Scout Sunday 2021

A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.

Hiking is one of my family’s favorite things to do. Some of our favorites are Difficult Run, the trail from River Bend Park to Great Falls Park and we enjoy exploring many of the trails Shenandoah National Park. One thing many trails have in common are blazes.

A blaze is a mark on trees, rocks or other landmarks that let you know you are on the right trail. If you don’t pay attention to the blazes you can find yourself following the wrong trail. Being on the wrong trail means you won’t make your destination and you will waste time. You could also find yourself lost.

This Sunday we are celebrating Scout Sunday. You can use the Boy Scout oath as a blaze for the trail through life. When you meet someone new you can be friendly. You can be courteous by wearing a mask in public. You will find the loyal blaze when you have a friend in trouble. When things look dark a cheerful path is needed. Daily we are reverent when we pray, meditate, read our Bibles and gather together as the church. As you go through your life you will find multiple opportunities to be trustworthy, helpful, kind, obedient, thrifty, brave and clean.

Take some time this week and ask yourself which blazes are you following.

-NOTE if you need some Scout Sunday remarks feel free to adapt these thoughts.

A Mirror of Humility and Honesty

 Pride and shame are the broken mirror version of self awareness.  The simplistic answer to how to fix this view is Jesus. 

Throughout Jesus’ life and teachings we are being shown how to live as citizens of the Kingdom of God.  At the center of his teaching we find the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 - 7) or the Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:17 - 49).  In my opinion these passages contain Jesus’ primary teaching material.  When he would travel from village to village some form of this is what he taught.

There are many lessons to learn from these passages but it all starts with what we call  The Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3 -12 & Luke 6:20 - 23).  This section is a difficult mirror to look into.  

When we look at ourselves through the mirror of the Beatitudes we see ourselves for who we truly are.

Pride and shame causes us to hide all our weaknesses and put on a veneer of having it all together.  Instead Jesus teaches us not to hide when we are poor in spirit, when we mourn, when we hunger and thirst for righteousness.  Jesus also teaches us to be meek, to be merciful, to be pure of heart and to make peace.  When we live out these qualities the culture around us will look down on us or persecute us.  These are perceived as weaknesses because our culture is based on selfish power.

Honesty and humility are the mirror that leads us to admit we have the qualities in our life.  Jesus holds this mirror up for us to look at ourselves.  We are blessed when we step out of our hiding place and expose ourselves to the LORD.  Instead of a life with ourselves a god we follow Jesus’ example letting go of our selfishness and obediently acknowledging the LORD as the true God! (Philippians 2:6 - 11)

It is a harder life to live but it is only way to live a blessed life!

Pride and shame are the broken mirror version of self awareness.

 Why do we need a new life with Jesus?

The simplistic answer is sin.

Sin is not just our willful disobedience of the LORD it is a simplistic way to describe the fallen brokenness of the world around us.  This fallen brokenness extends to all of our relationships.

Our relationship with the LORD is broken

Our relationship with ourselves is broken

Our relationship with others is broken

To understand how our relationship with ourselves is broken we have to go all the way back to the beginning again.  When Adam and Eve are in the garden not only was their relationship with the LORD perfect but their relationship within themself was perfect.  We understand this because pride and shame had not entered the world.

Pride and shame are the broken mirror version of self awareness.  Pride causes us to believe we are above or better than others.  It also causes us to believe others should not have it as good as we do.  Pride is unhealthy competition and fuels our desire to win when there is nothing to truly win.  We see this when people disagree just to disagree or won’t admit when they are wrong or at fault.  Our prideful selfs love to point this out in others but the list of modern people guilty of pride is long and includes our own names.

Shame on the other hand is not guilt for sin but an uneasiness about our ownself.  Shame causes us to feel we are less than others.  When Adam and Eve felt shame about being naked nothing about them had actually changed.   Eve wasn’t ashamed of Adam and Adam wasn’t ashamed of Eve.  They were ashamed of themselves for being who they were created to be because their relationship with themselves was broken.

Shame is also what causes us to hide when we know we did wrong.  Adam and Eve hid from the LORD because they had disobeyed the LORD.  Instead of facing the truth and dealing with the consequences they hid trying to avoid what they deserved.

Pride and shame are the broken mirror version of self awareness.  The simplistic answer to how to fix this view is Jesus.  A more complex answer is what we will explore next week.

Simplistic Answer to "Why we need Jesus?"

Why do we need a new life with Jesus?

The simplistic answer is “sin”

Sin is not just disobedience it is replacing the LORD as the God of our lives with ourselves as god.

In the beginning we see this with Adam and Eve.  In the beginning they were created in the LORD’s image.  (Genesis 1:27)  In the beginning they were obedient to the LORD.  They lived for a long time in the garden.

Sometime later the Devil tempted them to be like God. (Genesis 3)  In other words they could be their own gods.  Instead of choosing obedience and rejecting temptation they choose to take the fruit.  In doing so they tried to make themselves gods.  The sad fact is they were already like God being created in the LORD’s image.

In doing this they broke their relationship with the LORD.  In doing this their relationship with the LORD died.  This dead broken relationship has been passed down to us.  (Romans 5:12 - 20)

We are powerless to repair or resurrect this relationship; this is why we need Jesus!

