Do No Harm

Do No Harm
July 21, 2024
Galatians 5:13-15, Proverbs 3:28-29

You were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only don’t let this freedom be an opportunity to indulge your selfish impulses, but serve each other through love.  All the Law has been fulfilled in a single statement: Love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour each other, be careful that you don’t get eaten up by each other!

Galatians 5:13-15 (CEB)

Don’t plan to harm your neighbor who trusts and lives near you.

Proverbs 3:29 (CEB)

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John Wesley, in his instructions to all those desirous of salvation, explained that the evidence of their
sincerity was "First, by doing no harm, by avoiding evil of every kind, especially that which is most
generally practiced ..." (Book of Discipline 2000, ¶103, p. 73). Even before listing good things to do, Wesley began by listing harmful things to avoid doing. There is a powerful lesson for Christian leaders in this instruction — as valuable as good works may be, it is even more valuable to avoid those things that might harm others or destroy the foundation of trust of the congregation. 

~ excerpt from UMC Discipleship

In theory, the idea of doing no harm seems simple. 

Perhaps that’s why Bishop Reuben Job calls it the first of “Three Simple Rules.”  It’s simple because in general, we do not seek to do harm to others.  We don’t usually try to hurt people.  At the same time, we know the reality that it is often the people who are closest to us that we hurt the most, often without even realizing it. 

Consider a few of the ways we commonly do harm to others without necessarily intending it:

1. Gossip - We all have opinions and easily find fault with other people, but it is far to easy to talk “about” those people rather than talking “to” them or “with” them. 

2. Unfair Criticism - It is so easy to criticize someone for not living up to our expectations, but in truth, we have no idea what is going on  in their lives.  Scripture calls us to turn our criticism into encouragement to build one another up in the Lord.

3. Rumors - similar to gossip, rumors or mis-information is widespread in our culture.  Even fact checkers have been challenged as false when they don’t line up with “what we have heard” or “what we already think.”  As Christians, we must be far more discerning about the information we spread, especially when it is about someone else.

4. Respectful discourse even in disagreement - As much as we may want to avoid conflict, often brushing our disagreements under the rug and not dealing with them can do even more harm.  We must learn to respect one another’s opinions while also challenging those places where those opinions, including our own, may cause harm to others. 

5. Apathy - One of the easiest and most common ways we do harm to others is simply by not doing anything at all.  When we refuse to speak up on behalf of a person or group who is experiencing harm, we are part of the problem. 

What other ways do you see harm in our world, or even in your own life? 

How will you work intentionally to “do no harm” this week?

Entwined

Entwined
July 14, 2024
John 15:1-17

As the Father loved me, I too have loved you. Remain in my love.  If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.  I have said these things to you so that my joy will be in you and your joy will be complete.  This is my commandment: love each other just as I have loved you.  No one has greater love than to give up one’s life for one’s friends. 

 John 15:9-13 (CEB)

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Jesus’ teaching on the vine and the branches is fairly commonplace in the church, and in many ways, the
lesson seems obvious.  A branch that is not connected to the vine will die.  In the same way, we must remain connected to Christ or we will die in a spiritual sense.  Simple as that… or is it?

The problem is that too often we interpret this like we interpret far to many passages of scripture, through the lens of modern American individualism.  So long as “I” remain connected to Jesus, “I” will be ok.  But what if the “you” is plural?  What if it’s not just about each individual and their own private, personal relationship with God, but more about our collective connection to the vine.  After all, Jesus says “you are the branches”, not “the branch” or even “a branch.”  “You” is all of us. 

The thing about a vine is that it is impossible to tell where one branch stops and another begins.  They are entwined together as they grow out of the central vine.  Yes, each branch must be individually connected to the vine, but it is equally true that branches are inextricable from one another and if one is broken or diseased, it must be cut off in order not to hinder the growth of the other healthy branches.  In other words, each branch depends on the health of the others.  We depend on each other.  Christianity can never just be about “me and Jesus.”  The health of our connection to the vine impacts the health of every other branch as theirs impacts our own spiritual healthy.  We are always strong together than we are apart.  A vine with one lone branch can never be healthy or fruitful.  We need every one.

