Mr. Molesley as a Means of Grace

In one part of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5: 38-42), Jesus quotes a passage in Leviticus 24, saying, “You have heard it said, ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth…is that going to get us anywhere?”  He finishes the thought off by saying, “No more tit-for-tat stuff.  Live generously.” 

Live generously.  I was wondering what it would take to live generously, and then I thought about a character on Downton Abbey, Mr. Molesley.  Mr. Molesley is back at Downton, but this time as a “footman,” a position that he took out of desperation.  I don’t know the ins and outs of the British aristocracy, but I do know that Mr. Molesley slid down several rungs of the ladder to take this job.

During Season 4, which just concluded last night, Mr. Molesley takes a shining to a new maid, Miss O’Brien.  Miss O’Brien has a checkered past – a fact that is known by the sleazy, gossipy, manipulative character among the servants – Mr. Barrow.  Mr. Barrow has been blackmailing Miss O’Brien all season long, having her spy on the family and trying to get bits of information that he can use to his advantage.  Every time she balks at doing his bidding, he brings up her “past.”  “We wouldn’t want everyone to find out what you did, would we?”

Mr. Molesley sees what is going on, and over a period of time encourages her, takes up for her, and gets between Mr. Barrow and her, standing up for her.  Then last night, in the final scene, the servants are treated to a day at the beach.  Miss O’Brien is sitting on a blanket, and Mr. Barrow comes up and sits beside her and tries to weasel some information out of her.  She refuses, and he threatens to expose her past.  She replies, “You do what you have to do, Mr. Barrow, and I’ll do what I have to do.”  He departs.

Mr. Molesley comes up and sits with Miss O’Brien, and she thanks him.  She says that she is stronger now because of his help, and she will not let herself be manipulated by Mr. Barrow anymore.  “Your strength has given me strength,” she says to a blushing Mr. Molesley.  That is what it means to live generously, I think.  To allow oneself to be a means of grace…to let what God has given us pass through us to someone else. 

Lord, help me to live generously today.  Help me to be a means of grace – to share my strength.  Amen.

Peanut Butter vs. Jelly

“You can’t eat that.”

“Excuse me?”

“I said, you can’t eat that.”

“What?  My peanut butter and jelly sandwich?”

“That’s right.  You can only eat a jelly sandwich.”

“Wait.  Who are you, and what gives you the right to tell me what to eat?”

“I’m Ken Ham.  I get to tell you what to eat because I believe the Bible is God’s word.”

“Well, I believe the Bible is God’s word, too, and I don’t see why I can’t eat my sandwich.”

“It’s like this.  Peanut butter was created in a lab by evil scientists.  Jelly is made from fruit, the way God intended.  Besides, there’s something over in Leviticus about mixing things.  I can’t quote chapter and verse right now, but give me a second.”

“Hey, don’t listen to a word that guy says!”

“OK.  Who are you?”

“I’m Bill Freakin’ Nye, the science guy!”

“I suppose you have an opinion about my sandwich, too.”

“You bet!  You can only eat peanut butter sandwiches.  Not peanut butter and jelly.”

“And why would that be?”

“Because – only silly, superstitious, un-enlightened people eat jelly on sandwiches.  It has been scientifically proven that peanut butter tastes better than jelly.”

“Ken.  Bill.  It doesn’t have to be this way.  It’s perfectly acceptable to have both peanut butter and jelly on one’s sandwich.  As a matter of fact, guys, if you tried both of them together – peanut butter and jelly – you might find that it is a wonderfully tasty combination.”

“Not me.  I’ll never change.  I’m a Christian, you know.  We have to draw the line somewhere.”

“I’ll never change, either.  I’m a scientist, you know.  We have to promote only what can be proven in a lab.”

“Mmmppph.”

“What?”

“What’s that you say?”

“Sorry, guys.  My mouth was full of peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  What I said was:  ‘I feel sorry for you.’”

Crows at the Window

Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.”  But what does that mean, really?  Being peacemakers?  Henri Nouwen has an interesting quote about this:

"As peacemakers, we must resist all the powers of war and destruction and proclaim that peace is the divine gift offered to all who affirm life. Resistance means saying 'No' to all the forces of death, wherever they may be."

Something Jesus could have said about being a peacemaker might have been, “Watch out, peacemakers, for you will be attacked for your stance!”  That’s about the way it goes, isn’t it? 

Did you see the story about the Pope and a couple of children releasing doves of peace at the Vatican?  Pope Francis was appealing for peace in the Ukraine, and he and the children released the doves of peace.  The two white doves were then attacked by a seagull and a large black crow.  Seriously!  You can see pictures at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/birds-attack-peace-doves-freed-from-popes-window/2014/01/26/c02de4ee-868c-11e3-a760-a86415d0944d_story.html

What is it that is so threatening about working for peace?  Folks get so defensive and angry.  Bring up peace and you might get punched in the nose.  Maybe we get so defensive and angry about peace because we just flat-out love fighting.  We’re good at it.  “We like winning.  Peace is for wusses.”  That sort of thing.

