Whoever Is Not Against Us

I begin with a reading from the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 9, verses 38-50 (N.R.S.V.)

John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us.  For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.

     “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea.   If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.  And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell.,   And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.

     “For everyone will be salted with fire.  Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it?  Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

When I was a young boy I used to enjoy making “forts”.  A fort could be as simple as a big cardboard box with some holes cut in it for windows and doors, or it could be a place of sanctuary high in a tree put together with scrap boards and a few nails. There were forts were made with straw bales at my uncle’s farm, or forts created by a small clearing in the bush that only my buddies and I knew about.  And that seemed to be the most important part of a fort – only certain people knew about it, or only certain people were allowed in it.  The stereotypical sign for a boy’s fort in those days was “No girls allowed”.  We knew who was part of the inner circle and anyone else simply wasn’t allowed in.

It’s one thing to see children at play be so exclusive, that can be excused as simple lack of maturity and understanding.  It’s quite another to see grown adults engaged in a process of protecting the inner circle by excluding all others.  Our gospel reading today begins with that very scenario.

In the Gospel reading I began with the disciples announce to Jesus that they tried to stop someone who was casting out demons in his name.  The fact that he was throwing demons out of people didn’t seem to be their main concern, rather it is latter part of the verse 38 that  reveals the real issue: the disciples complain “because he wasn’t following us.”

Perhaps there was some jealousy at work here.  Earlier in the 9th Chapter of Mark the disciples were not able to cast out a demon that was causing a boy to throw himself in the fire.  Then they come across a person who is not part of their inner circle who is having success casting out demons in Jesus’ name.  He is doing what the disciples could not.  That probably made them frustrated and angry – so they tried to stop him.  This unknown exorcist was not part of the club and thus, in their minds, he had no right to be throwing out demons in Jesus’ name.  They tried to stop something that, to all onlookers, would have been seen as a positive thing.  Why couldn’t the disciples see that someone who was able to relieve people of the evil forces that oppressed and harmed them was a good work?  Why didn’t they encourage this unknown minister working in Jesus’ name?  Is it because they were so wrapped up in self-worth derived from being part of the inner circle of Jesus that they simply couldn’t let anyone else close to that place of honor?

This is the same group of disciples that Jesus just chastised because they were arguing amongst themselves about who was the greatest.  This is the same group of disciples that would soon try to prevent children from coming to Jesus.  This is the same group of disciples that wanted to call down fire from heaven on the Samaritan village that didn’t welcome them. There is great irony in that scene – the disciples, who were not always good at welcoming those they saw as outsiders, wanted revenge on a village that was simply acting the way the disciples themselves did – being non-welcoming.

Jesus is concerned with not limiting anyone’s access to the good news he brings to the world.  Jesus teaches his followers that “Whoever is not against us is for us.”  That opens the door pretty wide for disciples who were interested in keeping the fort for themselves only.  Jesus once again shows a desire to be inclusive rather than exclusive.  Jesus wants to welcome all into the abundant life he is offering.  Excluding others has been a problem in the church ever since the earliest days of the Christian faith.  The Apostle Paul had to struggle to get Gentiles accepted as full members of the Christian church.  Many in the early church centered in Jerusalem wanted to keep the Church for “Jewish people only.”  Throughout the centuries the church has too often been guilty of saying only for certain people could belong.  Sometimes the exclusivity was expressed indirectly, such as when the language used in worship could only be understood by some. Other times the exclusivity was more direct as when some churches in the United States posted signs that stated “Whites Only”. 

Whenever we act in such a manner we are repeating the mistakes of the disciples who tried to stop the un-named exorcist from his Jesus empowered healing ministry.  We are too often blind to the workings of the Holy Spirit throughout the world, believing that God can only work through our particular group.

After the correcting the disciples in their attempt to shut down an outsider from ministry, Jesus continues with a strong warning “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea.”   The word in this passage that is translated in English as “stumbling block” is the Greek word scandala.  This Greek word is the orgin of our English word scandal. It can mean to stumble, but it can also mean “to cause offense”.   Jesus is telling his followers that if they do anything that causes someone to lose their faith, or to restricts a person’s access to the Saviour, then it would be better if they were given cement boots and tossed overboard (to put it in more modern terms).  Notice that Jesus is not referring to others, to outsiders, he is speaking directly to his followers, his disciples, using the pronoun “you”.  Given that this warning follows so quickly after the story of the un-named exorcist, and just before the disciples attempt to prevent the children from coming to Jesus, this is a strong criticism of their behaviour.