Part of this means that we do not come to church for ourselves.  We do not come to hear a good message, sing our favorite hymns, and go home feeling better about ourselves.  No, we come for one another.  We come not to be served, but to serve.  We come not just to receive, but to give.  We come because we belong to one another, we are part of one another, and we cannot simply choose to disconnect from our fellow branches without also cutting ourselves off from the vine. 

It seems easy to love God, or to love Christ, but other people are not always so lovable.  As Episcopal Priest Sheila McJilton puts it, other people “demand too much of us.  They disagree with us.  They don’t act the way we think they should act.”  Yet, to stay connected with Jesus is also to stay connected with them.  To abide in Christ is also to abide in community with others who may not be very easy to abide with.  Being a Christian is not about what we get out of it.  It is about being part of something bigger than ourselves, committing ourselves to the good of one another, whether we feel like it or not.  “As branches, we connect to Christ until we encircle each other in intricate, interwoven relationships.  In Christ, we grow in love."   

Completing the Work

Completing the Work
July 7, 2024
Philippians 1:3-7, Galatians 5:22-23, Mark 4:26-29

I’m sure about this: the one who started a good work in you will stay with you to complete the job by the day of Christ Jesus.

Philippians 1:6 (CEB)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against things like this.

Galatians 5:22-23 (CEB)

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For me, this is a week of transition… sort of.

July 1st marks the first Sunday of a new appointment year in the United Methodist Church and as pastors, we are always only appointed one year at a time, though thankfully longer appointments are becoming more commonplace. Until this week, I have never served an appointment more than 3 years, but July 1, 2024 marks day 1 of my 4th year at Shiloh. I sometimes joke that this means I have to start writing new sermons now, though in truth, I regularly use a good mix of new and old material in sermon preparation.

So how is this a season of transition if I’m starting a 4th year?

Answer: because it also marks my 1st week as the new pastor at Grace UMC in Salisbury, NC. Shiloh and Grace are now linked on what we call “a two-point” charge, meaning primarily that two congregations share one pastor. There are many reasons why I believe this will be a wonderful season of new opportunities for shared ministry together in our local community. As a United Methodist who strongly believes in and practices the spirit of connectionalism, I am convinced that as individuals and churches, we can always do more together than apart.

Nevertheless, as July 7th is my final Sunday preaching only at Shiloh, I am taking some time to reflect on these past 3 years and what it means for me to have the privilege of continuing in ministry with this congregation. The opening of Paul’s letter to the Philippians describes well what I feel for the people of Shiloh and I hope describes well what many pastors feel for their congregations.

Philippians 1 -

• 3 I thank my God every time I mention you in my prayers. 4 I’m thankful for all of you every time I pray, and it’s always a prayer full of joy. 

• 5 I’m glad because of the way you have been my partners in the ministry of the gospel…

• 6 I’m sure about this: the one who started a good work in you will stay with you to complete the job by the day of Christ Jesus. 

• 8 God is my witness that I feel affection for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus.

• 9 This is my prayer: that your love might become even more and more rich with knowledge and all kinds of insight.

• 10 I pray this so that you will be able to decide what really matters and so you will be sincere and blameless on the day of Christ. 

• 11 I pray that you will then be filled with the fruit of righteousness, which comes from Jesus Christ, in order to give glory and praise to God.

As a person who is always looking toward “the next thing”, I am particularly drawn to verse 6, the promise that God will complete in them the good work which has already begun. I believe this is true for every one of us and for every one of our churches. We are all works in progress. We are not finished yet. We are not who we were, but we are also not yet who God wants us to be.

For some, this may be uncomfortable, but for me it is great news.

• It means the journey isn’t over.

• It means no matter how much I have fallen short, there are still new opportunities to learn, to do better, and to become more like Christ.

• It means that in seasons where we don’t feel very productive, it may simply be that our fruit is just not ripe yet. Sometimes a plant is most healthy when it has been pruned back to the point where it looks dead, but it is preparing to be more fruitful in the next season than ever before.

I’m not saying Shiloh looks dead. In fact, quite the opposite!

I see signs of new life all over this little church in Granite Quarry and I’m excited to see what they will bloom into and how they will combine their fruit with the fruit God is producing at Grace in order to feed more of our community.

Admittedly there have been seasons over the past three years when things did not look so good.