I saw a bumper sticker one time that said, “If you love Jesus, work for peace.  Any idiot can honk.”  Hmmm… There’s a crow pecking at my window.

Memories of Minnie

She was a part of our family for 13 years – entering just two weeks after Allison came on the scene.  We called her “Minnie.”  She was a green Mazda MPV minivan.  She left us last night.  Danny took her to the car sale and sold her to a 300-pound Mexican man named “Beano.” (I’m serious – you can’t make this stuff up)  She was a good van.  She carried our family safely for over 250,000 miles.  We hated to replace her, but…it was time.  Here are a few memories of Minnie:

I had never wanted a minivan before, but our family was growing.  Emily Kate was just 2, and Allison had just been born, and I suddenly became open to the idea of a minivan. I remember the day that it hit me how cool it was to have a minivan when you have babies.  It was the day that Tammy changed a diaper on a baby while we were cruising down the Interstate at 70 mph.  That was it.  I was a converted minivan Dad.

We got her around Christmas time.  I remember loading up everyone in the “new” van and going to Spring Valley to see the Christmas lights.  We were so careful to keep things clean (the way we always are when a car is new) until we were helped out by Daniel Shultz.  We had taken the youth group from Holmes St. UMC to Pigeon Forge, and Daniel was riding in the front seat of Minnie, and he threw up (massive, chunky, industrial-strength puke) all over the front floorboard of our new van.  She was now officially christened as a kid-friendly zone.

Daniel was just the first in a long line of pukers in Minnie.  All three of our kids, various dogs and cats and youth group members, all had about every bodily function you can imagine in that van over the course of 13 years and 250,000 miles.  Minnie served as a truck and a moving van, hauling all kinds of stuff to all kinds of places.  She’s served as a camper (when the kids were little we’d fold the back seats down and put their sleeping bags back there).  Minnie has rocked out to our CD’s and our singing.  She’s done a little bit of everything, and she was a little bit worse for wear.  Minnie had a broken rear bumper, where Tammy backed into Zeke’s mailbox.  She had a scraped front fender from something (Tammy has been really vague about that particular damage).  She makes funny noises sometimes when she’s idling (the van, not Tammy).  The driver’s side window doesn’t work anymore.  You get the idea.  Like the Velveteen Rabbit, you could tell she had been “loved.”

We replaced Minnie with “The Silver Bullet,” a silver (duh) 2009 Mazda 5.  We are still getting to know her, but I think we are really going to get along swimmingly!

So - farewell, Minnie!  You were a good van!  I’m glad you went to a good home.  I have to smile when I picture Beano driving you around.  I just hope he doesn’t mind a few dents and a few stains.

Bill and George

Bill and George are coming to your house for dinner (as in “Clinton” and “H.W. Bush”).  Do you:

A.  Make sure they check their guns at the door.

B.  Bring in your most talkative friends to make sure the conversation doesn’t lag.

C.  Watch in awe as the two men relate to each other as true friends.

Here’s a hint – pick “C.”  Where am I getting this?  I am getting it from a source that I trust more than Bill or George.  I’m getting it from Barbara.  I have always admired Barbara Bush – the way she conducted herself as first lady, and the character and class that she exudes.

In an interview with C-SPAN, Barbara was asked about the friendship that her husband has developed with Bill Clinton.  The interviewer asked about her husband and Bill Clinton becoming friends.  She corrected him by saying, “My husband, Bill Clinton and I have become great friends.”  She went on to say that Bill visited them every summer and that while they don’t agree politically they don’t really talk politics. 

Barbara says, “Bills’ father wasn’t around, and I think he thinks of George a little bit like the father he didn’t have.  He is very loving to him.”  She then finished up with this bombshell:  “I love Bill Clinton.  Maybe not his politics – but I love Bill Clinton.”

(More at http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/barbara-bush-bill-clinton-love-son/2014/01/21/id/548178)

This fit in so well with Richard Rohr’s devotional for today entitled, Unity and Uniformity.  Rohr writes:

Many teachers have made the central but oft-missed point that unity is not the same as uniformity. Unity, in fact, is the reconciliation of differences, and those differences must be maintained—and yet overcome! You must actually distinguish things and separate them before you can spiritually unite them, usually at cost to yourself (Ephesians 2:14-16). If only we had made that simple clarification, so many problems—and overemphasized, separate identities—could have moved to a much higher level of love and service.

