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Archive for category: Justice

You are here: Home » Latest News » Justice

Remember Me

March 23, 2017
23 Mar 2017

Psalm 25
Of David.

1 In you, Lord my God,
    I put my trust.
2 I trust in you;
    do not let me be put to shame,
    nor let my enemies triumph over me.
3 No one who hopes in you
    will ever be put to shame,
  but shame will come on those
    who are treacherous without cause.
4 Show me your ways, Lord,
    teach me your paths.
5 Guide me in your truth and teach me,
    for you are God my Savior,
   and my hope is in you all day long.
6 Remember, Lord, your great mercy and love,
    for they are from of old.
7 Do not remember the sins of my youth
    and my rebellious ways;
  according to your love remember me,
    for you, Lord, are good.

Remember me.

It is as if to say: Think on me. Consider me and don’t forget. Keep me in your heart and mind.

But as others think of us, what are their thoughts? Do they think of us as kind, compassionate, generous, wise, humorous, loving? Or something else?

I have often noticed at funerals that we invoke the best memories and characteristics of those we care about. We dwell on those things which are good, and cover over that which is bad. It is love that allows for this pardoning perspective.

But God cannot cover over sin. In light of his perfect justice, we stand convicted in our wrongs. God is loving, to be sure. But just as certainly as God is loving, he is also righteous.

For this reason, asking God to remember us is risky business. How can we stand before him with hope in our hearts?

Only in this: we have a redeemer. Our good works cannot save us, but his will. He lived perfectly even though we haven’t. He gave his life so we might not loose ours. And now, when God remembers us, he remembers his Son.

So pray the words of David:

7 Do not remember the sins of my youth
and my rebellious ways;
according to your love remember me,
for you, Lord, are good.

And know this, that even the thief on the cross was bold to cry out: Remember me, when you come into your kingdom.

And Jesus did.

in Discipleship, General, Justice, Midweek Meditations /by Michael Middaugh

Three Ways Forgiveness Changes Us

February 17, 2016
17 Feb 2016

~by Pastor Mike Middaugh

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

This past Sunday, the first Sunday in Lent, we turned our attention to Jesus’ words from the Cross “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” These words, spoken by Jesus even as he was being crucified, are the defining mark of his ministry. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Our sinfulness drove God’s Messiah, our Savior, to the cross, and our sins were placed upon him as he was there. Yet, he looks down and sees the people below and with unbounding love and compassion seeks forgiveness for the multitude.

As we experience this forgiveness Jesus came to give it changes our lives in three ways:

A New Freedom

No longer does our sin have power over us…

“All of A.A.’s Twelve Steps ask us to go contrary to our natural desires” says Alcoholics Anonymous’ Big Book; “they all deflate our egos. When it comes to ego deflation, few Steps are harder to take than Five. But scarcely any Step is more necessary to longtime sobriety and peace of mind as this one.”

What is step five that A.A.’s co-founder and author of the Big Book considers so necessary? It is “admitting to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.” This step is so crucial because our wrongs weigh heavily upon our hearts. And this is not just true of wrongs associated with alcohol or any other substance, it is true for all the wrongs, sins, and shortcomings of our lives. True freedom is only found by acknowledging these things, and our inability to overcome them.

As we come to understand Jesus work upon the cross, part of our new reality and new life is realizing our new freedom. No longer does sin have control over us, no longer are we captive to the weight of our own failings. These have all been placed upon Jesus, and in his death, and ultimate victory of resurrection, our sins have been defeated.

For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. Romans 6:14

A New Future

Because of forgiveness our lives here and now can be different. No longer captive to sin or weighed down by the knowledge of our failings, we are freed to live a new life of hope. We are invited to embrace God’s design for his creation, living as he has called us. We are freed to fulfill our true callings. To care for creation, to contribute to society, to find joy in creative beauty.

Our new future is not contained to the here and now, not nearly. We are summoned to embrace a great hope for the life that is to come. A life free of failings, a life absent of longing, a life where sadness has been vanquished. The gift of forgiveness is a new hope. A hope that cannot fail us. We will be united with our God, our savior, the very Lord Jesus.

