Wednesday, May 23, 2012

What happens when we die?


Questions from our Culture: Final Week Recap
The Science fiction series Battlestar Galactica (2004-2009) spoke about many of the issues of faith that people in our time are wresting with.  It did this by taking elements of  different faiths and dividing them up between the different characters of the drama.  In no way do the religions of the show completely conform to an actual human belief system, but they do have ideas in common with contemporary and even historical faith communities.  The result is fascinating portrayal of a life in a universe with competing religious ideas. We are using this portrayal at Holy Cross to engage some of life's most important questions.  These are not only found on TV but in the Bible itself.  Even better, the Bible begins to lead us to some answers to these life changing questions.

I was there...
Our final scene from Battlestar Gallactica depicts  the female lead Laura Roslin in dialog with a fellow cancer patient about the afterlife.  Her friend is telling her story of a vision she had of the next life.  Roslin is skeptical choosing to only believe what she can concretely experience while lucid and in her right mind.  Her  friend Emily is adamant, she was there in the border between this world and the next.   She will recount a number of important points.   First she was scared, but at the same time there was an assuring voice in her ear that said "I am with you."   Second,  she recounts the words of the recurring character Gaius Baltar, when she says that there is more to this world then what we can see with our eyes.   Finally she saw on the far bank of the river those whom she had lost of her family and friends.  She was comforted by this vision but was insistent that this vision gives a complete accounting of reality.   The scene shows two women, one open to the next world another skeptical, working out their questions in a meaningful conversation.  The question about what happens when we die is clearly found in the Bible in a number of places and the promises portrayed in this hospital room conversation are some of the same promised by God in Scripture. 

I am with you...

Emily's anxiety about her vision is calmed with a voice stating that he is with her.  Being assured the presence of the Divine through life and death is one of the central promises of Jesus Christ.  This coming Sunday churches around the world will celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, where God's presence was poured out for every land and nation.   Jesus promises in the Great Commission that he will be with us until the end of the aeon.   In the final book of the Bible, the key promise of the reconciliation and final healing of the world is the complete presence of God experienced fully by His people.   "See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them;  (Revelation 21:3 NRSV).  A look into the original language of John of Patmos' vision will reveal that the word used for home in the above verse is σκην, which literally means "tent."   So Revelation shows an image of a reconciled New Jerusalem where God is not in a temple but camping out with those whom He loves.  It is an image of God's intimate presence with us that shows that his being with us is the first solution of all of our genuine needs.  

There is something (or someone) beyond this world...  

God's presence is our most profound need because unlike us, he has no limitations.   He is the one who is not bound by space, time, laws of physics, or conventions.  He is the only one who can free us from the bondages that we face.  John of Patmos writes again: Then he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.  (Revelation 21:6 NRSV)  The letters Alpha and Omega are the first and last  letters of the Greek alphabet.   So Revelation is saying that God is A-Z,  all that is in between, and even more. The God of Jesus Christ is more than we can fathom. The God who works salvation through history is the God who is beyond anything history can describe.  This power is necessary because Scripture tells us that the Lord will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away."  (Revelation 21:4 NRSV)  Death, pain, grief and loss may ensnare us, but they have no power over the Alpha and Omega who is at the head of all things. 

 A Communion of Saints...


The most moving aspect of the scene between the two cancer patients in Battlestar Gallactica is how it shows Emily having a vision of being in a reunited communion with her loved ones.  Her parents, children and all who had died before her are re-united in a new community.  This same hope is made explicit by Jesus as he prepares to go to the cross on the night in which he was betrayed.  In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. (John 14:2 NRSV) The vision of the resurrected life is not just one of you in relation to God it is you with others in relation to God.  We become part of the resurrected community of God.

