesus think about this? How would Jesus perceive this problem or think about what is being said. i know it goes back to the whole WWJD thing but what Im thinking on a slightly different level. Same concept applied not just to action, but to thought as well. 

Let me give you an example from something that i have been pondering. What would Jesus think about a conversation that is had by people sitting around a table contemplating who can and cannot park in a church parking lot. I understand that this is not a black and white issue and people need places to park for church and events, but what would Jesus think of us saying to a group of non church goers “im sorry but these spots are reserved for church members.” Maybe you could see how an action could come out of this but I’m just talking about the conversation. So i think about what Jesus might say if one of the disciples were to ask “Jesus what should we do when ‘other people’ ask to use our parking lot for their business?” I do not claim to speak for Jesus but I would venture to say that he would say something to the effect of, “If they ask for a parking spot, give them as many as they need. For my Father did not create the earth to used only for those who worship Him.” What would Jesus think? 

There are many stories that we are given to help us discern what God’s will is in our lives. What would Jesus think about people getting angry over the building of a church building or a new sanctuary? He might say “I never needed a building, I just went from place to place doing my thing. Maybe you should ask yourself what is attracting people to your church, is it the Word of God, or this temple that you have built.” I say all of this not to say that these ideas are 100% bad but that we have to try and dig deeper to find the reasons why we would need a new building, is it for pride or for actual space. Do we really need all of those parking spaces or can we make some sort of a deal so that all parties can benefit. The Idea is WHY DO WE DO THE THINGS WE DO?

What is it in us that draws us to whatever area of ministry that we feel called to? First we have to try and discern what that call really is. I had a great bible study this past week at Starbucks and we talked about trying to find out what spiritual gifts we have been given and where we can serve God the best. I’m sure that by now most of you know that I feel very strongly about seeing to the needs of those persons that John Wesley would call sick. 

“By the sick, I do not mean only those that keep their bed, or that are sick in the strictest sense. Rather I would include all such as are in a state of affliction, whether of mind or body; and that whether they are good or bad, whether they fear God or not.” – John Wesley

I see so much hurt in the world and I feel that pain to some extent, because I take that pain upon my own shoulders and try to understand it. Try to understand the feeling of a single mother trying to care for her three kids while working two jobs and trying to pay the rent and keep the lights on. Or a elderly person who for the first time in 50 years finds themselves alone in a world that seems so much different than they last faced it one on one. For a child who will grow up not knowing his parents because a disease such as Aids or Malaria has taken them. God has wired me in such a way that shows me these harsh realities. So what is a person to do with something like this? We Serve God by serving others.

We all have a place in this world and the ability to effect change in a positive way. But we must open our eyes to the need. First we have to see the need. Not to flood you with more of Good Ole Boy John Wesley but he had this to say,

“One great reason why the rich, in general, have so little sympathy for the poor, is, because they so seldom visit them. Hence it is, that, according to the common observation, one part of the world does not know what the other suffers. Many of them do not know, because they do not care to know: they keep out of the way of knowing it; and then plead their voluntary ignorances an excuse for their hardness of heart.”

We must choice to see the need and even go as far as to observe it, to live it. Its one thing to hear stories of tragic events, It may effect you, it may even stir your soul, but how long will it linger. How long till the ebbs and flows of your daily lives drown out the voices of concern and care. This is one of the main reasons that I want so desperately to not just read about the developing world, but to live in one. To see its people and to see first hand its peoples need. So that I can experience the need first hand just as Jesus did. 

Are we to think that God did not realize that there was need on earth prior to sending his son? Of course he new of the pain that his people felt, because I am fairly certain that he felt it with them. Understanding that there would be no way of known that he felt that pain with us God sent us Jesus. God made flesh and he dwelled among us and was crucified. But before that we traveled and saw people and healed people and comforted people. He ruffled some feathers and he made some people angry. He was betrayed, denied and put to death on a cross. All of these feelings Jesus felt with us, so when we feel betrayed God can say, “I understand.” When we feel that we have been denied God can say, “I felt your pain, I FEEL your pain.” And when the world seems unfair, biased, and just flat out mean we can stand tall and say to ourselves that “we are not alone. God has been here and is HERE still.”

May we open our eyes and see the world through the eyes of the one who came before us, take his lessons upon our hearts not just hold them in our minds. And may we open our Hearts, Minds, and Doors to the hurt of the world, so that we may go out not into the world we choose to see, but the world that is before us. Making a difference in the name of Jesus Christ.