I’ve been taking some time to reflect on the Deuteronomy passages that were in the sermon this last Sunday.  One in particular has struck me as I have reflected on this Lenten season.  From Deuteronomy 8:2 - 6 (NRSV):

Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments. He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. The clothes on your back did not wear out and your feet did not swell these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a parent disciplines a child so the Lord your God disciplines you. Therefore keep the commandments of the Lord your God, by walking in his ways and by fearing him.  

The time in the desert (or wilderness) has a twofold purpose, according to Moses:

1. To humble us
2. To test us to see whether we would obey his commandments

Significantly, he says for the first point, he humbled the people first by letting them hunger, and then by feeding them with manna.  This humility would teach the people that they are sustained by the Word of God, and not merely by bread and water.  I think we can see several points in here as to what God is trying to teach through this. (more…)

The month of March arrives for First Baptist Church this year seated firmly in the Lenten season - the 46-day period leading up to the Great Sunday of the Resurrection, Easter. This year, Easter falls on April 8. March brings the beginning of Spring - with its hope of New Life. For First Baptist, it also brings significant challenges for our congregation as we continue to develop our common life.

There are numerous signs of new life which may be clearly seen throughout First Baptist.  Let’s look at a few:

• We have 4 - 5 people this month who are planning to meet with the deacons for their Baptismal interview.  This means they are almost ready for Baptism.
• We have 5 more people who have expressed interest in Baptism in the near future and are exploring how we will work that process out. 
• We have 9 people who have completed the six training sessions on how to reach out with the Good News of Jesus Christ - and several others who have part of the training completed. 
• Another group of 9 people from First Baptist volunteered together to work at the Warren Family Mission on Monday, 19 February.  This provided us the opportunity to hear the Good News of what God is doing there while helping to serve in their work.  We also had the opportunity to share with them what God is doing with us.
• Many have remarked on the increased cameraderie that has developed while we have been worshipping together in the Fellowship Hall during the month of February.  This has been evident to me as well as we have encountered God in a more relaxed atmosphere. 

These are some exciting signs of new life, aren’t they? 

These signs of new life press us to deal with some new challenges to help us capitalize upon our potential for growth and new life.  I encourage you to commit these challenges to intense prayer over the next month.

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A question on the last post on Fasting triggered some thoughts about the spiritual discipline of simplicity. 

Simplicity is a spiritual discipline of abstinence, to put it in the terms Dallas Willard uses; it is an outward discipline in the terms of Richard J. Foster.  Simplicity is, in effect, extended fasting from life’s luxuries (either in whole or in part - this isn’t about being supermen, right?).  Simplicity is a lifestyle habit that we create by abstaining from some (or all) of the “extras” in life.  Most of us stick with “some,” and that’s not a bad thing.  “All” tends to create spiritually draconian practices that are counter-productive. 

Simplicity can be, well, as simple as continuing to drive the car you’re driving for a few more years, rather than trading it in every two to three years.  It can be as simple as reducing your intake of luxury foods for an extended period of time.  The savings in health and money alone free up resources for the kingdom; the abstinence from something we desire helps us develop desires that are more godly. 

Simplicity can also be steps we take to reduce the complexity of life.  As wired Westerners, our lives are automatically over-complicated - even while we sleep, since the machines never do.  Even machines as simple as our clocks go ticking away through the night, never sleeping so that, as our watchmen, they may wake us at the appropriate time.  A discipline of simplicity does not try to reduce life’s complexity so that we might cram more into a single day by becoming more efficient (for if we could, we wired Westerners would carry this to a level of perversity never before seen on this planet!); rather, simplicity reduces life’s complexity by reducing our activities and changing our lifestyle such that there is more margin in general.

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The Scripture Reading for this week is from Luke 4:1 - 13.

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.� Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’� Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.� Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’� Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’� Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’� When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

(scripture from http://bible.oremus.org.  Link to passage here.)