Jesus uses harsh language to say “Wake up!  Pay attention!  Don’t you see what you are doing?  By your actions you are trying to restrict the work of the Holy Spirit, you are trying to limit where and with whom God can work.  You are trying to limit how God works, excluding others you don’t consider as rightfully belonging. This restriction of the expansion of God’s realm is one of the worst things you can do.  Better if you just removed yourself from the picture rather than be found to be in opposition to God’s will.”

Then to drive the point home Jesus uses the same term scandala to talk about the trouble our eyes, hands and feet can cause.   Again speaking in hyperbole Jesus says it would be better if you removed the offending part, whether that be one’s eye or hand or foot.  Many people have assumed that Jesus’ reference to sin in these verses is about breaking the commandments – thus if your hand causes you to steal, or your eye causes you to covet, or your foot causes you to murder – then better to cut these body parts off.  But considering the context in which the gospel writer Mark puts these verses, I think Jesus is referring to any form of attitude or action that cause someone else to lose their faith, or to not come to Jesus in the first place – these are things that must be guarded against.

We need to ask ourselves “What are some of the stumbling blocks Christians today are guilty of setting in front of others?”  Are we ready to take a good hard look at the ways we have caused others to lose their faith in God, or to have no desire to come to Christ in the first place?  Are we prepared to ask ourselves hard questions like “Do I behave in such a way as to hinder others from seeing the love of Jesus?”

I have learned that one of the biggest reasons people today are not interested in the Christian faith is because of the hypocrisy they see in our actions and attitudes.  Like the disciples in our gospel reading today, we still want to designate who’s in and who’s out. Most people today know that Christians are supposed to “Love others as we love ourselves.”  We talk a lot about love, but then we too easily slip into expressions of judgment.  We say that Jesus welcomes all people into his fold, but then we shun those who are not like us.  Such hypocrisy is a stumbling block, causing many to turn away from the message of Jesus.  Too often we have become like the Jesus’ disciples who tried to prevent the children from coming to him because they felt that was not appropriate.  We have set ourselves up as the judges of what is appropriate and what isn’t appropriate, and like the disciples of 2000 years ago we too can interrupt the ministry of others because we can’t understand how God would ever work in people like that!

I am reminded of a song by Noel Paul Stookey, of Peter, Paul and Mary fame.  A number of years ago he wrote a song called “Peace in the Valley”  The last verse of that song goes like this:

So if you meet a man in a pastel suit

With an alligator Bible to match his boots

You might not like his style too much

But if he could reach a soul you could never touch

You gotta say...

Peace in the Valley

Peace on the mountain too

Before you tell a man he's got a splinter in his eye

You better pull the log out of you.

It is too easy for me to look down at Christians from other denominations and faith traditions, to think that God really works best through Lutherans, but such arrogance is exactly what the disciples were exhibiting in today’s gospel reading.  I need to be reminded, again and again, “Whoever is not against us is for us.”    I need to rejoice when I see evidence of God’s Spirit working through the efforts of other people, even if they are people quite different from me, even if they are people I don’t agree with on some issues, even if they are people I would hesitate to call Christian.  There is so much evil in the world, we should, as disciples of the Prince of Peace, be glad whenever there are actions and attitudes of love and acceptance, forgiveness and healing – regardless of who is performing those actions.  We need to be more concerned with our own failures in following Christ rather than in the perceived failures in others.

Jesus calls us to follow him, but then he also calls us to “get out of the way” if we are hindering others from experiencing the healing and transforming grace of God, if we are restricting access to the one who calls us to be agents of peace rather than gatekeepers of the fort.  The gospel reading for today ends with this important command of Jesus “be at peace with one another.”  May we strive to be peace makers, especially with those we have understood to be outside our group.  And may our peace making become the attitude that we are known for, that we might draw all people to the Prince of Peace.

