Hey, Buddy, Got A Dollar?

Isaiah 55:1-5

During a workshop I attended this past summer, the topic of how we know what is important to an organization. We were told not to watch commercials on TV or listen to the words on the radio. We were also reminded not to only look at the words and actions of the leaders or representatives of the organization.  What we were told was to look at how that organization spends its money.

Where their money is, we were told, is where their heart is.

The speaker went on to give us just one example. Last year the United States spent 4% of its budget on education, while it spent 21% of its budget on military defense. Seems a little lopsided to me.

This kind of financial decision-making also makes its way into our society. I know of families whose parents drive expensive SUVs and wear nice jewelry, making sure their kids wear $150 pair of shoes and $50 tshirts, while at the same time their kids don't have any money for lunch or come to school with basic school supplies. It seems we've become a people where how we look to others is more important than what we can do for others, or ourselves.

Please don't take me the wrong way. I'm all for consumerism, it's the basis for our economy. All I'm trying to say is that we might want to prioritize how we spend that money. Our kids need a good education and they need to be able to eat a healthy meal during the school day to keep their energy up. In the same way, there are people in our society who need things so as to simply have a basic living; such as housing, clothes, and medical assistance.

I mean, why should we spend our money on the things that really don't matter.

Ho! Wicked!

Psalm 145:8-9, 14-21

A pastor I worked with several years ago once asked me how I explain the judgment of God to teenagers. I honestly had no answer. It never occurred to me that God was judgmental. I actually still don't think God judges people, but, it's a theme found in the bible and as such it's a theme that needs to be dealt with at some point.

Many times we hear through the Psalms that God is great -  "merciful and compassionate,
very patient, and full of faithful love." We also hear how judgmental God can be, as in the 20th verse of today's Psalm where God destroys all wicked person.

Wicked. Such a vastly defined, and subjectively defined, word. What is wicked, what constitutes a wicked person?

The Hebrew word translated into wicked is rasha' which actually means someone who is guilty of a crime. And according to the laws of the Hebrew people, as well as all civilized nations of that time and this, people were not considered guilty without a fair process which included the ability to prove their innocence.

In other words, one is considered good until and unless they are proven beyond a doubt to be bad. Even then, one who is thought to be bad can always become good. That is how civilized peoples treat one another, and is how God will treat you.

God is not quick to convict. God gives us every chance to do what is right. If we continue to make the same mistakes over and over, however, bad things are going to happen, but, and I believe this deeply, it is not God who condemns. The "judgment" which happens to us is a result of our decisions and our actions. God does all God can to show us the right path, it's up to us to travel it.

Too Many Choices Is A Good Thing

Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

One of the best things about living in Hawaii is that from the time we are born we're exposed to communities of diversity. People of varied religions, races, and socio-economic situations lived together, shopped in the same stores, went to the same schools, and played in the parks and streets together. To be honest, I didn't realize there were differences which divided people until well into my teens.

We just didn't grow up that way. My best friend was Filipino/Portuguese. My neighbor was Japanese. Across the street lived a Chinese family. I played marbles with a Hawaiian. All of my friends and neighbors had families that worked as waitresses, bank tellers, laborers, mail deliverers, and business owners.

The best thing about all that is how none of it mattered. We treated everyone as friends and neighbors, never once categorizing one another into groups. Our little community functioned very well for being a diverse group of people.

Today's passage reminds me about the neighborhood I grew up in. To some it was a seed which, when planted, could grow into something great. These were the leaders within the community, our teachers and community board members. To others it was like finding a great pearl, those who were willing to give everything they had to make our community a better place - the volunteers who did all the work.

There were those who mixed yeast into the bread, who did their best to bring people together to accomplish the goals of the community. And there were treasure seekers, those who did their best to find the good things in our community and were willing to give everything they had to keep the good things in that community. Everyone had their own place in the neighborhood, and everyone did what they could to make the neighborhood a better place.

Such is the Kingdom of God.