The other component of this is one of the chief images of an afterlife given in the Bible.   It is the idea of the great heavenly feast.   We first learn of it in Isaiah, and Jesus uses it as his primary teaching image of the coming Reign of God. Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God.  (Luke 13:29 NRSV)  The redeemed gather for fellowship around God's table.  This image is one the reasons I advocate regular celebration of the Lord's supper, it as as said a "foretaste of the feast to come."

An Invitation... 

I have always found it comforting that the Bible uses images like those discussed above.   I find that images are often more inclusive than definitions or a list of requirements.  I can relate my common life experiences to images,  they give me touch points with God's Word.  When the Bible says God camped out, I think of my own camping trips.  When heaven is described as a feast or party, I have wonderful images in my mind of fellowship with friends and loved ones.   I believe the Bible uses images to make coming to God more inviting.

The answer to the question of what happens when die is clear according to the Bible.  The answer is resurrection.   However, I do believe we need to be open it.  In this week's scene we saw two people one with an experience of life after death who was clearly open to the possibility, and one who was struggling to understand.  The saddest for me are those who close themselves off to the possibility, not only those who reject God, but perhaps those of us who nominally acknowledge God, but become absorbed in our own stuff to the point where we are unable to see the images that God provides us.  They miss out on the hope to come closer to him to live the abundant life in this world and the next. However, all we need to do is look up out of our junk and see the vision of God that is revealed through his Word of Jesus calling us back to God and himself.   The invitation to life eternal is there, we just need to respond, and to me that is indeed a comforting thought.

This is the final installment of this series:   This summer we will be working with two themes:  "Thriving in a mixed up world"  based on readings from the Gospel of Mark, and "A life rebuilt by Jesus," which uses texts from Ephesians.   Please be in prayer that we can come closer to our Lord through the proclamation and study of his Word. 


Keep the Faith, 
Pastor Knecht

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

How much can we forgive?



Questions from our Culture:  Week 5 Recap
The Science fiction series Battlestar Galactica (2004-2009) spoke about many of the issues of faith that people in our time are wresting with.  It did this by taking elements of  different faiths and dividing them up between the different characters of the drama.  In no way do the religions of the show completely conform to an actual human belief system, but they do have ideas in common with contemporary and even historical faith communities.  The result is fascinating portrayal of a life in a universe with competing religious ideas. We are using this portrayal at Holy Cross to engage some of life's most important questions.  These are not only found on TV but in the Bible itself.  Even better, the Bible begins to lead us to some answers to these life changing questions. 

Are we done here?  

This week's scene shows Admiral William Adama having a painful confrontation with his son Lee.   Both have reached a point where they are no longer able to forgive one another.   They have reached their limits of  endurance to work through the big issues in their lives.   Lee had agreed out of principle to defend Gaius Baltar who had collaborated with the enemy.   During the trial the Admiral had to watch as his own son helped cross examine his best best friend.   The Admiral feels completely betrayed; his son is defensive because his own father questions his honesty and integrity.   They both also have a mountain of experiences with each other in the background.  Both can no longer trust the other, both resort to self protection, both cut the cords that bind them.  Lee submits his resignation of  his military commission to his father,  his father says he doesn't want him around anyway.   

The question that leaps out of the screen is:  how much can I forgive?  When we think about this question we can choose to focus on the big things such as, can we forgive a terrorist, mass murderer etc?   However as powerful these questions are,  it is often the little things that add up that are more likely to stretch our capacity to forgive.  It is also true that as in the clip, those who are most close to us are more likely to test our patience to forgive.  It is why children run away, marriages fail, and friends separate.  