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Romans 8:32

A New Fellowship

We are freely forgiven, and now we are blessed to freely forgive. If we were not a people of forgiveness we might feel like it was our job to hold out forgiveness and “make others pay.” But, we have been forgiven. God alone is judge. As we have experienced mercy we are encouraged to be a merciful people.

This changes the nature of our fellowship. Grace defines how we now live, as a family, as a congregation, and as members of our society. They are to know we are Christians by our love. Forgiveness is loves prime display.

Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Colossians 3:13

 

If you would like to read a weekly lectionary reflection for the season of Lent, the Southeastern District has provided one HERE. Please note that Calvary will not be following the lectionary readings for the Sundays of Lent, therefore the readings listed will be different than our Sunday readings.

in Discipleship, Justice, Midweek Meditations /by Michael Middaugh

Things We are For and Not Against

August 12, 2015
12 Aug 2015
Sofiya Inger; 2006

Sofiya Inger; 2006

Following up on our Sunday for the City services, I thought I would include today a short narrative and poem that I think is a beautiful expression of the type of reconcilition (and forgiveness) we are ultimately called to as followers of Jesus. The poem was included at the end of our worship bulletin a couple of weeks ago, but in case you missed it, here is is again.

 

After the collapse of South Africa’s racist, apartheid regime, and then the miraculous rebirth of that nation, President Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, South African leaders, held a National Service of Thanksgiving on May 8, 1994. That day, Desmond Tutu led a litany of reconciliation. And this is what those worshipers said in 1994:

We struggled against one another:
  now we are reconciled to struggle for one another.
We believed it was right to withstand one another:
  now we are reconciled to understand one another.
We endured the power of violence:
  now we are reconciled to the power of tolerance.
We built irreconcilable barriers between us:
  now we seek to build a society of reconciliation.
We suffered a separateness that did not work:
  now we are reconciled to make togetherness work.
We tried to frighten each other into submission
  now we are reconciled to lift one another into fulfillment
We acknowledge the presence of Christ among us who reconciles the world.

(South African national service of Thanksgiving).

in Justice, Midweek Meditations, Missions /by Michael Middaugh

“Leaf, by Niggle”

August 5, 2015
05 Aug 2015

leaf by niggle

~by Pastor Mike Middaugh

As we consider a call to care for the city, to seek justice, peace, and good for those therein, we may feel like our efforts, or even our prayers don’t make much difference. We usually don’t see the immediate result of these sorts of actions, certainly the city seems to just move along as normal. And even when we try, when we really work at it, and feel like a job was worthwhile, or a day’s work was worth the effort, it may always seem like there is more to do. It might seem like no one notices the beauty, grace or fruitfulness we are trying to bring into the world.

So today I would like to share a story. One of my very favorites. Some of you may have heard it, or remember me referencing it before, but I think it is one of the best reminders of why we do our work, and why, as God’s people, we hope to bring good into the world, through our work, through our prayers, and through our actions.

This story, though a summarization of the original, is a bit long, but I promise it is worth reading. And, the next time you find yourself wondering or questioning the work that you do, or the unfinished beauty you attempt to create, just think of this little story.


When J. R. R. Tolkien was in the middle of writing The Lord of the Rings, he came to an impasse. In his mind he held a grand story unlike anything else in contemporary literature. Tolkien himself was a leading scholar in Old English and other ancient Northern European languages, and held a fascination for the nearly-lost ancient British myths that included elves, dwarves, giants, and sorcerers.

Tolkien’s project, the Lord of the Rings, was a modern day re-creation and re-imagining of these ancient myths. It was a monumental work that required envisioning at least the rudimentary elements of several imaginary languages and cultures, as well as thousands of years of various national histories for the fictional characters – all of this in order to give the narrative the depth and realism that Tolkien believed necessary for it to be compelling.

At a certain point in writing this story, and trying to effectively weave together all the various characters and elements, he became overwhelmed. Not only that, but World War II had begun and Tolkien feared a possible invasion of his British homeland.

He began to despair of ever completing the work of his life. It was not just a labor of a few years at that point. When he began The Lord of the Rings, he had already been working on the languages, histories, and stories behind the story for decades. The thought of not finishing it was “a dreadful and numbing thought.” It was then that he woke up one morning with a short story in his mind, and wrote it down. It was a story about a painter whose name was Niggle – a word that means “to work. . . in a fiddling or ineffective way . . . to spend time on unnecessary or petty details” (Oxford English Dictionary).

