God helps those who help themselves. Cleanliness is next to Godliness. God works in mysterious ways.

God will never give you more than you can handle.

People us this phrase to comfort and encourage those who have gone through struggle or tragedy. It sounds similar to some actual verses from Scripture, like, “God will never fail you or abandon you,” or “Come to me, all who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” People probably just get a little confused and think they are sharing a passage of Scripture, but in reality this particular phrase is a mixed-up version of something Paul writes to the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 10:12-13: “If you think you’re standing strong, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so you can endure.” As you can see, Paul is talking about temptation, not struggle and pain and what we can handle in the way of difficulty.

So why do people say this in times of tragedy or sorrow? And what’s the harm in saying it? I believe most folks are well-meaning and are just looking for something to offer someone who is struggling, but it can actually hurt more than help. It implies that God is giving this to you, whatever the painful experience – God is sending the tornado or the heart attack or the job layoff notice. While we know that God works in all situations and can cause good to come from even the most painful experiences (Romans 8:28), God does not “give” us pain or sorrow to see how much we can handle. Tragedy and pain are a part of life, and it is God who walks with us in times of grief and gets us through the most difficult of circumstances. Paul tells the Corinthians, “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.” (2 Cor. 4:8-10) Paul himself went through this personally:

We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us. And you are helping us by praying for us. Then many people will give thanks because God has graciously answered so many prayers for our safety.” (2 Cor. 1:8-11)

I love this passage, because it reminds us how much God loves us and cares about us when we are in situations we can’t handle. We have all been overwhelmed, and we have all had experiences where we didn’t how we were going to get through them. This is when God is at his best, and so often it’s in our lowest times that we are most able to see God at work, strengthening us, comforting us, empowering us, rescuing us. And that’s the message of hope that people need to hear. That’s the Good News that will make a difference. And that’s a part of the Bible that’s worth sharing.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good. Romans 12:21

In the midst of the darkness and the evil of Monday’s Boston Marathon bombings, there have been some powerful and inspiring rays of light. There were stories of runners who crossed the finish line and continued to run to Massachusetts General Hospital to give blood. In fact, due to all the generosity of people, the Red Cross actually tweeted this:

There was this google doc set up where thousands of people offered help and shelter for anyone in need:

Just a quick google search of “Boston Marathon Acts of Kindness” draws almost 4 million results. Evil seems to bring out not just the worst in some people, it also brings out the best in others. While there are no answers to so many of our questions about why evil happens, there are opportunities all around us to extend the love of Jesus Christ, to shine the light of Jesus Christ, to those who are lost in the darkness. The good news for each of us is we don’t have to wait for a tragedy to be the Body of Christ in our world. It can start today, and it can start with you and me. Let's go "conquer evil by doing good."

You have probably also heard about the horrific injury suffered by Louisville’s Kevin Ware during their game Sunday evening. Ware suffered compound fractures in his tibia in their win over Duke, with his bone puncturing the skin and sticking out of his leg. His teammates, his opponents, and even his head coach were emotional on the court, crying over the injury and the pain Ware was in. As he was leaving the court, however, all Ware was saying to anyone that would listen was, “You’ve got to win this game. Don’t worry about me, I’m going to be fine. Just go win the game.”

Two completely different ways to motivate – one with violence and words that hurt, and one with kindness and words that heal. Which one do you think is more effective? (That’s a rhetorical question, by the way; if you really are uncertain of the answer, we need to have a conversation!). This is true not just in sports, but in parenting and work and even in matters of faith.

Smart, faithful Christians disagree on many issues these days, from gun control to same-sex marriage to immigration and so many others. Both sides can come up with Biblical and theological examples to bolster their arguments. Both sides think they are right. So, how do we communicate, how do we share with one another and live together as a community with these differences? And how do we show and share the love of Christ to a world beyond our community of faith that does not know Him? Here are a few ideas I’ve been thinking about:

• Don’t Do It. The first piece of advice is to think hard before you hit “Send” or “Publish” or “Post.” I understand you are passionate about your issue, but so much of what I read is hurtful, hateful, or harmful to the other side. Name-calling or inappropriate joke-telling, for example, is hardly a positive way to share your beliefs, and I’m pretty sure no one has ever had their mind changed through such tactics. I saw this the other day on Facebook that is appropriate here:

• If You Do It, First Read Colossians 4:5-6. In Paul’s letter to the Colossians, he encourages them in this way:

Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone.

