Perhaps it depends on how one views the church. For me, it seems accurate to suggest that the “American Way” is to see ourselves as unique individuals who choose to be parts of certain activities and organizations as those activities and organizations meet our needs and appeal to us. We are consumers who pick and choose our way through life depending on what strikes our fancy and meets our needs. The same seems to hold true for the church, or whatever religious or spiritual groups we are a part of. In this sense we view ourselves as participating in a church in order to receive particular benefits. We see ourselves as consumers of religious goods and services so to speak. If this is indeed the way things are, then how does the church, which in my understanding is a group of people gathered by God for the sharing of the good news, decide what its ministries are? Where does the church look for its values? If the purpose of the church is to provide religious goods and services to keep the most consumers happy, is the church walking the talk of the gospel? Is the church guilty of trying to meet people where they are and give them what they want?

It seems to me that a more appropriate way of imagining ourselves is to understand our individual participation in the church as communal. In a sense we lose our individual status and take on the role of a member of a community that is engaged in something together. Church is not something that primarily benefits me, but is a community that impacts me and the world in which I live and work and play. This community is gathered by God for the purpose of loving the world, sharing the gospel and living together in such a way as to give witness to these things. My participation in this community then will help shape and form the community while at the same time it shapes and forms me. Understood in this way, I suddenly find myself involved in something far bigger than just me and my happiness. Church is not a place to go to get religious goods and services, it is a group of people who participate with me in living out the faith we all profess.

If the church is going to walk this talk, it seems to me that we need to really question the notion that the church is a business that caters to consumers and instead challenge ourselves to be a community engaged in changing lives and modeling the gospel. In a world that makes money catering to unique and individual needs and tastes, this is an incredible challenge.

It is not uncommon for someone who is currently undergoing a health challenge or a relationship struggle to say something like, “it is difficult to go through but then God doesn’t give us more than we can handle, right?” More directly to the point some will express outright that God is testing them that the unfortunate circumstance of their present condition is due to some kind of test of faithfulness. I confess I am uncomfortable with this line of thinking because I don’t believe that God picks us randomly to test to see if we are faithful enough for God. I don’t believe that God says “I’m going to give that one cancer to see if she will keep her faith in me.” As we leave the story of God, Abraham and Isaac we hear those words, but our first encounter this story confronts us with a God who tests and who tests faithfulness at the deepest levels. To understand this story is a challenge. To embrace it as part of our faith is an even greater challenge; how are we to understand this story of a God who tests and a God who provides? There are no easy answers, but it is here for us to deal with, it is a part of our inheritance of faith. God commands Abraham to present his son on the altar as a sacrifice. We might argue that God had no intention of Abraham actually sacrificing his son, but wanted to see if Abraham loved God enough to do what was asked of him. Abraham didn’t know what the outcome would be, he had to deal with his own decision as to what to do in regards to what God was asking him to do. Will Abraham obey God and make the decision to offer his son on the altar? He chooses to make this act of faith, this sacrifice. It is a choice that slaps us in the face, that pushes us back a few steps – how could anyone …, but let’s stick with the story. It is only after Abraham demonstrates his willingness to sacrifice what is dear to him that God intervenes and supplies a substitute sacrifice in Isaac’s place. Abraham still makes a sacrifice, but God has provided the means (the ram) for the sacrifice. It was only when Abraham placed his ultimate trust in God, when he decided to do what he believed God was asking him to do, that he was able to see that God would even provide what he (Abraham) was supposed to offer, to sacrifice. Perhaps the ram was there the whole time, we don’t know and it really doesn’t take away the fundamental choice Abraham faced: was he willing to remain faithful in all things, to give up even that which was most dear to him to follow our God?
Let’s stop and think about this for a minute. Do we believe in a God who asks us to make sacrifices all the time? Does God test us? To think that God is testing us because we’re not strong enough yet or haven’t learned something yet means that we don’t have to believe that God will provide – no matter what! But let us pay attention to this story, the test is not some adverse circumstance that comes our way, the test is the voluntary giving up of something that is most dear to Abraham. What if the tests God sends our way are the same thing, to test the extent we are willing to go to love God, to follow God, to believe in God’s promises? This changes the nature of our thinking doesn’t it? Rather than some trial to endure, God’s tests are tests of our willingness to go beyond ourselves and into God’s love. In its most basic form it is the sacrifice of giving up what we want in order to choose what God wants. We sacrifice what would make our lives better, more comfortable, easier, more immediately pleasing and choose to do what will grow God’s way, God’s love, God’s blessings for all of us.
There’s no way of sugar-coating the fact that few if any of us could do what Abraham did; that kind of radical faith and trust is not easily come by. In fact, we sin and turn away from the God who blesses us and toward our self interests. The good news is that like Abraham’s ram, God has provided the means of our returning to God’s good graces. Jesus (notice how many times Jesus is referred to as the lamb) was the sacrifice on our behalf to God. Through his death and resurrection, we are redeemed, restored, offered salvation. Through Jesus, God has provided for our ultimate needs. If we believe this to be true, why is it then that we find it so difficult to place that kind of trust in the promises of God? Time and time again, the bible reminds us that God will provide for us and yet, unlike Abraham, we are unable to raise our eyes above what we perceive that God is asking us to sacrifice and therefore are blind to what God has already provided us or is about to provide for us. Even if the ways of death seem inevitable and certain, this story tells us that God’s steadfast love will prevail and it tells us that God will provide. What gets in our way of believing this?