Tolkien himself was a perfectionist. One who was more likely to fuss over less-important details, thereby becoming distracted from larger more-important issues. Niggle was the same.

We are also told that Niggle “had a long journey to make. He did not want to go, indeed the whole idea was distasteful to him; but he could not get out of it.” And so Niggle continually put the journey off, but he knew it was inevitable. (A “long journey” likely represents death.)

Niggle had one picture in particular that he was working to paint. He had developed in his mind’s eye the image of a leaf, and beyond that a whole tree. Beyond the tree “a country began to open out; and there were glimpses of a forest marching over the land, and of mountains tipped with snow.”

Niggle lost interest in all his other pictures, and in order to accommodate his vision, he laid out a canvas so large he needed a ladder. Niggle knew he was going to die, but he told himself, “At any rate, I shall get this one picture done, my real picture, before I have to go on that wretched journey.”

So he worked on his canvas, “putting in a touch here, and rubbing out a patch there,” but he never got very far. There were two reasons for this. First, it was because he was the “sort of painter who can paint leaves better than trees. He used to spend a long time on a single leaf, . . .” trying to get the shading and the sheen and the dewdrops on it just right. So no matter how hard he worked, very little actually showed up on the canvas itself. The second reason was his “kind heart.” Niggle was regularly distracted by the needs of his neighbors. In particular, his neighbor Parish, who did not appreciate Niggle’s painting at all, asked him to do many things for him.

One night when Niggle senses, rightly, that his time is almost up, Parish insists that he go out into the wet and cold to fetch a doctor for his sick wife. As a result Niggle himself comes down with a chill and fever, and while working desperately on his unfinished picture, the Driver comes to take Niggle on the journey he has been avoiding. When he realizes he must go, he bursts into tears. “‘Oh, dear!’ said poor Niggle, beginning to weep, ‘And it’s not even finished!’”

At some point after his death, those who acquired Niggle’s house noticed on his crumbling canvas his only “one beautiful leaf” had remained intact. It was put in the Town Museum, “and for a long while ‘Leaf: by Niggle’ hung there in a recess, and was noticed by a few eyes.”

But the story does not end there. After death Niggle is put on a train toward the mountains of the heavenly afterlife. At one point on his trip he hears two Voices. One seems to be Justice, the severe voice, which says that Niggle wasted so much time and accomplished so little in life. But the other, gentler voice (“though it was not soft”), which seems to be Mercy, counters that Niggle has chosen to sacrifice for others, knowing what he was doing.

As a reward, when Niggle gets to the outskirts of the heavenly country, something catches his eye. He runs to it—and there it is: “Before him stood the Tree, his Tree, finished; its leaves opening, its branches growing and bending in the wind that Niggle had so often felt or guessed, and yet had so often failed to catch. He gazed at the Tree, and slowly he lifted his arms and opened them wide. ‘It is a gift!’ he said.”

The world before death—his old country—had forgotten Niggle almost completely, and there his work had ended unfinished and helpful to only a very few. But in his new country, the permanently real world, he finds that his tree, in full detail and finished, was not just a fancy of his that had died with him. No, it was indeed part of the True Reality that would live and be enjoyed forever.


Tolkien’s own short story apparently helped him quite a bit. After writing “Leaf, by Niggle” Tolkien was able to get back to work and finish The Lord of the Rings.

We too can take comfort in the fact that the work we do here and now, while never complete, can still be known in a timeless way. The good we are able to bring about can have an effect beyond this life. Whatever we may work for, whether justice or peace, brilliance or beauty, order, healing, or joy, those things are real. We may only get a glimpse or a shadow of them now, but those things are a faint echo of the true reality that is to come.

