340 E. 15th Street, Tempe, AZ 85281-6612 (480) 967-3543
In the past 3 years we have been forced to remove several trees from Peace Park that were dead or dying. The last of those, a giant ash tree was removed 2/22 at a cost of $2950 for that tree alone. The tree canopy in Peace Park is now gone. With the canopy gone, the flood-irrigated ground can now dry up between watering and the Park may find more use.
Lutherans are familiar with Martin Luther’s words as he stood in Worms, Germany, before the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, representatives of the pope, and his own prince, Elector Frederick the Wise. Asked if the books before him were his and if he would renounce them, Luther is said to have responded, “Unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason, my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. So help me God. Amen.” Some remembrances add to the end, “Here I stand, I can do no other.”
Pretty tough stuff to say before authorities with the power to have him executed! Heroic words. Yet there is one part we so often skip over. Christians love to quote the part about scripture, but seem to miss the small phrase “and plain reason.”
Are Christians “reasonable” people? Are we called to be such? That is, are Christians those who not only to use scripture as a guide and authority for discipleship, but utilize reason as well? Martin Luther must have thought so. Many times he used reason as he wrestled with scripture and issues of the day. Many times he might have been better served if he had used reason instead of emotion. His comments later in life regarding the Jews come to mind where reason would have been a better approach than angry and frustrated emotion. Early in his ministry he did use reason and scripture in his much more friendly and conciliatory words regarding Jews and Judaism.
What role does reason play in your following of Jesus? Do you use reason in navigating through the pandemic, paying attention to scientists, health guidelines, mask wearing, or do emotions that are tired and frustrated of living this way hold sway?
Perhaps God’s greatest gift to the human body is the brain. It was given to us to use. It was given to us to think and serve as a counter balance to the gift of emotions. Many times our emotions need to have a conversation with our reason. They ought to be in dialog with one another, not competing to take over and dominate.
I am convinced Christians are to be reasonable creatures. This is why so many things can change over the years. I think of ongoing struggle of Christian acceptance of the LGBTQ community. Yes, there was once a kind of consensus among Christians that such went against God’s will. Bible verses were tossed out as “proof”, mostly out of context. Funny how many love to quote Leviticus about this but ignore that they themselves fail to follow most of Leviticus’ laws which appear to most as outdated. (Read Leviticus to see what I mean…how many of those maxims do you follow?)
Over time and constant study with new insights discovered, many Christians, through both scripture and reason have noticed how few texts even deal with homosexuality. And transgender? The Bible knows nothing about such. Over time with the study of scripture and the use of reason many Christians have discovered that for something to be truly biblical, it needs to be held up to all of scripture which in turn has to be held up to Jesus…..Jesus, who is THE message of scripture. Emotions and bible quoting alone are insufficient here. Thinking, reason, needs to be employed.
So it is with climate change. This is not known in the Bible. Yet stewardship of the earth and all its resources are well-known in scripture. The very first chapters of Genesis command Adam, and thusly humanity, to take care of God’s creation. The Bible is silent as to how we might do this regarding climate change and many ecological and biological issues of the day. Reason is required in partnership with God’s order to care for the earth. Reasonable people can dialog and disagree on how to so care for the earth, but there is no freedom to debate if we are called to such stewardship.
Do you see how this works? Yes, we look to Jesus, yes we look to scripture. However, first century and older texts don’t know much about life and the world of 2021. We have to think, we have to use our reason to help bridge the gap from what is biblical to how that might apply in the here and now. Many times we will be wrong in our use of reason. It seems to me even more times people are wrong when they jettison reason and try only using quotes from scripture. The partnership is necessary.
Then there is faith. Where does this come in to play? Faith is the trust that God gave us a brain to use. Faith is the trust that God is a God of grace when our rational methods fail us. Faith is a trust that despite a failure, we can once again move forward with the tools of faith and reason learning from failure and not causing us to divorce the partnership of faith and reason. Faith also can be a help when very reasonable people come to very different conclusions based on reason.
Are the teaching of Jesus reasonable? That is, do they make a difference in our life and can they have an impact on the world? Faith is a trust that they do and they can. The toolbox of faith most always includes scripture, worship, prayer, and, of course, Jesus. Don’t forget to include reason in your toolbox.
To Alex Willoughby and Babs Pardue on their wedding Saturday, March 6 at Kiwanis Park, Tempe. Pastor Gary officiated at the very small outdoor ceremony.