Degrees Of Separation

Romans 8:26-39

How many of you remember the game 6 Degrees of Separation in which one tries to find 6 "links" or less between yourself and someone famous. For instance, I live in Hawaii, Hawaii is the fiftieth state of the United States of America, my brother's fiftieth birthday is tomorrow, my brother lives in Oregon, Oregon is where Matt Groening (creator of The Simpsons) lives - that's how I'm connected to Matt Groening. It takes some thinking, but if done correctly one can connect, or link, themselves to just about anyone or anything.

Unfortunately, the same can be said with the words written in the bible. Throughout history the "scriptures" have been used to defend everything from discrimination to genocide. Hitler's attempt to wipe out all Jews came from a literal interpretation of the bible (don't take my word for it, look it up). The crusades against Muslims began because Christians saw them as a threat to the "one true" way to God. Women, racial minorities, homosexuals, the poor, and most (if not all) other extremely divisive social issues all came about because of someone's, or some group's, literal interpretation of the bible. Each person or group picking a verse here and a verse there, then making the connections as they see fit.

Call it 6 Degrees to Hell.

In today's passage Paul reminds us that there are no degrees of separation between us and the love of God - none. So why then does humanity continue to create and live by the separations we make ourselves?

In the mid-1800s a man named Arthur de Gobineau created what is thought to be the first attempt at categorizing humanity into a sort of hierarchy. Of course, in his thinking, and because he was an educated westerner, Europeans and educated westerners were at the top of the list. The list continued with Asians as second, middle easterners were third (including India), followed by Native American Indians, and lastly Negroes. This became the accepted list of the time, and is what the Nuremberg laws were modeled after.

Before this time people were doing their best to assimilate into the culture they were trying to live in - for the most part. But, now that there was an acknowledged chart produced by a knowledgeable man, people could be put in their place according to their racial ethnicity.

Not that there wasn't already a division among people based on the color of their skin, socio-economic situations, gender, and religion happening already, but this chart, if you will, gave it solidity; now there was scientific proof to back up religious claims.

For the next 150 years the people at the bottom of that list have been working towards societal equity, as have everyone else who is considered an outsider of normal society. And yet, here was the Apostle Paul, 2000 years ago, trying to remind us that such separations do not exist in the eyes, or the mind, or the heart, or most importantly the Spirit of God.

Why, then, does humanity insist on continuing to place degrees of separation between ourselves?

What Would You Wish For?

1 Kings 3:5-12

Whenever my friends and I played the game 3 Wishes, invariably our last wish would always be for a more wishes. Depending on the stage of our life, the other wishes would include the ability to fly or be invisible, a new bike, to date the person we currently had a crush on, and maybe that promotion at work we were waiting for. But, without hesitation our final wish would always be for more wishes.

Now that I'm older I don't ask for more wishes, in fact I rarely wish at all. It isn't that I don't believe that wishes can come true, rather I want to believe that in some way I can do something to make my only hope come true: that all of humanity can live as one people under one love.

Wishes are a funny thing. They bring us hope. The help us hold on to the knowledge that maybe things will happen for the better. They reinforce the joy we need to feel in the moment we need to feel it. Of course, maybe that's because we never wish for anything bad to happen. In fact, most times when we wish for something it's to benefit ourselves materialistically.

As I get older I realize that wishing for my personal gain doesn't bring as much happiness as it used to. Maybe it's because I realize that it's not about me. While it's important I have the things I need to live comfortably, it's not important to live beyond my means. So a million dollars or a new bike really aren't what I need.

What I do need is the courage to get out of my comfort zone and do what needs to be done to stand up for justice. What I do need is the strength to wake up everyday with enough energy to live as God intended for me to live. What do I need is to better understand what Jesus' teachings mean to me.

What I would wish for, I suppose, is that I can somehow make a difference in someone's life that brings them closer in relationship with God, others, and themselves; a relationship filled with unconditional love.

And for my last wish...

What's The Access Code?

Psalm 119:129-136

One of my favorite lines from the movie Gremlins is when Grandfather (aka Mr. Wing) and Billy are sitting with Gizmo and talking. Grandfather asks Gizmo a question which is answered with a very cute, yet indistinguishable, voice. Grandfather nods in agreement while Billy only says, "How can you understand what he's saying?" To which Grandfather replies, "All one needs to understand is to listen."