Knowing this allows us to stay strong in the midst of setbacks, and to avoid pride when we achieve success. We work and pray and hope and create, and not just for this world, but with the knowledge of the next.

in Faith and Work, General, Justice, Midweek Meditations, Missions /by Michael Middaugh

Sundays for the City

July 30, 2015
30 Jul 2015

From the beginning God has granted humankind the ability to create and build up, to design and develop order where none existed before. The result of this creative gift is what we know as culture, society and today more than ever before – great cities. However, our cities, as beautiful and productive as they may be, also suffer the consequences of sin. Violence is real, economic barriers arise, and oppression is often present.

On two Sunday in August, the 2nd and the 9th we will spend time in prayer for our cities and ask God to bring about peace where there is violence, plenty where there is hardship, and unity where there are divides. We ask him to make us instruments of peace and reconciliation.
sunday-for-the-city

in General, Justice, Missions /by Michael Middaugh

God of this City

July 29, 2015
29 Jul 2015

city sunset

~by Pastor Mike Middaugh

Beginning with the Old Testament prophets, God’s future redeemed world is portrayed as a city. In Revelation 21-22 which points to the ultimate fulfillment of God’s creative and restorative work, we see that the result is indeed a city containing walls, gates, and streets. For those of you who love our modern cities and their conveniences, this may be an ideal future. For those longing for more space and predictability than our cities often allow, just know that the great city of God will be far better than any city of of our wold today.

Revelation shows that God’s holy city will go far beyond even the best aspects of our cities, yet it will have none of the negatives. In fact, the city of God seems to perfectly balance the glorious benefits of human destiny and diversity with all the beauty and peace of nature. This city will be more of a garden-city, depicted as having a crystal river flowing through the middle, bordered on both sides with the “tree of life” (Revelation 21:1-3). With sin and evil having been vanquished God’s people will finally thrive in peace and productivity (Revelation 18).

As one of the Bible’s greatest surprises, this city is not new, but is, in fact, the same garden we see in Genesis. Yet God has worked and cultivated it, expanding it to be the garden-city of God, the dwelling place for his renewed creation.

Why is this important? In the beginning God directed Adam and Eve to “rule over” the earth (Genesis 1:28). This is an aspect of bearing God’s image – that humankind should, like God, take up the work of cultivating and ordering the created world, not just as busyness, but for a purpose. It is an invitation to create culture, beauty, and abundance where none existed before. Gardening is the original human vocation, and a gardener neither leaves the ground as is, nor does he destroy it. It is reordered for a purpose.

“It is an invitation to create culture, beauty, and abundance where none existed before.”

In the same way we are still called to take up this work today. We have a hand in cultivating our communities, in producing for the good of others, and in maintaining order so that all might thrive. Of course we know this work is hindered by the effects of sin. The order we create does not stay in place for long. Our world suffers decay, brokenness, and injustice, and our urban areas feel this the most.

Our cities are beautiful places, still reflective of God’s original design. They contain diversity, innovation, and creativity. Yet they are also plagued by violence, racial tension, finite resources, and oppression. As Christian people, who long for the perfect order and peace of God’s holy city, we still have work to do here. We continue to be invited and called into God’s great plan of redemption and as we live our lives in light of Jesus saving work we become light to the world like a city on a hill.

Over the next two weeks, August 2nd and August 9th, we will be joining with the Southeastern District and area congregations to pray for our cities and the needs faced by all within. We ask God to give the peace that only comes from knowing him, and to make us his instruments for bringing about reconciliation, mercy and hope. Our worship services on these two Sundays will be filled with special music and prayers so that we might reflect on God’s creating work, and to seek his hand in bringing about peace and freedom from affliction so that his people might live in harmony. We seek God’s help, even as we await the final day when we will dwell with him in his holy city.

“We seek God’s help, even as we await the final day when we will dwell with him in his holy city.”

in Justice, Midweek Meditations, Missions /by Michael Middaugh

Loving Your Neighbor in an Age of Isolation

January 14, 2015
14 Jan 2015

metro-network2~by Pastor Mike Middaugh

As Sandi and Scarlett and I traveled home after seeing each of our families during the Christmas break we carted with us what seemed like half of our earthly belongings: 1 large suitcase, 2 small suitcases, 1 car-seat base, 1 car-seat, 1 stroller, 1 laptop bag, and 1 diaper bag. Oh, and a sometimes screaming, sometimes giggling, and always unpredictable 14 month old toddler.

