An Unspoken Sermon: Riff On A Refrain

I have formed the habit of posting a message on Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus each Sunday: "Your sins are forgiven. That is all. Spread the word!"

I intend to keep doing so until I no longer can.

But...

There ain't no free lunch.

"Free" just means, "Paid for by somebody else."

I've experienced enough "free" to know that when something comes that way, the most appropriate single response is gratitude. And sometimes that's the ONLY appropriate response. Sometimes, "Thanks!" is all that needs to be said.

At other times, nothing needs to be said, but something needs to be done. Some demonstration of gratitude.

So today I will add, in keeping with the season, that the forgiveness of our sins is free for us because Jesus paid for it with his life.

From the minute we believe that, our lives should be suffused with gratitude towards both the Father and the Son, a gratitude that flows from the Spirit, and is bigger than every fear, bigger than every resentment, bigger than every sorrow.

If you aren't there yet, know that you can be, by growing your gratitude. Remember every day that your sins are forgiven, and thank both Father and Son every day for that fact. If you do nothing else on any given day, do that: speak gratitude.

Want to grow your gratitude further? Learn more about what God has done beyond forgiving your sins, like giving you (already, not in the future) every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms (yes, the Bible actually says that. Want to have your mind blown completely? Read the first three chapters of Ephesians in one sitting.).

Then, if you do only one other thing every day, do this: act from gratitude. Having chosen to be grateful, let gratitude govern your other choices: "Because of what Jesus has done for me, I now choose to do x (rather than y or z - which I might have done if it were just about me)."

In short, as people who share the life of the resurrected Christ, let our expression of that life begin with gratitude for that life. At the very least, speaking gratitude and acting from gratitude will strengthen our bonds to God Himself, and make us less subject to the willy-nilly of our other emotions.

Beyond that, who knows? Maybe the people we care about who do not yet believe will find it much easier to do so, when every Christian they know shows gratitude for being forgiven.

Three Priorities In Action: 1 - Encouraging the Body of Christ

In January, I declared three personal priorities for the rest of my life, the first of which was, "encouraging the Body of Christ." I said that one way that I want to do that is by gathering people - first, neighbors on Race Street, then residents from all of Homewood - for a recitation of Paul's letter to the Epheisans.

On April 2, I emailed 17 people on Race Street an invitation to "An Evening in Ephesus." On Saturday, April 5, I dropped off printed copies of the invitation at 77 addresses.

Three people responded - two of them to say that it sounded interesting to them, but they wouldn't make it.

Saturday, the 12th, I recited/performed Ephesians for my wife and one other person.

I had explained to Janet at length the night before that I had not expected any particular number of people to respond - that I was maintaining a "Do it, and see" stance. And I don't think that having only one guest affected my proclamation of Ephesians that much. But it did totally throw off the discussion that I had planned afterward: instead of talking about the questions, "How has this evening affected your view of Jesus Christ? Of yourself? Of your fellow believers?" and "What do you believe God wants to do with the people in this room?", we talked about "How can we get a larger audience for this?"

That question was theirs, not mine. I had no apparent success in conveying the idea that how many people hear it is less important than how they hear it. Maybe I need to highlight the idea that the outcome, in terms of attendance, is up to God. The question is not, "How many people can we get to see/hear this?" - it's "Which people do You want to see/hear this?"

Anyway, the Race Street piece is done. I may do it once more on Monticello Street, as a neighbor there has expressed an interest in having me do it at her place. And I intend, still, to do it in some larger venue, for anyone in Homewood wishes to attend. And I might preserve that presentation on video.

Beyond that, we'll see.

Three Priorities For 2014: Closing Thoughts

It has been a couple of weeks now since I wrote the last entry in this series. I was avoiding this, and am not sure why. I think I was afraid that reviewing the whole thing would leave me feeling overwhelmed. But I just did that, and it didn't. There's good stuff here; stuff that deserves hard, smart work.

"For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to devote ourselves to the good deeds for which God has designed us."

That's Ephesians.

Closing thoughts? Only that I want to live in a way that invites others to come along, and then makes them glad they did.

As God grants me focus, it will be one heck of a ride.

