Better than Fairness: Mercy

That's not Fair! 

For all kinds of reasons, when you have children in your house you will undoubtedly hear the phrase "It's not fair!"  Some of the time this phrase is directed at you as the parent, sometimes at teachers, fellow students, and yes like their parents they will take umbrage at some story going on in the wider world. Generally somewhere in the exchange between the parties in the debate a second phrase will follow "life is not fair!"

This is indeed true; human history has a catalogue of unfair events that will never, and can never be righted.  However, the reason for pointing this out is usually not to inform people of some wider existential truth, it is to cut off debate so that the complaining party will get back to doing what they are supposed to do in your eyes.  This common pattern happens in families, churches, towns, schools and yes even nations. Human beings seem to come prepackaged with an innate sense fairness for things we care about, while at the same time an unflappable ability to dismiss the complaints of our neighbors and even loved ones about things if it in any way inconvenience us.

Is God Fair? 

The Bible is quite ambiguous about the concept of fairness. In the Torah fairness for all in the community is repeatedly affirmed.  God will even appeal to Israel's sense of fairness when asking them to do good things.  We read in Leviticus 19:33-34 "When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God." (NRSV)   Paul will also appeal to a sense of fairness when asking the churches he supervises to change their ways perhaps most infamously in 2 Thessalonians 3:10 "For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. "(NRSV).

However the Bible will often teach that some things are more important than fairness.   When Paul talks about his own story, he tells of the wrong he did in Galatians 1:13 "You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. (NRSV) Yet he will say with confidence in Galatians 1:15-16 "But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me," (NRSV) Paul was not treated fairly; he was given grace.  He was treated better than he deserved and given the gift of being accepted by a forgiving and loving God. 

That fairness is not always the most important thing in life, may be best demonstrated how Jesus responds to the foreign widow who comes to him to have her daughter healed in Mark 7:27-29 (Jesus) said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter (NRSV)   The woman's trust in the goodness of God makes all claims of fairness irrelevant.   As James the Brother of our Lord would later write in James 2:13 "mercy triumphs over judgment". (NRSV)

Better than Fairness: Mercy 

When Christ calls us to love others he is not calling us to treat people fairly;  he is asking us to be better than fair.   He is calling us to show mercy love and grace, just as he has done for us.  Jesus says in Matthew 5:46-48  For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (NRSV)

Over my 20+ years of ministry I have advocated that we as the church help those excluded by society for example, the homeless, immigrants and refugees.  Sometimes people have pushed back and told me it was not fair.   That may or may not be the case, but my point is that fairness is not the point.  We show mercy to others because God has showed mercy to us through his son Jesus.  I can only say that if I got what I deserved, I would not be blessed, but cursed.   I have been saved by grace, so I hope to be a person of grace.   My confession to you it that my results are mixed,  I have not achieved the perfection Jesus has called me to and that is why I will still need God's mercy each and every day.  If God was just fair, than I would have no hope.  I have hope because God is better than fair, he is merciful. 

Be blessed 

Pastor Knecht 

The Only point of the Church is the Gospel

 A World Undone?

These past few months seem to be strange times for our church and Christians in general.   As write this we are in the midst of a national election that is bringing up powerful emotions in everybody.   Some of us fear a Clinton presidency will bring about the end of all that they hold dear.   Others of us fear a Trump presidency will bring about a police state to our county that will be complete disaster.  Indeed, others of us lament the loss of civility and the possible ending of relationships if people knew how we really feel.  No wonder mental health professionals are speaking of “election anxiety”.    Like the emotions generated by 9-11 and the economic meltdown of 2008, this anxiety seems to be affecting large numbers of us. 

What is a Christian to do?

Lots of voices in the culture are crying for me to as a pastor speak out.  The caveat is that this is only if it is for their particular side, other opinions are greeted with disdain and if I disagree any legitimacy I may have is automatically called in to question. In North Carolina during the past few weeks both Franklin Graham of Samaritan’s purse who supports Donald Trump and ELCA Bishop Timothy Smith who criticizes Trump’s views on women, immigrants, and Muslims used the following quote to argue for supporting their respective views.