So it was at the end of our trip that we slowly managed all these items off a plane, through the airport, and on and off the metro, arriving home at the Columbia Heights stop only to find the elevator “out of service.” Trying to figure out how to deal with this we ultimately decided to take as much as we could, stroller and baby included, up the escalator, leaving one lonely bag unattended at the bottom. As I rode the escalator up I looked back to our abandoned bag hoping no one would take it, or worse, report it as suspicious. As I did, I was surprised to see a Latino man who must have seen our plight waving, and offering to bring it up behind me. I graciously accepted and then awkwardly told him thank you when he met me at the platform on top.

A random act of kindness. A gesture of generosity. A moment of shared human empathy, because really, we have all been in situations where we just needed a hand.

It is amazing what something like that can do. A little kindness can bring a smile and some peace to a stressful situation. That man’s thoughtfulness certainly made our walk home a little brighter even as we stepped out of the station and into the rain.

As we go about our lives today with our technology in hand, our headphones in our ears, the busyness of our lives, and our tendency to quickly think “i don’t want to get involved,” we are at risk of becoming more and more isolated from one another. Strangely, it seems that the larger the city and the bigger the crowd the more self involved and introverted we become. This is a dangerous cycle – the more isolated we are, the more distrustful and standoffish we tend to be, and the more isolated we become.

As Christians, living in the midst of all of this, are we living up to Jesus’ commission to love our neighbors? Is it even possible to really love our neighbor as we go through the bustle of our days? And if we were to take the time to love our neighbors, all of those in need throughout our day, would we actually get anything else done? I guess that might be a worthwhile challenge to pursue.

I would argue that doing our best to love our neighbors is still a battle worth fighting. Maybe more so than ever before. In that moment when I needed a kindness from my neighbor that man on the escalator was there to help. He and I may not share the same language, and our backgrounds might be wildly different, but in that moment something worthwhile was exchanged between the two of us. He did something nice. I said thank you. A little trust was built, a connection was experienced, and perhaps most importantly, it made me think about whether I would have done the same for him. His gesture was a teaching moment and something that stuck with me.

I believe Jesus’ command to love our neighbor might have far greater implications that it seems on the surface. Yes, it is the right thing to do, as Jesus taught, but when we love and care for someone else, a bridge is built and a connection is experienced. We are actually drawn toward them as we care for them. People on both sides of the process often grow and, even if in very small ways, they momentarily become the better for it.

There are too many things that separate us today. Especially as news of terrorism and violence scroll across our screens, and trusting others is sometimes hard, we need to be reminded and shown that we have much in common. We need to constantly remind ourselves and teach our hearts that we are called to follow Jesus, and that means loving as Jesus loved. The first step in doing this is to simply extend ourselves, to go out of our way for someone else. No, we shouldn’t take on undo risk, but sometimes that is just an excuse. Small gestures do matter, little acts of kindness often aren’t little.

When fully lived out, loving our neighbor means not just doing nice things here and there, but rather it is being led by Jesus as we become his hands and feet at work, caring for the whole person, whoever that may be, desiring the best for them, and doing what we can to see that through.

in Discipleship, General, Justice /by Michael Middaugh

A Few Thoughts on Ferguson

August 20, 2014
20 Aug 2014

-by Pastor Mike Middaugh

prayer for peaceLeading up to this Sunday’s message my wife, Sandi, asked if I was going to say anything about the events taking place in Ferguson, Missouri. I said “no, not directly” and she said “why not?”

That got me thinking, why have I shied away (whether consciously or unconsciously) from saying anything on this topic so far? I think the answer is twofold.

The first part of the answer is simple – over the past week anyone who has watched TV, scrolled through social media, or read a newspaper has been inundated with both facts and opinions about the events in Ferguson. I guess I wonder at times if anyone wants to hear anything more about current events when we are so saturated by coverage of these topics.

The second part of the answer is far more complex, and one that I confess in love and vulnerability. I, and I believe a lot of other white pastors, leaders, and writers, tend to convince ourselves that it is not our place to talk about racial issues. For me, I think this is because I know what I don’t know. I know that I don’t know what if feels like to grow up in a black community, and because of privilege, I grew up unaware of racial disparity even as it existed in my community. I know that I don’t know what it feels like to be a minority or to be racially profiled by others. And I know that I don’t know what it feels like to be a black young man growing up with odds stacked against me because of my skin color, or what it is like to be a black father who has to sit his boys down to have that other “talk.”