Listening is the best way to access understanding. Too many times have I been a part of conversations where people choose to say what they want to say and not be willing to listen to the words of others. Those conversations usually resolve in nothing more than information gathering, and the challenge by those spewing their information to believe their way is best.

However, it's in the conversations where people listen and are able to ask questions in order to best understand the points-of-view being represented, where results can be achieved which are truly in the best interest of everyone involved.

Today's Psalmist recognizes that in order to best understand God's direction for us, we need to have access to what God is trying to say to us. This access is, in my opinion, the ability to engage in conversations which allow questions to be asked and where answers are not given, rather are discovered.

When I was growing up in church I was told how to think and what the words in the bible meant.
As I got older I had questions, but was told not to ask questions and just accept the words I was being told as truth. The answers didn't make sense to me, so instead of accepting something which I didn't agree with, I moved on.

I found my way back into God's family, and in this family I'm able to, and encouraged to, ask questions. As a result my relationship with God has grown strong, and continues to grow stronger.

I invite you to ask questions and by doing so, find the access you're looking for.

One Of These Things

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

One of the songs from my childhood which refuses to leave me is "One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other." You know, the one from Sesame Street from a while ago. Back when it was okay for Cookie Monster to gobble an unlimited amount of cookies. Here's a link if you need to hear the song.

The song is meant to teach children to recognize patterns. A football, baseball, and soccer ball are not in the same pattern as a television. However, the song doesn't discriminate against the television, it only helps the child recognize it isn't a part of the pattern.

The same can be said with people. Today's passage introduces us to the idea that bad things are always mixed in with the good things, and in time we'll be able to recognize the bad things and hopefully get rid of them. The bad things aren't part of the pattern of living a good life nor helping others live one.

It isn't easy to recognize the patters. About a year ago there was a game everyone had on their smartphones. The game, at least in my opinion, is based on the Sesame Street song and challenges the player to pick the theme, or pattern, the four pictures are trying to represent. The first 20 or so groupings aren't too difficult, but the game quickly begins to make your brain go into overdrive.

Just like the game, sometimes the themes we try to live by in our lives aren't so easy to pick out. Let's take this ethical question I once had posed to me. There is a village in the Conga which was recently discovered. The people in this village have been living in their ways and with their beliefs for 10,000 years. One of their practices was that if a child was born with deformities they would take it to a cliff overlooking a river and throw the child into that river so as not to invite evil into their lives. Is this wrong?

Of course, coming from a western-influenced set of beliefs, I said yes. One of my classmates, an indigenous woman, said no. I argued that what this village was doing is murder. She argued that what this village did was how they kept evil away. I argued that they need to be educated that a child with deformities doesn't "bring" evil. She argued that to this village, there was no other truth except that allowing the child to grow up in their village would be nothing less than destruction for their people.

Who is right, who is wrong?

After sides began to formulate among the other classmates and the debate began heating up, the professor asked us to focus on a new question: Who is ultimately responsible for making the decision?

The point our professor was trying to make is that when others try to immediately introduce their own beliefs into someone else's world-view, we are no better than what that class was becoming - people who choose sides and proclaim their way was the right way. Instead, if we learn the reasons why the people in their village did things in their way, try to understand them instead of change them, and if we slowly introduce our beliefs and modern medical discoveries (emphasis on slowly), then maybe, just maybe, together everyone could come to an understanding of what is best for that village.

It takes time to gain that kind of understanding, and in doing so the weeds have to grow with the wheat. Then, when the harvest is ready, the choice of what doesn't belong in the pattern will be made.

Everything Is A Result Of...

Romans 8:12-25

Ok. I'm convinced beyond all convincing that no matter how many times I read a particular passage in the bible, I will always see something different. This fact of my life is more apparent since I've made the conscience decision to open my self to other points-of-view.