There were times it felt like decline was inevitable and that I would have no choice but to move. There were times when the discouragement was overwhelming and a spirit of negativity permeated everything. Then our wonderful Deacon, Rev. Tangela Cameron, beautifully reminded us that genuine lament does not end with sorrow but with hope. It does not end with despair, but courage to press on. It does not end with death, but resurrection and new life.

And over this past year I have been blessed to see us live into this new life filled with new hopes, new dreams and new possibilities. I’ve seen us start to take new risk, and open ourselves to fresh ideas and fresh leadership. I’ve seen people step up and use gifts they didn’t always even knew they had for the sake of building up the community.

That is why I am filled with joy entering this 4th year and why I believe that in our new partnership with Grace, God will make our love become even more, that we will be able to more deeply discern what really matters, and that together we will be filled with the fruit of righteousness, the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, which comes from Christ Jesus through the gift of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).

Wherever we see these traits in ourselves, in others, and in the church, we see glimpses of God’s ongoing work.

• Which of these fruits do you see the most in your life or in your church right now?

God brings the growth, but we also have work to do to plant and nurture the seeds.  In whatever areas we find ourselves struggling to bear fruit, we have to ask some hard questions about what blocking that growth. 

• What seeds are we trying to hold onto for ourselves instead of planting and nurturing them for the sake of others?

Sometimes when we fail to see growth in our congregations or in our own spiritual lives, it is because we have certain expecations about what that growth should look like that may not match up with reality.

Pediatrician and Parenting Coach, Dr. Hope Seidel, describes children as little bags of seeds. As parents, it’s our job to water them and help them grow. We don’t always know what the seed will be, but our job is to nurture it into the wonderful plant it was made to be

I belive the same is true in our spiritual life and in our churches. Just as children grow, so the seeds that God plants in our lives and in our communities also grow.  If something is not growing, it is dead. 

The problem is that we never know what kind of fruit will bloom.

Sometimes the problem is not that the fruit is bad, but simply that it’s not what we expected. Maybe we thought we were raising an apple tree but it turned out to be beets or carrots or a durian, jackfruit, or some other delicacy we didn’t even realize existed.

If we are expecting a giant redwood or an entire citrus orchard, we will be disappointed if it turns out we are growing root vegetables underground where we cannot see any progress at all.

• What expectations do we need to let go of about our church in order to better see the good fruit God is producing?

• What needs to die in us or be pruned back in order for new life to sprout and bloom?

• Name at least 1 specific “next step” you believe God is calling you to as you reflect on your participation in the good work God is completing in you.  Of the various fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5, which one do you believe needs the most attention and nourishment in this season? (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control)

Above all, trust in the slow work of God.
We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new.
And yet it is the law of all progress
that it is made by passing through some stages of instability —
and that it may take a very long time.

~ Teilhard de Chardin

Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you’ll have it forever, real and eternal.

~ John 12:24-25 (The Message)

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*** This service incorporated a significant portion of table conversations which I cut out of the recording. The audio of my brief message and reflections on Philippians 1 can be found below.

The Persistence of the Wild Goose

The Wild Goose
The Way of the Wild Goose - Part 5
June 16, 2024
Matthew 18:10-14, Ezekiel 34:11-16, Psalm 139:7-12

What do you think? If someone had one hundred sheep and one of them wandered off, wouldn’t he leave the ninety-nine on the hillsides and go in search for the one that wandered off?  If he finds it, I assure you that he is happier about having that one sheep than about the ninety-nine who didn’t wander off.  In the same way, my Father who is in heaven doesn’t want to lose one of these little ones.

 Matthew 18:12-14 (CEB)

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Just like the scattered sheep in the days of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 34), Jesus saw the sheep of Israel scattered and abused in his own time.  Thieves continued to kill and destroy, but Jesus himself would go to any length to rescue even one who was lost.  In today’s culture, driven so much by numbers, profit and gain, the idea of leaving behind 99 for 1 seems absurd.  We are taught to appeal to the crowds, to get more views, likes and followers on social media, to get more people in the seats on Sunday mornings.  We put so much of our energy into keeping the 99 comfortable and happy.  In the process, how many have found themselves lost, ignored, and alone, even as they sit in the middle of the crowd?  And how many have wandered off completely unnoticed, or worse yet, been run out by the crowd because they didn’t fit in? 

