Hopeful Faith

Daniel 6:6-27

“Hopeful Faith”

27 November 2016 St. Andrew’s Military Chapel Singapore

            If there is one person we could cut a little slack and forgive them for losing hope, Daniel might just top that list. When one is thrown into a pit with hungry lions to provide them a meal for a few days, one could reasonably find that a hopeless situation. But, as typically happens in the Bible, God flips the script and Daniel walks away without a scratch.

            Daniel’s story of standing against an unjust law to the bitter end is what we expect of our heroes. Maybe that is why this story is timeless and one those familiar with the Bible know well. Like Joseph he is a slave that finds a position of trust in his captor’s government. Like Christ he finds himself shut up in a cave like tomb and walks out from guaranteed death. This episode of Daniel’s life has echoes of the past and glimpses of the future.

            As I reflected on this episode in Daniel’s life this week, I kept thinking about the story of Andy Dufresne in the movie The Shawshank Redemption. A banker jailed for the murder of his wife, of which he claimed innocence. During all of the trials of life in prison, Andy is able to maintain his hope in eventually securing his freedom. Over 19 years Andy has been slowly plotting and chipping away at his captivity so that one-day he is finally again free.

            The thread woven through all good heroic epics is the faith of the protagonist. Joseph kept faith that, despite his brothers betraying him and selling him into slavery, God was using him for something greater than he could sense. Andy Dufresne gained his hope in the fact he was innocent and would one day be free of the cage in which he lived. Jesus had hope in the future because he knew where history was leading and that his death would provide the hope and freedom humanity desperately needed.

            Faith and hope go hand in hand. Even a mustard seed of faith burrows itself into our mind and hope begins to take root and grow. Having faith in God, each other, and the world is in desperate need these days.

            We can watch the news, read online articles, interact with people via social media, or just talk with our friends and family and notice a deep sense of fear and worry in the world. People are uncertain of how a globalized economy will affect their everyday lives. Some are worried about how politics and government policies (regardless of our home country) will negatively affect their lives. There are a large number of people from our home countries that belong to a minority group that are worried how a fracturing of unity will make them, and other minority groups, more isolated or worse yet, objects of severe persecution.

            It’s in a time of fear and perceived darkness that we need the hope of incarnation in our lives. The only thing that can fight fear is hope and nothing is more hopeful than reflecting on the birth of Christ and what that meant for mankind as well as looking hopefully on the promise of Christ’s second coming and our inclusion in God’s Kingdom and plan for the world.

            During the time of Christ’s birth, it was a dark time for Israel. They had been under occupation for many years and hope had dimmed such that many wouldn’t believe that the Messiah had arrived despite him standing before them and looking the Messiah in the eyes. Hope had dimmed so much that prophecies seemed far off and the realm of fairy tales, fantasy, and science fiction.

            Yet, at an unexpected time and in an unexpected manner, God became man and walked the earth. It was hopeful for those that recognized and saw Christ for who he was. For those who didn’t see God before them, it wasn’t the end of the world, just more of the same. It wasn’t that Christ’s appearance suddenly solved the world’s problems, it’s that Christ injected hope into what many saw as a hopeless situation. And that glimmer of hope changed everything.

            Those that have truly seen Christ and tasted the hope of the Messiah have contributed immeasurable good into the world. Yes, there have been bad things done in the name of Christ, but those people haven’t truly followed Christ in their lives. Christians follow Christ to spread a message of hope to everyone in the world. We can be honest about the ills of the world while still maintaining a hopeful stance as to how it will end.

            As Christians we are called to bring hope to those who are in hopeless situations. We may not be able to change the situation and overthrow oppressive regimes. Even Christ didn’t overthrow Rome. What he did was inspire hope and love among everyone so that each and every person in the world is valued and loved equally in his, and we would hope every follower of Christ’s, eyes.

            When we reflect on the incarnation and the hope that Advent brings us we are called to acts that bring hope hopelessness. Volunteer time to learn about and know those in hopeless situations. Reach out and listen, really listen and acknowledge the fears people have about how those in power are affecting their lives. Quit posting heated rhetoric, click bait articles, and “facts” on social media. Stand with those causes that you feel need your support and hope. Not just by hashtag philanthropy, but actually physically standing with those who need your help.

