What We Believe is Important

The man in the hospital bed was in his mid 40’s.  He was recovering from an accident.  As he said,  “ I was hit by a city bus.”  I was visiting him because I was one of the chaplains on duty and he was one of the patients on my floor.

In the course of the conversation he told me “God’s plan was that the bus hit me and I end up in the hospital.”  “Oh really?”  “How do you know God wanted you to be hit by a city bus?”  “Well, chaplain, isn’t that how God works?”  “If we are bad people, then God punishes us.”

Needless to say, there are lots of issues to discuss here:  How God works, why he feels he’s a bad person, God’s responses to our sinfulness.  Just to name a few.

Last month I invited you to ponder what difference being a Christian means for your life.  What did you discover?  You might even want to ponder the question again.  What we believe makes a difference.

It makes a difference in how we life if we believe (use the word, “Trust”) that God is good and God’s will is directed toward our good (not our ill).  It makes a difference whether we view God’s judgments, God’s “no”,  not a punishment but as  “appraisal” of our lives and our actions and as God’s means of restoring us to a healthier relationship with Christ.

As one Christian has observed that what the Cross says about God is NOT that God thinks human kind is so wretched that it deserves death and hell.  Rather, God thinks human kind is so beautiful, so good, so precious and valuable that its salvation and redemption are worth dying for. 

The Cross of Jesus is God’s NO to sin, evil, destruction, death and anything that would destroy the goodness of human kind and creation.  The Cross is also God’s YES to everything that brings life and light, hope and healing, restoration and renewal of human kind and the whole of creation.

I’m for making a difference in this world of ours……How ‘bout you?

Musings on Psalm 1

I have often wondered why Psalm 1 begins with describing all the places a blessed/happy person avoids: advice of the wicked, where the wicked travel, and where they settle (sit).  I wonder about this because I am troubled when I get caught up in pointing fingers and dividing folks into opposing camps of righteous and wicked.   If i do this with Psalm 1, I will have missed its wisdom.

The passage, however, reminds me that I am/we are shaped and formed by what we connect ourselves to, where we spend our mental, emotional, spiritual and physical time.  What I give my mind, heart, soul, and strength to become those influences that make and shape me.

In short, this Psalm challenges me to consider those places and environments where I spend the most time.  It is hard to taste blessing when I am consuming bitterness and sour wisdom.  Thus, the wisdom gleaned from tasting God's instructions should be more than a bittler pill to swallow.  Rather, they are teachings that breathe life!

Christianity's Difference

The following was first printed in the newsletter of the church I am presently serving.  If you read this blog and practice a different faith tradition,   I hope you find it helpful in gaining a perspective on the Christian experience of faith.

I have recently joined a study group of ministers that has raised some challenging questions for me about my life and about my love for the United Methodist Church.

 While I grew up in a Methodist family, I grew up with friends in various churches and often we would “swap” out going to each other’s youth groups or churches.  I have grown up thinking that most denominations have more in common than we like to talk about; but I am still a Methodist in heart and spirit down to my bones and toe nails.  But I am not a Methodist first.  I am a Christian who happens to be Methodist by choice.  I am a Christian Methodist or a Christian who happens to be Methodist.

So this group I am now part of is challenging me to ask of myself this question:  What difference does it make in your life that you are a Christian?   Another way to come to terms with this question is to ponder:  If I stopped being a Christian today, what about me would change? 

Here are a few differences being a Christian makes for me:

·        I am held by a love that will never turn me loose.  In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus we meet the depth of God’s love, mercy, forgiveness, and life changing power.

·        When life gets scary,  my hope is anchored with a God who chooses to go with me and go before me into whatever life holds for me.  I can trust the one who holds the present and the future in grace.

·        When all is said and done, what Jesus teaches me to pray is true:  God will bring his kingdom; God’s gracious Will will be done on earth as in heaven.  Jesus’ death and resurrection make this clear to me.

·        The Christian life sets before me a way of life, with values, choices, and  priorities that shape how I need to treat and relate to others.  “Treating others as I want to be treated” gives me a way to life well and continually challenges me to live better and be a better person.

These differences are not fully exhaustive of what difference being a Christian makes.  I share them with you to encourage you and challenge you to seriously ponder what difference being a Christian makes for you. 

Christianity's Difference

The Norm of Sacrifice

Sacrifice is a word that gets mixed reviews from folks.  Especially in our times, sacrifice evokes unease and displeasure.  Maybe self-giving would be more appealing to our spiritual, ethical pallets.  Yet we are confronted by a God who chooses sacrificial self-giving as a way of reaching out to us.

I like what Thomas Merton writes in Life and Holiness:  The norm of sacrifice is not the amount of pain it inflicts, but its power to break down walls of division, to heal wounds, to restore order and unity in the Body of Christ. (p. 41)


Merton notes that "what matters then is not precisely what the sacrifice costs us, but what it will contribute to  the good of others and of the Church." (p.40)

Perspectives for our journeys worth pondering.

The Norm of Sacrifice

Sacrifice is a word that gets mixed reviews from folks.  Especially in our times, sacrifice evokes unease and displeasure.  Maybe self-giving would be more appealing to our spiritual, ethical pallets.  Yet we are confronted by a God who chooses sacrificial self-giving as a way of reaching out to us.

I like what Thomas Merton writes in Life and Holiness:  The norm of sacrifice is not the amount of pain it inflicts, but its power to break down walls of division, to heal wounds, to restore order and unity in the Body of Christ. (p. 41)


Merton notes that "what matters then is not precisely what the sacrifice costs us, but what it will contribute to  the good of others and of the Church." (p.40)

Perspectives for our journeys worth pondering.

I have recently joined a study group of ministers that has raised some challenging questions for me about my life and about my love for the United Methodist Church.

 While I grew up in a Methodist family, I grew up with friends in various churches and often we would “swap” out going to each other’s youth groups or churches.  I have grown up thinking that most denominations have more in common than we like to talk about; but I am still a Methodist in heart and spirit down to my bones and toe nails.  But I am not a Methodist first.  I am a Christian who happens to be Methodist by choice.  I am a Christian Methodist or a Christian who happens to be Methodist.

So this group I am now part of is challenging me to ask of myself this question:  What difference does it make in your life that you are a Christian?   Another way to come to terms with this question is to ponder:  If I stopped being a Christian today, what about me would change? 

Here are a few differences being a Christian makes for me:

·        I am held by a love that will never turn me loose.  In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus we meet the depth of God’s love, mercy, forgiveness, and life changing power.

·        When life gets scary,  my hope is anchored with a God who chooses to go with me and go before me into whatever life holds for me.  I can trust the one who holds the present and the future in grace.

·        When all is said and done, what Jesus teaches me to pray is true:  God will bring his kingdom; God’s gracious Will will be done on earth as in heaven.  Jesus’ death and resurrection make this clear to me.

·        The Christian life sets before me a way of life, with values, choices, and  priorities that shape how I need to treat and relate to others.  “Treating others as I want to be treated” gives me a way to life well and continually challenges me to live better and be a better person.

These differences are not fully exhaustive of what difference being a Christian makes.  I share them with you to encourage you and challenge you to seriously ponder what difference being a Christian makes for you.