Losing Track of Jesus

Losing track of Jesus began for Mary and Joseph on their way home from Jerusalem. Luke tells us they made the trip every year. But this time Jesus surprised them and stayed behind in Jerusalem (Luke 2:41-52). We can lose track of Jesus when our relationship with him becomes familiar, routine, and predictable. As we approach the New Year let us resolve, like Jesus, that we “must be in [our] Father’s house” (Luke 2:49) – that is, that we must be centered in the will of our Heavenly Father even when it causes friction with earthly allegiances.

This weekend we begin diving into the first six chapters of Daniel. The series is called “Unbroken: Devoted Living in a Foreign Land.” Our passage is Daniel 1 with a special focus on verses 8-16. Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon say “the church, as those called out by God, embodies a social alternative that the world cannot on its own terms know.” (Resident Aliens, 1989. pp. 17-18). From Daniel’s example, we’ll learn that the church exists not to make the world a little better place, but rather to witness to the alternative reality of God’s Kingdom. Roll up your sleeves and get ready to think critically about our calling as the church.

A Truly Human Jesus

“Who is this God in the Manger?” The week before last we affirmed that the One in the manger really is God of the Universe. In the words of the Nicene Creed, the One in the manger is “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father.” This past weekend we affirmed that the One in the manger is also fully human.

There’s a dangerous belief among some Christians that the One in the manger something other than truly human. The belief is dangerous because a God incarnate who is not really human is a God I can discount as irrelevant and distant. But a God who plunged into the thick of human existence; a God who really knows what it is to be human; a God who became my kind of flesh; this God I have to take seriously. This God I can trust.

In the wake of Friday’s massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary it matters that the One in the manger is truly human. It matters for the families of the victims. It matters as we take a hard look at the kind of culture we have become. Because the One in the manger is truly human we can trust that Jesus not only has real comfort in our sadness, but real guidance for our politics and public policies about gun violence, mental illness, and child safety.

The text for this coming weekend is Luke 2:1-7. The title of the message is “A New Kind of Rule.” The One born in the manger really is God and really is Human. The One born in the manger also really is King! I look forward to worshipping with you again this weekend.

The God in the Manger really is fully God

During Advent we’re staring into the manger and pondering the Incarnation – God became flesh in the person of Jesus. Against false teaching that said he was just an inspired prophet or a great moral teacher, the Council of Nicaea (325 A.D.) affirms Jesus Christ is “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father…” Thankfully, the One in the manger is more than just a man. As God in flesh, Jesus has power and authority to save, redeem, and heal.

We closed worship by appropriating the first three of the Twelve Steps in a prayer of commitment: “Jesus Christ, I admit I am powerless over (addictions, habits, attitudes, hang-ups, bad relationships, loneliness, or fear) and that my life has become unmanageable. I trust that you alone can bring me sanity. I give you my will and my life. Thank you for your birth, life, death, and resurrection that make this possible.”

Matthew 1:18-25 is our text for this coming weekend. That Jesus is truly God is only half of the profound mystery of the Incarnation. The other half of this mystery is that God really did become completely human. Jesus is not just some sort of zombie super-God-man. He is a real flesh and blood human person. Why does it matter? Come to worship this weekend and find out. And better yet, bring a friend with you!

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What No One is Talking About in the Jovan Belcher Story

A high profile tragedy like Kansas Chiefs Jovan Belcher's weekend murder-suicide invites a tidal wave of opinion. I don't pretend to have digested all the sound bites, tweets and commentary out there. However, I am a sports fan and more than a casual listener of sports-talk radio. What surprises me is the apparent silence on an issue which seems so obviously at the heart of this story. We're talking about whether or not the Chiefs should've played football on Sunday. We're talking about whether or whether not Bob Costas should've used his half-time comments to speak out for gun control. What we're not talking about is the harsh reality behind the AP's report that "Belcher and longtime girlfriend, 22-year-old Kasandra M. Perkins had been arguing frequently."

Anyone familiar with domestic violence knows this song and verse. It's true that all we know now is that this wasn't the first time Perkins and Belcher argued. As we get more of the story I bet we'll learn this wasn't the first time Belcher talked about shooting his girlfriend. It probably wasn't the first time he threatened her or the first time he demanded to know where and with whom she'd been. It wasn't the first time he waved a gun in her face. Anyone familiar with domestic violence knows this is the subtext for a storyline that goes, "[they] had been arguing frequently" and then ends in murder.

It's not inconceivable that a person with a public persona of steadfast "kindness, humility, respect and gratitude for family and friends" could have been a very different person at home. Some domestic abusers are jerks in public and at home, but most are just the opposite. In the end Jovan Belcher showed himself. He acted like a guy who demanded to be the center of attention. He put himself center stage, making others watch while he 'humbly' thanked his coaches for the chance to play in the NFL and then put a gun to his head.

It didn't have to end this way. Perkins could have told someone and that someone could have listened and believed her story. When the Jerry Sandusky scandal broke, the country was properly outraged by the veil of silence Penn State kept over Sandusky's pattern of abuse. Perhaps as more information comes to light in the Belcher case we can pull back the veil on domestic abuse. No one should have to live in a home under a reign of terror. Let's shift the conversation in the Jovan Blecher story and start talking about what we seem to be avoiding.

Here is some food for thought:

Even the healthiest of relationships experience conflict from time to time. How is abuse different? In a normal relationship, if you hurt someone you care about, you 1) feel remorse and often offer a verbal apology, 2) do what you can to repair the damage to the relationship, and 3), this is a critical difference, make attempts to avoid that behavior in the future. In a healthy relationship, conflict management skills grow and develop over time. In an abusive relationship, conflict escalates over time with the damage becoming more and more one sided.

Abuse can be defined as a pattern of intimidating or degrading behaviors intended to create an imbalance of power and maintain control over a relationship. There is a wide range of theories used to excuse, justify and explain abusive behavior.  Anger, mental illness, stress, childhood trauma, and substance abuse are some of the most common. The real cause of domestic violence, however, is that the abuser has learned that intimidation and bullying work as a means to get what he/she wants.