How many people does one get to know over a lifetime? Families, neighbors, classmates, teammates, church members, members of organizations, work, volunteering and projects, business acquaintances……the list goes on. Then there are the people whom we feel like we know, but in reality do not. Those might include athletes, TV, music or movie stars, politicians, and other well-known people we recognize and about whom we know a few things.
Once I tried to guestimate how may parishioners I may have known over the years. With all the transiency of the West, I could only know the number was in the thousands. On occasion I am able to network and connect people in my present life with someone in my past for jobs, internships, or simply conversation and advice. Afterward someone may ask, “How did you do that?” My response: “I know people.”
Indeed I do. Indeed I have. The same, of course is true of us all. For myself, sometimes it seems my life is a story. Its plot was driven and composed by the thousands of stories that intersected my life to create my story. Some of those intersecting stories were brief, some quite long. Some, I can’t even remember the names.
Your story is the same. It is the mosaic of so many people who have crossed your paths during your young, middle-aged, or long- in- years life. It may take a village to raise a child, but it takes a tremendous number of people to make us who we are and who we are yet becoming.
I can’t help but wonder how many people have been affected by our stories? Like George Bailey in the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” some have been touched by us without us even realizing it. We were just doing through life, being who we were and who we are and some part of us touched another.
This is how we can see God at work. This is part of our Epiphany as we see the God who enters this earth and life as one of us, comes to us through the stories of those who came through and come through our life. This God comes to others through our story as we crisscross through multiple other lives. We are both impacted and impacting because of the God who made a home in human flesh.
I know people. You know people. People know us. Because of this, we also know God a bit more. Because of this, we have all had God meet us and meet us up close. Tell the stories. Hear the stories. Be the story. God loves to tell the story through Jesus and through God’s people.
We have this church season that follows Christmas called Epiphany. Personally I think it is time to give the season a makeover. Let’s instead call it, “ta da!”….you know, like someone might say prior to an impressive entrance or a dramatic announcement. That is, after all the prime message of Epiphany. The baby Jesus was born in a manger. Then along comes this church season to proclaim, “ta da!….This is who this Jesus is!” Watch him be baptized and hear the voice call him beloved and well pleased, see people give up everything to follow Jesus, hear him challenge followers to fish for people, see Jesus cast out an unclean spirit and heal a follower’s mother-in-law.
Ta da, indeed! Yet the most amazing thing about this Jesus is what he can do for his followers. In Mark this vagabond group give up everything to follow a person they don’t get. In fact, in the end they run away. Where is the “ta da” here? The “ta da” is not in what those disciples do. It is instead what Jesus does with them. Post resurrection these stumblers go into the world preaching, teaching, healing, and organizing a church. Really? These guys? Well, 2,000 years later here we are.
Some years the text of Jesus turning water into wine appears in Epiphany. This event pales compared to the change Jesus is able to create in the disciples. They ones who didn’t get it become leaders. The ones who fled and ran away become martyrs. All have since been called saint by the church.
Careful now; you think I will say, “ta da!” regarding the disciples. Nope. Even and especially the “ta da” here is reserved for Jesus. This is the work of Jesus. Now if you want to get more theologically technical we would say it is the work of the Holy Spirit, but working through those claimed by God in baptism who follow Jesus.
Moments and instances of “ta da” are not left back in history. They occur still. You have done and said things that were “ta da” glimpses of Jesus. I have said and done things that are. I once had a bishop who was also a friend and great preacher who said, in a sermon, “I have four sermons in me. I keep preaching them over and over. Yet those who listen keep hearing something different each time I preach one of them. That’s not my work.” Ta da!
When the bishop preached this, I felt a huge burden lifted from my shoulders. You see, I was secretly hiding the fact that I thought I had six sermons in me and was afraid to share this with anyone. What a guilt reducer for this pastor when the bishop preached that. Ta da!
What memories do you have of witnessing someone do a simple or ordinary deed that somehow became profound? On what occasion might you have just been going about your day and your work or your life but some action or word in your going caused something important to happen that someone mentions still despite the time that has passed? Ta da!
It would seem we can do whatever we wish regarding Epiphany. We can go back to the old days when some Sundays were called Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima. (My, spell check just overheated). Or we can stick with Epiphany or contemporize it to “ta da” or some other clever catchword. Regardless, the point will remain: this baby Jesus was God come to earth to be among us and to work to reveal God and to transform those who follow this Jesus. Keep following, baptized ones! God has more “ta das” in store as you follow and through your following.