Take today's passage as an example. I've read it, studied it, thought I learned everything I could from it; but things are new to me today. The "old" thought was that sometimes we, Christians, have to suffer just as Christ did in order for us to be folded into his glory. The thought and belief was that when things go bad, they go bad for a reason and it's only through building a better relationship with Jesus that things could get better.

Over the past few (okay, maybe more than a few) years it's been more difficult for me to believe in a God that purposefully allows things to happen to people in order for them to be more loving towards Jesus. I mean, think about it...only through pain and suffering can love be accomplished. Does that make sense to you?

As I read and re-read this passage, I tried to open my mind to what else might be there, what else might be a message Paul is trying to get through to the churches in Rome. Then, right there, smack dab in almost the middle (verse 20 if you need a reference) are the words "Creation was subjected to frustration."

Wait a minute, Paul, are you telling me that pain and suffering is a part of creation?

When I was a young boy, around the age of 10, I had a question for my Sunday School teacher: "If Adam and Eve were asked not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, does that mean good and evil already existed in the world from creation?" Apparently, and according to Paul, it was.

What a great relief this is to me as well as to many other people I know who live each and everyday with pain and suffering and the frustrations which come with that kind of daily living. Now we can all know, know, that God is not punishing us, but that we share in the same kind of frustrations as all of humankind - as well as all of creation - which existed since the beginning of time.

This knowledge doesn't heal the pain, not the physical ones anyway. But it does heal the emotional and spiritual pain many people suffer thinking they're not worthy enough to live pain-free. Pain, whether physical or emotional, is not, nor ever has been, the result of our relationship, or lack thereof, with Jesus Christ or with God. What is true is that everyone and everything, all of creation, suffers. And until we begin to understand that, until we begin living as one people under one love, as Paul strongly advocates for, the suffering will continue.

Imagine how far our world could have come by now in medical advancements if we collectively put as much money into finding cures for disease as we do into building war machines. Imagine how much the world would be absent of hunger, homelessness, mass kidnappings, senseless killings, and so much more if only we collectively put as much energy into providing for the needy as we put into providing for the stockholder.

Imagine where the world would be if unconditional love and taking care of "the least of them" was the rule we lived by instead of "not in our backyard" and "they should get a job" were the chants we lived by.

Imagine a life where we hope for the things we don't see in this world and do the things we can to make such hope become reality.

Imagine.

Stay Focused

Isaiah 44:6-8 Psalm 86:11-17

With summer winding down for me (public school begins on July 28 for teachers in Hawaii), and with so much more to do before I go back to work, it really feels as though the things I find to best to focus myself are getting put to the side. Time in nature, doing my devotions, and reading have gone to the wayside to make time to do all the other things I wanted to do over the summer.

I've done a lot, especially when it came to cleaning my yard and doing some things around the house that needed to get done, but there's so much more to do. Especially because we're tenting our house for termites in the days before we go back to work (sigh). Add to this the fact that I really need to wash my car inside and out (and include a polish) as well as my brother coming for a visit and my personal deep need to spend as much time with him and his family as I can, and it's starting to feel as though the things which help keep me together are moving further and further away into the background.

So, today I take a break to, at the very least, do my devotionals - and already I feel a sense of peace.

Life is like that sometimes. The truth is that we all lose focus on the things which hold our selves together. Life gets busy or life-situations change. Maybe we just lost our jobs, or a new child is born into the family. Maybe we're on the verge of losing our homes or getting married. Maybe our parents are approaching an age where the thought of extra care is becoming reality. There are all sorts of things which can take our focus completely away from our selves, and eventually away from the things we find comfort in.

One of the things which really keeps me focused is following the lectionary passages for the week and speaking with God as to how I should act on those words. Today's passages come at a time just when I can feel my life begin to unwind. It comes as a reminder that I should always keep God as my central focus and that through God all things will be clearer.

Taking the time to be in conversation with God always settles my soul as much as it leads my heart and mind into understanding which things are important. Today I need to take time to do the things which I need to do, but that doesn't mean I take away time from my being with God. As the Psalm says, I need an undivided heart in order to get through the things which block my path towards God's love.

So, today's challenge is to find time to re-focus towards what really is most important: to make God my focus and not the things which take me away from God.

