Happy are those
who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; --Psalm 1:1 NRSV Is it me or are there a lot of news stories lately about teachers and coaches saying awful things to their students? A number of cases have occurred in the KC area in recent weeks, and it seems like most if not all of them are white men. When white men in leadership situations with young people use the “n-word” or put down LGBTQ people or criticize someone of a religion different than their own I wonder what was going on in that man’s head? Was it a temporary slip that they didn’t mean? Did they always hold these views but their filter wasn’t working? Or did they imbibe too many hours of what I call the “hate machine”—caustic, negative and rage-filled talk radio, cable news and social media? Clearly, ignorance and idiocy occur across all boundaries of race, ethnicity, gender, nationality, sexual orientation, politics and every other kind of boundary. White men don’t have a monopoly on acting badly or misdirecting anger, yet it seems to me the “hate machine” is operating at a level never seen before to get white men enraged. In a cynical bid to profit from people’s sense of outrage, everyone from billion-dollar corporations down to a guy running a podcast out of his basement are seeking to monetize people’s rage. An outrageous headline gets us to click on a manipulative article because it makes us mad, meanwhile they profit from every click on their web site. We stick around through a commercial break because of a teaser about the next segment sure to raise our blood pressure while they raise their advertising rates. It’s a nihilistic game that holds to no clear value system other than profit. The number one target for the “hate machine” seems to me to be white men. As more than ever before people groups who were denied a say in the public sphere are finding ways to make their voices heard white men are told they are victims. Without stopping to consider that white men have pretty much controlled everything in this country until fairly recently, we white men start to feel like we are losing something rather than simply having to share our influence, power and megaphone with others. It’s so much easier to get hacked off than humbly consider experiences different than our own. It’s easier to play the victim than to share control with others. In Psalm 1, the way of the righteous is differentiated from the way of the wicked. One phrase really stands out to me about the age we are in: “the seat of the scoffers.” It’s an evocative image variously translated as the seat or place of scoffers, mockers or scornful. This place is different from one where a person studies the “law of the Lord” or better translated the “teachings of God.” In the context in which Psalm 1 was written, studying God’s teachings was never a solitary experience but a community exercise. In order to study God’s teachings effectively one engaged in discussion with others who held different interpretations and points of view. As opposed to the “seat of scoffers,” which separates one from the rest of community with an arrogant mockery, studying God’s teachings involves listening, humility and community. When I read about inappropriate outbursts especially by white men but not limited just to them, I wonder was that person in dialogue with anyone else? Were they in a friendship or relationship with people different from them in regards to politics, race, sexual orientation, religion, etc.? Or were they falling down a rabbit hole into a bubble of like-minded outrage that promised wisdom but delivered only senseless anger? Take in a diet several hours a day of cable news, talk radio and social media posts that tell you how much you’re being wronged and how enraged you should be about it and pretty soon one ends up a manipulated seething pile of pointless ire (while the ones selling this rage make their money and care nothing of the consequences). More than ever, we need people, especially white men, to dig deep into the teachings of God and avoid the seat of the scoffers. God teaches about humility, meekness, wisdom, self-control, grace and mercy. When God teaches about anger it is always anger about the mistreatment of the least powerful and never about the powerful viewing themselves as victims. We need people who will pause before speaking and posting, treat others with compassion and exercise enough self-control not to vomit up hateful ideas just because it feels good in the moment. “The Hate Machine” is a seductive and addictive movement that says humility, self-control and grace are for losers and dehumanizing others of a lower social status is admirable. It is not an easy thing to quit and those who produce it know that fact better than anyone else. Yet, people who wish to find the way of the righteous refuse to sit in the “seat of scoffers.” Grace and Peace, Rev. Chase Peeples
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This week the Pastoral Search Team met for the first time, and I challenged them with two points that I believe the entire church needs to hear:
My second point largely comes down to your next pastor will not be a superhero. She or he will not be talented and charismatic enough to transform PHCC into what you think God is leading it to be. Your next pastor will not have all the answers nor will she or he make everything the way it used to be. It is not your next pastor’s responsibility to be the church for you. All these things are your responsibility not your future pastor’s responsibility. If you want PHCC to be something different and to do something different, then why aren’t you doing it already? For that matter, why should the pastor PHCC needs even come here if the church membership isn’t already doing what God calls it to be and do? Here is the straight truth—if you aren’t willing to make what God wants to happen a reality now before your next pastor comes, then you probably won’t be willing to make it happen after your new pastor comes. Now that COVID is ending and day by day we are seeing vaccination counts rise and restrictions being lifted, it is the perfect time to get about doing the work God calls PHCC to do. If something needs to change, then let’s change it. If something needs to be started, let’s start it. If something needs to be resumed now that the pandemic is over, let’s resume it. If something needs to end, let’s end it. The time is now and not some future date when a new pastor is called. The biggest lie the American church ever fell for is the one that says the church should be a spiritual vending machine that gives people what they want without them having to do anything in return. Of course, churches need to be offering opportunities that enrich the spiritual lives of the people who belong to it, but despite what megachurches promise, a true Christian community is not a show to be watched or a spectator sport. True Christian community involves commitment, service and every member of it invested in what it does together. The blessing of a healthy church is everyone knowing the joy of serving and seeing how God uses them to help others. The reality in most (unhealthy) churches is a few members burn themselves out bailing just enough water out of a sinking ship to keep it afloat a little longer. So, what are you waiting for? Your next pastor won’t be a genie who shows up to grant your wishes. The same God who will be present then is present now and ready to get down to business. If you want PHCC to be offering something, then look in the mirror, because Jesus did not model a consumer Christianity but a Christianity made up of servants who serve others with joy. If you wish for a talented, charismatic and caring pastor to come to PHCC, then get to work being the kind of church such a person would want to be a part of. The best pastors searching for churches to serve are looking for churches where members are already doing great things because the power of God is at work in them. Why would she or he want to come to a church that has sat on its hands waiting for a sucker to come and do all the work God called it to do in the first place? Grace and Peace, Rev. Chase Peeples Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the
devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. --Ephesians 6:12-13 NRSV My family and I have been watching the Star Wars TV show The Mandalorian on Disney+. If you are not into Star Wars (and if not, why not?), The Mandalorian looks and feels a lot like an old western only with spaceships and laser blasters instead of horses and six shooters. The main character is from the planet Mandalore--hence the name of the show--where a race of fierce warriors once lived. These warriors were known by their impenetrable armor made of one of the toughest metals in the galaxy. Our hero--similar to “the man with no name” in westerns--travels the galaxy encased in his armor battling evil and saving the local populace from the bad guys. (Oh yeah, there’s a baby Yoda too, but if you’re not into Star Wars, then that probably won’t mean much to you.) I’ve often wished for a kind of armor that could protect me from nasty remarks, manipulation, betrayal and pain. Maybe you know what I’m talking about. The myth of the invulnerable hero permeates our culture from old westerns to John McClane of Die Hard, from Lara Croft of Tomb Raider to Daenerys Targaryen of Game of Thrones. Who doesn’t want to live as if all the hurtful stuff that comes at us in all of our relationships doesn’t really scratch our surfaces? So, we learn survival skills such as wearing “masks” which enable us to present an image to the outside world different from our inner reality; pushing intimacy away so we don’t have the risk of being hurt; putting others down before we can be on the receiving end of a put down and more. There’s another kind of armor in the TV show The Mandalorian: the armor worn by the stormtroopers of the evil Galactic Empire. The bad guys’ armor is comically ineffective. All it takes is one smack from even the unlikeliest of sources to knock a stormtrooper out of action. An attentive viewer of the Star Wars franchise might wonder why they even bother wearing it, since it doesn’t really protect them at all. Our emotional defenses are a lot like the stormtroopers’ armor--it may make us feel safe but ultimately it just a bunch of heavy useless junk to carry around. For the real armor--the kind the title character of The Mandalorian wears--we have to look to a deeper source of protection. The Apostle Paul called it “the whole armor of God.” It’s too bad that so many Christians down through the centuries have taken these verses literally and as an excuse to become crusaders shedding blood in God’s name. Paul actually subverts the idea of armor and says our protection comes not from violence or the threat of it, not from literal weapons, helmets and breastplates, but from God. The armor that really keeps us safe is made up of things like truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation and Spirit. God did not create us to be action heroes wandering the Wild West or the galaxy immune from harm. No, God created us to be in relationship with one another and to take the risks which come with being vulnerable with one another. Of course that means we will be hurt but we can bear those pains because our strength and assurance comes from our perfect God rather than a misguided belief that others will be perfect or an even worse belief that we have to be perfect. God designed us to love courageously, show mercy recklessly and give generously with the full knowledge that living this way invites betrayal, ridicule and pain, but our identity and security is found in the God who created us rather than in the actions of others. Pick your armor carefully. One kind is useless but the other will sustain you through the difficulties of this life. Grace and Peace, Rev. Chase Peeples But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,
my Lord has forgotten me.” Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me. --Isaiah 49: 14-16 NRSV On Sunday, I preached about the biblical basis for addressing God in feminine, especially motherly, terms. The scripture read on Sunday came from Isaiah 49, one of my favorite Bible passages, because of the way God compares God’s self to a mother being unable to forget the child she gave birth to. What especially speaks to me is the first line of verse 16: “See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands.” It speaks to me because while my wife and I don’t have our sons’ names inscribed on our hands, we do have their names tattooed on our bodies. When the adoptions were finalized for each of our sons making them legally our children, my wife Jennifer and I found a tattoo parlor and had their monograms tattooed on our bodies. My wife chose to have one son’s monogram tattooed on the top of each foot. Ouch! I chose to put their monograms on either side of my left wrist. I wanted the tattoos of my sons’ monograms where I could easily see them wherever I chose. Back before my cell phone became my timepiece, I wore a watch which would cover the tattoos. These were the days before everyone had tattoos, and I felt like a little camouflage was in order, lest the sight of the minister having tattoos cause heart palpitations for the church’s more uptight members. Sometimes the watch wasn’t enough cover, and I did get to watch some prim and proper women (and men!) clutch their pearls in horror. Eventually I stopped wearing a watch, and everybody, even church-going grandmothers, got tattoos, so it’s not nearly the big deal it was once upon a time. My sons don’t take much notice of the tattoos sported by their parents. After all, they’ve been around as long as my teenage sons can remember. Sometimes, however, I do make a big deal of pointing the tattoos out in order to tell each of them how much I love them and that I carry them around with me all the time. It’s true. I glance down at my tattoos on my wrist and think about all we’ve gone through together, from the struggles of adoption to the struggles of being a teenager. A psychologist friend of mine says that Jen and I were responding to a need for “embodiment.” We didn’t literally go through the physical process of giving birth to our sons, she says, so we needed a physical tie to them. That makes sense to me, although at the time, we needed a way to ritualize our celebrations of the end of the rigorous adoption processes we faced with each boy. Either way, the tattoos were a way of claiming both beautiful children as our own. In Isaiah 49:16, it is God who has the name of God’s people tattooed on God’s hands. God cannot forget you or me, but it is as if God goes to the extra trouble to inscribe our names on God’s hands just in case. God claims you and me, and I like to think God checks out the tattoos of each of our names to remember all God has been through with us so far on our journeys. God cherishes even the difficult times simply because God had the joy of being together with each one of us. Whenever you feel alone, remember God has your name tattooed on God’s hands, and God is looking at it and lovingly thinking about you. Grace and Peace, Rev. Chase Peeples 1The LORD is my shepherd;
