By show of hands, who has seen the movie, The Gods Must Be Crazy? For those of you who have yet to see this delightful movie, here’s the nutshell. A tribe of nomadic Africans is living a wonderful, happy life, when a passing pilot drops a Coke bottle out the window of his airplane. The tribe discovers the mysterious object and quickly learns that you can use it as a tool, a toy, or an instrument. They call it a gift from the gods. But there’s only one bottle. It can’t be a tool, a toy, and an instrument at the same time. In the ensuing argument, they discover it also makes a good weapon. The main character decides, “If this is a gift from the gods, the gods must be crazy.” So, for the good of his people, he’s going on a quest. He’s going to walk to the edge of the world and throw the Coke bottle off, give it back to the gods. He sets out on his quest, bumps into the modern world, and that’s when things get interesting. The question the movie raises is common to us all, “What do we do when God doesn’t make sense?”

First, recognize that we’re in good company. Bill Cosby has an amazing sketch about Noah…

Noah wasn’t the only Biblical character to wonder if God was nuts. How about Hosea? God told him to marry an unfaithful woman. Mr. Prophet of God had to go down to the hooker store and pick out a wife. And I can’t even tell you what he named the kids. I’m not allowed to use that kind of language in church.

How about Jeremiah? His country is about to fall, the enemy is at the gate and God says, “Go buy some land. This is a great investment. Get the notary. Sign the deed. This land is going to be worth something someday.”

How about Gideon? He’s about to fight a battle, and God says, “Your army is too big. Send some of them home. Nope, still too many. Send more home. Are any scared? Got kids at home? Send them home too. How many are left? 300? Perfect.”

How about Moses? He needs a sign, a miracle he can do to prove God is real. So God teaches him how to turn his staff into a snake. But when he gets there and does the miracle, no one is impressed. Turns out magicians in Egypt have been doing that trick for years.

Person after person in the Bible meets God and walks away shaking their head. “This doesn’t make sense. How can God ask me to do this? Is God nuts?” Then we look up from our Bibles and look around at the world. A kid from Fennville puts up the winning shot and then dies. Katrina, Haiti, Christchurch, Japan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya. What’s going on here?

Photo by Oddharmonic

C.S. Lewis wrote a little book called A Grief Observed. It records his process of grieving after his wife died of cancer. He says that through it all it seemed clear in his mind that God existed, but he wondered if maybe God was more like a kid burning ants with a magnifying glass than a loving, omnipotent father. Maybe God is real, he just doesn’t like us much. We all wonder sometimes. Is it just us, or is God nuts? Here’s the good news. It’s us!

Why does it seem sometimes like God doesn’t make sense? I’ll give you three reasons. 1. Because he’s about to do something impossible. Can you imagine the conversations that took place after Abram met with God?

Abram walks in, “Honey, we need to talk. God spoke to me today, and God says we need to pack up our entire house, and move.” And she says, “Right. Where are we going?”  “I don’t know. God said he’d tell us when we got there.” He’s 75 when they leave, he’s 100 when the get there. And when they get there the land is full of big people with armies. Sarah says, “Why are we doing this again?” “Because God says he’s going to give us all this land.” “Right. And how exactly is that going to happen?” “You’re going to have a son and I’m going to be the father of a great nation, more descendants than you can count.” “Let me get this straight. We pack up everything to move somewhere, it takes 25 years to get here because you won’t ask for directions, and now we’re supposed to do the wild thing? Am I on Candid Camera?”

God’s not nuts. He’s just about to do something that’s impossible. You could never do it. And until God tells you, you could never imagine it. So it’s completely normal that it would seem insane. From your perspective, it is. But you’re not God. That’s option 1.

Option 2. Why doesn’t God make sense? Because God makes perfect sense; you just don’t want to know. Let’s look at our text from John chapter 3. Nikodemus is a Pharisee, a preacher. But not just a Pharisee. He’s a member of the ruling council, the Sanhedrin. He’s a big shot. So answer me something. Why is Mr. Big shot sneaking around at night? And look what he says. “We know you’re from God…”  We. He doesn’t even speak for himself. He lacks the courage of his own convictions. He want to follow Jesus from the sidelines, at night, in secret.  But Jesus doesn’t play that game. He says you have to be born again.