(More at http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Richard-Rohr-s-Meditation--Unity--Not-Uniformity.html?soid=1103098668616&aid=LV7QPnoncS4)

Bill and George certainly have their differences.  That’s OK.  More than OK, these differences “must be maintained and yet overcome,” if there is going to be anything like a loving relationship.  Bill and George have “moved to a higher level of love and service,” to put it in Rohr’s terms.  I find this refreshing, hopeful, and challenging.  The challenging part would be for us to “go and do likewise.”

The Professor's Sin

I grew up watching Gilligan’s Island.  I loved it!  I was saddened to hear about the death yesterday of “The Professor,” from that show, Russell Johnson.  He was 89 years old, and he died in his home state of Washington.  If you want to know more about him, here’s a link:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/16/showbiz/russell-johnson-obit/

The Professor’s death brought back to my mind something that I found a few years ago when I was preaching a sermon series on “The Seven Deadly Sins.”  You might be thinking, “How in the world is Gilligan’s Island connected to the Seven Deadly Sins?”  I’m glad you asked.  It’s like this:

The island represents Hell.  Everybody on the island wants to leave, but can’t.  Each of the characters on the island represents one (or more) of the Seven Deadly Sins.

1.     LUST - Ginger.  She practically oozes sexuality, is obsessed with her looks, etc… (I personally had a crush on Mary Ann).

2.     ENVY – Mary Ann.  She is envious of Ginger’s glamorous appeal.

3.     PRIDE – The Professor.  He knows it all.  (Is there anything that guy can’t build out of coconut shells and some vine?)

4.     GREED – Mr. Howell.  Nuff said.

5.     SLOTH – Mrs. Howell.  She never lifts a finger to help out with anything.

6-7. GLUTTONY and ANGER – The Skipper.  He’s overweight (from eating too many coconut cream pies?), and he’s always going off on Gilligan and hitting him with his hat, etc…

What about Gilligan?  Well, he is Satan.  He is the person who got them to the island.  It’s his island, right?   He is the one who keeps them from getting off by messing up all their plans to escape through is bungling.  Did you ever notice he always wears red?  Hmmmm.

This is just a fun mental exercise, really, unless we take time to see ourselves in the characters and in the Seven Deadly Sins.  You ever do that?  I’ve thought a good bit about “The Professor’s” sin – PRIDE.  “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Prov. 16:18)  Maybe that’s why God hates our pride.  It is the “anti-Christ attitude.”  It kills.  Unless we let it go, it will keep us stranded on our own “island.”

Here’s a prayer I found against pride.  I am praying it today, as I remember The Professor, and the sin that so easily besets us.  Will you join me in this prayer?

O Lord Jesus Christ, Pattern of humility, who didst empty Thyself of Thy glory, and take upon the form of a servant: root out of us all pride and conceit of heart, that, owing ourselves miserable and guilty sinners, we may willingly bear contempt and reproaches for Thy sake, and glorying in nothing but Thee, may esteem ourselves lowly in Thy sight. Not unto us, O Lord, but to Thy name be the praise, for Thy loving mercy and for Thy truth's sake. Amen.

(prayer is from http://prayerbook.com/Subjects/sevepray.htm)

Parable of the Porcupine

On a cold winter’s night, a group of porcupines huddled together for warmth.  When they got too close, though, they stuck each other with their quills.  This made them move away from each other.  When they got too far away, they got cold again, so they moved back closer in.  The trick was to find the optimum balance between closeness and distance, so that they could enjoy the warmth without feeling the quills. (I think this parable was first told by Arthur Schopenhauer).

Yesterday I enjoyed meeting with my study group. We meet once a month and study a book together – a different book each year having to do with Bowen Family Systems Theory (BFST). If you want to know about BFST, check it out at http://www.thebowencenter.org/pages/theory.html  I've been thinking about the porcupine parable and my study group, and BFST.

BFST addresses two opposing forces:  togetherness and individuality.  We feel the pull of both of these.  If we have too much togetherness, we become “fused” and we fail to become our own “selves.”  Eventually, we start to poke each other with our quills.  If we have too much individuality, we become distant, cutoff, estranged from those we need for warmth.  Balance is what we need.

I see this in Jesus’ life when I read the Gospel of Mark.  There was an ebb and flow.  He would be surrounded by people at times, and he would go off to a deserted place at other times.  “That evening, after the sun was down, they brought sick and evil-afflicted people to him, the whole city lined up at his door!  He cured their sick bodies and tormented spirits... [and then later] “While it was still night, way before dawn, he got up and went out to a secluded spot and prayed.  Simon and those with him went looking for him.  They found him and said, ‘Everybody’s looking for you.’  Jesus said, ‘Let’s go to the rest of the villages so I can preach there also.  This is why I’ve come.’” (Mark 1:32-38 MSG)    

Jesus showed perfect balance.  He knew when to draw near, and he knew when to steal away.  He didn’t allow others’ “everybody’s looking for you” to dictate his balance.  He defined himself.  Murray Bowen would have been proud.