there is nothing I lack. 2He lets me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. 3He renews my life; He leads me along the right paths for His name’s sake. Psalms 23:1 – 3 HCSB Even the most casual of Christians will be familiar with these verses. This section of scripture is perhaps the second most memorized and quoted in our society. How many funerals have you attended where the 23rd Psalms was read? Most likely more than you can count. Because this passage is so common, we often overlook its significance in our daily life. Think of it, “The Lord is my shepherd”. This is an active role. A shepherd doesn’t just stand around watching the sheep. No, he herds the sheep to green pastures, he makes sure that they drink from the best springs of water. He protects them from the wild creatures that would devour them. This statement is a reminder that our God is actively involved in our lives. In those moments when we feel most vulnerable, alone and lost, the shepherd is there to comfort us. In our daily lives it is easy to feel lost. The rush of the day, the crush of overwhelming tasks and the sense that we are all alone in our efforts crowd into our thoughts and wear us out. We are so tired that when we sleep our minds race with things left undone and issues that we have no control over causing us to be weary even after a night of sleep. We remain restless, easily startled and out of control. Yet, we have the promise of a great shepherd to calm those very stresses. Looking to Jesus as our Great Shepherd brings us peace. “There is nothing I lack”. When we are caught up in the process of living, we look about us and wonder why I can’t have the things that “they” have. For most of us in America, we do not have to worry about our next meal or where we are going to lay our head at night. Most of those reading this post are assured of a good meal and a home to go to when the day ends. But more and more in our society there are people facing the real question of where the next meal will come from and where will I lay my head down tonight. If we search further afield, throughout the world there are whole societies that struggle just to make it one more day. In truth, it can be discouraging when we actually notice the world around us. But Christ gives us another way. When we trust fully in Him, we will lack nothing. That is not to say that our every meal is guaranteed or that we will have a roof over our head. What it is does mean is that we have assurance that God’s will is being done and no matter the hardship we face in this moment we will be provided for. “He lets me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.”. Though we may not have the things that this world says we need and yes, we may even be missing out on the essentials of life, we are promised one thing. We will find peace in Christ. As Corrie ten Boom wrote, “If you look at the world, you'll be distressed. If you look within, you'll be depressed. If you look at God, you'll be at rest.” Corrie ten Boom was a Dutch Christian who during the Nazi occupation helped hide Jews. For this crime she and her whole family were sent to a concentration camp. Even in the horrors of the death camp she looked to God and found peace. When Jesus is our focus, we find peace in our every circumstance. Is there great joy? No, not always, but there is hope and peace in His presence. “He renews my life; He leads me along the right paths for His name’s sake.” We live renewed lives because Jesus is doing a new thing in us. When we exhibit hope and peace to the world no matter our circumstances, the world takes notice and begins to question where does this come from. It is our opening to share Christ with others. It is such a struggle for most of us to go and “witness” to others, but when we live our lives looking to the Good Shepherd, others are drawn to us. When we put our faith in the God of all creation and truly trust that Jesus is our shepherd, we become beacons of His will for the entire earth. We are renewed in all things. We have peace, comfort, and safety in Christ. Do not be afraid, God has provided for us a Great Shepherd who will always care for us. Look to Him in all things. Kathy Hendrix (HCSB – Holman Christian Standard Bible) women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be
subordinate, as the law also says. If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. --1 Corinthians 14:33-34 NRSV It’s been two and a half years since my mother died of a brain tumor. I still find myself grieving over her absence even as I discover new things about her for which I am grateful. As we approach Mother’s Day, I’ve been thinking about what she taught me about how a woman should act in church. My mother never liked the role of preacher’s wife that the Southern Baptist churches my father served expected her to fill. She was an introvert and crowds of people left her depleted and irritated rather than the life of the party. She didn’t play the organ, lead the choir or act as a second unpaid minister with her husband. She did however faithfully teach children’s Sunday School and later adult Sunday School classes. All of her students, including me, learned an awful lot about the Bible and about God in her classes. My mother knew more about the Bible than most church members and even most ministers. She