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

                                                                                                           -Martin Niemoeller

You know it gets serious when people quote a pastor who spent World War II in a concentration camp, worked with Dietrich Bonhoeffer to make a place a for Christians who refused to belong to a church that accepted the “Aryan Laws” and spent the postwar years trying to get Germany to grapple with how their society went so wrong.   Both of these pastors from North Carolina are telling us Christians to be engaged and to speak out, but what should we actually speak?

I will answer with another quote, this one from missionary and theologian Leslie Newbigin:

“The business of the church is to tell and to embody a story, the story of God’s mighty acts in creation and redemption, and of God’s promises concerning what will be the end.   The church affirms the truth of this story by celebrating it, interpreting it, and enacting it in the life of the contemporary world.”[1]

In short, we exist for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  

As scripture will tell us, this is whether the times are favorable or unfavorable.   If Hillary Clinton wins the election and Donald Trump loses, we live out the gospel and help a wounded society.  If Donald Trump somehow pulls out a surprise victory, we witness Jesus and work as Christ's ambassadors to a broken world.  In addition to telling the Gospel story, Newbigin uses the word embody so the gospel does not devolve into a mere ideology.   The actions he describes should look familiar to those who walk on the path of discipleship.   Celebrating as when we gather for worship or fellowship in what the bible calls koinonia, it is God’s people gathering to live out the truth that we are one common humanity in relation to God.    Interpreting, such as when we read the Bible and show how God’s story meets our story and the world we live in, and we grapple with how best to navigate all these relationships.   Finally, he speaks of enacting the Gospel in today’s world, which means small acts of love which add up to become grace for the afflicted.

This is not just a Spiritual Thing about the Next Life

When we embody the Gospel, we start to live as if the Kingdom of God is already here.   We welcome those world deems as unclean, we feed the hungry, visit the sick and those imprisoned sharing words of hope and deeds of love that bring spiritual, emotional, physical and intellectual comfort.  We do this because this is what Jesus did in the story of our sacred Scripture and because this is what Christ does today through those inspired by the Holy Spirit who serve their neighbors and world.

Because the Gospel is holistic it will always be political.   Jesus was political; handed over to the Romans and executed with a sign in three languages saying “the king of the Jews”.   His interrogation in John 19 is all about politics, “so you are a king” replies Pilate.  

There will be those extreme secularists who will argue we have no voice or are just a voice among voices.   Fundamentalists will say that we have nothing to say outside of those who already belong to their tribe.  Only if one becomes indoctrinated into their rigid culture and adheres to their litmus tests of purity is one given a voice.  Christ will call us to a different situation outlined in Scripture in such places such as Matthew 25.   Our razor to cut to the heart of the matter will be to ask questions such as how does the politics of the world affect God’s children?  It asks also questions like, who has the most authority? Or, who is most vulnerable?

In Christ Alone

The real heart of the matter in this toxic emotional environment engendered by the power politics of today is to ask the question where does my loyalty as a follower of Jesus Christ ultimately lie?   The biblical witness, and the witness of the faithful agree; it is to Christ.   Faithfulness to Christ is not synonymous with patriotism, and is certainly not synonymous with loyalty to a political party.   Conservative Evangelical leaders who have made political party loyalty a litmus test for authentic Christianity have created a pernicious heresy completely antithetical to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Liberal or progressive Christians who castigate those who espouse conservative views conform to the same worldly attitude.   The prevalent attitude of our culture was captured succinctly by journalist Matt Taibbi.

“Lie No. 1 is that there are only two political ideas in the world, Republican and Democrat. Lie No. 2 is that the parties are violent ideological opposites, and that during campaign season we can only speak about the areas where they differ (abortion, guns, etc.) and never the areas where there's typically consensus (defense spending, surveillance, torture, trade, and so on). Lie No. 3, a corollary to No. 2, is that all problems are the fault of one party or the other, and never both. Assuming you watch the right channels, everything is always someone else's fault. Lie No. 4, the reason America in campaign seasons looks like a place where everyone has great teeth and $1,000 haircuts, is that elections are about political personalities, not voters.” [2]  

This is not the way of Jesus Christ; we are called to stand against such thinking. A person who has as their ultimate concern the furtherance of the Gospel will see the world differently than many.  This person will also realize that my faith relationship with Jesus Christ may lead me to have different concerns than they do and that we can disagree in love.  As I once heard Shane Claiborne say, it is how we disagree as Christians that really matters.  