***************
Three Priorities: The Complete Series
Three Priorities For 2014 - And Beyond
Three Priorities For 2014: 1 - Encouraging The Body Of Christ
Three Priorities For 2014: 2- Growing Businesses.
Three Priorities For 2014: 2.5 - Why Build Businesses?
Three Priorities For 2014: 2 - Growing Businesses - Legal Shield
Three Priorities For 2014: 2 - Growing Businesses - Homewood Capital Partners
Three Priorities For 2014: 2 - Growing Businesses - Luminaria Productions
Three Priorities For 2014: 3 - Redeveloping Race Street
Three Priorities For 2014: Closing Thoughts

Notes Toward A True Gospel Of Prosperity

I haven't decided yet whether to make this an essay, a book, a video, or an outline for a discussion group. But while I'm figuring that out, fell free to rattle these bones:

1. God is infinite. 
2. God is generous.
3. God created the material world to reflect His infinitude through abundance.
4. God gave humans the capacity, and the mandate, to manage abundance for greater abundance.
5. Sin has made everything harder, but there is still enough of everything we need for everyone.
6. When the Holy Spirit quickens faith in Jesus Christ, humans receive the life of God in all its fullness.
7. God really, really wants to use His people to show off.
8. Christians in particular should manifest the wisdom of God in cultivating the abundance of creation, and the generosity of God in distributing that abundance.
9. Christians are to provide for themselves, their households, their extended families, fellow members of the ecclesia and the poor generally.

That's my view. What's yours?

Three Priorities For 2014 - And Beyond

My mini-bio at the right ends with the slogan, "Christ, commerce, community." Those three words distill so much of my life and so much of what I want to do that my thinking about my priorities for 2014 has come down to three categories of action, related to those three words.

Given my beliefs, abilities, interests, position and location, it seems that as of now, the best uses of Elwin Green in Homewood will be:

• Encouraging fellow members of the Body of Christ,
• Growing businesses, and
• Redeveloping Race Street

Christ, commerce, community.

Theoretically, I could do an infinitude of other things - or at least, try to, venturing limitlessly into other areas. But those three are enough to occupy me, perhaps for the rest of my life (indeed, I intend to have the first two occupy me for the rest of my life, wherever I am. I expect some variation of the third to do so also, as I expect to remain on Race Street for the rest of my life; but that is less certain than the first two).

Christ, commerce, community.

Why write a blog post about this, rather than just noting it in my journal? Because all three of those priorities will require considerable involvement by other people, and because for all I know someone reading this may want to be involved.

Over the next week or so, I will outline specific projects and processes related to each category of action. So come back tomorrow if you'd like to learn how I plan to encourage the Body of Christ in Homewood in 2014.

Christ, commerce, community.

So let it be written. So let it be done.

*******************
Three Priorities: The Complete Series
Three Priorities For 2014 - And Beyond
Three Priorities For 2014: 1 - Encouraging The Body Of Christ
Three Priorities For 2014: 2- Growing Businesses.
Three Priorities For 2014: 2.5 - Why Build Businesses?
Three Priorities For 2014: 2 - Growing Businesses - Legal Shield
Three Priorities For 2014: 2 - Growing Businesses - Homewood Capital Partners
Three Priorities For 2014: 2 - Growing Businesses - Luminaria Productions
Three Priorities For 2014: 3 - Redeveloping Race Street
Three Priorities For 2014: Closing Thoughts

If I Were A Pastor, I Would Not Preach Today. Instead, I Would Say This.

Good morning, brothers and sisters.

I am not going to preach this morning. Instead, I am going to ask all of you to join me in an experiment.

For the next 30 days, I would like all of us together to play, "Let's Pretend."

To begin the experiment, I ask you to put away your Bibles, your notebooks, and your pens or pencils. You won't need to read anything or take any notes for the next few minutes. Just get comfortable, and prepare to listen.

Okay, now close your eyes for a moment, and imagine that it is no longer January of 2014. Travel into the future. Five years...ten years...maybe even 20 years...

Many changes have occurred - in technology, in business, in politics.

One of the biggest changes has been the replacement of several members of the Supreme Court. And today, as I take the pulpit, it is not to preach, but to speak regardings two rulings that have come from the Court in recent months.

Now open your eyes, and let's pretend.

Good morning, sisters and brothers.