            The hope of Christ isn’t just for those who sit in a church on Sunday mornings. Christ brought hope and healing to all the world and is depending on the church to spread that hope and do it’s part to heal the many wounds of the world. On this day of hopefully looking into a new year of the church we are called to spread that hope to the world. During Advent as we anticipate the arrival of Christ in the world, let us also seek ways as individuals and as a church community to be the church and spread hope to the darkest corners of the world.

Burning Ideas

Jeremiah 36:1-8, 21-23, 27-28

“Burning Ideas”

20 November 2016 St. Andrew’s Military Chapel Singapore

            No one would ever burn books today, right? We wouldn’t reject someone’s ideas without reflection and thought as those ideas might actually improve our lives? We wouldn’t throw someone in jail or ban that person from their place of worship because their words, actions, or appearance made us uncomfortable, would we? We wouldn’t’ dismiss someone because of their politics or theology? We wouldn’t ostracize someone because their faith calls them to do something that seems crazy to our civilized, Western standards? Surely this episode in Jeremiah’s life is an ancient relic from back in the day.

            If only.

            Anyone can go on the Internet and find this sort of behavior in less than 5 minutes. The recent political campaign in the US demonstrates that when we construct our own bubbles and echo chambers only listening to what we want to hear, our perception will be much different than reality. When we only seek information from like-minded sources, we skew our worldview and are worse off. It’s almost as if society is trying to keep us from hearing dissenting viewpoints.

            I’ve never personally seen a book burning, but have you been on Twitter or Facebook in the last year? I can’t stay on there too long because of all the vitriol aimed at and by our “friends.” It’s hard to imagine how we’d treat enemies. Want to see how to rapidly shut down the free exchange of ideas? Post a well-reasoned thought about anything. Within minutes you’ll have people from all over, even the ones you considered friends, telling you exactly why your opinion is wrong and doesn’t matter. People burned books because they offered a different vision of life and challenged our thinking. We’ve just modernized and burn peoples’ ideas from the comfort of our fiber connected computer screen.

            Jeremiah is one who knows what it feels like to have his ideas burned in public. Or should I say, he knows what it is like to watch someone try to burn God’s words.

            Back in his time, Jeremiah was an unlikely prophet. Mostly because he didn’t want to be a prophet and felt he didn’t have the words to become God’s spokesperson here on earth. At various times during his life he questions God’s wisdom in calling him to prophetic words. If you read Jeremiah you find times where it feels like Jeremiah has entered a confession booth telling God his fears and doubts.

            Like most successful prophets, the leadership of the temple and the country didn’t care too much for Jeremiah. He stood as a threat to their carefully crafted societal pecking order and possibly a threat to their wealth and power. So, they began to find ways to eliminate him as a threat. Eventually, they arrest him and banish him from the temple.

            But, when has prison and persecution halted God’s work in the world? Usually it just expands God’s work and connects God with many more people. Faith thrives under true oppression. Look for God’s hand in the midst of oppression and you will find God walking alongside the outcast, the lame, the beggar, the despised, and the least among us.

            Despite his banishment from God’s house, Jeremiah still holds significant influence in Israel. All of his words spoken for God are recorded on a scroll and read aloud in the temple on a fast day, a day of holy contemplation. One of King Jehoiakim’s court reports the scandalous words he had heard. The court summoned Baruch, the soul brave enough to read Jeremiah’s prophecy, to read them again in their presence. This led the members of the king’s court to take the scroll directly to the king. As they read the words on the scroll, the king would cut off what was just read and burn it in the fire. He wanted to keep God’s word from the world.

            The king probably thought that if I destroyed the medium, the message would fade. The problem is, God’s word never fades. In Jeremiah’s case, Jeremiah wrote everything on a second scroll. When people seek to ban or burn books in our age, the ideas that matter keep coming back and never fade. In fact God’s word depends not on the medium of transmission. It will find a way to shine in the darkness. In the darkest day, Christ was preparing for a glorious resurrection. Try as you might, you just cannot contain the Gospel.

            Ideological control, whether by the government or Internet trolls rarely succeeds. Even North Korea can’t fully control the ideas within its own borders, much less keep ideas of justice from finding their way into the country and marinating the minds of the oppressed.