When I consider the persistence of the Wild Goose, I think of Jesus’ parable.  Will the Holy Spirit not go to any length, even to the ends of the earth, for the one lost and lonely sheep to know that they are not alone?  In a culture driven by numbers and productivity, putting so much energy into the one may seem absurd, unless you happen to be the “one.”

Geese are communal by nature.  At least one or two will land with the one who is tired, injured, or weak, so that no one is left behind.  Like the good shepherd, they will do whatever it takes to restore the one to the rest of the flock.  What if we were more persistent about caring for the one than we were about trying to keep the 99 happy?  What if the church were a place not only where everyone was welcome, but where they truly belonged?  What if, instead of desperately protecting and clinging to what we have, or worse, what we used to have, we persisted in continuing Jesus’ mission to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10)?

The Wild Goose shows us what it means to stay in formation, to keep our place, to rotate to the back as needed so that we don’t burn out, and to flap a little harder when others around us need a rest.  On the grand scale, we will never feel like we are enough to tackle the many existential crises in our world.  But if we zoom in and focus on the members of our flock, the ones in front of and behind us, the ones to our right and to our left, perhaps we are exactly the person someone needs us to be to make it through another day. 

Keep flying.

Keep honking. 

Keep caring. 

Keep loving. 

 The Wild Goose is all the strength you need.

~ excerpts from The Wild Goose: Embracing the Untambed Beauty of the Holy Spirit

The Bond of the Wild Goose

The Wild Goose
The Way of the Wild Goose - Part 4
June 9, 2024
Ephesians 4:1-6, 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Hebrews 10:24-25, John 15:1—17

Therefore, as a prisoner for the Lord, I encourage you to live as people worthy of the call you received from God. Conduct yourselves with all humility, gentleness, and patience. Accept each other with love, and make an effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit with the peace that ties you together.  You are one body and one spirit, just as God also called you in one hope.  There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism,  and one God and Father of all, who is over all, through all, and in all.

 Ephesians 4:1-6 (CEB)

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The fundamental human need for relationship and community reflects the love which flows from the very God whose image we bear.  Here again, the image of the Wild Goose might have something to teach us about the Holy Spirit’s role in our lives and in our world.  Wild geese model a communal life of mutual support.   They honk in flight to encourage one another.   They fly in a V-shape and rotate the lead position so that when one bird grows tired it can move toward the back, allowing another to take the point position.  If one becomes too weak to keep up with the flock and falls out of formation, at least two others will land with it and remain by its side until it is able to fly again. 

Many people struggle to “fit in.”  “Fitting in” requires that we fundamentally change, or at least conceal part of ourselves to look or think like those around us for the sake of conforming to the group.  Underneath is the constant anxiety that we might be found out.  Especially in church, we worry what people will think if they find out we don’t share all the same beliefs, or if we have different political views, or if we struggle with doubt in our faith.  When we feel weak, are there people who will land with us and sit by our side, or do we feel like we just need to keep flying so that nobody will find out that we are not as strong as they think we are? 

Perhaps the Spirit invites us to something more.  What if the community of the Holy Spirit is not about fitting in at all, but about genuine belonging?  John O’Donohue puts it this way:

We have fallen out of belonging… The commercial edge of so-called 'progress,' has cut away a huge region of human tissue and webbing that held us in communion with one another. 

What if belonging, like the belonging in a flock of geese, comes from simply being there?  What if we allowed ourselves to be vulnerable enough to show up and to be present with and for one another with no judgment or expectation?  This kind of unconditional acceptance, belonging, and love is the primary mark of one who calls themselves a follower of Christ. 

As those who seek to follow Christ’s example, we cannot pick and choose who we will love based on preference, affection, similar interests, or agreement of opinions.  We must love as Christ loved us.  We must be vulnerable, serve one another, and open our hearts to the stranger. As a popular benediction from the United Methodist Hymnal declares,

Go now in peace to serve God and your neighbor in all that you do. Bear witness to the love of God in this world, so that those to whom love is a stranger will find in you generous friends.

~ The United Methodist Hymnal: Book of United Methodist Worship, 7. print
(Nashville, Tenn: United Methodist Publ. House, 1998), 869.