But now let me pick apart my own two reasons for being silent.

When we remain silent about an injustice for long enough, we may even convince ourselves that it doesn’t exist. Over the past few years some public voices have even gone so far as to say that we live in a post-racial America. But we have to remember that even if we don’t personally see or feel racism, it doesn’t mean it isn’t there. If anything, this is certainly what the recent video footage of tear gas and rubber bullets, protest signs and prayer vigils should teach us — that racism and disunity, in all their many forms, are certainly not gone. The need for reconciliation continues to be great.

So what if we say nothing because we think it has all been said? One thing that makes having this conversation in the church an imperative is the Gospel. If there is any one place that racism, anger, distrust, and our own inner weaknesses should be discussed, it is Christian community. News anchors will continue to report, bloggers will write, and experts will be called forth to give commentary, but what’s missing from all of these sources is vulnerability, accountability, and community around the Gospel.

Christianity community, the Church, should be the safe place where these topics can be discussed. It should be the place where we seek to be made into better people, more whole, and more empathetic to each other’s various heartaches, because as part of the church we know one another and we are known. And while community and personal connectedness are vital for being made into better, more compassionate neighbors, it is really the Gospel that is our greatest hope for overcoming discrimination and our own shortcomings in loving one another.

So, may we endeavor to have these conversations with one another in the best, most forgiving, and loving ways possible. And together as the church, may we pray, as people under the cross, seeking the Lord for racial reconciliation.

in Justice, Midweek Meditations /by Michael Middaugh

Praying for Peace

June 11, 2014
11 Jun 2014

-by Pastor Mike Middaugh

Yesterday and today militant forces moved through northern Iraq overtaking the city of Mosul and advancing on Tikrit, which lies 95 miles north of Baghdad. As many as 500,000 of civilians living in the region have fled the cities to escape the conflict.

500,000. That’s a lot of people. Like 5/6ths of everyone living in D.C. proper, or more than the entire city of Little Rock and its suburbs where I grew up.

The temptation for us may be to think that this is “business as usual” in the oft war-torn region. Unfortunately, we have become desensitized because we see headlines like these so often: “Further Unrest in Ukraine”, “Karachi Airport Attacked by Gunmen”, “Nigerian Women Taken”. When these events aren’t personal, when they don’t affect our day-to-day, we sometimes fail to consider that these are people’s lives – no one wants to flee their city because of violence, even if they have had to before.

The situation in Iraq became personal to me a few days ago. When Scarlett’s babysitter arrived in the morning she asked me to pray for her home country. She and her family, Christians, and members of the Syriac Orthodox Church, moved from northern Iraq to the U.S. a little over two years ago. They were seeking safety and also good medical treatment for a daughter with Leukemia. I felt guilty telling her I would certainly pray, but that I didn’t know what was happening in Iraq. Our news outlets had not yet begun to focus on the story.

But as I listened to her talk, tears in her eyes, the situation became personal. I was suddenly connected to her people, members of her church back home, and relatives whose peaceful lives had been disrupted. This has led me to think again about how Christians are called to seek peace in the world and how we should, but don’t always, react upon hearing about violence.

We are called to pray for Peace. Praying for peace is sometimes hard because we mistake it for being passive. We may think of it as an empty gesture when we say we will pray for a situation or source of pain. But prayer, true prayer, is anything but passive. In actuality it is calling on the hand of the almighty and eternal God. The Bible tells us that when our prayers align with his will we are tapping into an incredible power. We also know that our God desperately wants peace in the world (so much that he gave his Son to die for it) and that when we pray for peace we are honoring his heart and his desires. But don’t mistake God’s desperation for passivity. God is at work in the world, and while in some situations he may be bidding his time, he is never inactive.