Today if you look in your bulletins you see that the title of this message is “The Way of the Cross: Crucifying our Desires to Follow Jesus to the Cross.”  This Wednesday marked the beginning of Lent, with the service of Ash Wednesday.  Over the next few weeks, I hope to take us through this Lenten season discovering what it means to follow Jesus to the Cross so that, in the words of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 3, we may know the power of the Resurrection by the fellowship of sharing in the sufferings of Jesus. 

That “sharing in sufferings” for us is called discipleship.  And the first step in discipleship is often setting aside (or in the words of the Apostle, “putting to death”) the desires that draw us from the love of God. 

This idea of crucifying our desires is something that does not come easily to humanity in general; it is even more rare and difficult in our Western culture.  Day after day we are bombarded by advertisements attempting to intice us to spend money on this, indulge in that, get rich quick through buying and selling real estate, with no money down, and so on.  Indulgence used to be something for which the excessively wealthy were despised by the rest of us.  Now it is something that we are invited to do, “because we deserve it.”  We are told by advertizer after advertizer, by self-help book after self-help book that we are victims of our desires and should go ahead and do what they say because they will always win out in the end - as long as we do so in a way that doesn’t cause harm to ourselves or others.

Right.

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Many times, people react to the idea of fasting a meal: “I can’t do that!”  Their reactions are often even stronger when it is suggested that they fast for an extended period of time.  While fasting in the most traditional sense, and the sense in which it is used in Scripture, always involves missing meals, there are other ways to fast. 

There are, however, a few good guidelines for what makes a good (non-food) fast. 

First of all, fasting is a discipline of abstinence, undertaken for a period of time.  It is often coupled with prayer, since abstaining from an activity or from a certain dietary item should give us more time to engage in other spiritual disciplines. 

Several categories of activities fall into good fasting techniques.  If we are seeking to share in Christ’s self-emptying, we should consider fasting from some luxury item or activity.  While all our advertisements invite us to indulge, we will refrain.  Luxury items could be food-related, such as fine wine, sweets, snacks or meat.  Other luxuries could be certain forms of entertainment with which we are blessed.  Driving our car to work may be a luxury if we could just as well walk or ride the bus.  Luxury items might be the little “extras” upon which we spend money.

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Fasting used to be a common practice for Christians as a regular part of our spiritual life.  These days, it is less common, and many do not know what to expect physically from fasting. 

Fasting is, by and large, safe, as long as certain sane guidelines are followed.  A fast of a day or two takes little preparation, and may be entered into largely at will - unless, of course, a person has pre-existing medical conditions (especially those that require daily medication) that might preclude such activity.  Those with diet-related medical issues (such as diabetes) should be especially careful when entering into a fast.

Extended fasting is even less common these days than it once was.  An extended fast could be considered anything from about 5 days to the traditional 40.  An extended fast takes some preparation, as it is advisable to begin to reduce portion size and food complexity over a period of time so as not to shock one’s system entirely.  Of course, when setting a length for an extended fast, it is important to know the call of God to do this.  It is further important to make sure a couple of other people whom you trust know what you are doing, in case of emergency. 

With those cautions in mind, let’s look at what you might experience physically when you fast.

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When we engage in Spiritual Disciplines, we both engage in some activities and abstain from other activities.  The most familiar Disciplines involve abstinance: fasting, solitude, etc.  However, this is not the whole story.

This Lenten season I will be engaging in blogging (a renewed activity) for the period of the 46 days.  I will also be abstaining from recreational television - those TV shows that I’ve gotten into.  I have further chosen to abstain from a certain dietary luxury (to remain nameless here).  Moreover, I am engaging in a discipline regarding my time working vs. personal time, the details of which cannot be revealed here yet. 

 This supplements the other disciplines that I am practicing no matter the season.  They are entered into for a time to allow focus on Christ.  I engage in them in solidarity with Christ’s kenotic act.  Kenosis, of course, is Christ’s self-emptying so that he could enter creation as its creator. 

 As I practice these disciplines, I will likely post on the struggles they cause here over this Lenten period.