Every time I have to go to the bathroom, I have to wheel my pole with me and the IV pump has to run on battery power. When my rear end gets tired of sitting, I have to waltz around the room with my partner in tow, making sure I avoid the other pole dancers sharing the room with me. If I stray too far from my partner, it yanks on my arm where the needle is attached and reminds me quite quickly that I need to keep my partner with me. One of the things I have come to appreciate about pole dancing is that it gives me time to think about the different realities in life we don’t often concentrate on if we don’t have to. For example, we often carry a lot of baggage around with us. Some of it is obvious. At its worst, the baggage that is connected to us can become so cumbersome that we have to pay more attention to it, spend more time lugging it around, letting it sap our energy and make us tired; than we do in enjoying and appreciating all that is joyous and good and energy-giving in our lives. Just like pole dancing, the things we are connected to may be inconvenient. On the other hand, it is good every now and then to be reminded that we rarely journey alone in life and can be helped and strengthened when we are paying attention to our partners and the other dancers in the room. We need to remember to keep those we dance with in our considerations and in our hearts. After all, if we weren’t connected to each other, the quality of our lives would be significantly lessened.

Another reminder courtesy of pole dancing is that we are not in control of as much in life as we’d like to think we are. Sometimes things happen to us that we don’t like, didn’t invite or cause, seem unfair or just downright lousy and we still are left with trying to figure out how to live with it. For me, this is where faith comes in. As a Christian, I am not immune to the trials and challenges of life. Bad stuff happens to everyone. My faith is what offers me hope in the future and a more joyous vision of the present life. My faith supplies me with lots of dancing partners who hold me up in prayer, who help me when I need it and who share their own unique dances with me. I really do believe that God is involved in the dance right along with me and you too, for that matter, whatever your dance may be.

Here is what I have learned about happiness:

How one looks will not make one more or less lovable.

There is no perfect congregation, at least in the sense of impossible ideals.

Conflict is part of life, it helps people grow.

More money usually will not make one happy because the more money one has the more one usually wants.

More stuff will not make our children or us happy.

A spouse is not responsible for one’s happiness.

Having bills and sometimes living from paycheck to paycheck and trying to figure it all out is a fact of life for many people.

This is what I think; if we are not happy with who we are, there is no amount of money that will fill the void, there is no other person who can change what is missing inside of us and life will always be less than satisfying until we can find a way to be happy, to be at peace with who and what we are. It has taken me most of my 52 years to come to terms with this truth certainty with regard to my own life. My happiness depends on me, it depends on realizing that I am loved; by God and if I’m lucky an incredible family. My happiness depends on recognizing life as a gift –all of life. Happiness depends on being content with the blessings of the day. So I wish you all a happy new year, a time where you can love and accept who you are, what you have and what you are learning. I wish you joy and peace.

Looked at another way, these gatherings are important to us because they enhance the ways we know one another. Keeping up to date with our family gives us the opportunity to know what they are about, what is important to them, what their current joys and sorrows are and it gives them the same opportunity to know us.

Pastor that I am, the next step for me is the question of how do we spend time getting to know God and how do we let God spend time knowing us? While you might expect that I would say, “just bring everyone to church,” (which isn’t a bad idea in any case) I think for me the answer is more that whatever the place or the means, knowing God is enhanced when we take some time to focus on God; time to pray, time to serve others, time to worship and time, here’s the hard one, to allow ourselves to be still in God’s presence.

Whatever your favorite holiday, I pray that it is a blessing to you and I invite you to celebrate a part of it by taking the opportunity to know and be known by God.

Imagine a congregation of the United Church of Christ that was experiencing a decline in attendance, whose financial support of the congregation was not enough to pay the bills. The fact that a vast majority of Christian congregations in the area have a similar experience is not all that comforting because ultimately this imaginary congregation is worried about its future, its survival. Do you think that group of Christians will easily believe these words of a fantastic future, a future where they are made new again, given a new beginning, told to hope and to wait on God’s timing? Do you think they could allow themselves to believe and to trust in God?