The recent months have been a difficult and confusing time for many of us, as we have sought to understand two rulings issued by the Supreme Court of the United States.

I am not going to preach this morning. Instead, I am going to try, as briefly and simply as possible, to help everyone understand what these rulings mean for us, right here, right now.

First, the Supreme Court has ruled that if government shows favor to churches, it helps to establish churches. Therefore, exempting churches from paying real estate taxes violates the establishment clause of the Constitution.

This means that churches must now pay real estate taxes.

More than that, the Court made the ruling retroactive, requiring churches to pay so many years' of back taxes by a certain deadline.

We have missed that deadline, and the government has taken possession of our building. It is now their building.

We can't meet here any more.

In a second decision, the Court has defined - some would say created - a right to non-proselytization, meaning that the non-religious have a right not to be preached to in public. To protect that right, the Court has prohibited public gatherings of a religious nature. They have defined a public gathering as any meeting of more than four people in a public space. 

This ruling on gatherings hinges on the distinction between public and private space. The Court has said that religion is a private matter, to be practiced in private. Therefore, while no more than four people may gather in public for religious purposes, people may hold religious meetings of any size in their homes.

I hope you understand now why I am not preaching a sermon this morning. These edicts are already in effect, and if I preached, every man, woman and child here would be taken to jail.

Therefore, you are dismissed. Go, and live your faith.

That is the end of the message, and of the first step in the experiment.

For the next step of the experiment, you ARE dismissed. On your way out, each of you will receive a printed summary of the rules under which we will operate for the next 30 days, namely:

1. We cannot meet in this building,
2. Any meeting in any public space must be limited to four people, and
3. We may hold meetings of any size in our homes.

Now go, and live your faith.

*****************************

If your church went through this experiment, what results might it produce?

PASTORS: Feel free to steal this - but if you do, please let us know how it goes! Thanks!

Rediscovered: An Ecstasy Remembered

My office occupies one of two attic rooms on the third floor of our house. The other attic room has accumulated God-alone-knows-what-all for a decade or more, and about a week ago I followed the impulse to start clearing out stuff that all reason says will never be used and no longer has value.

In the process, I am rediscovering long-ignored things that do have some value, including a journal from a time when I journaled sporadically.

Here's an entry from that journal, written at 6:30 am on Wednesday, December 5, 2001 (inspired by a device used by David Bradley in "The Chaneysville Incident," I headed each entry with a timestamp).

0630120501WE
I saw this one day while I was in the tub. I was not sleeping, so it wasn't a dream; but I dare not call it a vision. It was simply something I saw.
I saw my life as a single thing. All of my past experiences, my present moment, and everything I do in the future were part of this one thing. From birth to death, it was all contained in a single strand of light.
The strand of light was no longer than a piece of thread, but as I watched, it grew even smaller, as if I were backing away from it. As it grew smaller, I saw more of its surroundings. But I saw those surroundings as I'd never seen anything before, for I saw both space and time. I saw not only the earth upon which I lived, but I saw times before my life and times after.
The strand of light continued to shrink - I saw stars and galaxies, and I saw millenia and eons. And the stars and galaxies shank, and the millenia and eons shrank, until I felt that I was beholding the entire creation and all of time, as a single thing. And as a part of that thing, my strand of light was so infinitesmal that it was barely visible.
Then creation itself, and all of time, shrank, and I saw it all enclosed in a crystalline globe, which was resting in the palm of a lady's hand. Not just a woman's hand; a Lady's hand. And I realized that I was viewing creation itself, and all of time, from that Lady's point of view - that I was looking through Her eyes. And I knew that, while She saw all of creation and all of time, She was looking at that tiny, tiny strand of light.
Then it became clear that I was not only looking through the Lady's eyes, but that I was somehow part of Her, for I found myself sensing Her movement, feeling Her emotion, and sharing Her thought. As we gazed upon that miniscule filament of light, I sensed a smile coming across Her face, and I smiled with Her; and I felt Her sense of amusement as She and I shared this thought:
"To think that I once considered THIS to be my life!"
Thus the hallucination, for want of a better word, ended; and here my telling of it ends, for I have nothing to add.

Remembering that challenges me never to forget.

Do I need to say that the Lady is the ecclesia, the Bride of Christ? Okay, then; I have.