What Do You Think About?

Romans 8:1-11

I've noticed that recently there has been more news reported on shootings, stabbings, robberies, house fires, critical auto accidents, and the like in our local news. Not that there hasn't been news reports like this before, it's just that for some reason they've become more frequent. I'm not sure if it's because these things are happening more frequently, or it's just being reported more frequently.

Either way, these reports have caused me to think about a few things. Mainly, why do things like this happen in the first place?

My wife and I had a great conversation about some of the reasons these things happen. We came to an agreement that at the root of most of these issues is a self-centered attitude. The shootings and stabbings have been a result of arguments gone too far. The fires have been caused by inattentiveness as have the auto accidents, especially those which have cause pedestrian deaths. The robberies, we're convinced, is a result of people putting their needs above others; whether it's because the cost of food and basic utilities and/or rent is too high for most to afford, or because of addictions which need to be suppressed.

When the need to satisfy one's wants and needs surpass the basic human necessity to care for others, there will always be a conflict between whose needs are greatest. Imagine if instead of putting our personal needs first, we put the needs of others first. What if instead of rushing to an from places we paid attention to the people walking in the crosswalks? What if instead of becoming addicted to drugs we took a good look at how that addiction affects or families and friends and sought to rejoin the communities which want them back.

What if, instead of thinking about our place in life we started to improve the lives of those around us? After all, isn't that what Jesus did?

Where Do Words Go?

Isaiah 55:10-13

This past Sunday the youth in our morning class were introduced to this passage and invited to discern its meaning in their lives through lectio divina. Lectio divina is a way of listening and responding to passages within the bible in such a way as to really try to hear what God is saying to you in that moment.

There are 5 steps to lectio divina: read, think, speak, listen, act. Basically, while one reads the passage they listen for a word or phrase which sticks out for them, or they picture an image which comes to mind. After reading the passage 3 times in this way, they sit in silence and pray, listening to and speaking with God as to what that word, phrase, or image means to them in their lives now. After this time of discernment they are invited to act on what God is calling them to do. In our case, we drew pictures.

We had pictures of trees, a happy face, musical notes coming through a grassy filed, and even the earth feeding itself "word". It's interesting to me that no 2 people in the room had the same picture. The ideas behind the picture were similar - feelings of peace and joy and how God's voice leads us into these places - but no 2 pictures were the same.

What does this say to people who think that everyone has to think the same, see the same, and talk the same when it comes to their faith?

When one tells their stories they speak words which reflect their personal ideas. No matter how much they try to keep their personal beliefs out of the story, one cannot help but to include a piece of who they are within the words they speak. The same happens with the hearers of those stories. When they listen, reflect, discern, and act upon those words they are going to do so in their individual ways.

Both the storyteller and the listener cannot help but be less than who they are, made that way through their life experiences. As much as the storyteller tries their best to be neutral, the listener will not be. So, the question becomes where do the words spoken and heard go?

If we trust in God and, more to the point, in the relationship we're building with God we need to trust that what God has spoken to us is what we are meant to hear and that what those words lead us to do is what we are meant to do. I know that's not a clear answer, but, that's all I got. The answer really is up to you.

Silence Is So Noisy

Psalm 65:(1-8), 9-13

One of my most favorite stories to tell about the presence of God is when my wife and I decided to watch the sun set one summer afternoon a couple of years ago. We had packed every local's favorite beach meal - musubi and fried chicken - and headed to a somewhat secluded beach on the northwestern shores of our island.

By the time we got there the sun was on its way down and the air had begun to chill. It was too cold to get in the water, so we sat on a short wall created by a barrier and simply watched the activity going on at the beach.

There was a family whose children were digging a large hole in the sand while their mother held their younger sibling, her eyes watching her husband as he floated in the water. Not too far in front of us there was a couple laying on the sand, snuggling and cuddling, unaware of the other 8 people on the beach. There was a diver in the water looking for something to catch, and if we squinted we could see down the stretch of beach another couple walking along the shoreline.

My wife and I didn't say much to each other, choosing instead to take in the silence around us. We could hear the waves gently rolling onto the beach and birds of all kinds singing in the air. The beach sits at the foot of a mountain so if we looked behind us we could watch, and hear, the breeze gently shimmer the leaves on the trees. A very beautiful time in an awesome space of creation.

It's times like that I absolutely know we have a creator and I absolutely know that creator is with us; always and forever.

What To Do, What To Do?

Romans 7:15-25a

One of the things most people struggle with is how to choose between what is the right thing to do, and doing what is right. There are times when the two are the same, but sometimes we find ourselves in a place where we have to choose between the better of two outcomes. Sometimes the one we choose goes against our better instincts, but is the right thing to do.

For example, I knew a young man who came to me for advice a few years ago. His conundrum was one I've come across before, but is never an easy one to muddle through. He had seen the girlfriend of one of his best friends with someone else, and wondered what he should do. Not an easy one for a 16-year old to have to decide. On the one hand if he tells his friend he would feel responsible for either breaking up the couple or possibly losing a good friend who would choose to not believe him. On the other hand if he didn't say anything he would risk seeing his friend be deeply hurt, then have the friendship broken when his friend found out he knew about it earlier.

What to do?

Many of us face similar decisions when it comes to our faith. Do we follow the way we have always followed and been taught to follow, or do we allow ourselves to explore something that might be different?

On the one hand, we might alienate the people we've grown up with and shared these same beliefs with. We might seem to them to be pulling away from their strong-held ideas and rules on how to live our lives. On the other hand, we run the chance of trying something new and discover that it's what we like, and lose those friends anyway because we're no longer following the same way of life.

What to do?

Paul tells us to do what we know and feel is the right thing to do. He tries to make the point that if we blindly follow a set of prescribed rules we are no better than being a sinner (someone who breaks the relationships between ourselves, those around us, and God). In Paul's own way he is trying to say that to follow what you know to be not right for you, is to follow a way that will separate you from the love your self is searching for.

There are no easy answers. In the case of the young man I spoke of earlier I asked him what he thought was the right thing to do. He said to tell his friend so I told him that's what he should do. He did, and as he thought would happen the friend accused him of lying and being a deceitful friend. However, in the months that followed that friend discovered for himself that his girlfriend was indeed fooling around on him and apologized, making the friendship between these two deeper and with more meaning.

Going with what feels right isn't always easy, but doing other than that can lead to many other things which self-denial could bring. So, what to do? Open your heart and search what is inside you. Don't rely on only your head, and at the same time have an open mind. Know that the way you choose, as long as it has the possibility to deepen your relationships with God, others, and yourself, is the right way. And the way you choose will be the way God walks along with you, regardless.

It's Going To Be Okay

Zechariah 9:9-12

It seems that a lot of what I see going on in the world these days just isn't good. Actually, that's putting it mildly. Wars, kidnappings, public displays of people being killed or raped, and the like seem to be dominating mainstream media these days. Add to that political infighting, societal discrimination, removal of personal rights in favor of corporate rights, ecological destruction, and so much more and it really does look like the world is falling apart; at least humanity's version of the world as we see it.

You know, the world which Zechariah saw wasn't so different. And yet, he found words which were meant to bring comfort to those who were doing their best to hold on to hope. Speaking to an exiled people, a people without a home and more devastating a world without a place for their God, Zechariah says that we should never give up hope because God is with them, and will bring them back to a life filled with peace.

It might have seemed like a far-fetched promise, or empty words at best, for the people of Israel, but they were words that probably needed to be said nonetheless. The words kept a dispersed people focused on the one thing that truly was the center of their lives - their God.

Perhaps that's what's missing in our world, a focus on the things which really are important to us as humans. Wealth, power, hierarchy, how much we own, how good we look to others have all replaced living in unity and honoring each person's place in society. Being better than our neighbor has replaced making our neighbor better.

But, if we heed the voice of Zechariah, and focus on the things which are important to humanity as a whole - freedom to live free as the person you are meant to be, and to be a society which accepts each person's place within that society, then perhaps our world would be a better place.