The Danger of Self-Deception

I have found that the biggest misconception about forgiveness in our culture is the idea that it is for the person you are forgiving.  It really is not; forgiveness is primarily for the forgiver.  It frees the person extending forgiveness to be in relationship with others again.  So when we loose the strength to forgive we actually do more damage to ourselves rather than withhold something from those who have injured us. This is precisely why John's letter to the churches calls us to forgive, it is for our own health and well-being.   He writes:  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  (1 John 1:8 NRSV)

It is a sad truth that when become wounded and self protective it is easy for us to drift  into self deception.  Because we become so focused on the misdeeds of others, we forget to look in the mirror at our own misdeeds.   If left unchecked this can lead to contempt.   In the clip we saw that it was contempt that finally severed the relationship between the elder and younger Adamas.   Contempt of others is the most destructive force in all human relationships.  It is to resist the danger of contempt that John wants us to not only look in the mirror, but to do it with the bathroom lights on.  He recommends that, If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  (1 John 1:9 NRSV) A major theme of the book of 1 John is that knowledge of sinfulness-should lead to empathy, which in turn leads to concrete acts of love for those in your community.  God has chosen not to hold you in contempt even though you may have grieved him.   God decided to forgive you through the cross, because despite it all, he wants to be in relationship with us and wants us to be the people we are created and called to be.  Therefore we can extend forgiveness to others because God has done so for us.

Trusting the One Who Can Forgive All 

The Bible is quite clear on the answer to the the question, how much can we forgive?  It answers saying:  God can forgive all, but humans not so much.  John writes again: he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.  (1 John 2:2 NRSV).  As sinners ourselves, our own capacity to forgive will be limited, but God being God, has unlimited capacity to do whatever he sets his mind on.  The deeper and more personal answer that affects our daily lives is also very clear, we read:  if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.  (1 John 1:7 NRSV) Simply put, our capacity to forgive is related to the strength of our relationship with Jesus.   

There will be some sins done to you that will be impossible for you to forgive without the aid of God's power.  No human can forgive all,  we will all reach our limits.  However there will be one day a time in your life when you will need to step up and forgive what you thought was once unforgivable.  This where we see that our discipleship practice matters, our worship, our prayer, our Bible reading, service, giving, and witness help strengthen our relationship with Christ Jesus and thus we are better able to forgive others.   It is the primary reason the Amish who forgave the man who shot up their children's school were able to do so.  Their life of Christian practice no matter how strange it seems to us, put them in touch with God who gives the strength to forgive the unthinkable.

Paul once wrote to the divided church of Ephesus: For (Christ)  is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.  (Ephesians 2:14 NRSV).  Perhaps the most under-appreciated aspect of our faith and doctrine is how Christ can  bridge the divides that we so often place between ourselves.  Yet this aspect of Jesus' death and resurrection is crucial for us to participate in our own resurrection through him.   Who do we think we just might meet in heaven besides God?  So we live in trust and hope relying on God's power to get us through.  

Stay tuned for the final week: What happens when we die? 

Keep the Faith, 


Pastor Knecht 

Thursday, May 10, 2012

How do we live with guilt?

Questions from our Culture:  Week 4 Recap

The Science fiction series Battlestar Galactica (2004-2009) spoke about many of the issues of faith that people in our time are wresting with.  It did this by taking elements of  different faiths and dividing them up between the different characters of the drama.  In no way do the religions of the show completely conform to an actual human belief system, but they do have ideas in common with contemporary and even historical faith communities.  The result is fascinating portrayal of a life in a universe with competing religious ideas. We are using this portrayal at Holy Cross to engage some of life's most important questions.  These are not only found on TV but in the Bible itself.  Even better, the Bible begins to lead us to some answers to these life changing questions. 



It's Not For You; It's for Them 

In the scene we viewed together at Holy Cross this past Sunday we found Admiral Adama trying to hand in his resignation to President Laura Roslin.  He is led to this decision because he has finally reached a breaking point with guilt.  Adama holds deep regret over his actions, which he believes helped instigate the war that has nearly wiped out humanity.   He hands in his resignation by reprising the words of his speech that we viewed the previous week, "there comes a time when we can no longer hide from the things we have done."
 