            Ideas that make us uncomfortable tend to have an ability to teach us, to love us, to change us, to bind us together as people. Discomfort is the furnace in which we learn and discover God’s word. Scripture has many hard truths and passages that make the reader squirm in their chair and many times we want to put down the Bible and ask, “what were they thinking including that in Scripture?” If we truly believe that God is still speaking to us, we have to sit with, not dismiss, ideas and people that make us uncomfortable. We have to keep growing so that we can learn what God’s justice and mercy look like in our lives.

Sometimes the noise of those attempting to drown out God’s justice is deafening. Sometimes the darkness of hate seems to overpower the light of those struggling to let justice roll down like an ever-flowing stream. Sometimes the bonfire of ideas on a funeral pyre seems like it’s the last light we may glimpse. However, the arc of the universe truly bends towards God’s justice.

God knows this. Which is why, despite our stubbornness towards hearing and truly living into the Gospel, God continually renews the covenant with each and every person. Sin no longer hangs over our heads because God has forgiven us and remembers our sin no more. It’s why God’s light will always shine, sometimes brightly, sometimes only through a glass darkly. Despite where we think the world is headed, God’s love and covenant are still there and God will still be there for us tomorrow to move us and the world ever so slightly to true understanding of his definition of justice. You just can’t contain the freedom and justice of God.

Ordinary Calling

Isaiah 6:1-8

“Ordinary Calling”

13 November 2016 St. Andrew’s Military Chapel Singapore

            For some reason I’m drawn to call stories. Maybe it’s because I had to reflect so much on mine and draw out the theological implications of how God called me to ministry that I’ve become attuned to the work of God in the ordinariness of our lives. Maybe it’s because call stories are good examples of God doing the unexpected with the most unlikely people.

            I still clearly remember the day I knew God was calling me to different work. A saint of the church came up to me and told me what I had been quietly mulling over for months. I knew it was a sign. To top it off, she and another woman of God made me a promise that day that came to fruition.

            But, my call story isn’t just that moment. In fact, the more important parts are what happened around that moment.

            As many of you know, I’ve been in the Navy a while but I haven’t always been a chaplain. Growing up all I ever wanted to be was an astronaut. So, I studied hard because astronauts are some of the brightest people I’ve ever met. I played sports, not just because I was trying to get into the Naval Academy, but because being an astronaut is physically demanding. I was in Scouting eventually earning my Eagle, though that may be more due to my mom’s pushing and nagging about finishing it up, because there are a lot of astronauts past and present that have cut their leadership teeth in Scouting. I convinced my parents to send me to Space Camp for a week one summer.

            There was one small obstacle. I thought it was small at the time, but it sent the NASA train right off the tracks. My eyesight is horrible. I knew I couldn’t be a pilot, the preferred military occupation to get into NASA, so I headed the opposite way, to the submarine force. I even applied to NASA as a Mission Specialist because I knew they’d never let me fly the Shuttle with my eyes. But, the Navy had a different idea about my plans and disqualified me from flight, forever. No waiver possible. Or maybe God was already moving me towards a different path.

            I decided to volunteer with the youth group at the church I was attending in Charleston, SC, Mount Pleasant Presbyterian. I specifically asked to work with the High School group because I didn’t think I was ready for Middle School students. So, guess what grade I got assigned? Seventh Grade. There were many choice and colorful words yelled at the computer when I read the email from the Youth Director letting me know she felt I’d be a good fit for that group. I think she and I had spoken a grand total of 5 minutes at that point and I highly doubt she could have picked me out of a crowd. For the record, we are now good friends and I absolutely love her and her family. Did she feel I was a good fit for that group, or did God guide her to place me with them because that is where I was meant to be?

            That was an interesting year. But, I grew to love those students so much that I volunteered to move up with them to eighth grade the next year. To this day I still talk with them and smile at the amazing men and women they have become, especially as they are now raising their own children. I became good friends with two of my fellow youth advisors, one of which is also now a pastor. She started seminary a year after I did. God was working on me the whole time.

            As all of this was going on, I had a pull away from the submarine world. Nothing too strong, but strong enough that I knew I was probably going to leave the Navy at the 11 year point and come back to Charleston to teach high school physics. I was working on my Masters in Education and I felt drawn to teach at a disadvantaged school. So, I left Charleston for my last tour on a submarine and what I thought would be the last three years in the Navy.