Attach / Send

This past summer I was asked to give one of the keynote presentations at the Canadian Lutheran Anglican Youth Gathering (CLAY 2012).  The gathering was called HyperLink, and the title given to the last Large Group Gathering for which I spoke, was Attach / Send.  Some day I may rework that presentation into a written form that can be posted on this blog.  For now I am posted a link to a webpage that has an audio recording of that last talk.  A word of warning - it is about 50 minutes long, so settle in before you start to listen.

Click here to listen to my keynote presentation.

There are a few spots in my presentation where visuals were important.  All the relevant images are included in this post below.  As you listen to the presentation you can look at these images at the appropriate time.

A short while after the Kuriakos Song I talk about a picture of a cross from Iona.  This is the picture:

Then I refer to the Celtic Cross design, at which point this graphic is put on the screen:

Later in the presentation I am talk about being present to another.  I one point I ask "Which might be more comforting?" showing this image on the screen:

 Then this one:

Towards the end of my presentation I ask "What would church be like if we weren't really present to one another?"  Then some music plays for a few minutes.  During the music the drama troupe came on stage and sat down, not looking at each other, but instead focused on their cell phones.  On the screen the following played out.  I call this segment The Church of Text (there are 26 images that follow each other sequentially):

Comments on a Hiatus

It has been a long time since my last post, this is primarily because all of my time and attention were focused on other things - most notably the European vacation I took with my family, and preparing for HyperLink - the Canadian Lutheran Anglican Youth Gathering, held this past week in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

The experiences I have had these past few months have been great, but now things are beginning to settle back into a "normal" routine - if there is really anything that can be called normal.  It is my intention to write more entries on this blog in the coming weeks.  I plan to finished off the 25 Reflections on 25 Years in Ministry, I think I might try to put my presentation at HyperLink into a readable form, and I have some ideas springing from my experiences in Europe.  So there is lots to write about, now comes the disciple of the actual writing.

In the meanwhile, people who are interested can check out the family's blog on our trip to Europe at this site: Our European Family Adventure

Those interested in the Canadian Lutheran Anglican Youth Gathering can check out the CLAY facebook page here: HyperLink - CLAY 2012

As for this blog, I hope to have some new entries before the end of this month.  Only time will tell.

Here I am making 2 points (or giving the peace sign) at HyperLink - the Canadian Lutheran Anglican Youth Gathering held in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, August 16th to 19th, 2012.  The picture was taken by my daughter Anna.

Anna's Arrival

Tomorrow Anna, our youngest child, will graduate from High School.  It doesn't seem that long ago that Beth and I were at the hospital wondering if we were going to have a Christmas baby.  But Anna refused to enter the world until after midnight, a Boxing Day baby instead.  After the long labour we were tired, but delighted with this new addition to the family.  Once Beth was back in her hospital room and resting, and Anna was in the nursery under the good care of the nurses, I went home to sleep.

Except I couldn't sleep - I was too excited.  So, not knowing how else to express the feelings of wonder and gratitude swirling inside of me I sat down at the piano and began to play.  Soon emerged a new song, written in honor of Anna's birth.

Weeks earlier I had booked some time at a local recording studio on Boxing Day, which happened to be the only time when some musical friends were available (because of the holidays).  So later that same day, with Beth and baby resting in the hospital, I headed out to the studio (located on an acreage outside of Regina).  I vaguely remember Beth insisting that I not cancel the recording session, but that could be my guilt wanting me to not look like an absent and inconsiderate dad!  Whatever the case, out to Cave Studio I went were I met Nevin Eggum, David Hilderman, and Dave Fries (who ran the studio).

We recorded three songs in that session, including the brand new composition which I had named Anna's Arrival.  It is a testament to the musicality of these friends that they were able to take this new song and quickly flesh out an arrangement.

I have never released Anna's Arrival on any albums, even though that had been my intention - in fact a few years after this initial studio session Nevin and I began recording a new version - which, unfortunately, was never completed.  So in honor of Anna's graduation I present the original version of this song, recorded mere hours after Anna's arrival.  Too soon, at least for these parents, she will depart - heading out into the world, a beautiful, creative, sensitive and wonderful young woman.

Whenever I hear this music I think back to that Christmas time 18 years ago when Anna was born, this little fragile package of flesh and bones, skin and hair - so vulnerable, so beautiful, so present - and due to her birthday's proximity to Christmas I am also reminded of Jesus' birth - the Word made flesh - so vulnerable, so beautiful, so present... and once again I am wrapped in wonder and awe.