Yet, that is exactly what he is trying to do.   His resignation is a way for him to withdraw from the scene because he is no longer able to carry the burden of his guilt.  The scene is similar to that which we find in the PsalmsWhile I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; (Psalms 32:3-4 NRSV)
President Roslin is having none of this.  She reminds him of the truth that he reason for things is often more complex than we realize.  "We all did a thousand things good, and a thousand things bad every day for forty years to pave the way for those attacks."  She then gives him a way out, a way to live with the guilt that he has.   She asks him to receive a commendation for his distinguished service;  Adama is at first unable to grasp this.   She then reminds him that this commendation is not for him it is for those who have served so faithfully alongside him through thick and thin.  She asks him to reengage his community.  She is asking him to show love.  She knows it will be hard for him to do, but it will be the only way for Adama to live with his guilt.  

Confession and Repentance  

 What Roslin is really trying to do, is to get Adama to turn around, to change directions from withdrawal to relationship.   This shows both how guilt works and the gifts that God gives to help us overcome it.   Guilt unchecked engenders shame, and shame leads us to withdrawal.  Unresolved guilt leads us into isolation.  The first step in the process of living with guilt is confession, in Psalm 32 we are given the assurance of God's forgiveness as we confess.   It is an affirmation and a verification of our worth before God in spite of our guilt.   This forgiveness comes to us freely given out of God's own love for us.  John writes to the churches of his day,  In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.  (1 John 4:10 NRSV) How you say the prayers, or what prayers you say are not as important as simply being honest with God.  

The next step is repentance, turning around.   Now if we wanted we can get into a long argument about where repentance actually comes in to the picture:  Does it lead us to confess?  Is it a condition to be forgiven?  I would ask you to indulge me and think about it another way.   I would say that God's forgiveness helps give us the strength to repent.  Knowing you are accepted and forgiven by God, gives you the strength to turn the direction of your life around in spite of your guilt.   It gives us the power to overcome shame so that we can approach God and others boldly. Once again John writes, Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, (1 John 4:17 NRSV)  
 
We live With Guilt Through Love (Maintain Relationships)

The love of God gives us the strength to engage in acts of love for those around us. Since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.  (1 John 4:11 NRSV)  The only way for us to overcome the adverse affects of guilt is to face them head on and decide that we are going to show others love through our actions. Those whom you show love may not be ready to forgive or accept you yet, but that is not the point.  The point is to show love, you are able to do this because even if those who have hurt you are not ready to forgive you can know that you are accepted by Jesus who showed his love for you through the blood of the cross.  Evil wants us to give into the guilt and shame impulse to withdraw into isolation and despair.   God who knows the good we actually needs wants us to turn back to be in relationship with family, friends, neighbors and world.   It may be tougher in the beginning, but is life preserving in the end because we are created to be in relationship.  Now we all know that this is difficult especially when the weight of guilt can be so heavy, but please know you do not bear this alone.   Through Faith, and the Spirit God can go with us as we turn around and embrace our callings and those who we live them out with.   John says it all, God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.  (1 John 4:9 NRSV)

Tune in next week for week 5
How much can we forgive? 

Keep the Faith, 
Pastor Knecht  




Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Why Do We Deserve to Be Saved?

Questions from our Culture:  Week 3 Recap

The Science fiction series Battlestar Galactica (2004-2009) spoke about many of the issues of faith that people in our time are wresting with.  It did this by taking elements of  different faiths and dividing them up between the different characters of the drama.  In no way do the religions of the show completely conform to an actual human belief system, but they do have ideas in common with contemporary and even historical faith communities.  The result is fascinating portrayal of a life in a universe with competing religious ideas.
We are using this portrayal at Holy Cross to engage some of life's most important questions.  These are not only found on TV but in the Bible itself.  Even better, the Bible begins to lead us to some answers to these life changing questions.

Nobody asked the question why? 

The moment I knew that knew there was something different about Battlestar Galactica was when I saw the  scene where the main character Bill Adama makes a speech at the decommissioning of his space ship.   He speaks about the history of the war that he had participated in.   He recounted the high cost of that those who served had to pay and he wondered if it was all worth it.   He wanted to know the answer to the moral question; do we deserve to survive?   He recounted that since the war was over people still committed murder and visited their sins upon their children.  He recounted how human beings were complicit in the actions that led to a horrible war.  Adama concluded that the human attempt to wash our hands from the consequences of our actions would be futile when he says,  "there comes a day when you can no longer hide from the things that you have done anymore"  That statement recalled to mind the words of the prophet Amos as he challenged a comfortable Israel to examine what it really means to be the people of God.   Why do you want the day of the LORD? It is darkness, not light; as if someone fled from a lion, and was met by a bear. (Amos 5:18-19 NRSV) One day the consequences of our actions will come home to roost.

That does not mean we do not try to wash our hands of the consequences or ignore the pain we inflict in the world because of both our actions and our inaction.   When bad things happen to us don't we pretend innocence and construct narratives of why deserve the good and are unjustly given calamity?  When something we have done is made clear to us and we feel guilt, don't we just turn our heads away?  Don't we try give God partial information and make rationalizations?  We will use all our creativity to find a reason to tell ourselves that we are indeed worth all the good and deserve none of the bad.  "I'm a good person, I'm not that bad, I pay my bills, I worked hard, I earned it"   The Biblical prophets came to shatter this type of thinking with the truth that we mock God, when think we can hide or run away from things.  St. Paul reveals the truth of humanity.  All who have sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.  (Romans 2:12 NRSV) So indeed the Bible has a clear answer to the question do we deserve to survive?

We don't deserve to be saved!

But we are!  Deserving salvation is not the point.   The actions of God have nothing to do with whether one deserves them or not, they are simply about love.  The Bible makes this point over and over again.  God has chosen to love those whom he has created.  For example, as Israel prepares to enter the promised land  Moses recounts.  It was not because you were more numerous than any other people that the LORD set his heart on you and chose you-- It was because the LORD loved you  (Deuteronomy 7:7-8 NRSV) Israel was not saved in the Exodus and given the continued salvation of a land to call home because they deserved it.  In fact, the Torah reminds us that the Israelites in the wilderness pretty much did everything to show they didn't deserve it, but God gave them grace anyway.   

This grace and salvation can not be compelled.   It must be freely given.   It is why Jesus says.  No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again.."  (John 10:18 NRSV)  St. Paul declares  they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,  (Romans 3:24 NRSV).  Grace is a free gift of God, you have no right to it, no claim on it, and you certainly did not do anything to deserve it.  

Grace Matters!!

The simple fact of the matter is that life is a gift.   You had no control of how you entered this life.   You also had no control that you survived to this point in your life.   In some point in your life you relied on grace to help you survive or even save you.   I have heard it said "we are all alive right now because our mothers decided not to open up a window and throw us out."  As an infant you were completely dependent on the grace of those who cared for you,  and you did nothing to deserve that care.   God wants us to understand that our salvation works the same way.   It is why Jesus states that we must enter God's kingdom as a child. 

It is often said that the opposite of faith is doubt.  I do not believe this is true.  The real opposite of faith is a sense of entitlement.   God must bless me,  I should be saved,  I was born in the right country, tried to be a good person, so I deserve to live! When you see salvation as a right you close yourself to God and allow your heat to harden to the predicaments of others.  If you demand salvation because you think you deserve it you try to bind and restrict the freedom of God,  but God will not be bound.  Those who view the world through a sense of entitlement will at some point come only to bitterness and despair like Billy Joel's "Angry Young Man"  and indeed go to their graves as an angry old men (or women).   Those who understand that they are more like the Israelites in the wilderness who wander around and often make a mess a things, have a better chance at true peace.   The true peace comes when they encounter the God of grace, allow their hearts to be soft and to accept the abundant life of Jesus as a complete gift.   Not because we deserve it; but because we are loved. 

Stay tuned for week 4- How do we life with guilt? 

Keep the Faith, 

Pastor Knecht