The truth of this story is not that it happened once but that it happens everyday.  Everyday in our lives we have a choice.  Do we acknowledge the LORD is God of our lives or do we try to make ourselves god of our lives.

As a new year begins this is a great time to start a new relationship with Jesus through faith and baptism.  It is also a great time to renew your relationship with Jesus through confession.

The Sun Rises! (Romans 3:9 - 26)

The Sun Rises!
Romans 3:9 - 26

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic this is a dark time of the year.  These are cold dark days of Winter.  The days are very short with the sun setting so early.  It may not be the coldest part of the year but it is cold enough to keep us all inside.  The dark cold short days make it hard for many.  It is no wonder so many of this season’s holidays use light as part of the celebration.   We find Menorahs are lit for Hanukkah, 7 candles are lit in a Kinara for Kwanzaa and Christmas lights decorate trees and houses.

Like the night, this time of year will pass and a new day or Spring will come.
In Paul’s letter to the Romans we find a section that mirrors this darkness giving way to light.  Starting in Romans 3:9, Paul recaps our broken sinful nature.  He specifically points out that Jews and Gentiles are both lost in sin.  There is nothing we can do about this.  We are all sinners; neither the Old Testament law or Gentile morality will save us.  The situation is hopeless and dark like the deepest part of Winter feels.

The sun has set on a long night but beginning in Romans 3:21 we read about the dawn!  Righteousness has come.  We have no power to attain righteousness through philosophical or religious morality.  It is through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus that we find redemption from our sin.  Like a bright light shining in our dark lives, righteousness comes through faith in Jesus Christ.
The dawn of righteousness in our dark lives gives us the hope to make it through the dark times of our lives.

Does God Matter? - Love

I originally wrote this as an article for the Family Life (the news letter for the Church of Christ in Falls Church, VA.) on Sunday, July 5th 2020 but I feel it has a message for everyone during the Covid-19 virus pandemic. 

A few weeks ago I wrote an article discussing the question of “Why god matters?”  This question is one we all struggle with in the dark times of our lives.  In my attempt to answer this question it struck me that a god doesn’t matter but the LORD does matter.  The LORD matters because HE is an actual being with a personality, motivations and desires.  We meet the LORD in the Bible and we see HE is righteous, creative and loving.

Earlier this series I wrote about the LORD being righteous.  I looked at the judgement of the LORD upon us because of our unrighteousness and the LORD’s desire for us to live righteous lives.  What I didn’t focus on at that time was the LORD’s love and mercy.

Sometimes I feel that love is a fundamental characteristic of the LORD.  The LORD is creative because of love.  The LORD is righteous because of love.  This is why the LORD is continually making covenants with humanity and showing mercy to sinful people.

From the first stories we find in the Bible we see the LORD showing us love and mercy.  In the Garden of Eden we sin.  That sin caused our relationship with the LORD and creation to be broken.  In that sin we did face the righteous judgement of the LORD but we were also shown love and mercy.   Instead of being destroyed immediately we are spared.  Instead of being cast out naked and helpless into the world we are provided with protection.

Ultimately the love of the LORD is different from what we think of as love.  In Jesus the SON we see the LORD’s love in its purest form.  While we were still sinners the Father sent the SON as an atoning sacrifice.  Instead of waiting for us to be righteous the LORD acts on our behalf.  This love is not simply a feeling but a choice and actions.

As you contemplate “Why the LORD matters?”  I hope these short articles help.

Does God Matter? - Creative

I originally wrote this as an article for the Family Life (the news letter for the Church of Christ in Falls Church, VA.) on Sunday, June 21st 2020 but I feel it has a message for everyone during the Covid-19 virus pandemic. 

The question of “Why god matters?” is one we all struggle with in the dark times of our lives.  In my attempt to answer this question it struck me that a god doesn’t matter but the LORD does matter.  The LORD matters because HE is an actual being with a personality, motivations and desires.  We meet the LORD in the Bible and we see HE is creative, loving and righteous.  The first item I want to reflect on is that the LORD is creative.

The LORD is the creator of our world.  As you look around all the things we observe exist because of the LORD’s creativity from every interesting insect crawling in the ground to every huge nebula out in space.  The world around us is so full of amazing details for us to explore, discover and enjoy.  You also exist because of the LORD’s creativity.

We also see in the Bible that we are created in the LORD’s image meaning we too are supposed to be creative, loving and righteous.  In HIS image we were also to create by having children, naming the creatures and caring for creation.  Humanities first task was to be gardeners and take care of the Garden of Eden and the rest of creation.

Initially when the LORD looked at HIS creation it was good.  We look at the world around us and it doesn’t seem good anymore.   What happened?  In our rebellion against the true GOD we made ourselves gods.  That is the real temptation we faced in the garden.  By eating from the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge we decided we were going to be like gods even though we were already created in the image of the LORD.  This sin has separated us from the creator but in HIS creativity a way back was made.   It is through faith in Jesus and Jesus’ sacrifice that open the door back to our creator.

The LORD’s creativity matters because the universe around us was deliberately created.  As part of creation we are also deliberately created.  The way back to the LORD was deliberately created to save us.  This is so important to remember and to tell those around us.