Now this is an interpretation, so you don’t have to believe me, but my read on this is that Nikodemus is playing dumb.  “Surely, an old man can’t climb back into his mother’s womb.” First off, eww. And second, what kind of stupid question is that?

So Jesus unloads a mini-sermon on him, including the most popular verse of all time, John 3:16. But for our purposes today, I’d rather you focus on verse 19 and following.

“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.”

Remember, he’s preaching this to a leader who approached him in the middle of the night. “But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”

Sometimes we know exactly what God wants to do. We just don’t want to do it. As C.S. Lewis said in his Chronicles of Narnia, “The problem with trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you often succeed.” That’s option 2.

Option 3. Why doesn’t God make sense? Because you’re in the middle of a story that you didn’t write. History only looks tidy and predictable 500 years out. Up close, it’s a mess. We look at the American Revolution and think, wow those Brits were out of touch. Did they seriously believe they could own the intire world and no one would say no?  But up close it wasn’t obvious at all. When they signed the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Franklin said that now, “We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.” They had no clue how it would all turn out? What does that mean for us?

For starter it means don’t be surprised. Look at the heroes of faith.  Look at the life of Jesus. If that’s how the world treats the prophets and the saints, if that’s how the world treats the Son of God, why act surprised? Expect it and accept it, and you’ll be moving forward while everyone else is still in shock wondering how this could happen.

On the other hand, don’t pretend like it’s ok. The saints complained. Jesus wept. The Psalms contain every human emotion from joy to black rage. We have an entire book in the Old Testament called Lamentations. By pretending everything is fine, all we do is cut ourselves off from the people who want to help us. This is your family. They want to laugh and cry and dance with you, and help you up when life knocks you down, but they can’t when you pretend it’s all fine.

But what if the problem isn’t in your life? Maybe it’s someone else’s life that exploded. When you step into that situation from the outside, don’t act like you know how their story goes. As a pastor, I’ve been part of a lot of funerals, and I’ve heard some doozies.

“God just needed another angel in heaven.” Really? I need my angel too. “God has a plan, you know.” Really? That plan sucks. “He’s in a better place.” Really? You know what a better place would be? Right here!

If they want to claim that story by faith, that’s their choice, but don’t push it on them. Your job is not to tell them what to think or how feel. Your job is sympathize. Sym-pathos – to suffer with them. You don’t have to have the answers. You be there. That means something.

If you’re the kind that needs to do something, or if you’re not able to be with them, then offer something specific and tangible that you can do that will make their life easier. “I can take the kids to a movie next Friday, take their minds off things for a bit, if that would be helpful.” A specific and tangible offer.

Lastly, don’t give up. You are in the middle of a journey. You are surrounded by good travel companions. And you have enough light to take the next step. So keep moving forward.

Noah floated. Hosea raised family. The kids had weird names, but he loved them. Jeremiah never redeemed his property, but his people sure did. Gideon won the battle. Moses set his people free. Sarah had a son, and she named him Laughter. Abraham became the father of a nation. And despite the scorn, the abuse, and the attacks of enemy after enemy, generation after generation, they are still here. Your story is just beginning, and even if this part doesn’t make sense, the author still holds the pen, and he’s already told us how the story ends.

Is it just me, or is God nuts is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Link to revsmilez.com.

This one

Why do I like this particular comic so much?   The kid, Slick, starts out sad because the world sucks so much.  He gets ticked and starts screaming at God, and God throws up a hand puppet and mocks him.  Isn’t that horrible?  Some of my conservative friends are offended that I used the word suck, and they’re more offended that this kid is yelling at God.  Some of my liberal friends are offended because God is pictured as a sarcastic jerk who mocks our pain.

Me?  I love it.  Look at that last frame, where God pulls out the sarcasm.  Look at Slick’s face.  He’s smiling!  That’s me.  Totally.