 I encourage you to consider what disciplines you might engage in for this time.

 Grace and Peace to all.

The Scripture for the sermon this evening comes from 2 Corinthians 5:20b - 6:10.

[W]e entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says, “At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you.� See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

(from http://bible.oremus.org)

[Intro to 2 Corinthians]

Paul reminds the Corinthians that he has not done anything that should impede their continued growth in Christ. Paul’s actions, though extreme, should not be cause for complaint. Instead, he boasts of the great lengths to which he and his companions have gone on the Corinthians’ behalf. God has commended their actions, Paul says, because they have observed the normal lifestyle of servants of God.

through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

Nevertheless, it seems that the Corinthians had a different view of what the life of Christian discipleship and Apostolic leadership should look like. If we were to read between the lines of how Paul responds to the Corinthians, it would seem that the Corinthians expected successful Christian ministry to be “injury-free.” They expected Paul to be well-received everywhere he went. They expected him to be well-loved. They expected that he would not upset anyone - and that he would do whatever it took so that everyone would like him.

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Many of us are unfamiliar with what Lent is all about. There is much talk about “giving something up” for Lent or having to jump through certain dietary hoops during the 46-day period.

The practice isn’t explicitly scriptural: it does not have direct attestation in the Bible. In fact, the practice took several hundred years to develop in the church, by all accounts. Nevertheless, the fact that it is not explicitly commanded or practiced in the Bible does not make it any less of a Biblical practice. The fact that the original twelve apostles probably did not observe Lent does not make it any less Apostolic.

The cycles of what we now call the Christian Year reflect the events of the Life of Christ and the life of Christ’s Body, the Church. In that regard, falling into step with the Christian Year, including Lent, is yet another way of falling into step behind Jesus, following him and imitating his Life - the Life that is Eternal. Thus, we should not be fearful of entering into practices that are foreign or hidebound and traditionalistic: for the Life of Christ can never be so. (Inasmuch as they are so, they are not life, nor life-giving nor Christian.) Instead, we can seek the Life that is in the center of sharing in (koinonia) the Life of Christ.

The rationale for the observance of Lent is quite well-developed - perhaps more so than any other season of the Christian Year. In these rationales, we can see the Biblical basis for the practice of Lent and the Apostolic perspectives that pervade the entire process. Some of these themes are as follows:

• A Call to Fasting and Prayer
• A Call to Repentance
• A Call to Prepare for Baptism
• A Call to Self-Emptying
• A Call to Walk to the Cross with Jesus
• A Call to Share in the Sufferings of Jesus Christ
• A Call to Renewed Spiritual Discipline
• A Reminder of our Mortality
• A Reminder of our Co-Conspiracy with Evil
• A Reminder of our Depravity - i.e., our inability to save ourselves
• A Reminder of Christ’s Work on Our Behalf

We shall explore these themes - the seven calls and the four reminders - throughout the 46 lenten days. Forty of these days are days of fasting; six of these days are still - even in Lent - celebrations of the Resurrection.

Grace and Peace to all.

In the interest of getting this blog re-started, and
In the interest of developing greater Spiritual Discipline, and
In the interest of blogging on a certain topic for a period of time -

I will be starting to blog daily throughout Lent, beginning with today, Ash Wednesday.

This will be the online component to the Lenten Sermon Series, The Way of the Cross, based out of the Revised Common Lectionary readings for this year (Year C).

Blessed be God who forgives all our sins:
His mercy endures forever.

Last Epiphany, Year C

First Reading: Psalm 99

Sermon: 2 Corinthians 3:12 - 4:2

Transformed into the Lord’s Glory

Handwritten Notes

6 Epiphany, Year C

First Reading: Jeremiah 17:5 - 10

Sermon: Luke 6:17 - 26

Subverting the Powers

Handwritten Notes

5 Epiphany, Year C

First Reading: Psalm 138

Sermon: Luke 5:1 - 11

Vocation

No Notes