Holy Week

During Holy week, we remember the time that politicians attempted to silence a man whose words of truth threatened their influence and power. A man whose words rang so true, that to discredit him was nearly impossible. He had to be killed, but only after being humiliated. 

We remember how His words were manipulated in hearings so as to seem like blasphemy. How political threats were used to convince a Governor to act when his instincts knew that the man before him did no wrong. 

How political leaders swayed the public with propaganda into a frenzy against an innocent man who spoke of peace, faith, and charity. How they created a tone of fear in the region that made even the most faithful of apostles deny even knowing their Master. 

How the politicians nurtured hatred to the point where a simple sentence of death became amplified into a bloodbath of torture, humiliation, and suffering. 

We remember these events by reliving them through theatre, music, and dramatic storytelling. We make sure to sing hymns that remind us, "I Crucified You." We remember the crowd shouting, "Let His blood be on us and all our children."

Surely, one reason for this is that it is important to remember how easily people who claimed to be people of faith were so easily manipulated by the simple tools of politics. These same tools are being used today. In this election campaign, for example, politicians once again are manipulating truth, slandering innocent people, and breeding hatred and violence. And once again, people who claim to be people of faith are allowing themselves to be manipulated. 

Let this Holy Week remind us that there is a truth beyond the words of people who wish to acquire or maintain power. Let us remember the consequences of allowing these lies to turn us against each other, and away from God. Let us NOT respond with thoughts of, "Look at what THOSE people did;" but rather with, "Look what, but for the grace of God, we might end up doing." And let it inspire us to focus on the words of Jesus Christ. Let us remember that He defeated them by bearing witness to the Truth. Let us focus on God, and what it truly means to be a Christian. 

 

Broken into Beautiful

Three weeks ago, we sat in the choir loft at St. James Methodist Church, joining their choir in a performance of a beautiful song by Gwen Smith called, "Broken into Beautiful." The song is from a cantata or musical, and references the story of the woman who tried to see Jesus, but the crowd wouldn't let her, because of who she was. The crowd felt that her past had tarnished her character to the point that she was unworthy to see the Lord.

There are a number of stories in the Gospels of people being deemed "unworthy" by society to come before the Lord. And in each one, Jesus sees them and through his intervention, they are healed; made whole again.

Often these stories are used to present the healing power of God. We come to Him as sinners, and through his forgiveness, and his strength, we are cleansed of sin, forgiven, and able to repent and start over again.

It occurred to me, as I listened and sang at that Lenten Service, that maybe the story is much simpler than that. The woman was being kept from Jesus, not by Jesus Himself, but because of the PEOPLE'S judgement of her. Whereas our understanding of the tale was that she was unclean in the eyes of God, and then healed of her sinfulness; in actuality, she was fine in the eyes of God, but she believed she was unworthy because that's what THE CROWD told her.

This is the essence of Bullying. Beyonce Knowles was a beautiful young child with a lovely voice. She'd win talent competitions, and come back to school to meet people who would bully her. Of all things, she was bullied for being TOO pretty, TOO light skinned, TOO talented, TOO successful. The bullies turned something she should have been proud of into something she was ashamed of.

What Jesus does in the story is not a miracle. He doesn't lay hands on her, removing her stains and sins. He doesn't use the power of God to heal her of leprosy or some other horrible, disfiguring disease.  All he does... is acknowledge her being there. He sees her as a woman, worthy of God; one of God's creations just like the rest of us. But after being shunned by society, and told that she was "less than;" Jesus' simple inclusion and acknowledgement was EVERYTHING.

When this occurred to me, I thought of my job as music director. Often, when asked to sing in choir, people say, "Oh, you don't want my voice." "I'm not good enough." "I'll just make you sound horrible." My response is always as it has always been: "Yes, I do; Yes, you are; and No, you won't." (Respectively.) I don't believe in people who "Can't Sing;" only people who haven't learned how to sing. My job as Choir Director is to teach people how.

Think about people who you have seen shunned by society, left out, dismissed as being unworthy, because of OUR judgement, not God's. And think about how you, as a follower of Jesus, could acknowledge them, assure them that they're a child of God, and allow them to be included in our world.

The Three Temptations

As we enter the season of Lent, our thoughts turn towards Jesus' fast in the wilderness. For 40 days, he ate and drank nothing. And towards the end, he was tempted by Satan. 
Now, Satan didn't have a special temptation for the Son of God. Perhaps his intention was to derail Jesus' ministry before it started by tempting Him the way he would tempt ALL men; thus proving that He was merely a man, and not the Messiah. Satan followed the same pattern of temptations with Jesus as he would with any of us; with Mary, the dieter who wants to cheat on her diet; Bobby, the young person being tempted to get into a fist fight; or Steven, the married man tempted to cheat on his wife. 
The first temptation of Jesus was "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." (Matthew 4:3) At the moment of Jesus' greatest starvation, He was tempted to simply create bread out of the stones here; to immediately satisfy his hunger while abandoning what he came out here to do: seek the voice of God and prepare for his mission. Thus, He is tempted with instant gratification.
Mary may be tempted to satisfy her craving for sweets with "just one little bonbon." Bobby, being annoyed by a bully, may be tempted to let out his building anger by punching out the guy; "just one punch, and that'll teach him." That woman may be flirting, and Steven may be feeling certain urges, "who's gonna know, go ahead, kiss her."

Jesus' response was "It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." (Matthew 4:4) In other words, my hunger is one thing, but my commitment to God is more important. Sure, I'll ease my hunger, but I'll have betrayed my Lord. Mary might say, "I can't have that bonbon, I'm trying to be healthy." Bobby: "It WOULD feel good to punch that guy out, but I'm not a violent person." Steven: "I made a commitment to my family, and no amount of instant gratification will make me betray that."

Second Temptation. Satan tried the next tactic: "If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone." (Matthew 4:6) Some think that he was tempting Jesus into suicide, but I think he was trying to make Him prove his divinity. "If you're REALLY divine, then you won't die, Angels will save you."

"Come on, you can manage your own diet. A few calories now, and you'll eat an extra salad later." "What are you a wimp? This guy is challenging your manhood. Are you going to take that from him?" "What, does your wife decide what you do? Are you THAT hen-pecked?" 

Jesus' response: "It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’" (Matthew 4:7) In other words, I AM the son of God, which means I don't HAVE to prove it. 

"Yes, I HAVE will power, which means I'll have a celery stick." "A real man would never have to beat up another man to prove it." "I do what my wife would want because it's MY choice to honor her."

On to the final temptation. "All this I will give you,” Satan said, “if you will bow down and worship me." (Matthew 4:9) If you worship Satan, I'll give you whatever you've always wanted.

"Don't you want to be happy? A Celery stick won't make you happy, Chocolate will." "If I fight this guy, I'll be mightier than him, stronger, better. And in the eyes of all these people watching, I'll be awesome." "She's probably REALLY good. I'll be a stud if I can make it with her."

Very tempting, indeed, how do we battle that? Well, Jesus said, "Begone, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only." (Matthew 4:10) Satan's offer is not the only way to seek satisfaction. He made the choice to serve His greater commitment to God, rather than be superlative in any way. Only with God's help will He become the savior He's meant to be. 

"Think of how happy I'll be when I'm thin and healthy, and feeling good about myself." "I'll be the stronger man when I walk away from this argument." "I'm a great man in the eyes of my wife, and that's all I need to be."

In this Lenten Season, I've chosen to deepen my commitment to God by reading an online bible study every day, and to find inspiration in music and share that message with others. No doubt, I'll be tempted with instant gratification: "I'm kinda tired and busy, maybe I can skip it today;" a challenge to my ego: "What are you, one of those crazy, over-preachy Christians?" and probably, an offer to satisfy personal status, "Nobody's listening anyway, wouldn't your time online be better served sharing links to cooking videos?" 

But, as every year, I'll remind myself of how Jesus battled His temptations, and this was after 40 days of NOTHING to eat, Nothing to drink, and blistering wilderness. Compared to Him, my little sacrifice is minuscule. How can I come before Him and say, "Please understand, Lord, I was tired. I was embarrassed. I didn't want to come off as being uncool."