The world sucks.  If you’re not seeing that, then you’re either amazingly sheltered or willfully blind.  Lots of good stuff too, for sure, but nothing to counterbalance hatred, disease, poverty, and death.  It’s not even close. Yet here I am, raised to believe that a loving God is ultimately in charge. So I say to God, basically, “Life is SUCKING!!”  Except I say it nicer than that because, you know, he’s God.  God knows what I was going to say, but I think he appreciates the effort.  (And yes I know God isn’t male, stop being pedantic or go away.)

And you know what God says back?  Well, nothing really.  Nothing I could point to and say “Thus sayeth the Lord.”  (Part of me would love to be that kind of prophet, and part of me is still too scared to ask.  Read the book. It sucks to be a prophet.) It’s just feelings, intuitions, coincidences, thoughts, scriptures, insights, even the odd dream and it all adds up to something very like that comic.

God is funny.

And sarcastic.

And some days, exactly what I need to get myself off my whiney butt and back in the fight is for God to go, “Boo hoo hoo.  Life is soooo hard for you.  Booo hoo hooo!”  Maybe I’m weird.  Ok, I know I’m weird.  But that’s the God I know.

1. Most people assume religion is either sad or angry.  When I read the Bible, especially the stories of Jesus, I see so much laughter there that most Christians seem to miss because they’ve got holy blinders on.

2. When I look at the world, I see too much beauty and creativity.  If God did make it all, then he could’ve made it all boring and samey (tofu!) but chose to make it like this.

3. My favorite kind of humor is big man/little man stuff.  God “must” is kind of a joke in itself, especially when we mean it.

But some days, for whatever reason, I’m not laughing.  Today is one of those.  I read a bit out of Hosea and Micah and it’s like looking in a mirror. We take so much, and turn it into so little.

I’m certain of nothing, but as sure as I am that God must laugh, that’s how sure I am that God must cry.

Confessions of a Clan Chaplain:
Loving God, games, and the gamers who play them

My name is Rob, and I’ve got a secret. I’m a 30-year-old gamer. Ever since Frogger, I’ve been hooked. Side-scrollers, roleplaying games, adventure games, first person shooters, simulations, massively multi-player on-line games, I love ‘em all. But that’s not my secret.

I’m also a pastor, an Associate of Youth and Family Ministries to be exact. Over the years, many have asked me when I was finally going to become a “real” minister. I usually just laugh and say, “I’m very happy where I’m at, thank you.” Inside, it ticks me off. But that’s not my secret either.

Like most secrets, mine started small. I was bored one day, and broke, so I searched the net for a new game, something fun and free. I stumbled on what I still believe is one of the greatest games ever made. (Gamers can find out more at freeallegiance.org) I tried it, loved it, and joined a squad.

For the non-gamers, the difference between squad games and pick-up games is like the difference between Church League Softball and AAA Minor Leagues. Squad members discuss tactics in online forums. They schedule practices to improve skill and teamwork. What started as a simple distraction had turned into a commitment.

You know what the greatest part was? I was one of the guys. When someone swore, they didn’t apologize to me. When I got angry, they didn’t lecture me. And best of all no one assumed they knew me just because they could label me. It was a meritocracy of humor, intelligence, and skill. Finally, after a year, I took the big step. I told them I was a minister. What started as a commitment had become a community.

Members joined and members left, but the core became fast friends. We shared family pictures and work frustrations. We argued philosophy and politics. And because they trusted me, occasionally they would come to me with a question, or a problem, or even a prayer request.

Another year passed, and I posted a poll in our forum volunteering for clan chaplain. (clan instead of squad because the connotations hinted at the family we had become for each other, and chaplain because our community was so diverse) They overwhelmingly accepted, and dubbed me “Padre.” What started as a community had become a ministry.

So now you know. My big secret is out. I’m a shepherd with two flocks. I minister to kids in a suburb of Milwaukee. I also minister to a misfit band of gamers from LA, to Slovakia, to Australia, and points in between.

What surprises me every day is how much these two groups have in common. They like Jesus and hate church, which means I can’t hold a service and wait for them to show; I go to them. When they cry, I mourn with them. When they laugh, I dance with them. When we talk, I try to listen as much as I speak. I show them as much love as I’m able. When they ask why, I tell them stories.