This balance that Jesus lived - and BFST talks about -  I struggle with.  I am a work in progress.  I confess it.  Sometimes I get it right, and sometimes I miss it.  Sometimes I don’t realize until I shiver that I am missing the warmth of togetherness, and sometimes I bleed from being poked by the quills of others.  But there are some days when the balance is there.  Just close enough – not too close – a separate self, still connected to those I love…  Ahhhh.

Hyperstandism

Stand.  /stænd/ “To stop or remain motionless.  To be set, placed, fixed, located, or sitauated. To maintain a position.  To resist change.  A determined effort for or against something, especially a final defensive effort.”

Sometimes one needs to “take a stand.”  I get that.  Popeye takes it and takes it from Bluto, and finally says, “That’s all I can stand, ‘cause I can’t stand no more,” and the he eats a can of spinach and saves Olive Oyl.  Way to go!  That being said, I think there is a general epidemic of “hyperstandism” going around.  Lines are being drawn in the sand over everything.  It’s almost as if something’s wrong with you if you’re not “taking a stand.”  “I stand with Phil,” a bunch of people put on social media after the blowup with the Duck Dynasty dad’s interview with GQ.  It’s like, “Conservative Christian values, the American dream, and freedom of speech are being challenged!  To arms!”  In the opposite corner was the GLAAD team, saying, “We must stop these ignorant rednecks from attacking gays.  Kick Phil off the show!”  I wanted to tell both sides to take a chill pill.

Another example is the upcoming throwdown between Ken Ham (who has a creationism museum) and Bill Nye the Science Guy.  They are holding a debate on February 4.  Ken Ham says, "This year, our AiG theme is 'Standing Our Ground, Rescuing Our Kids.' Having the opportunity to hold a cordial but spirited debate with such a well-known personality who is admired by so many young people will help bring the creation/evolution issue to the attention of many more people, including youngsters."  Bill Nye says, “If we raise a generation of students who don't believe in the process of science, who think everything that we've come to know about nature and the universe can be dismissed by a few sentences translated into English from some ancient text, you're not going to continue to innovate.”

(The entire article can be viewed here:  http://www.christianpost.com/news/bill-nye-ken-ham-to-hold-debate-on-viability-of-creationism-111933/)

My problem with this is the implication that all Christians should move over to Ken Ham’s corner, and anyone who likes Bill Nye is obviously an atheist…or even worse – a liberal.  My problem with the whole “Duck” thing is the taking of sides.  I kind of like the show, but I’m not particularly fond of racism or homophobia.  I believe in freedom of speech, and I also believe that our words carry consequences.  Back to the Ham vs. Nye debate - I believe God created and creates, and I also value science.  Can’t I believe in creation and in evolution?  Can’t I watch Duck Dynasty and still love my gay friends and be thankful for civil rights? 

Absolutely I can, and you can too!  Here’s the thing about too many “stands.”  Having too many of them tends to inhibit the evolution that needs to take place as we grow and mature (yes, I meant to say evolution).  One of the definitions of “stand” is to resist change.  But things do change, don’t they?  Our world…the environment…opinions, even… change all the time.

Here’s my stand on stands:  Everyone should have a few, non-negotiable principles that they live by.  There are some battlefields worth dying on.  But please, people…don’t turn everything into the Iron Bowl!

Lizzie's Lesson

Carl Jung once said, “The world will ask you who you are, and if you don’t know, the world will tell you.”  I read this article today about a woman who decided that she was going to define herself, rather than letting others define her.  Her name is Lizzie Velasquez, and she suffers from a rare syndrome which keeps her from gaining weight and has caused her to be blind in her right eye.  When she was in high school, she discovered a video of herself on YouTube that was titled, “World’s Ugliest Woman.”  It had 1 million views.

Lizzie decided that instead of letting these cyberbullies define her, that she would define herself.  She took the hatred and negativity that was being channeled toward her, and let it fuel her resolve.  She has become a motivational speaker, and last month spoke at the TEDX in Austin.

But aren’t people still rude to her?  Yes.  When they are, she asks them to stand on her right side (she is blind in her right eye). 

Whom will we allow to define us?  What if we defined ourselves in terms of how God sees us?  I think this was Christian singer Matthew West’s point in his song, “Hello My Name Is: Child of the One True King.”  If you haven’t watched the video lately, take a peek here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuJWQzjfU3o

I love the message of this song, and applaud the courage of Lizzie Velasquez.  May her tribe increase!  If you want to read her whole story and hear a bit of her TEDX talk, go here:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/07/lizzie-velasquez_n_4550829.html?1389284064&icid=maing-grid7%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl15%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D428444