The Message version of that passage says, “The goal is to bring out the best in others in a conversation, not put them down, not cut them out.” We have opportunities throughout our day to make a difference through our actions and our words. The manner in which we speak can have an impact, either positively or negatively, and our willingness to show grace in the midst of disagreement will go a long way in the right direction.

• Realize that You Might Be Wrong. We all have strong convictions about certain issues, and those convictions cause us to think we’re on the right side of the issue. However, it’s a good idea to at least consider the possibility that we could learn something from one on the other side of the table. There is a chance that we might actually be wrong! We may have received bad information from an unreliable source, or we may hold a position that we’ve never really explored for ourselves but have just carried down from our parents who carried it down from their parents. The moment we close our mind to the prospect that there’s value in any part of the other side, we have lost the ability to be effective. Having an open mind makes us think further, study, explore, educate ourselves, and either solidify our opinion, modify it, or change it, any of which is better than putting our heads in the sand.

I think about Nicodemus in the Bible. He was a Jewish religious leader and a Pharisee who came to see Jesus in John 3. As a Pharisee, he taught a strict observance to the Mosaic Law, and Jesus did not follow those observances as it related to the Sabbath, ceremonial hand-washing, contact with Gentiles, lepers, etc. We don’t have recorded in John 3 Nicodemus’ reaction at the end of the conversation, but we do know that at some point he changed his opinion about who Jesus was and why he came. In John 7:45-52, we see this:

When the Temple guards returned without having arrested Jesus, the leading priests and Pharisees demanded, “Why didn’t you bring him in?” We have never heard anyone speak like this!” the guards responded. “Have you been led astray, too?” the Pharisees mocked. “Is there a single one of us rulers or Pharisees who believes in him? This foolish crowd follows him, but they are ignorant of the law. God’s curse is on them!” Then Nicodemus, the leader who had met with Jesus earlier, spoke up. “Is it legal to convict a man before he is given a hearing?” he asked. They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Search the Scriptures and see for yourself—no prophet ever comes from Galilee!”

The next time we see Nicodemus is right after the death of Jesus (John 19:38-42):

Afterward Joseph of Arimathea, who had been a secret disciple of Jesus (because he feared the Jewish leaders), asked Pilate for permission to take down Jesus’ body. When Pilate gave permission, Joseph came and took the body away. With him came Nicodemus, the man who had come to Jesus at night. He brought about seventy-five pounds of perfumed ointment made from myrrh and aloes. Following Jewish burial custom, they wrapped Jesus’ body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth. The place of crucifixion was near a garden, where there was a new tomb, never used before. And so, because it was the day of preparation for the Jewish Passover and since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.

Nicodemus changed his mind about Jesus as he saw Jesus live his life and heard Jesus speak about how much God loved the world. That’s the same way we’re going to make any kind of impact on this world, by showing people Jesus and allowing them to see how much he loves them. Let’s pray for one another that we will show Jesus in every word we say, every position we take, every conversation we have, and every comment we post.

First of all, it provided a great deal of conversation at my house. Every 10 minutes or so, someone would say, “Is that how it really was?” or “Hey, I thought it happened differently” or “Wow, I never knew that.” I kept pausing the show so we could talk about the different characters or events that we were watching. While in a normal situation I would have been frustrated at the stops and starts, in this case it was actually fun to talk about the Bible as we were watching it. Hopefully these types of conversations were occurring all over the country.

Second, it is hard not to be critical. As I was watching I caught myself looking for inaccuracies and places to argue with the show rather than just enjoy it for what it was. For Christians who know the Bible, it is easy to pick the show apart in places. In fact, I witnessed that very thing being done all over the internet in the hours and days following the show. There’s a part of me that wants to join them – that in reality there were no children on the ark (Genesis 7:6-7), that the whole section with Lot in Sodom was “cleaned up” (Genesis 18-19), and they missed what I believe is one of the most important verses of the Abraham and Isaac story, revealing Abraham’s faith in the most difficult of circumstances: “On the third day of their journey, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. ‘Stay here with the donkey,’ Abraham told the servants. ‘The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back.’”(Gen. 22:4-5). It’s easy to make fun of the Ninja angels, the five seconds of airtime for Adam, and the Harry Potter Death Eaters who show up as the angel of death in Egypt.

However, I think we are missing the point if we spend all our time searching for the inaccuracies or complaining about the omissions. This miniseries was not written with me in mind – I am not the target audience. The point of the show is to bring the message of the Bible to a new audience, people who have never read it and who don’t know much about it. That audience needs to see the big picture, the themes of the Bible that the producers are trying to highlight. This past episode one of those themes was encapsulated in a speech by Moses: "Have you forgotten God? Even if you have, he hasn't forgotten you." 