bit her lip in many church situations because she didn’t want to cause trouble for my father, but there were just times she had to speak up no matter what anyone else thought, including her husband the minister. My father told me the story of a time in the 1970’s during the rise of women’s rights and the fight for the Equal Rights Amendment when the St. Louis Baptist Association sent out a questionnaire to its pastors about the role of women. My father was fairly conservative in those days, so he answered all the questions according to the sexist biblical interpretations he had been taught—the husband has authority of his wife and she must submit to him, women should not hold positions of authority over men, only men could be church leaders and women could not be ordained. He made the mistake of leaving the questionnaire along with his answers out where my mother found it. The next morning my dad found the questionnaire with the words written on it in large bold letters: “THE ANSWERS WRITTEN ON THIS QUESTIONAIRE DO NOT REPRESENT THE VIEWS OF EVERYONE IN THIS HOUSEHOLD—BARBARA PEEPLES.” My father said that was a turning point for him regarding the equality of women and he began questioning the teachings of his denomination about gender. I recall another time that took place after my father had left the church I was raised in and gone to a new church across the country from it. My mother and I had not moved yet, and she continued to bring me to the original church so I could be with my friends in the youth group. The church had brought in an interim pastor who was a fire breathing fundamentalist. One Sunday, apropos of nothing, the preacher started yelling about abortion and declaring women who had one were going to hell. I was sitting with my friends in the back of the sanctuary, and I watched my mother abruptly and loudly stand up and gather her things in the middle of the sermon. She sat up front and when she turned to walk up the aisle every person in the church could see the anger written all over her face. It was a long aisle, and everyone got a good look at how mad she was. She was waiting for me in the car after the service (I had stayed until its end). I asked my mom about why she left the service, and she replied that she wasn’t going to sit there and listen to some arrogant fool condemn women especially when he had no idea the heartbreaking choices women had to make while the men who got them pregnant didn’t bear any of those burdens. Her words, and even more so her actions, taught me that using religion to condemn hurting people was wrong. Over the years since, I’ve heard all the prooftexts about women, usually a few scattered verses by the Apostle Paul. In defense of Paul, I’d simply note the poor man had no idea his mail would become holy scripture when he wrote his words. He was struggling to reconcile the freedom in Christ being experienced in the churches he founded with a culture intertwined with hierarchies of power. Sometimes he understood what equality in Christ meant (There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28 NRSV), and other times he was a man of his times and couldn’t see beyond the limits of his own culture (For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior. Ephesians 5:23 NRSV). Because of my mother’s example, I learned that we need to read such culture-bound verses in light of the equality in Christ Paul was pointing toward instead of the patriarchal culture Paul was stuck in. My mother never burned her bra on the church steps, but in her own way she pushed against sexism in the church and refused to be silenced. I’ve known so many brave and wise women who refused to be contained by misused Bible verses, and I laugh when I hear men quoting them, because I feel quite sure the women in their life are anything but submissive. Some of the courageous church women I have known have been pastors and seminary professors, deacons and elders, but whether they had a leadership role or were just like my mom, a female church member who refused to be silenced no matter the occasion, I am grateful to each of them. Speaking of “Silence,” I encourage you to read the following poem by Margalea Warner and offer thanks for all the church women you’ve known who refused to be silent in church. “As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silence in the churches.” (I Corinthians 14:33-34) I know a woman named Silence She said her parents did not know her very well when they named her. They thought Silence was a beautiful name for a girl. She stands up in her pew and speaks her mind: When a couple in church announces the birth of a girl Silence says, “I think we should all clap for that.” When a foreign student speaks about war in Ethiopia Silence says, “Keep telling us about that, we need to hear.” When someone complains about the church needing air conditioning Silence says, “That’s why I bring my fan.” I love this woman named Silence And I think we should definitely Keep Silence in the church. Grace and Peace, Rev. Chase Peeples Last Sunday we celebrated the life of Helen Hawkins Wright and her devotion to Park Hill Christian Church.