The world may not view this perspective as legitimate, but I have met many Christians who hold views that cross firm party lines.   One can find a follower of Christ, who opposes abortion and the death penalty, who cares about the empowerment of women and worries that our jobs are going overseas, who is ready to welcome the refugee but worries about the size of government.  In fact, if as a disciple of Jesus Christ your views conform perfectly to a candidate’s or political party's, I would ask you to go back to your Bible and think about things a bit more.

Hope for the World

My hope is that like the group that gathered around Jesus our church will have people across the political spectrum who will work together for the love of God, neighbor and world.  If you will vote for Trump, we invite you to be with us.  If you will vote for Clinton we ask you to join us.  If you are frustrated with the process, we really want to include you in our walk with God.  We have no choice but to do this because we exist only for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Be blessed

Pastor Knecht

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[1] Newbigin, Leslie, Proper Confidence: Faith, Doubt, and Certainty in Christian Discipleship (1995, Grand Rapids MI Eerdmans) 76.  Emphasis added

[2] Taibbi,Matt “The Fury and Failure of Donald Trump” http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/the-fury-and-failure-of-donald-trump-w444943 accessed 10-20-2016.

Fear and All its Friends

Psalms 55:1-2
Open your ears, God, to my prayer;
don't pretend you don't hear me knocking.
Come close and whisper your answer.
I really need you. (MSG)

When I heard of the bombings in our area last weekend I felt afraid.   Not afraid of riding the train, or what might happen to my children, friends or family.   I had no fear of terrorists running amok.  I was afraid of our reaction, what fear will change in us.  So I gave thanks to God for the two homeless men who found the bomb at the Elizabeth train station and reported it to the authorities before anyone could be injured.  Indeed, I was even more relieved when a suspect was arrested.  It was blessing to move on before fear could be stoked further.

Listening to an interview with film director Antoine Fuqua later in the week, I heard him begin his remarks about the unrest and conflict over the shooting of black men by police officers by saying everyone is afraid, black men, the police, the rest of us as well.  Mr. Fuqua is right, and a large part of the dysfunction in the relationships between the differing groups of our society is due to the fears that each group has.

These fears are real. Black men have a radically different experience of American life than I do, and these experiences have led to very real and indeed rational fears.  It is not one incident that has sparked these fears but the repeated daily negative experiences people of color have in America. Police officers also have very real and understandable fears.  Service in the police is a very dangerous calling in our country.   They are repeatedly placed in the most stressful situations that happen within our communities. It seems however that in certain areas (particularly in regards to race)  that we are unable to listen to and understand our neighbor's fears. The problem seems to be that dealing with our own fears crowds out our ability to grasp the fears of others. Therefore with our empathy blocked, situations escalate.

This problem is exacerbated by the fact that fear has seemed to become a preferred method of communication for many of us.  Since the invention of the printing press, media has used fear to sell newspapers.  What is different today is that in our social media age the boundary between the media and the general public has been blurred.   If I post on my twitter or facebook account stories in the news, or my opinions of events, then I have effectively joined the media.   We have met the media and it is us. So when I repost an article highlighting a particular fear, I am embracing, validating and spreading that fear.  By embracing that fear I may be closing myself off to understanding the other. The more I broadcast my own fears, the less I am able to listen to you.  The more I see other people's fears shouted from the rooftops the less able I am to feel that others will understand me.  Perhaps this is why FDR famously said they only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

The only way I know to go forward is to follow the advice of St. Peter "Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7 NRSV).  Indeed it is in times like these that our faith matters most.    When we trust in who is God good enough to offer us salvation without condition (grace), it gives us a foundation to stand upon when dealing with our fears.  When we pray, the first work to be done is within our own souls.  It is to remove the veil of fear so we are able to receive God and love our neighbor.   If we cannot empathize with their fear, we cannot love our neighbors.  Furthermore, if I cannot empathize with someone else's fears, why would I have the nerve to think that they would even stop to give me the time of day?

When we are better able to understand each other, we are better able to meet together and work towards solutions grounded in justice.  So the idea is simple, ask God to help you deal with whatever fear you have today, so you are more able to love others and understand that you are loved yourself. As with most simple ideas, the practice will be harder than the concept.   Perhaps you will be impatient or angry with me because I am really not offering a solution to anything, but just asking you to pray.   Prayer is not a solution in and of itself,  it is a means to work toward that solution hand in hand with God.  Prayer is never the finish line, but is always the start.

I am hopeful because I know that around the country and around the world there are people of Christ who are in prayer about what is going on today.   One of the underreported facts about what is happening in our country now, is that in every city where there has been unrest these past few years churches and faith communities have been on the front lines trying to do the very hard work of getting people together to work on ways to move forward towards mutual respect, dignity and justice. When these folks go to those front lines they are just as fearful as you and I, but their prayers help them move forward to build solutions.  So answer the call to prayer perhaps all you have to lose are your fears.

Be blessed

Whose Lives Matter?

Your's does.  

So tell me your story.  The details matter; your experiences matter, your life matters.

We in the church need to hear how the structures and attitudes of our world affect your life on a day to day basis.  I will do my best to listen understand and ultimately act in a way that gives a blessing to you and others.  I will be honest and admit that at times I will fail, so I ask God to help and guide me.

Can you pray this with me?


God's Children Divided 

In the Bible, St. Paul explains that as people are renewed in Jesus Christ, they see that the distinctions between people made by a broken world are artificial.  They are creations of human cultures and structures .  This one thing, faith and science agree on; we are all of the same species.   In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all! (Colossians 3:11 NRSV)

Just because these classifications, distinctions, and dividing lines are artificial does not mean they are unimportant; they are real.   People have been killed because of them, black men & police officers, Jews and Palestinians, Shia and Sunni Muslims, Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox Christians.

Even when these problems don't lead to death they affect the lives we live everyday.   How do I know this?   I hear the stories from the people I minister to every day.   As a pastor I have the amazing opportunity to cross boundaries and enter into the many, varied, and different communities that make up our society.  I remember one day last year where I talked with middle and working class kids and their parents on the school yard,  counseled and helped a woman about to loose her apartment,  then had dinner at a country club overlooking the Manhattan Skyline with some really well to do folks.   I have had the privilege to minister to firefighters, police, and EMT's as well as pray with recovering attics and homeless men.  Guess what?  They all had stories, and lives that matter.

I must confess I am angry at world which is trying to tell me that I can not listen to this person's or that person's story.   I need to hear the stories of black men and women,  I need to hear the stories of police and firefighters.  I must hear the story of worker trained for the job that no longer exists and likewise, that of the immigrant come to work to send money home to his or her family. I need to listen to the story of those fleeing the almost apocalyptic destruction in Syria.  I need to take in the grief of those who feel the world is changing too fast.

The truth is, if I can not admit that black lives matter, why should I expect someone to think that my life matters?  If I can not listen to the story of how dangerous and difficult it is to serve in the police department, why should I expect someone to take the time to listen to my fears and worries?  We can only access universal truth through the particular stories of actual people.  If I declare the stories of a group I don't like as invalid, I am negating my own story.  Therefore, I need to hear your story and I pray that I have the courage not to let society's labels get in the way. 
 

Why must I do this? 

Because God heard my story.  Christ answers it everyday by placing people in my life who support, listen, and counsel me (even when I am really behaving like a jerk!).  More important than this, I am Christian and a disciple of Jesus Christ,which means I am to follow his lead and show compassion, hospitality, and concern to my fellow children of God no matter how the world classifies them.

I realize this is hard work, this is truly spiritual warfare.  I will need all the strength that the Spirit can give just to make a halting effort.   I also know that I will fail at times, because, I admit I have failed in the past to truly listen, and I have certainly failed other times in taking action.  

I pray for God's forgiveness and ask for renewal of my life. I will also pray for allies wherever I can get them,  I will not be picky; there is just too much listening and work to be done.

Be blessed and become a blessing,

Pastor Knecht