I have decided that for the next episode I will celebrate that the story of God’s love for all people is being broadcast into so many homes, and I will pray for those who are watching to be drawn to a relationship with him and to his Word. I hope you will join me in that prayer (and pray for me that my sarcasm and snarky comments are limited and kept to myself!)

To get us pointed in the right direction, be sure to watch a new miniseries based on the Bible that begins this Sunday night. It’s being produced by Mark Burnett of Survivor and The Voice fame and his wife Roma Downey, best known as the star of the 90’s television show Touched by an Angel. Burnett and Downey are both strong Christians who have said they felt called to do this project. Here's a great article explaining their motivation. Watch an extended preview for the series, which will be a 10-part, 5-week series beginning this Sunday night on the History Channel:

The Bible Miniseries Trailer from CUMC Rogers on Vimeo.

 Please join me in watching this powerful view of the Bible coming alive. Downton Abbey is over, your Sunday nights are free, why not make the Bible a priority on your schedule for you and your family?

Every year at the end of the National Championship game CBS shows a montage of the tournament put to the song, One Shining Moment. I happen to have one here for you to check out – hey, what do you know, it’s from 1994, I wonder why? (By the way, for some reason the music doesn't start until the 17-second mark, so hang in there with it):

The song, written by David Barrett, is cheesy but effective in celebrating the players and their achievements in getting to the tournament. Part of the song includes these lyrics:

In one Shining Moment, it's all on the line;

One Shining Moment, there frozen in time.

But time is short and the road is long;

In the blinking of an eye that moment's gone.

And when it's done win or lose,

You always did your best cuz inside you knew...

That one Shining Moment, you reached deep inside,

One Shining Moment, you knew you were alive.

I thought of these words as I was reflecting on this past Sunday’s sermon. Rev. Dawn Spragg and I preached on Pontius Pilate, focusing on his word to the cross, “No, what I have written, I have written.” (You can watch the sermon here if you like). It sounds like a word of courage, but in reality it was a word spoken too late. Earlier, when it would have mattered, Pilate backed down before the religious leaders; only when everything was already decided and Jesus was on the cross, does he choose to take a stand.

Pilate missed an opportunity to have one shining moment, to stand up for justice and truth. One Shining Moment, there frozen in time…In the blinking of an eye that moment's gone. When the moment comes, what will you do? Will you take a stand for what is right? Will you stand up for justice, truth, and righteousness, or will you allow fear, self-preservation, peer pressure, or doubt to keep you from action?

One Shining Moment, you knew you were alive. St. Irenaeus once said, “The glory of God is man fully alive.” We can either sleepwalk through life, coasting down the highway with our lives set on cruise-control, or, we can wake up to the life that God has for us. We can drink deeply from the well of living water, discover what it is we were created to do and then go do it. We can say what needs to be said, do what needs to be done, shine light into the darkness, and have an eternal impact. I love this clip that Dawn used Sunday, really illustrating what I'm talking about. It's from the movie Miracle, about the 1980 US Olympic hockey team:

Miracle 1 from CUMC Rogers on Vimeo.

When your moment comes, be ready, be fully alive – don’t be late.

However, in the days following I have had three conversations with people that all ended with me thinking, “Wow, that should have been in the sermon!” So, I thought I’d share these three additional thoughts (thank you to Dawn Spragg, Carole Baker, and the person who shared a thought with me on the way out of church Sunday and I can’t remember who it was – sorry!)

The first thought deals with why Moses did what he did. I mentioned Sunday how he had many different emotions going on at that point – grief over the loss of his sister, anger at the Israelites for their lack of trust, and pride at his ability to be the man in these situations – and how those emotions kept him from deeply listening to God. Moses got in the way of what God was trying to do, and it cost him. However, it was mentioned to me that in addition to these reasons, there could be one more. Remember when God was first calling Moses to lead the people out of Egypt? Moses protested numerous times with numerous excuses, one of which was this: “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.” God then suggested that Aaron go with him and serve as a spokesman for Moses, and that seemed to satisfy him. Now fast-forward to Numbers 20. God tells Moses to speak to the rock and it will pour out water. At that moment, perhaps all the doubt that Moses had felt at his call rushed back to him. Maybe he began to think, “Speak to the rock? I can’t do that! I can strike the rock with this staff. The staff is comfortable; the staff has worked in the past; the staff is what I know and what I trust.” Moses stayed with what was comfortable instead of trusting in God to do a new thing. Have you ever said to yourself, “I’m not good enough, I can’t do what God is asking me to do, God’s got the wrong person”? If so, you are in good company. The good news here is that God knows us better than we know ourselves, and he walks with us whatever the task. Our job is to put our trust in him and take that step of faith.