Helen had many titles during her time here on earth. She was a mother to Barbara, John and Jeff. A wife to John Hawkins, and years after losing John, a wife to Dick Wright. Helen served her church in so many roles, not the least of which were as a youth sponsor, a girl scout leader and a deacon. As most knew, Helen was involved in the SPEAC Pantry. But what you may not have known was that Helen originally started the Pantry out of her home ! The space constraints and demands soon forced her to find a larger venue, and that venue became Park Hill Christian Church. For years, the Northland Pantry operated out of our Church. Eventually it even outgrew our space and moved to its present location in the Presbyterian Church in Parkville. When Helen and Dick met and married (having both lost their first spouses to illness) they had grown children from those first marriages. They set up a family trust to first of all benefit their children after they were gone. However Helen also directed her trustees to set aside a gift for her Church. Last week, Helen Hawkins Wright (by way of her trust) presented Park Hill Christian Church with the "Gift Of A Lifetime". On Wednesday the Church received a check for $283,505.19 !!! Knowing that we were going to eventually receive this gift, but not certain when, your executive committee planned on how to best use this precious gift. Here is what we decided: The first $10,000 will be donated in Helen's name to the SPEAC Pantry. The next $25,000 will be placed into the permanent endowment fund in Helen's name, forever memorializing her gift to her Church. The next $20,000 will be set aside for replacement of a portion of the Church Roof; and The remaining $283,505.19 will be used to pay down the Church mortgage. As many of you may recall, when we built the Life Center and remodeled and expanded the Narthex, our original mortgage was about one million dollars ($1,000,000.00). After we make this payment, our debt will be down to around $20,000. Helen is challenging us to now step up and raise that remaining $20,000. With the help of each of you we can do it ! The money we have been diverting to mortgage payments could be used for so many more great ministries here at Park Hill, if only we can rid ourselves of that remaining debt. So how about it ? Are you on board ? Can you help finish the task that we are sooo close to completing, because of the gift from Helen Wright ? Please think about it. Pray about it. And then give what you can. Best regards, C. Carl Kimbrell On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. --Isaiah 25:6 NRSV Perhaps you’ve heard the expression “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” The adage is meant to mean “you can’t get something for nothing” or “there are always strings attached.” The idea may be true for our culture or for every culture for all I know, but it is an unbiblical worldview. God promises a free lunch and so much more, and God invites us to be a part of the free lunch movement. Throughout the Bible there is the image of a banquet God intends to give to God’s people, an image that spoke of abundance and plenty for the people of ancient Israel where most people lived hand to mouth at the best of times. Many of the images of God’s overflowing banquet are future events, but Jesus spoke of such abundance as not only a future event but a present reality wherever God’s people trusted in God’s abundance and were faithful with what God had given them. God insists that one day everyone shall have more than they need, but in the meantime, it is up to us to share what we have been given and to believe our instincts are wrong which lead us to hoard good things only for ourselves. Such a mindset is a dramatic break from our culture which declares everything is a transaction. You cannot get something for nothing because no gift is freely given. Most of our livelihoods and our retirement accounts are based upon the idea of supply and demand, selling what people want or need, and understanding the world as a place of scarcity where only some can be winners and most must be losers. Yet, God invites us to see a different kind of world where we have more than we need, and we are created to share it with others. If that sounds like nonsense to you or perhaps even some kind of communist plot, I invite you to consider this story from the Washington Post today: (https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2021/05/03/giving-wall-restaurant-oklahoma/) Restaurants in small towns in northeastern Oklahoma have started to post tickets and receipts for meals on their walls which customers have paid for but not eaten. Anyone, no questions asked, can take a ticket off the wall and get a meal for free. Even the tip is paid for in advance. The mayor of one of the small towns, Miami, Oklahoma (pronounced My-am-uh) said about the practice, “Maybe if we can show people what it’s like to take care of your neighbor during a time of need, it will spread throughout the United States.” Miami is a former mining town where 23% of the population live in poverty—probably more now that the Covid pandemic and this winter’s “Artic Blast” have taken their toll. The mayor said, “We don’t like to ask questions in Miami and