“Did you hear the one about the guy with two sons?”

That’s real ministry even if the guy you’re praying for is a computer programmer from Germany. That’s real ministry even if the girl you’re counseling has braces and ADHD. It’s ministry because Christ is present, transforming us. These glimpses of the coming/present kingdom remind me that God is here too, inescapable, relentlessly loving, even on the Internet. Why would I give that up just to be a “real” minister?

Title: Up and Out (Confirmation Sunday – shared sermon)
Texts: Acts 1:1-11, Luke 24:44-53
Date: May 4, 2008

UP – Rev. Robert J. Brink
There are three moments in the story of Jesus that we might label, “thin places.” Places where the physical world, and the spiritual world seem for a moment to touch. The first is his baptism, when the spirit descends in the form of a dove, and a voice calls from heaven, “This is my son, in whom I am well pleased.” The second is the transfiguration, where Jesus shines like the sun and again a voice calls out from heaven, “This is my son, listen to him.” The third thin place is the ascension, when Jesus gives his great commission to his disciples, promises to send them the Holy Spirit, and then ascends to the right hand of the Father.

What are we to make of this story? It’s not very appealing. There are no masterful teaching moments, no confrontations. He just goes away. If he had stayed with them forever, that would have made a better story, but he doesn’t. If he had gone away and sent the Spirit at the same moment, that would have made for a better story, but he doesn’t. He makes them wait, without him, in Jerusalem. They have to wait until Pentecost before the Spirit comes. And in the meantime, where is he? Off with God somewhere, unreachable.

At least that’s what I always thought. Then I went to seminary and learned something interesting. When Jesus ascended into heaven, he wasn’t leaving his humanity behind. He was bringing it along. So now some piece of us, some part of who we are is united with the very heart of God. It’s not as if he got up there, and said “Phew, I’m glad that’s over, now to get back to this whole eternal perfection thing.” The change Jesus made goes much deeper than that, so that for all eternity, there is a piece of God that identifies with us completely, that understands us at our best and our worst. And since there is no division within God, that piece is not really a piece at all, but is brought up and in, and united with the whole, so that there is no piece of God that fails to understand, no corner of God that sees us as the enemy.

If all this sounds a bit too big for our heads, that’s because it is. God is too big for our heads, so all that we know of God is what God has revealed. There is no way for us to build a ladder of logic that reaches to the sky, no experiment we could create that would prove it. All these things we accept on faith because there is no other way. That’s not an admission of failure, only a recognition of reality. God is too big for our heads.

God may be too big, but God’s revelation is not. God reveals to us things we could never have figured out for ourselves, things that hurt our brains even to think about, and yet they reveal something of the nature of God. The incarnation that we talked about last week is one of those revelations. This week’s ascension is another. Incarnation teaches us that when we look at Jesus we see God, and ascension teaches us that in some way far beyond our understanding, God has become one with us.

Obviously, that process is not complete. God has accepted us, but we have not accepted God. Imagine a couple that gets married but then doesn’t move in together, doesn’t share a bed, doesn’t share bank accounts, doesn’t even see each other except for an hour on weekends. Sure, they’re married, but they don’t have a marriage.

You confirmands have reached the age where you can make choices for yourselves. The vows you made are similar to marriage vows, except directed toward God instead of another person. You’re old enough to know what you’re saying. It will take a lifetime to figure out what you mean, of course, but you’re mature enough to begin. The question is, what kind of marriage will it be? Will you be married in word alone, or will you share a life together?

We’ve all received God’s love, but has it changed the way we live? He ascended so that we could be one with God, and someday he will descend again. We will come face to face with God. And for some of us it will be like coming home again, like remembering a cherished memory long forgotten, like putting on a glove you’ve worn so long it feels like a second skin. It will be the fulfillment of all we have longed for and worked for and hoped for.

But for others, it will be like cold water on the face, like a cloying smell, like ringing in the ears. It will be the unavoidable confrontation with the one we have worked so long and so hard to avoid. This is judgment, not a gavel and a man in a black robe making decisions. Judgment is revelation. Do not fear hell. Fear living your life in such a way that hell would be preferable to living with God.