On this track:
Dennis Hendricksen - Keyboards
Nevin Eggum - Guitar
David Hilderman - Bass
Dave Fries - Drums & Recording Engineer
Remixed May 2012 by Dennis Hendricksen

 

Press the orange circle with white arrow to play the track.
It might take a few moments for the song to load.

Reflection #22: Still Making Mountains out of Molehills

If we call ourselves Christians, what should be the significant and absolute center of our faith and life? Christ Jesus, of course!  And yet in my 25+ years of ministry I have seen too many examples of losing sight of the most important aspects of our faith, and getting side-tracked with non-central issues.  We too easily get fixated on non-essential theological or ecclesiastical arguments, we quickly make mountains out of molehills.  Things that have little to do with Jesus (either who we understand him to be or what he taught his followers to do) can take the center of our attention and create unnecessary trouble and grief.  Over time we begin to see the true size of those concerns which consumed so much of our focus and energy, conflicts that created such bad impressions with our neighbours – with the passage of time we begin to see that many of these things were adiaphora.  This ancient Greek word refers to things that are debatable or neutral, to things outside the essentials of the Christian faith.  Too much of what has pre-occupied the church in past decades is adiaphora.

At the time of the Reformation leaders like Martin Luther had to determine what they considered central to the Christian faith, and what was adiaphora.  In other words, they had to figure out what was essential and foundational, and what was flexible and non-essential.  The Augsburg Confession states “And to the true unity of the Church it is enough to agree concerning the doctrine of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments. Nor is it necessary that human traditions, that is, rites or ceremonies, instituted by men, should be everywhere alike.”  (Article VII)  The Gospel and the Sacraments were central, they were the mountains, all else was adiaphora.

So what sort of things have Christians put a lot of energy into debating and defending during my time in ministry? What sort of things have become mountains in the life of the church in the past few decades?  Here is a brief list of some of the controversies and debates I am aware of:

• What musical instruments are appropriate for worship (Should it be organ only, or guitars and drums primarily?)
• What colour should the carpet be in the sanctuary?  (Or any number of decorating issues that pop up in the life of a church.)
• Is it right to kneel or stand for confession and prayer?  (A huge controversy at the church I serve, which took place before my time, happened when kneelers were installed in the sanctuary.)
• What translation of the Bible is allowable?  (I still run into people who insist that only the King James Version should be used by English speaking Christians.)
• What translation of the Lord’s Prayer should be used?  (I am tempted to ask “Does God really lead us into temptation?”)
• Should the pastor wear a goatee?  (Seriously, I received an angry anonymous note about this shortly after I grew my distinctive beard – and by the way, it is the only kind of beard my face can muster.)
• Should the congregation sit or stand for singing hymns?  (I’ve heard both articulated as the “right way” to do things).
• How should communion be served?  (Kneeling or standing, by table or continuous, whole loaf & common cup or individual cups & wafers, and so forth.)
• Can we allow women to be ordained pastors? (Having served with a couple of different women clergy I know personally the value of female pastors, but there are still many churches that insist this cannot be of God.)
• Will there be a ‘rapture’ and will that happen soon, or should the Book of Revelation and other such apocryphal writings even be read as a road map of future events?  (End-times have been big time in the North American church my whole adult life, resulting in much fear-mongering and successful marketing.)
• Can we allow children to receive communion before they are confirmed?  (“If we allow children to commune before they are confirmed how will we be able to keep kids in the confirmation program?” went an argument that I have heard more than once.)
• Can we allow GLBT people to be fully part of our church - as pastors or married couples?  (The current “big mountain” we are dealing with throughout the church in North America.)
• Should everyone who has the Holy Spirit active in their lives speak in tongues?  (As a young adult I was often made to feel inferior as a Christian because I didn’t speak in tongues – though sometimes the way I garble the English language one might wonder if I was exhibiting glossolalia!)
• Should Sunday School be offered during worship services, or at a different time?  (We had some people leave our congregation over this issue.)
• Should God be referred to as both masculine and feminine?  (The debate about inclusive language in worship was a significant part of my seminary experience.)

I had better stop here before this post gets too long.