we don’t judge. Sometimes, people just need a little help. They need somebody to believe in them.” These free meals began at one restaurant and quickly spread to restaurants around the area. One restaurant owner said, “It’s a discreet way for somebody to get a good meal without feeling embarrassed. Our waitresses know not to make a fuss or draw attention to it.” She went on to say, “I’ve had people tell me this is the first time in a long time that they’ve been able to have a meal in a restaurant. So there is still a lot of hurt and hard times out there.” Some of those who have taken a free meal have later returned to buy a meal for someone else when they are able to do so. Another restaurant owner took a call from a man in Chicago who read about the free meals and paid for several meals because he felt inspired by it. Generosity begets generosity. Selfishness begets selfishness. There is such a thing as a free lunch or a free dinner or a free breakfast. The Bible says so. God says so. All it takes for a “free lunch” to happen is people who trust they have enough to give to others with no strings attached. It’s too bad most people who say they believe in God don’t actually trust God enough to be generous with what God has given them. I wonder what would happen if each person who reads these words would ask God to show them whom they should give a “free lunch” to? I wonder what would happen if each person who reads these words asked God the same question every day? Grace and Peace, Rev. Chase Peeples for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of
self-discipline. --2 Timothy 1:7 NRSV Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received ... but only what you have given: a full heart, enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice, and courage. --St. Francis of Assisi Did you hear the big news announced in Sunday’s worship service? Helen Wright left Park Hill Christian Church her house--her house! Helen died near the beginning of 2020, and after a lifetime of giving to her community and to her church, she gave the church her house which means after all the necessary fees were paid for the church received around $283,000! That’s nuts! Two Hundred and Eighty Thousand Dollars! Among other things, this money will enable the church to come close to paying off its remaining mortgage. We will only have around $20,000 remaining to pay off, and when that is gone around $20,000 every year will go into other ministries that is currently going towards the mortgage. One doesn’t just arrive at a decision to give away a house overnight. Helen’s gift was the capstone of a lifetime of service and generosity. Helen supported PHCC through faithful giving of money, time and even serving as an unpaid staff member. She started a food pantry out of her home for hungry people in our area. It grew and moved to our church building. Then it kept growing and is now the Southern Platte Emergency Assistance Coalition (SPEAC) which serves hundreds of families every month who are food insecure. The gift of the house was only the end of a long list of giving; it was a lifestyle rather than a one-off event. I know most of us are not in the financial situation to give away a house (although more in our church and most churches could do so than one might think), yet all of us, myself included, think too small and too safe when it comes to giving. We spend our days thinking about how little we have and how much more we want rather than thinking about how much we have that we don’t need that others with less than us could use. Helen Wright is an exception to the giving patterns of most Christians, but she shouldn’t be. Each of us is capable of giving in ways that are extravagant and in ways others might think are a bit crazy. When I felt called to be a local church minister decades ago, I thought I was called to be a part of God’s great plan to change the world for the better. I expected to be a part of churches that did amazing things for their communities with the power of Christ flowing through them. What I found instead was a soul-deadening journey of working with churches who were afraid of not having enough money. Usually those church folks with the capacity to give the most actually gave the least, but that didn’t stop them from complaining at board meetings and budget votes about how we didn’t have enough money to do the stuff that should be priorities for churches. I’ve spent so many hours listening to church people complain about how little the church had to give. After bellyaching about it for so long, they didn’t give anything to change the world around them for the better, and then they wondered why people didn’t want to come to their church? Churches are big on pulling a bait and switch. We tell you about a God who created everything and how this Creation has enough for everyone. We teach about a Jesus who fed thousands with a few loaves of bread and a few fish. We talk about faith, trust, hope, love and grace. Then once you get in the door and get involved, we act as if none of that is true. We are afraid because we believe there is never enough. We think small rather than trusting God and dreaming big. We cut back and cut back until we can’t cut back any more. We