The second missed opportunity on Sunday morning relates to God’s grace at the end of Moses’ life. I talked about how even though there are consequences to sin, there is always grace in the midst of those consequences. For Moses, that grace shows up in the end of Deuteronomy, where God takes him to the top of Mt. Nebo and shows him the whole Promised Land, validating his leadership and essentially saying, “You did it, Moses. You were faithful in those 40 years, even after this misstep, and you got the Israelites here. Now they’re ready for that next step, and you are the reason why.” Then we read these words in Deut. 34:10: “There has never been another prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.”  What I missed in my sermon was another important verse in this chapter that illustrates even further the grace of God. It’s Deut. 34:7: “Moses was 120 years old when he died, yet his eyesight was clear, and he was as strong as ever.” How did I miss this?! God gave Moses, at 120 years of age, the gift of clear eyesight and strong muscles to climb the mountain and see the land. What a gift! What a God!

The third post-sermon thought actually happened as folks were heading out of the sanctuary after the service. I’m at the back shaking hands, and someone (I’m so sorry I can’t remember who – email me if it was you, I’d love to give you credit!) said, “You know, Moses did actually get to go to the Promised Land.” After an inquisitive look on my part, she followed up: “On the Mount of Transfiguration, with Jesus and Elijah.” Now, I have read Matthew 17 many times in my life, and have preached sermons about why it was Moses and Elijah who showed up on the mountain with Jesus, but never before had I connected the presence of Moses with the location of the mountain, within the borders of the Promised Land! What a gift, that 1,500 years after his death Moses got to see the both the land and the One who had come to fulfill the law and redeem the people from slavery to sin and death.

God’s grace is truly amazing. Even when we are at our lowest, his love for us remains. Wherever you are on your journey, however far you may feel from God, whatever missteps you’ve taken, don’t ever forget how much he loves you.

Now, if only I could have gotten this help before Sunday, I might have preached a pretty good sermon!

My friend from seminary, Rusty Hutson, has written a great response to the tragedy. Our own Karen Anderson has shared a powerful article by Reggie Joyner, a nationally-recognized Children’s Minister outside Atlanta, Georgia.  Ryan Ragozine has written a thought-provoking article about evil and free will at Seedbed, a publishing venture through Asbury Seminary. And the United Methodist News Service shared about how the local UM church dealt with the tragedy this past Sunday.

Hopefully these will help. I intentionally did not include articles that were inflammatory or political; there’s a time and place for deeper discussions, but it’s not here and not now. I would say one word about some of the religious conversation going around and highlighted in the media: Some are saying God is smiting us by allowing this to happen, since we've "taken God out of the schools." First of all, We don’t control God, and God cannot be removed from schools or anywhere else. I love what David writes in Psalm 139:7-10:

I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me.

God is in school every day, as people of God are living out the Kingdom, loving and serving others in His name. Prayer is in school every day as people of God are in communion with Him (remember what Paul tells us, "Pray without ceasing," in other words, pray with your eyes open as you go through your day.) What we can know for sure is that God grieves today with us over this loss. He walks with us in our sorrow, and his love remains.

Well, I guess I did have something to say after all. This Sunday in worship we’ll be looking at the peace that comes with the birth of Jesus, and I will be preaching about how to find peace in the midst of sorrow. I hope you can join us at 8:30, 9:00, or 11:00.

Joy from CUMC Rogers on Vimeo.

What an unexpected announcement.  Talk about coming out of left field. I guess it’s an appropriate time of year for such an announcement, though, when you think about it. For where better to go when thinking about unexpected announcements than Nazareth.  A teenage girl is living in that small village, minding her own business, when the angel Gabriel pays her a visit. This is what happens next:

“Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!” Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”

Talk about an unexpected announcement! Mary was a virgin, yet she was to have a child. She was not royalty, yet she was to have a King. It all sounded so unexpected, so unbelievable. After explaining more, Gabriel leaves her by saying, “For nothing is impossible with God.”

“Nothing is impossible with God.” What a powerful sentence. With God, the unexpected becomes expected, the unbelievable becomes believable. With God, anything can happen, even those things that we have long since given up on:  With God, despair can turn to hope, hate can turn to love, brokenness can turn to healing, resentment can turn to forgiveness.  What have you given up on today? The gift of Jesus is the gift of possibility, and it’s the best give you could receive this Christmas. As Zechariah says about Jesus, “Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace.” May it be so for you this season.