Our world is full of thin places. Today one of them. It is a chance for us to ascend into the presence of God, to experience a fraction of what will be when we are at last reunited with our creator. You have been chosen. Rise and be loved.

OUT – Rev. Steven A. Peay, Ph.D.
Jesus had been with them as Luke tells us, “he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.” All through his ministry Jesus focused on the kingdom of God, which he preached was “at hand.” The problem was that those listening to him couldn’t get away from the notion that a “kingdom” or “reign” was a place. Jesus was revealing, in himself, that it was not a place, but a person – himself. The kingdom of God was among them and they couldn’t get it. Even after the resurrection and the forty days together they asked, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” Rob’s sermon title from last Sunday would work again here, “you just don’t get it.”

So, he reminds them again that what is important is for them to wait for the coming, in fullness, of the Spirit he has promised. He tells them, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witness in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” There’s the point – Jesus goes UP and now we are sent OUT. The kingdom is now within us and we are to be witnesses to that kingdom right here and right now.

This is what Augustine preached to his folks in the early days of the church:
“Today our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven; let our hearts ascend with him. Listen to the words of the Apostle: ‘If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is in earth.’ For just as he remained with us even after his ascension, so too we are already in heaven with him, even though what is promised us had not yet been fulfilled in our bodies.
Christ is now exalted above the heavens, but he still suffers on earth all the pain that we, the members of his body, have to bear. He showed this when he cried out from above, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ and when he said: ‘I was hungry and you gave me food.’

Why do we here on earth not strive to find rest with him in heaven even now, by way of faith, hope, and love that unites us to him? While in heaven he is also with us; and we, though on earth, are with him. He is here with us by his divinity, his power, and his love. We cannot be in heaven, as he is on earth, by divinity, but in him, we can be there by love.” [Sermon for Ascension Day, quoted in Days of the Lord, vol. 3, p. 223-4]

So, we are already one with the Lord, joined by love, and now we are to go out to be his witnesses. We begin close to home and then move out more and more. Our outreach here at First Church needs a bit of work. We’re doing ok with the “uttermost parts of the earth,” but it’s the close to home we have to work on. Let’s be honest – when is the last time you spoke favorably about your church to a friend, co-worker or neighbor? When is the last time you invited someone to attend a worship service here with you? Study after study clearly shows that it is you (and I normally don’t like to do that) the folks in the pews, who are the most effective in getting people to come to church. Eighty-five percent plus of folks who are involved in a church are because a friend or neighbor invited them to come. That’s the point of being the Lord’s witness.

Witness isn’t just by words, but by deeds. How we live our lives makes a huge statement about who we are and Whose we are. Even how we leave this building, leave the parking lot makes a difference. I like what one of our neighboring churches has as you leave the parking lot – now you are entering the mission field. That’s the point of OUT – we are to take the message of love, hope, peace and community we have received and share it.

I like what my old New Testament professor from Saint Meinrad Seminary, Bernard Brandon Scott, says about the angels’ question there in Acts. “The angels are asking ‘Why are you hanging around here? Get on with it.’ Just as Jesus offered no hint as to when Israel would be redeemed, so the angels offer no hint as to when Jesus will return. Our goal is to be witnesses, not to speculate about the signs of the future.” [New Proclamation Commentary Year B – Easter through Pentecost, p. 63] I don’t know if I can make it any plainer than that. Our faith tells us that God is looking for us and for relationship with us. Perhaps we should just “get on with it” and then witness to it?

As we have opened the Word, soon we will share the bread and the cup. The goal of both is to give us food for the journey out. Our mission is to go out from here and make a difference in the lives of people, in the life of this world in which we live. Jesus goes up, sends us the Spirit and sends us out. Our task is to go in peace and be his witnesses. I pray that we get it, realize that the kingdom is in us, and go live like it – out beyond these walls, as we used to say, “in front of God and everybody.” It’s our mission as Christ-followers: UP and OUT.

-Derek Flood of sharktacos.com (full essay here)

If you’ve got the time, give it a read. It’s great stuff.