cut back our ministries, our staff, and our outreach until none of us can remember why we were giving and who we were giving to in the first place. We bring people into church promising a God who does signs and wonders, but then we live as if we don’t believe any of that stuff, at least not enough to risk anything. Helen Wright didn’t buy into that kind of “play it safe” Christianity. She gave in ways others probably thought were crazy. If only more people were crazy like her, then our church would be a different church and our community would be a different one and so would our world. The Apostle Paul wrote, “God did not give us a spirit of cowardice,” but you can’t tell it from the state of most churches today. Thank God, Helen lived out “the spirit of power” Paul describes in that verse. Helen believed in Park Hill Christian Church, believed God wanted to do great things through this church, believed enough to give her house to it. Her generosity raises the question of whether the rest of us believe in our church like she did? Who is next to follow Helen’s example and live out God’s crazy generosity? 36When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed
and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Matthew 9:36 – 38 Compassion is the hallmark of love. Without compassion we cannot fully love another person. Jesus had compassion because He loved the people. He saw their despair. Even in the first century worry was a daily part of life. We tend to think it was a simpler time and less harried, but in truth, it wasn’t much different. People worried about food, housing, jobs and whether or not they would make it another day. Just like us they faced momentous decisions that affected the wellbeing of their entire family. They faced illness, loss of income, loss of control over their own lives. Jesus saw them, “harassed and helpless”. In our world of the 21st century, things move much faster, but the basic concerns remain. It is what ties us in with every generation that has come before. And just like those living in the first century, we are “harassed and helpless”. The good news is we have a shepherd to guide us if we accept His leading. The gospels are full of the images of Jesus showing us the way. It is a popular thing right now for the shaming term “sheeple” to be used as a derogatory description for people following one ideology or another. But here in the text, being called sheep is not derogatory, rather it is a term of endearment. For Jesus is the great shepherd and He fully intends to lead us to the peaceful valley. When we set our sights on Jesus, we will find peace and hope that will help us face the world we live in today. Just before these verses, Matthew tells us: 35Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. Matthew 9:35 In other words, Jesus was about His work on Earth and when He looked upon the people He was teaching, healing and leading to God, He saw their distress. Isn’t it exciting to see Jesus fully comprehending the plight of the common man? Isn’t it refreshing to know that He has mercy on us in our every circumstance? Through the Holy Spirit we have the power of Jesus in our lives today. He is teaching us, spreading the Good News and healing our sickness. More to the point He has called us to be His hands and feet in the world today. It is discouraging when we look around. Just as then, today the “workers are few”. But God’s mercy through Jesus is mighty and the few become strong enough to spread the Word to all people. Yes, it seems today as if we are fighting a losing battle as church membership dwindles, but maybe church membership isn’t the measure we need to be using. Jesus says: “38Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Matthew 9:38 What does it mean out into His harvest field? Certainly not the church. We must stop looking inside the walls of our building and begin to see what God is doing outside the house of worship. The harvest field is ready to be gathered in, but that does not mean it is going to always look like what it has in the past. Today worship can happen anywhere. Today we can bring people to Jesus without a building or a study series or an improved program. Right now, today, we can meet people where they are and give them the good news. We can do it in the workplace, at the school, at the laundry mat or any other place where two or more are gathered. We must break away from the building and reach out to people where we meet them. And we cannot be afraid of rejection. When Jesus said to ask for more workers, He did not mean just in the Sanctuary, He didn’t even say, build up the church membership, His order to build the church was not a command for grand cathedrals, but a call to build the body. The body of the church comes in small towns, offices, playgrounds and even on the corner. It is the place where we share the wonderful news that God has begun His kingdom building work in the world today. Yes, the workers are few, but with Jesus at as our guide, we are mighty. Kathy Hendrix |
AuthorWe're Park Hill Christian Church in KC MO. We seek to follow Jesus by praising God, loving those we meet and serving the vulnerable. Archives
June 2021
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