We are called to hurt when others hurt. We can never hope to do this perfectly. I will drive home at the end of the work day today, watch some TV this evening, and go to bed fully expecting my world to be intact tomorrow. I cannot begin know what it is like to flee your home because of violence, to not know where safety can be found. But even though we can never fully understand, we are called to hurt when others hurt. We experience this when someone in our church loses a spouse, gets sick, or is laid-off. Likewise we are called to experience a small piece of the pain of others, to consider their situation, rather than ignoring it, even when it is distant. All people are people God has made and whom he loves quite dearly. We have a common human bond, and with other Christians we share a tie even deeper, stronger than any national border, language or culture.

We are called to help when and where we are able. What can we do for those in Iraq? Probably not too much. But I can support Scarlett’s babysitter and her family and keep asking how things are. I can show her that I care, perhaps finding a small gesture of love and compassion for her and her loved ones. And while we cannot do much in some situations, there are many where we can. There are people all around us we can help out, lift up, and love. We cannot help in every situation, but we can help in some. In the other, more distant conflicts, we can pray for peace, pray for the Christian Church in those regions to be a force for good and for reconciliation, we can consider our own situation, being more thankful for what we have and less greedy for what we don’t.

We are fortunate to live in a country and time of relative peace. But that peace can make us lazy. It can make us presumptive, taking for granted what we have. Let us as Christians extend our sympathy and concern, our prayers and our help, for the many places and times when peace is not known.

in Justice, Midweek Meditations /by Michael Middaugh

3 False Gospels: Lessons from the Beatitudes

January 29, 2014
29 Jan 2014

-By Pastor Mike Middaugh

beatitudes“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
     for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
    for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst,
    for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
    for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
    for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

You will recognize the quoted lines above as being the Beatitudes taught by Jesus.  This famous teaching comes at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5.  In the Beatitudes, which mean “saying of supreme blessedness”, Jesus lays out the norms of the Kingdom for his followers.  From this teaching I think we can identify three false gospels of our culture (and our hearts) which may offer short term happiness, but will never bring eternal joy.

1. Wealth

How many of us, if we are being honest, would not want more money?  How many of us know that we truly have a lot, and yet still we wish for more?  We are trained by our culture, and by the creeping greed of our hearts, to always want more and to never feel like we truly are rich. One reason for this is because we know how much some others have.  There is always finer clothing in stores other people shop at, a nicer car parked in someone else’s driveway, or a larger house in pictures we have seen.

But the Beatitudes teach that true blessing is given to the content and to those poor in spirit.  It is true that even the wealthy can be humble, even the rich can be meek, but often, the more we have, the more it consumes us.  Blessed are the poor in spirit for they will inherit the kingdom of heaven.

2. Comfort

How much of our time and money is spent on making sure we are comfortable?  We may not have ever had to go without eating because there simply was no money, we may not have ever known what it means to not have a place to sleep.  However, in many parts of the world, and for much of human history, basic needs are not always a given.  By and large we are comfortable in a basic sense, and yet we often spend even more energy making sure every imaginable want is met to the point that our issue is overeating, over drinking and over-lounging to the deficit of our own health.

The promise of the kingdom is not that we will always know comfort now.  We should never expect to get everything we want, this is true when it comes to sickness, disease and loss as well.  There will be days that we struggle through this life.  But the promise of the Beatitudes is that we are blessed by God as we look to him for help in the middle of discomfort.  Blessed are those who mourn, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be comforted.

3. Power and Fame 

True, power and fame could have been listed separately, but in our culture they are often connected.  It has never been easier than today to become famous (think youtube and viral media), and there has also never been so much power wielded by so few.  Power and fame are often the desires of our hearts.  We want to rise to the top.  We want to know we matter.  We envy those who seem to have it all and who can control so much of this world.

Yet we follow one who is known for having nothing.  The most famous man in all of history had no home, no bank account, no army, and no one by his side when he died.  He became isolated and alone as he took the punishment for the evil in our hearts.  He is well-known now, but for a time no one wanted to know him.  We should expect that our lives might not be easy, that we might not be the envy of the world. But the promise of the Beatitudes is blessing to those who are meek, hope for those who are merciful, and joy for those who are peacemakers.

Blessed are those whose hope is in the Lord.  True riches, true comfort and true power are found in him.

in Discipleship, General, Justice, Midweek Meditations /by Michael Middaugh
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