~ excerpts from The Wild Goose: Embracing the Untambed Beauty of the Holy Spirit

The Call of the Wild Goose

The Wild Goose
The Way of the Wild Goose - Part 3
June 2, 2024
Acts 16:6- 15. Philemon 1:15-16, Galatians 4:6-7, Exodus 20:2

Paul and his companions traveled throughout the regions of Phrygia and Galatia because the Holy Spirit kept them from speaking the word in the province of Asia.  When they approached the province of Mysia, they tried to enter the province of Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus wouldn’t let them.  Passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas instead.  A vision of a man from Macedonia came to Paul during the night. He stood urging Paul, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” 

 Acts 16:6-9 (CEB)

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Too often we act like believing in Jesus and following Jesus are entirely different things.  Following or answering God’s call is for church leaders or ministers.  That’s not for me.  I’m just a regular person, not some “super-Christian.”  The sheer number of people in churches, even among the leadership, who say, for example, that “Bible study is just not their thing,” speaks to this artificial distinction between “believer” and “follower”. 

If belief is about trust, then there is no difference between believing and following.  When Jesus says, “Believe in me,” it is the same as saying, “Come, follow me.”  Belief requires trust.  Trust requires action.  Action requires stepping out in faith.  I once heard faith defined as “risk with direction.”  Faith always requires risk, and it always requires us to move in a particular direction.  Remaining content with the status quo is not an act of faith.  Being comfortable with our “beliefs” and unwilling to be challenged or grow beyond our present stage of faith does not demonstrate genuine trust in the God who says, “Go to the land I will show you” (Gen. 12:1).

While God’s call in Genesis 12 was specifically to Abram, it is also the call of the Wild Goose to every person who puts their faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  It was the call Jesus gave to his disciples when he said, “Come, follow me” (Matt. 4:19).  It was the call Saul received when he was blinded on the road to Damascus that set his life on a radically different path (Acts 9:1-19) and the call he later followed over and over again on his missionary journeys as the Spirit continually redirects his path the places where God was already at work (i.e. Acts 16:6-9).  It was the call of St. Patrick who saw a man from Ireland bearing letters that summoned him to return and proclaim the love of Christ to the very people who had enslaved him as a boy.

These calls, along with many others in scripture and throughout history, are not calls to comfort and ease.  They do not lull us to sleep or to a false sense of peace and security like the sound of a dove.  On the contrary, these calls startle us, awaken us from sleep in a cold sweat, blind us along the road, and tell us to leave our nets behind and take nothing with us for the journey. 

The Spirit calls us to wake up and stay alert to God’s work in the world.  The Spirit calls us together as one body with one hope, one Lord, one faith, and one Baptism (Ephesians 4:5).  The Spirit calls to give us clear direction and to help us know which way to go.  The Spirit calls to protect us and keep us from danger.  And the Spirit calls to attract or draw others into the flock where they can find love, peace, and rest.  The Wild Goose calls when we least expect it for all sorts of reasons.  Remember, geese tend to bite those who try to put them in cages. 

How is the Wild Goose calling you this week?

~ excerpts from The Wild Goose: Embracing the Untambed Beauty of the Holy Spirit

The Presence of the Wild Goose

The Wild Goose
The Way of the Wild Goose - Part 2
May 26, 2024
Acts 11:1-18, 15:1-21

God, who knows people’s deepest thoughts and desires, confirmed this by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, but purified their deepest thoughts and desires through faith. Why then are you now challenging God by placing a burden on the shoulders of these disciples that neither we nor our ancestors could bear?  On the contrary, we believe that we and they are saved in the same way, by the grace of the Lord Jesus.”

 Acts 15:8-11 

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For many today, the idea of finding God in creation is especially appealing.  It breaks God out of the box of our thick-walled sanctuaries and bloated institutional religious structures.  It invites us in some ways to encounter God on God’s own terms, rather than requiring God to meet us within the prescribed times and structures of our religious tradition or community. 

For others, the ability to experience God’s presence outside the church is a dangerous and fearful prospect.  There’s a concern that without religious boundaries, we may very well delude ourselves into making God whatever we want.  There is no accountability or required set of beliefs to determine who can be counted God’s beloved community. 

While there is a beautiful freedom in all of this, we who are more open to meeting God in nature or in other contexts outside the church would do well to take the concerns of the religious community seriously.  That is not to say that we must limit our relationship with the Divine to a particular segment of the church. It is, however, to remind us that God is still God, and we are not.   

Just as God cannot be confined to a church building, a liturgy, or a set of doctrinal standards, neither can God be limited to our favorite hiking spot, mountain, stream, or park bench.  Might we also dare to seek God’s presence in the urban jungle, in a hospital, in a refugee camp; in schools and offices and coffee shops and grocery stores; or even among the rich and powerful on Wall Street, in Silicon Valley or on Capitol Hill.  Yes, despite so much evidence to the contrary, the Wild Goose is present even there.  Perhaps on occasion, we might even still find God in church.

~ excerpt from The Wild Goose: Embracing the Untambed Beauty of the Holy Spirit, 24-25

In Acts we see the Holy Spirit showing up in all sorts of unexpected places with people who nobody would expect (a lot like Jesus did).  Every time we think we understand, she shows up somewhere else and  surprises us again.  Perhaps our best bet is to pray like Thomas Merton below, confessing that we have no idea where the Spirit is leading us.  Nonetheless, we will  follow, trusting that we never walk alone.

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My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your  will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.

And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.

I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore, I will trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.

I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Amen.

The Wild Goose

The Wild Goose
The Way of the Wild Goose - Part 1
May 19, 2024
Acts 2:1-4, John 3:4-8

Nicodemus asked, “How is it possible for an adult to be born? It’s impossible to enter the mother’s womb for a second time and be born, isn’t it?”

Jesus answered, “I assure you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom.  Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. Don’t be surprised that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew.’  God’s Spirit blows wherever it wishes. You hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. It’s the same with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

John 3:4-8

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Enemy of Apathy

 by John Bell

She sits like a bird, brooding on the waters,
Hovering on the chaos of the world’s first day;

She sighs and she sings, mothering creation,
Waiting to give birth to all the Word will say.

She wings over earth, resting where she wishes,
Lighting close at hand or soaring through the skies;

She nests in the womb, welcoming each wonder,
Nourishing potential hidden to our eyes.

She dances in fire, startling her spectators,
Waking tongues of ecstasy where dumbness reigned;

 She weans and inspires all whose hearts are open,
Nor can she be captured, silenced or restrained.

For she is the Spirit, one with God in essence,
Gifted by the Saviour in eternal love;

She is the key opening the scriptures,
Enemy of apathy and heavenly dove.

From the Iona Community, Wild Goose Publications

The images, symbols, or metaphors for the Holy Spirit are many, (fire, wind, water, breath, dove, etc.) but none can fully capture the mystery that is God’s very presence in us and among us.  For Celtic Christians, the Wild Goose became the dominant image for the wild and untamable wind that blows wherever it wishes.  “You hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes” (John 3:8). 

Over the next several weeks we will journey with the Celtic Saints of ancient Ireland and explore what the Wild Goose image has to teach us about the nature of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  In  particular we will look at the presence, the call, the bond and the persistence of the Holy Spirit.  In the end, my prayer is that each of us will deepen our  relationship the Holy Spirit and become more aware of the Spirit’s work and presence in our lives. 

Take a few moments with the poem above and reflect on what images of the Holy Spirit resonate most with you and why? 

Grow in Love

Grow in Love
Grow: Rethinking Church Growth - Part 5
May 12, 2024
Matthew 22:36-40, 28:18-20

“Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the Law?”  He replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: You must love your neighbor as you love yourself.  All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands

Matthew 22:36-40, CEB

Jesus came near and spoke to them, “I’ve received all authority in heaven and on earth.  Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  teaching them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you. Look, I myself will be with you every day until the end of this present age.”

Matthew 28:18-20, CEB

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Last summer at our Annual Conference, Rev. Dr. Martyn Atkins of Great Britain shared the centrality of the two texts above as essential to our Christian faith.  These passages are known as the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.

Dr. Atkins points out that these two cannot be separated and together they provide the most clear indicator of our spiritual health.  The Great Commandment is the tone by which we undertake the Great Commission and the Great Commission is the means by which we fulfill the Great Commandment.  In other words, we can’t love God and neighbor if we do not bear witness to Christ’s love for them and we cannot bear witness or make disciples unless our efforts and intent are fueled not by our own interests, but by our love of God and neighbor alone.  Evangelism must always be personal, relational, and incarnational, just as Christ modeled for us when he came to dwell among us to show us the depth of God’s love. 