All these controversies listed above I would consider adiaphora – they have little or nothing to do with Jesus, and everything to do with personal preferences and interpretations.  They are not central to our faith, but they have been central to our church experience at one time or another.  With the exception of the debates around communion (and I would consider how we serve communion, and at what age we offer communion, as less central than the  requirement of the Christian Church to celebrate communion and uphold its significance), all these issues have little to do with the gospel of Jesus.  We keep making mountains out of molehills.  Mount Calvary should be the focus of our life together, not Mount Tradition or Mount Personal Preference.

While thinking about this I came across an interesting contrast between a biblical mountain and molehill.  The Bible contains more than 2000 verses on poverty and justice, and God's deep concern for both, yet lately the church in North American seems far more focussed on 5 verses that refer to same sex relations, even though exactly what these verses condemn is unclear, and the translation of some words in these verses is uncertain at best.  (I should clarify here that I don’t consider the passages about Sodom and Gomorrah to be about same sex relations.) When considering this contrast which should be the mountain?  Which, by comparison, is a molehill?  One of these topics is 400 times larger than the other, but I seldom hear it discussed in church circles these days – at least not with the same level of passion and conviction.

As Christians we are called to follow Christ and should consider his words and actions of primary significance – but the mountain of Jesus’ revelation gets obscured by molehills of Pauline admonitions, end-times speculations, and the dirt heaps of personal preference and protection of tradition.  We debate whether women should be allowed to be pastors based on a couple of comments Paul makes in his letters rather than spending time and energy debating how best to fulfill Christ’s commands to “love God and love others”.  We split churches over issues around same-sex relations (even though there is absolutely nothing about this topic in any of the gospels) rather than consider the implications of Jesus’ prayer for unity and his inclusion of those marginalized by society.   We should be examining what Jesus is actually asking us to do, and discussing as a church body how best to do these things, rather than get caught up in theological miscellanea.  We should guard against majoring in the minors, and minoring in the majors.  We should keep the main thing the main thing rather than distract ourselves with subjects that are not central to Jesus’ ministry and message.

What should we be majoring in?  There is only one thing Jesus ever commands his followers to do, only one thing!  To love.  That’s it, everything else Jesus teaches is related to that central command.  To love God and love others it is not a suggestion – it is the pinnacle of Jesus’ revelation (both in word and deed).  There is only one topic that Jesus comments on throughout his ministry, something he encourages in his disciples over and over – the importance of having faith, to place one’s confidence in God rather than give in to fear.  Love and faith are central to Jesus message, they are what he identifies as essential for his followers.  The bulk of our communal and personal energy should be never be channeled away from these two central themes.  Love and Faith – that’s it in a nutshell.  It’s time to stop acting like blind moles, digging around in our little molehills like they were the only important thing to consider. Time to open our eyes and see what Jesus wants us to see.

May we not be so fixated on the little pile of dirt at our feet that we forget to raise our eyes to the heavens, and thus miss the grandeur of God’s majestic mountain of grace.

Confrontation in the Back Pew

They sat in the back pew,

I wondered who they were,

and what brought them to our worship service.

I’m not sure it was a desire to worship God,

but that is too judgmental, too presumptive.

However what transpired after the service

led me to consider such a possibility.

It seems they felt called to challenge,

to point out the mistakes of our church,

to confront me with my failures in Biblical interpretation.

It was not what I needed at the end of a long day,

I’m not sure it was what they needed either.

But I was not about to let two young literalists

condemn me and my ministry without a word of explanation.

Unfortunately it seems my words fell on deaf ears,

their minds were firm in their black and white convictions,

there was little, if any, humility in their approach,

they could not understand how someone
could think differently than themselves

and still be faithful to the revealed Word of God.

In the end they displayed what is true of all of us:

we chose to believe what we do because it seems right to us,

then we read the Bible to suit our perspective.

At least I admit that such bias functions in myself,

but they understood themselves above or beyond that human limitation.

Arguments from silence go nowhere,

arguments from interpretation go wherever,

and I am tired of arguing…

just let me love others as God has loved me.

And leave me in peace to listen to the Spirit of God

instead of the voices of self-certain young people.

Kyrie Eleison.

  

Towards Eternity

A typical prairie scene, railway tracks converging into the distant horizon, pointing us to a future beyond what we know.  We move towards the light and beauty of God's promises.

This photo taken in March of this year, a little west of Regina near Grande Coulee, Saskatchewan.