3 year-old questions

How can we hear Jesus? Where is God? How is Jesus God? Is David good or bad? Why does he hurt people? Why do wolves eat sheep? can I have a yogurt drink? Why not? But I didn't have one today. Can I have a yogurt drink? Why not? What time is it? Is this the last meal of the day? Why? Why is it getting dark so soon? Why is the moon only a sliver moon tonight? Can I stay up late and watch a movie? can I watch Diego? Can I play Geo Trax? Can I have a yogurt drink? Can I have a snack? is it a bath night? Is it a hair night? can I watch a show? Are we going somewhere today? Can we go to the park? is this breakfast or...? Can we snuggle in your bed? Can I just play with my friends in my room? can we go see Andrew? Why not? Can we go see if Katrina and Amy can play? Can I have a yogurt drink? Or a drink of water? Can I have PB & J? can I have a yogurt drink?

Apple gleaning and CROP walk

Saturday is Apple gleaning day. We leave Zion at 8:00 am for Sycamore Spring orchard in Lebanon. We pick apples for a few hours, which are donated to local food banks. Join us by showing up at Zion by 7:45 am.
Sunday at 1:15 pm we will enjoy the annual CROP walk. We leave from Ephrata Church of the brethren. It's a 3 mile walk around Ephrata neighborhoods. Join us by emailing me. Bring donations to add to the team envelope.

God's Word in Worship October 21, 2007

These are the four Scripture passages for Pentecost 21 2007:
Genesis 32:22-31; "You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel for you have strive with God and with humand and have prevailed." God's people struggle to be faithful.

Psalm 121: "My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth."

2 timothy 3:14-4:5 We bear God's message, even when that message is unpopular.

Gospel: Luke 18:1-8 Being faithful means to persist in our quest for justice on behalf of those without a voice. Prayer is our cry to God for justice and mercy. We are called to pray without ceasing, to pray constantly. What happens when we pray? Whose will is changed? How does God hear and respond? Does prayer change God?

Joel

Joel Osteen is the leader of Lakewood church, the largest megachurch in the country. he became "pastor" 8 years ago when his father died. He has no seminary training, no theological education outside of his own internal learning, mainly from his father. He writes and sells books. He spends four days a week preparing his message for the weekend. He does 20 or so large venue speaking engagements in a year. He is on television weekly reaching a huge audience. He makes people feel good about themselves. He teaches people that God is good and is on their side, desiring for them the best life has to offer--prosperity, joy, health. His wife is co-pastor and the rest of his family also benefit from the 70 million dollars in income the church receives annually, not to mention his book royalties. But since his book sales have gone so well, he has not taken his $170,000 annual salary from Lakewood. Wow. I wonder how his annual salary stacks up to that of an average parishioner? Is he a celebrity? Absolutely. He is a religious celebrity who confirms the great American sins of wealth,pride, and self-focus.

Joel: "If Jesus were here today, he wouldn't be riding around on a donkey. He'd be taking a plane, he'd be using the media."

My Response: One: Jesus is here today. Unless you don't accept the word of Jesus, "I am with you always, to the close of the age," from Matthew 28 as somehow true. Jesus is present in the Word and Sacraments. For 2,000 years Christians have believed and affirmed this spiritual reality. Why can megachurch leaders reject this claim and get away with it? Two: Wasn't Jesus poor? Wasn't His life that of a servant who suffers? How do poor, back country folk get to "use the media?" Jesus told stories to poor 1st century, oppressed Jews and gentiles.

Joel: "You may make some mistakes-but that doesn't make you a sinner. You've got the very nature of God on the inside of you."

My response: Didn't St. Paul deal with this self-righteous talk that denied sin? "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." (Romans 3) If we are unable to call a thing what it is, to be straight about the hunman condition, then we are not following Jesus. The full affect of Jesus' death on the cross cannot be received by self-righteous people who need no forgiveness. To deny sin is to deny the power of the cross. "At the right time Christ died for the ungodly." According to Joel, no one is ungodly enough to need Jesus. You have what you need to be the kind of eprson God made you to be is a denial of the basic tenets of biblical faith. We are not God. We think we are. Original sin is not 'making mistakes". It is a rejection of the one true GOD in favor of the god of the self or self-made gods--like wealth or personal happiness. To rejec the power of sin is to deny the power of the cross. To do so is not Christian. It is anti-Christian and heresy. But in our culture it isn't fair to judge the "good guys", is it?