Think about the people of Port-au-Prince, Hati who as we know were the victims of a huge earth quake earlier this year and Hurricane Thomas, who now are living with a cholera outbreak that has taken the lives of 6.5% of the people’s lives. The epidemic is not expected to end anytime soon and may take up to 200,000 victims by the end of the year. Loss upon loss, grief upon grief, what will happen to them next? How might these promises of God sound to them today?

For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress. (Isaiah 65:17-19)

Recall those two lists you made earlier. Which was easier to come up with and which is longer; the list of God’s promises you trust or the list you, when you are honest, don’t believe are true? We are human and our life experience is a great influence in what we believe and in dictating how we act. We are also God’s people and the words of faith have the power to sustain us. If we are honest though, we will admit that walking the line between what we seem to know and what we believe in or hope for is at times a  pretty thin line, isn’t it? Sometimes our experience works against what we can believe.

Consider this story about the people who heard the word of the prophet Isaiah. They had just returned from being in exile for over seventy years. When they got “home” to Jerusalem, they were met with a ruined temple, with piles of rubble and with little hope for the future. Imagine how the promises of God, uttered by Isaiah fell on their ears. New life and hope amidst desolation and destruction. The vision was one that promised the same God who led Israel out of Egypt, the same God who watched over the very forming of the world, was with them and was calling them to be part of a new creation with God. Should they understand these words of Isaiah to be simply painting an ideal vision of the future, merely words of encouragement to get the people through the hard days ahead, or should they take these words to heart, to really believe them, to order their lives on them, to stake their future on them? These words are a promise that God’s power is far greater than any power of destruction or evil. They are a promise of a new reality.

The startling news is that this is a “both and” statement of God. It is a vision of a far off ideal future, but that far off started then and continues today. God, in concert with us is in the midst of creating the new world right now, this very minute. “But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating;” In what I am creating, not in what I will create. God begins the promise in this life, at this time, with these people. God begins the promise at this time, with us, for today and for the future. With and through us, God is creating this very moment, the life of abundance and blessing we long for.

The basic question we all have to address is simply this: Do we believe in God’s promises or do we think they are simply idle tales. Do we trust God’s word to us, or do we think that the words are nice but reality and practicality are different? I believe it is in being able to truly discern the problems or the challenges we face in the world right now, is the first step toward walking with God toward those new beginnings, in not only believing in the promises, but living them out. Living in times such as these, if we are only able to be concerned with ourselves, with what we have or don’t have, with thinking that we are in this alone, then we will fail to see that God offers us a new beginning right here, right now. If we are unwilling to really believe in God’s promises, then all we are able to see is our own concern, our own “stuff” and ultimately we will end up spending our time creating God to conform to our image of what God should be and relegating God’s concerns to all we are concerned about.

All that is required is that we believe, but of course, this is the hardest thing for us to do. Are God’s promises just pie in the sky faith, are they more than a “don’t worry be happy” faith? Belief does not mean that we sit back and do nothing. Isaiah’s people returned to a destroyed homeland that they had to rebuild, they lost everything. This is a difficult and challenging faith that, but it is not impossible. It is a faith that invites us to clearly see the world, to seek God at work in our lives, to share God’s blessings with the world and then to open ourselves in thanksgiving to God for the gift of life, so that we may discern even more of the blessings that come our way. When we believe in God’s promises, believe that the vision foretold by Isaiah will indeed come true even when there seems little reason to trust God; when we are able to live with courage into the future, then faith will get us past our fear, past our apprehension and lead us to a walk of faith that trusts in the power of God. We have to live in such a way as to let God be God and remember to be attentive to God in our midst. We have to live beyond our own self concern and start looking at our world with God’s concern.

Thanksgiving, patient waiting and working with God means that we have to get past our nearsightedness and start seeing globally. We are must stop being so caught up in the immediate, that we lose sight of eternity. We must stop demanding instant gratification; we must stop forgetting God’s promise of what’s in store for us at the end of our earthly journey. Faith in the power and love of God is what enables us to deal with the present age, if we allow it to. Faith in the steadfastness of God allows us to have the hope that there is a better today and a better tomorrow, not just in the next life, but in this world, even is this present Age. Faith in a powerful God leads to hope which gives us the strength not to fear life, but to live it boldly.  When we understand the resources of our faith in this way, as the very source of our power, as the very strength of our living, we can not only be renewed, but we can work with God in bringing about that new life.

Individually, as a congregation and as a community we are offered hope. God’s word of a new heaven and a new earth won’t necessarily restore what any of us has lost, but that doesn’t mean that God doesn’t have great things in store for us. Faith in God, in God’s promises of new life, of having what we need, of joy, of being loved of abundance, and of salvation can give us the glasses we need to look at the world in a whole new way and give thanks for life. Do you believe? I do!

How do we know if God has ever touched us, has ever come near? What happens to us when we experience God as being near; as touching us, appearing to us, speaking to us, or answering a prayer? