Ramblings

Location - 9/16/2018

Sermon preached at Hope Lutheran Church, San Antonio, Texas.  Based on Mark 8: 27-38.

    Who knows that you are here? Perhaps you have a family member who knows that you attend worship on Sunday mornings at Hope Lutheran Church. Or maybe you have friends or neighbors that know that on Sunday mornings when you leave your home it is to go to church.
    I know this however, if you have a cellphone with you, ATT, Verizon or Sprint or whatever phone provider you use knows where you are. From the data that they are receiving to provide you service, they know that you are here. Now, I am not an Alex Jones conspiracist, so I am not mentioning this to you for some outlandish reason, instead this “data” is why the technology boom of the last few decades have so impacted our world. That same device that we use to make phone calls, use as our map, phone book or even store have been a godsend not only for many of us but also for marketers. So, ATT, Verizon or Sprint know that on Sunday mornings you will be found at Hope Lutheran Church.
    And so much more. Say you are searching online for a new pair of shoes. You surf through images of Doc Martens, wedge sandals and Ugg boots. You then decide to see what’s happening on Facebook. Suddenly, ads for Doc Martens and Ugg boots are plastered all over your page. And you will continue to see them until you search for something else, which will then take over your page and so on and so on.
    It’s little wonder that we have begun to believe that marketers know more about us than we know about ourselves, and they know what we want even before we do from all the data from me and you! But did you know “data” is not just in our century?
    When Jesus took his disciples to Caesarea Philippi discussed in the gospel, he gave them a couple of poll questions, but in this case it’s a survey not so much designed to gather information or data as an opportunity to define the brand of discipleship Jesus was looking for from them and, by extension, from us.
    Jesus knew his disciples better than they knew themselves, and Jesus knew that their preferences for the kind of Messiah they were looking for --- needed refining and redefining. Here, in this largely Gentile region near the Cave of Pan --- which many people in the ancient world regarded as one of the entrances to Hades ---Jesus begins to turn his disciples’ attention from their needs and desires toward the way of the cross --- admittedly, a much tougher sell!
    The gospel seems to begin that as they were walking, Jesus suddenly gave them the first survey question: “What’s the word on the street about me? Who do people say that I am?” (v. 27).
    As they had traveled with Jesus through the villages of Judea and Galilee, it is safe to assume that the disciples had collected data, hearing the buzz, feeling the pulse of the crowd. The crowd had a variety of opinions and just enough data to begin forming a profile of this healer and teacher from Galilee.
    One significant data point seemed to dominate the survey: The crowd believed Jesus was a prophet in the mold of John the Baptist, Elijah or one of the earlier prophets who dominated Israel’s history. To the crowd, Jesus was a kind of a throwback to an earlier age and perhaps, like John the Baptist and Elijah, he was in the model of a forerunner to the real Messiah to come. This was a radical interpretation of the data, but it wasn’t quite radical enough.
    Many opinions about the Messiah’s role and mission were in circulation. We know from a variety of sources outside of the New Testament that Messiah wannabes had popped up before Jesus and would continue to do so afterward, each gathering their own group of followers and selling their vision of what God had planned to do through them. We still have that to this day.
    The common thread of the data around the Messiah --- which means “anointed one” --- was that he would be a descendant of the Old Testament figure of David and restore Israel’s independence, bringing earthly deliverance to the earthly kingdom of Israel, a great nation to guide the other nations.     This vision of a Messiah was also skewed by the bias of people looking for relief from oppression by Rome and years of foreign domination before the current regime. Therefore, it is understandable when people heard the word “Messiah,” they thought of someone who might be the modern equivalent of a new populist leader.
    This is also why the crowd saw Jesus as a prophet and not a Messiah. He wasn’t acting like someone who wanted to cooperate with Rome, and thus his poll numbers would not seem to indicate that he would be a viable candidate “to drain the swamp” and restore the nation of Israel.
    We recognize now that their view of Jesus is rather myopic, seen through the skewed lens of cultural and personal bias toward what a prophet and a Messiah might really look like. It’s no coincidence that in the story immediately preceding this one, Jesus heals a blind man who at first sees people but not with the full clarity of vision. Indeed, to him they looked like trees walking around (v. 24). It took a second application of Jesus’ healing hands for the blind man to finally see things clearly and in perspective. The crowd, too, needed a similar retooling of vision to understand the information about Jesus’ identity.
    Returning to the gospel, Jesus then asked a follow-up survey question of his disciples, not what did others think --- “But who do you say that I am?”
    Peter, an eager guy who today would be the first to participate in every online survey, gives his opinion without hesitation: “You are the Messiah” (v. 29). That seems like the right answer. The author of Mark has already told us up front that his gospel is “the good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (1:1). “Christ” is the Greek rendering of “Messiah” and so it seems that Peter has grasped the message.
    But like the crowd, Peter’s own bias gets in the way of understanding what that word, that title, means. Indeed, there is still great potential for misunderstanding until all the data is in, which is why Jesus “sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him” (v. 30).
    Instead, Jesus himself then begins to fill in the data. In the first of three predictions about his death, Jesus tells his disciples that he will be rejected, undergo great suffering and be killed, but then he will rise again after three days (v. 31). The author of Mark reiterates that Jesus said this “quite openly,” giving the information as clearly as possible (v. 32). But this new piece of information doesn’t fit Peter’s messianic profile, and he took Jesus aside and began to “rebuke” him (v. 32).
    Peter was close to Jesus and saw some potential. After all, one who could feed 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish and then walk on water had to have the ability to be the kind of Messiah who would do great things and kick out the Romans. But now Jesus was talking about rejection, suffering and death. How can you be the Messiah if you’re dead? That kind of data made no sense to him, nor to the other disciples or the crowd.
    It made perfect sense to Jesus, who understood the bigger picture of where things were trending. Jesus rebuked Peter’s rebuke with a stern word, one Jesus uses to cast out demons: “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things” (v. 33).
    In the rebuke of Peter, Jesus recognized the temptation to be the kind of Messiah that was all about polling numbers, the kind of Messiah Satan himself had earlier tempted Jesus to become (1:12).
    Jesus is moving in a different direction --- one in which they and perhaps a few of us may want to go.
Jesus calls “the crowd together with the disciples.” This instruction is for everyone. It is a call to deny one's self, take up your cross, and follow Jesus. We have tended to psychologize this and make it over into something more in tune with 21st century life, such as interpreting “taking up one's cross” to mean putting up with one's circumstances in life. We have also taken this to mean putting up with abuse both physical, verbal and sexual.
    Jesus makes it clear: It’s about the cross. “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (v. 34). To get behind Jesus is to get under a cross and walk on a road to rejection, suffering and self-denial. It’s a life of doing what’s right and hard, rather than wrong and easy with all the stumbles and falls that will mean. Following Jesus is not trendy and cool. And if it ever is, we’ve got the wrong Jesus. It’s following Jesus in a life lived on behalf of others: the poor, the marginalized, the “lepers” of our day and age. Those are the “divine things” Jesus wants his disciples to focus on, not the “human things” of popularity, prosperity and power.
    To follow Jesus, in other words, is to embrace a downward mobility towards justice not only for all of us who have been cast aside but for all in favor of Christ’s preferences for all of creation. We know this because Jesus does not use the language of courts or politics, as we might expect. Rather, Jesus uses the language of economics: “For what does it profit a person to gain the whole world and to lose one's life? For what might a person give in exchange for that one's life?” (vv. 35-36).
    All those biblical Greek words --- profit, gain, lose, exchange --- in that sentence are terms of the marketplace. A definition that is chilling and startling for us who live in the most powerful and wealthiest nation in the world but Jesus calls us to check a different box and follow a different, unprofitable life --- the way of the cross.
    Jesus recognized that this isn’t a popular way, and that the world sees the cross as a weird and gross marketing strategy. It seems far easier to live blaming those of a different skin tone, class, sexuality and gender, but as Jesus reminds us those who are ashamed of him, his words and his way will feel the real sting of shame (v. 37).
    It’s easy for those of us who are 21st-century disciples of Jesus to want to tailor our message and our methods to better fit market trends. I’d like myself and Hope Lutheran to be popular, trendy and have a lot of people following us. We’re tempted, like Peter, to answer Jesus’ question, “Who do you say that I am?” by making him into a Messiah who fits a profile and shows up on searches.
    But Jesus won’t have it. There’s only one real answer to that question --- Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, and he calls us to follow him to the cross. It’s the way of self-denial, self-sacrifice and self-giving. It’s not just about information; it’s about imitation. Yes, like those early disciples we may be clueless, need to be rebuked on occasion, but every day we have a new opportunity to answer, “Who do we say that Jesus is? ATT, Verizon and Sprint can locate us instantly, but it is up to claim that we are located on the path of the cross. Amen.

Sparring - 9/9/2018

Sermon, preached at Hope Lutheran based on Mark 7: 24-30.

    Manny Pacquiao is a Filipino world champion professional boxer, named the boxer of the decade in 2010. This did not happen overnight for Pacquiao started boxing at the age of 14 while living in the streets of Manila, the capital of the Philippines. Manny turned professional when he was 16 years old, and now nearly 20+ years later has a record of 60-4 as an amateur and currently has a record of 60-7-2 as a professional, with 39 wins by knockout.
    Manny is, one could easily say, a successful professional boxer, so it should interest us how that came to be. Obviously he had some natural talent however in the world of professional boxing, Manny developed his skills over time in training which included sparring against other boxers. There's nothing unusual rather it is standard practice to have fighters train against other boxers --- it's a case of steel sharpening steel. Sparring of course does not mean that one will be as successful as Manny, nonetheless it an important component of training and is not limited to boxing. Sparring is a factor in wrestling, Karate, Taekwondo and a host of other sports.
    This matter of sparring, that is, going up against another for purposes of improving or honing one's own output, is not limited to the contact sports. One place where, over the centuries, a kind of sparring was common was among the rabbis who studied Jewish law. It's not uncommon over the centuries to see such rabbis described as “sparring” with one another over biblical texts and points. Here is but one example, from a reference book published in 2017 including from the period of Jesus: in making a point about the interrelatedness of biblical texts, it was recorded, “This is nicely illustrated in a rabbinic tale about R. Simeon ben Azzai, sparring partner of Rabbi Aqiba” (emphasis added).
    Now why should that interest us? Well, do you recall that in several places in the gospels, Jesus' contemporaries address him as “rabbi?” Most certainly it was a term of respect, and it denoted that the person so addressed was considered a teacher and spiritual leader. Therefore, when we keep in mind that people called Jesus “rabbi,” and that rabbinic sparring was not unknown, it goes a long way in helping us unlock one aspect of what may be going on in the 1st half of our gospel reading, one that many of us find troubling.
    The challenge for 21st century ears is that this dialogue between Jesus and woman seems to portray Jesus as treating the Syrophoenician woman poorly.
    Before we get to deeply into that let us set up the context. The author tells us up front that Jesus has retreated to Tyre, a Gentile area, in present day Lebanon and doesn't want anyone to know where he is --- “definitely did not want.” Jesus, in fact, is “preached out, prayed out and peopled out,” as commentator John M. Rottman puts it. Jesus needs not only some down time, but more importantly, some alone time with himself and some up time with his heavenly Father.
    Then we are told that somehow, word gets out that Jesus, now with a growing reputation as a healer --- confirmed in the 2nd half of our gospel --- is in a house, and a woman whose daughter has “an unclean spirit” finds Jesus. This unclean spirit could cover a broad spectrum from epilepsy to mental illness to a persuasive evil. Regardless this woman asks for his help; she wants Jesus to literally in Biblical Greek “throw” out this spirit in her daughter.
    Now let us not that by ordinary standards of the day, the male Jewish Jesus could and should have ignored her completely. First, she's a Gentile, and Jews and Gentiles had and unfortunately have had centuries of bad blood between them. Second, she's a Gentile woman in an era when it was considered inappropriate for a woman to approach a man to whom she is not related. Not only did she address him, she threw herself at his feet.
    Now remember, back to what is stated in our lesson, Jesus is worn out, wanting only to rest and recharge, and she is intruding. Given all of that, we could hear Jesus' response to her in the context of “Go away, and don't bother me.” Not that that is much better to our 21st century “Jesus is always kind and good” mindset.
    Instead what Jesus did say was “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs.” His meaning, apparently, is that his primary mission is to his fellow Jews, and it's not right to take that priority and throw it to dogs --- the Gentiles.
    Now as I have said, to us modern readers, that sounds awful; it sounds -- well -- un-Christlike. In our day and age, when Jesus is erroneously portrayed as a peaceful, white, blond almost inhuman male this seems incongruous.
    Now to be fair, although Jesus was using a common word among the Jewish community of that era for Gentiles, there have been countless commentaries on the fact that the word Jesus used that is usually translated into English as “dogs” was a diminutive, more like “puppies.” And based on our tendency in this nation to be far more concerned about our pets than fellow humans, that may sound better.     Nonetheless, still, we must wonder is that any way to behave toward a woman who's desperate?
    Here is a possibility. We may not be hearing the exchange the way the woman did, and Jesus intended. We may be overhearing a sparring match. Then Jesus' comments to her about the puppies is, in fact, not rude, but an invitation to her --- to be his sparring partner. Jesus may be honoring her with this invitation, because any kind of rabbinical sparring, or even an intellectual discussion was explicitly denied to women in that time, especially a Gentile woman.
    The author retelling this event does not give us how much time passed but it seems like she doesn't hesitate for even a nanosecond to dish it right back at Jesus: “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.”
    In an astonishing turnabout, Jesus agrees with the woman and grants her request. Note also that Jesus doesn't say anything about the woman's faith, rather, it is her argument that he applauds --- “because of this word” --- “for saying that” --- “go.” We can almost imagine Jesus nodding his head in admiration when the woman fires this at him.
    Another reason to believe this interpretation may be helpful is that it in the context of sparring it should not necessarily surprise us for there is biblical precedent for sparring with God.
    Take Hannah found in the book 1 Samuel in the Old Testament. In that case we find Hannah praying and praying and praying, and finally has a compromise with God, a child but one dedicated back to God. Or take Abraham. When God told Abraham of the forthcoming destruction of Sodom, Abraham pushed back by asking if God would spare the city if 50 righteous people could be found there. Abraham then whittled the number down, successively, to 45, 40, 30, 20 and 10.
    There's also the time when God, speaking from the burning bush, called Moses to lead the Hebrew tribe out of Egypt. What we may forget is that Moses spent most of the ensuing conversation talking back to God, arguing that God had called the wrong person. He didn't win that argument, but, in the process, Moses did receive the help he needed to succeed. And if we really want an interesting review of sparring, the book of Habakkuk is, if nothing else, a transcript of the prophet disputing with God.
In each of these cases, important changes took place in their lives of faith. Hannah got her heart’s desire only to then to have to give him for God’s purpose. Abraham learned more about God's expectations for righteousness. Moses the one who wondered why on earth God chose him freed his people and led them through the wilderness using the tools God gave him. Habakkuk learned about trusting God during trouble.
    So, what does all this mean for us? For one thing, it's a reminder that questioning, pushing back, expressing doubt, showing irreverence and arguing are not out of bounds in our relationship with God. We needn't fear that we'll offend God. Of course, God will have the final word. Yet in the sparring, we may receive insight, inspiration, understanding, “a blessing” if you want to call it that --- or if not that, at least the comfort that comes from having aired our grievances, doubts and fears even if the reaction isn't what we'd hoped for.
    Second this event with Jesus and this woman tells us that speaking plainly about the things that nag us could be considered an act of faith. There is no mention of faith in this story, yet, was it only desperation that brought this woman across the threshold, across the cultural divide and the sexism of 1st century Palestine? Our faith may be thin or weak, or based on desperation but, even in a diminished condition, it's a route to truth. What's more, faith given by grace is a channel through which God works.
    To further support this view, if we read this story of Jesus and this unnamed woman from Matthew’s gospel, Matthew adds a detail that Mark doesn't mention. In Matthew's account, after the woman spars with Jesus, he replies, “Woman, great is your faith!” What faith did she show?
    There is one more aspect to this event for in sparring with Jesus, this woman was, in fact, serving as steel that sharpened his steel. This woman had her daughter healed but what did Jesus gain in sparring with this woman? Perhaps like Manny it added strength for the impending journey to the cross.
    As 21st century Christians citizens, let us not be afraid that in the hustle and bustle of our lives, in despair, anger or simply with a sigh, sparring with Jesus is not out of the question. Sparring does not depend on when’s degrees whether black belt or no belt in faith, on one’s number of knockouts or getting knocked down. Rather the question is “What is God inviting us to spar?” Because if we have learned anything, that in Scripture, when we do spar with God taking what is deep in hearts and minds up to God, not only do we learn something about God we learn about this faith we have received by God’s grace. Amen.

 

"Imitation is ..." 9-2-2018

Sermon based on James. Presented at Hope Lutheran.

    How did you learn to drive? I learned to drive in the badlands of western North Dakota in an old borrowed pickup truck with a classmate as my teacher. Being that it was stick shift and on rough rocky ups and downs, I learned through many stops and starts how to let out the clutch and push on the gas without stalling.
    I don’t know about you, but what if we could skip all that and just “YouTube it” instead?
That’s what an 8-year-old boy in Ohio did on one recent Sunday night. Our young innovator had a problem: mom and dad had fallen asleep, and the boy and his 4-year-old sister were hankering for some late-night McDonald’s. The golden arches were a mile and a half away --- too far for a walk in the dark. So, the boy did what any self-respecting Gen-Z kid would do when confronted with a conundrum. He looked up “How to drive a car” on YouTube, emptied his piggy bank, then bundled his sister into the car and headed out for a Happy Meal.
    Police said later that the boy obeyed all the traffic laws, didn’t hit a single thing, and drove “effortlessly” through town as though he had been driving for years --- all because he watched a few minutes of video instruction and then did precisely what it said to do.
Our young adventurer seems to have grasped early on what many of us grasped much later in life. That is that, on the internet, someone somewhere has created a video to show us how to do what we’re about to attempt. Whether it’s a repair for our home or our car, how to put on makeup, learning self-defense or making dinner, our even how to prepare a sermon, all we need to do is look it up on the world’s most popular video site --- even if its expertise on the best way to massage our pet opossum --- because, apparently, opossums need massages --- something else we can learn on YouTube!
    For the few of us who don’t know, there are millions of these tutorial videos, most produced by people who have a skill and simply want to share it. It’s the crowd sourcing of expertise that makes it possible for the most mechanically inept person to fix a faucet, or a maker of microwave mac and cheese to become a gourmet chef. Of course, all this instruction depends on the viewer’s willingness to experiment and put the information into practice. Without that, it’s just another internet time-waster with cat videos.
    People in the ancient world obviously didn’t have YouTube. Most of their learning was accomplish ed by watching someone model the activity in question face to face or by receiving a letter from a distant instructor --- which took way longer than even dial-up internet service, for those who remember!
    The reason that I bring this up is that over the course of September our second reading will be from one of the books of the New Testament called James. The author of James, who some Biblical scholars have suggested could even have been a brother of Jesus, intended audience were Christians of Jewish background who were caught up in the upheaval. In mid-first century Palestine, there where outbreaks of violence and insurrection --- a conflict that would culminate in the Jewish revolt of A.D. 66-70 and the destruction of the second Temple in Jerusalem. In fact, the whole Roman world was dealing with unrest, including economic problems, food shortages, and the rapid turnover of Roman emperors that led to an erratic government policy toward minorities like Jewish Christians and others.
    The problem before the church in that time of uncertainty that this author tried to address in his letter can be summed up something like this: “How do we remain a faithful Christian community in the midst of this time of trial and temptation?” James wrote to encourage his brothers and sisters and to give them some practical instruction on how to navigate in difficult times.
    Therefore, because we live in our own turbulent times and we will be hearing from the book of James all of September, some time on the book may help.
    The first and most important concept found across the chapters is that the author of James suggests that faithfulness is to be practiced. If we were to read the letter from beginning to end, it seems to read like a series of random tutorial videos on life, but James made clear that no amount of instruction matters unless it is put into practice. We can watch all the video’s we want to, but unless we are willing to be like that 8-year-old and take the wheel it only remains a video. James wanted the church to represent faithfulness not only in hearing the instruction but doing the instruction as well.
    “Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him” (v. 12). In that strange language of 20 centuries ago, James saw his situation as a time of testing for the Christian community, but also an opportunity to demonstrate faithfulness.
    For James, this time of testing was not something that God had thrown down in front of his people to break them. It was not a test of their faith, but rather it was a chance to shine as a community of the new creation that God had brought forth in the death and resurrection of Jesus (vv. 13-17).
    You see in that day and age many in the Greco-Roman world, many consulted astrology and the alignment of the stars as a kind of first-century YouTube to help determine their course of action. James called the church to remember that they have been given the “perfect gift” of God: the “Father of lights,” the one who created the stars in the first place.
    Unlike the changeable nature of events in the world James said, there is “no variation or shadow due to change” in God’s nature (v. 17). God and the word of God are the only reliable bedrock for a community of faith, which God created “in fulfillment of his own purpose” and birthed “by the word of truth” (v. 18).
    James sets this up as a direct contrast to the other kind of “birth” people have; a birth conceived out of heterosexual sex, which, in turn, gives birth to death (v. 15). Now we could look up “How to give birth” on YouTube and find a whole bunch of videos --- you know, in case we need to check out a video while racing to the hospital. But for James, the only birth that really matters is the one that happens when we are born anew daily, “first fruits” of God’s new creation in Christ (v. 18).
    Unfortunately, our fundamentalist Christian brothers and sisters have created this impression that this word is black and white in King James English. But what James had in mind, is that God’s word is reason under holy inspiration that helps us when the world seems to be spinning out of control. It’s tempting to give into anger, revenge and nasty words. Just like there are a ton of instructional videos on YouTube, there are plenty of folks who also use that platform to rant, spew venom and conspiracy about some person, cause or issue.
    James instead reminds us that this is like trying to deal with a problem without taking the time to read the directions first. “Let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness” (vv. 19-20). James instructs his brothers and sisters to get rid of that kind of toxic reactivity and instead, begin with step one: “welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls” (v. 21). The same “word of truth” that gives new birth daily also guides the words and actions of the one whom God has saved.
    How does that “record” button start? James says that we are at our best when we practice. “But be doers of the word and not merely hearers who deceive themselves” (v. 22). The purpose of receiving instruction, receiving the “word of truth,” is to put whatever we do know into action. If, say, I watch a YouTube video on how to fix a leaky faucet but never pull out the tools and get to work trying what I’ve learned to use, then I will still be stuck with a constant drip. If we just watch the video and say, “Yeah, I’ll need to get back to that,” We will quickly forget everything we’ve learned.
    The author of James says the same thing happens when we only hear or watch and don’t put it into practice. When we fail to take the word, we have received and put it into rehearsal, nor built a kind of spiritual muscle memory, then we fail to recall who God created and redeemed us to be as people gathered to be co-creators for the kingdom of God (vv. 23-24).
    If, on the other hand, we keep our focus on “the perfect law, the law of liberty,” and persevere, being hearers and doers as flawed as we are, we will be “blessed” in our doing. “Blessed” is not getting our Powerball number or the tornado missing our homes, so it flattens our neighbors, rather blessed is satisfaction in practicing what we have been instructed to do.
    Now, I don’t know about you but when I have looked at some of the YouTube videos to accomplish a task which in my case is usually with a plumbing problem, some tutorials don’t quite convey the information in a way that’s easy for us to follow. Try tying a bow tie while watching a video, for example. It’s difficult because that mirror image forces me to do everything backwards. Rather to tie that bow tie effectively I need someone standing beside me to show me how, guiding my fingers and helping me develop the internal memory of the process until it becomes second nature. It’s one thing to conceptualize the process, and quite another to execute.
    The same is true for “faith,” says James. It’s not simply about a solo running of the mouth and declaring one’s faith; nor is it about lashing out at those who might be challenging (v. 26). It is faith, in other words, that uses the model of Jesus for both its belief and its practice. But perhaps like tying a bow tie, there are some things YouTube just can’t quite teach. It can’t teach us how to be a follower of Jesus. Oh, sure, it can teach us the principles of discipleship, but to really learn, we are stronger and healthier when we live out faith with others who likewise strengthen and help us be healthier along the way. Information alone won’t get it; it takes imitation in community as well. That’s why we need a community of faith to guide us and give us examples for putting this infinitesimal faith we have into practice.
    In a culture where there is plenty of upheaval, we are the opportunity to be the glimmer in the night that reflect God’s glory. And we shine most brightly when others have a sampling of faith come up in their top ten searches and want to be instructed in how to do the same.
    Sure our “videos” may be clumsy, amateurish and there may be others with more views, but an 8-year-old learned to drive by watching a poor tutorial video and then grabbing the keys. Because, all the motivation he needed was not found in the video, or in what he heard or saw, but in the prospect of a Happy Meal.
    Over the coming month as we hear the words from the book of James, may we be motivated to take the examples of faith we have been given by grace in, with and through Jesus Christ to put into practice God’s grace because we are models of faith in hopeful community to an even greater destination, better than just some golden arches. Amen        .