Joel: "To me, we're marketing hope."
My response: Ah, yes. I agree that people need a true sense of hope in which to cling. "My hope comes from the Lord,the maker of heaven and earth," says the psalmist. Joel's hope comes from some shiny happy place in which you convince yourself everyday that today is better than yesterday. His hope is an internal mechanism that we need to access or turn on like a light switch. He sas that our words, our declarations have the power of move God. Again, making God in our own image with outr own thoughts. Is that hope or a private wish? Real Hope comes from outside ourselves. It comes from the Lord of the resurrection.
But he is marketing something. He is selling himself! Shouldn't he give it to people for free? Shouldn't his books be free? Shouldn't his speaking engagements be free? he's marketing himself in a free market that loves to buy crap
.
Joel:"I think Bible principles are principles for life."
My response: The Bible is not a how-to book for living a better life. How do evangelical fundamentalists get this wrong? The bible is not about me or you and how to behave. The bible is God's self revelation, in which we discover: 1. God is real. 2. we cannot live God's way. 3. Jesus lives God's way. 4. We join Jesus through Baptism into a community of faith. 5. We receive, by the power of the Holy Spirit, faith. 6. Faith invites us to live the way of Jesus. 7. This way is sacrificial, weak, and focused on the needs of the other. It is self-less. This way is the way of humility and poverty, not glory and riches. The Bible is about GOD, not about you. We depend on God for life, for rescue from ourselves, for faith, for strength, for the gifts to make the world better.
Joel: "God wants us to prosper financially, to have plenty of money, to fulfill the destiny He has laid out for us."
My response: "Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation." Blessed are you poor, for yours is the Kingdom of heaven."--Jesus Christ. Luke 4: 24 and 20. God's justice regards the poor and the hungry as worthy. Rather than obtaining more for myself, God wants all people to have enough. We ought not to rest in our comforts until all are fed, clothed, housed, properly medicated, educated, treated fairly, etc... Again, if its all about you, how can you serve in God's kingdom to bring justice to bear for all God's children?

Joel Osteen has a large cult following. His is, like many megachurch cultures, a personality cult. It is all about Joel. Joel's message, Joel's book, Joel's smily charisma. Joel's charm.
A professor at Westminster seminary said that his messages basically are: "God is nice. You are nice. Be nice." The media has been interviewing him again this week in anticipation of his next book, "Becoming a better you." A follow-up to his bestseller, "Your best life now," it will be filled with more of the same simple platitudes for being a good person with a good attitude in life.
He can't respond to pain, suffering, crisis because he doesn't know Jesus.
You know, I'm tired of these evangelical preachers and their cult followings offering up a message that is NOT Christocentric. The theology of the self fits perfect in our self-focused culture. It reinforces the "me drive" that guides our culture. His books are self-help books,in the vain of Dr. Phil or any other self-help guru. (I prefer Dr. Phil. At least he's not selling his life-coaching as the Christian gospel).
I know that the theology of the cross, in which Jesus is the center of our knowing God and the lense by which we see ourselves, is unpopular in our culture. "The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing." To perish is to be so self-focused on your own life today that you see little beyond yourself. To perish is to expect that God is working for you, that God is on your side. Shouldn't we be on God's side? What if you hear that God is on your side, God is for you (Joel's message), and then you commit evil? Is God for evil, then?
Joel Osteen is teaching "good" news because the news he teaches is the news people want to hear. It sounds good, because we want our lives to be confirmed, justified, blessed by God. We don't want to have to change. We want to be content as we are. I'm okay, you're okay. Right?
What about: God is God. I am not. What I am not, Jesus is. What Jesus is, I am by faith. It is a gift of God that I am what I am. In response to this gift, I am set free to love the neigbor. I can only do this in a community of others living by faith. Therefore, the "I" of faith must become the "we" of church in order to live the way of the cross. This way is love. Love is always for the other. Love is the fulfillment of law. Perfect love casts out fear. Jesus affirmed these commands: Love God, love your neighbor as yourself. Love one another as Christ has loved you. Love your enemies. This love is sacrificial and involves humbly serving, laying down your life. That is the way of the cross. The way of the cross demonstrates God's love for the world. Undeservedly, God loves us. Why? Because love is the best way.

I long to get this message out. But I don't have a book deal or a multimedia center or a tv show. I have this blog and a few dozen people on Sundays in a little community in Akron, PA. And that will likely be all for me. I need to become content with that. I will not be on 20/20 or Larry king or some other show. I will not wear a nice suit and smile in front of 30,000 adoring fans. I will follow Jesus. Which means that I will figure less. "He must increase, I must decrease," said the first witness in the Gospel of John, John the Baptist. That is also the way of the cross. To point to Jesus is to point away from yourself. To direct others to Jesus' way is to send, not accumulate. To give, not receive. To serve, not to be served.