            As I was transferring I headed to a conference for youth at Montreat, NC with the high school students as they were in desperate need of male back home leaders. It was a great week. In fact, I had so much fun that I flew back from Hawaii the next year so I could see my former seventh grade students experience Montreat for the first time.

            During that second summer is when I was talking with the students about how money isn’t everything and that God may lead you places you aren’t expecting. I was making good money and wasn’t all that happy in the job, so I was going to follow God’s call on my heart and go back to Charleston and teach physics. I’d get to come back and spend time with them because they gave me energy and life and I always learned so much from those students. I had the plan all worked out. But, God had other ideas.

            God didn’t want me to do ministry part time, he wanted me to dive right in. I figured I could minister through teaching and the youth group, but God needed me elsewhere. So, when I articulated my grand plan with the students they, and God, were listening.

            On the last night there is always a candle light service. It’s a beloved Montreat Youth Conference tradition. As we are all singing and closing out the week, one of my fellow back home leaders came up behind me and said, “Did you ever think God wanted you to teach something different?” I gave that “Whatchu talkin’ about Willis” look and she said, “I’ll buy you your first robe.”

            Well, there it was. God speaking to me through someone else. Those words made my head spin. God really is listening not just to what we say, but what we think. I had thought about seminary and ministry but not seriously. Now here it was facing me. So, I went back to Hawaii and started talking with my chaplain and a pastor at my church. The question I asked the most, “Is this a call?” It was and here am I.

            Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the dramatic stories of people like Isaiah and his story of having hot coals put on his lip so that he can go out and speak God’s word that we think God only calls us when we hear a voice from heaven or some supernatural event occurs to wake us up to our destiny. People experience that and those stories are great to hear.

            However, I have discovered (not just through my story) that most people find their true calling through the ordinary and after many wrong turns, road blocks, miscommunications, and taking a different road than the GPS suggests. Both kinds of stories are worth telling and hearing. We need to hear them both. But, God works through ordinary people doing ordinary things. It’s because God is there in the story that it becomes extraordinary.

            We all have God calling us to do something. Maybe the call is so subtle we only catch faint whispers or see a shimmering figure in the distance that intrigues us. Pay attention to those moments and talk to your church community to help figure out what it all means.

            The other thing to remember is that God will prepare you for your calling. Isaiah, like many who speak God’s word felt unworthy. So, God purified him and showed him that he was worthy not only of God’s love and grace but also to be one to give that love and grace to the world.

            Nor does the call story end when you realize where you are headed. Isaiah’s story definitely didn’t end here, it only grew and, like us, there are moments when the call is confirmed. While we may not have an angelic vision for our call, we all have something to which God has called us to further the Kingdom. So, let us go forth looking in the ordinary events of our lives for where God has placed an extraordinary call.

            By the way, as I neared graduation from seminary I got two checks from the two women in Mount Pleasant that promised to pay for the robe. I had already ordered the robe and didn’t expect them to send me anything for graduation as I thought it was just God’s way of putting me on a path. The two checks came a day apart and together covered the cost of the robe, plus one cent.

Grace Finds A Way

Jonah 1:1-17, 3:1-10

“Grace Finds A Way”

06 November 2016 St. Andrew’s Military Chapel Singapore

            Jonah is a familiar story that captures our imagination for a variety of reasons. Danger lurks around every corner. The storm on the sea to get Jonah back on track. Jonah’s message of impending doom for an entire city. Jonah spending three days in the belly of a fish.

It’s also full of humanity in which we tend to see ourselves. Jonah slow rolling God so he doesn’t have to do a job he doesn’t like. Jonah playing telephone and proclaiming a different message than what God sent him to deliver. Jonah getting mad that sinners receive grace. Jonah oblivious to the fact that God was giving him as much grace as God provided Nineveh.

But, this is most definitely a tale about God’s grace, persistence, and purposes.

Nineveh is most likely located in present day Mosul, Iraq and Jaffa is located in the southern portion of present day Tel Aviv. Even today, there probably aren’t many people who would willingly go from Tel Aviv into war torn Mosul, even if it was to proclaim destruction to a city and a people of which you weren’t fond. It was dangerous in Jonah’s time and today Mosul is grabbing headlines as Iraqis are fighting to keep it out of the hands of ISIS.