Our intent, Dr. Atkins says, must always be to offer Christ’s love authentically, consistently, and in the same manner as Christ offers himself to us and to others.  “The last thing the world needs,” he proclaims, “is more salespeople of an institution called “church,” but what it does need is many, many more free samples of Jesus Christ.”

Generally speaking, Atkins points out, we like the Great Commandment, “except when we don’t.”  We like the idea of being good, loving people, until we get caught up in our religious and culture wars that tell us who are and are not included among our neighbors.  The problem with both the Great Commandment and the Great Commission is that neither “give us any ammunition to keep anybody out of who Jesus is talking about.”  Atkins continues, “Every generation of Christians has trouble with such scriptures because they give us no help whatsoever in our endless search to find people to exclude from it.”

As we seek to grow in Christian maturity, to grow our roots deeper into Christ, and to grow wider in the scope of our ministry and service to others, we are ultimately growing in love.  Love is not a program for numerical growth, but it creates fertile soil for the Holy Spirit to do what only she can do. 

Love God.  Love Neighbor.  Make Disciples. 

This alone is our task.  

You can view Dr. Atkin's’ full presentation below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sieT_LJ9yno

Grow Wide

Grow Wide
Grow: Rethinking Church Growth - Part 4
May 5, 2024
Luke 14:7-24, Matthew 25:34-46, Romans 12:13, Hebrews 13:2, Leviticus 19:34

Then Jesus said to the person who had invited him, “When you host a lunch or dinner, don’t invite your friends, your brothers and sisters, your relatives, or rich neighbors. If you do, they will invite you in return and that will be your reward.  Instead, when you give a banquet, invite the poor, crippled, lame, and blind.  And you will be blessed because they can’t repay you. Instead, you will be repaid when the just are resurrected.”

 Luke 14:12-14

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Have you ever noticed at church events how easy it is to sit only with our own families and friends?  Without even realizing it, we vet people to make sure they are people we would want to be around before we even think about inviting them to join us for a Community meal or even Sunday worship.  The tragic reality is that while churches tend to be generally friendly, they are not verry good at making new friends.  We are rather insulated and friendly only with those we already know well, sometimes excluding even those who have been in our  midst for a long time.  I knew a leader in one church who had been there for over 30 years and she said she still felt like a newbie and an outsider because she wasn’t part of one of the founding families.  How long does it take for us to make someone feel truly at home?

One congregation I served got very uncomfortable when I rearranged the chairs in the classroom to have Bible Study in a circle.  I was told that “we always sit in rows.”  They even sat in rows in the fellowship hall at the Christmas party, facing the tree and watching the kids as they greeted Santa, but talking to nobody outside of their own family.  Almost all of our time in church was spent literally staring at the back of other people’s heads. 

What was even worse was how many people I talked to who struggled with things they were afraid for even their family members to know about, family members who sat next to them on the same pew every week. 

Like most churches, this congregation regularly complained about the lack of growth and the fact that visitors rarely returned.  At one point I had to ask, what is the point of growing when we can’t even talk to the people we already have?  Why do we need more people in the pews just to stare at the back of their heads if we are unwilling to build real, honest and trusting relationships, even within our own families?

In Ephesians 3, Paul says that we are being rooted and grounded in love.  Our growth is an act of pure grace, but roots only grow when the environment supplies nutrients, oxygen, warmth, and water.  There are many lonely people even in the church, whose roots feel dry, thirsty, wounded, or stagnant.  Perhaps the problem is our ecosystem.  Are the other plants / people around you healthy or dying?  As a tree’s roots meet the roots of other trees, they begin to grow or “graft” together into one larger and healthier root system.  This allows the roots to reach out even further, working together to collect water and nutrients and offering mutual benefit to every tree in the network. 

The same principle is necessary for spiritual growth and for church growth.  We are not lone trees, but part of a spiritual ecosystem in which we all reach out through the Spirit and provide nourishment for one another.  We must extend real friendship beyond our comfort zone. 

If we want to grow, we must widen our reach.