Jonah, either because he doesn’t like the message or fears for his life, decides he doesn’t want to follow God’s command and tries to run and hide from God. And he tried to get as far away as possible from God. If we look at the Hebrew text we see that Jonah was told to rise up and go to Nineveh but he went “down” to Joppa, “down” to the ship and then down into the inside of the ship. No matter how far Jonah went to escape God, God was going to find him.

God sent a mighty wind to wake up Jonah, but he was dead asleep in the ship. Those of us who have sailed on the open sea know that it takes quite a large swell to get the salty dogs worried about the sea worthiness of their ship. And these sailors were afraid. I’m imagining waves over 20 feet (6 meters for our metric friends) and winds over 40 kts. The sailors were frantically calling upon their gods to calm the sea to no avail. Knowing that the foreigner’s god may be the one to save them, the captain pulls Jonah out of his slumber in a last ditch effort to calm the storm.

Jonah knows he’s the reason and offers to be thrown into the sea to save the ship. Sailors being sailors, they initially reject that offer because the law of the sea says you don’t leave someone alone and unafraid in the ocean if you have the means to pluck them from danger. So, the sailors furiously attempt to row back to shore. But, the storm only grew in intensity at that effort leading the sailors to finally relent and throw Jonah overboard where the tempest immediately calmed. The sailors needed no more convincing and made vows to God.

God uses Jonah’s running for God’s purposes and a ship full of sailors believes.

Jonah now goes down even farther in the belly of a fish. It’s as if God said to Jonah, “You want to get as far away from me as possible, here you go.” Three days later Jonah’s smelly submarine ride comes to an end, he’s spit out of the fish and washes up on dry land. He’s knows he has to make it to Nineveh and give them God’s word so he sets out for Nineveh.

Nineveh was the capital of Assyria and Assyria wasn’t known for being kind to Judeans. They would violently kill Judeans and they may have even paid their soldiers based on the number of Judeans they killed. So, Jonah has one more trick up his sleeve for God. If God wouldn’t let him avoid going to Nineveh, he was going to alter the message.

God told him to, “cry out against [Nineveh]; for their wickedness has come up before me.” Go and tell them God is displeased with what they have done and how they have treated God’s people. What Jonah tells Nineveh is, “forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”

When we get to chapter 4, we realize Jonah knew what was going to happen at Nineveh. All of his resistance wasn’t because he feared for his life or because he didn’t like God’s message. In fact, he probably wanted to proclaim against an enemy of Israel. He resisted because he knew that God’s grace would win out. He knew that God’s grace was there for the taking and it wouldn’t take much action on the part of Nineveh for God to pour out abundant grace on Jonah’s sworn enemies. So Jonah does everything in his power to keep God’s grace from those he doesn’t like, those he doesn’t think deserve God’s grace.

Sound familiar? If we don’t like God’s message of radical inclusion and grace, we change it a bit to suit our own theology and our own ends. Preachers proclaiming natural disasters come to certain countries and cities because of their behavior. Congregations excluding people for the way they look, the way they talk, their education, their political preferences, their spouses. Changing God’s message for our own ends isn’t new to our family of faith, we just need to recognize when it happens.

In this passage, God is showing Jonah in a very memorable way that God’s grace is universal and nothing will stop grace from showering even the darkest cultures with its brilliant light.

And this grace is usually delivered in surprising and ridiculous ways. From an Israelite to enemy territory. Being swallowed by a fish that would terrify most people to save someone from the terror of the sea. Just think back to the times in which you most vividly remember God’s grace in your life. It was probably delivered in a manner that not only defied expectations, but in a way you found ridiculous.

Grace also comes despite, and sometimes in spite of, our actions. Jonah still received God’s grace and love even after he ran and changed God’s message into one of despair and doom. God used Jonah’s misguided words and actions to the salvation of an entire city. Nineveh wasn’t exactly innocent either. Nor did they really do much to receive God’s grace. This story demonstrates that grace is available for those professing even the slightest slimmer of faith, faith the size of a mustard seed. Nor do we need to mention God to get people to believe. Not once did Jonah mention God to Nineveh and they still believed and repented.

God is at work in strange and mysterious ways and God’s grace will always find a way into our heart transforming us and those we meet.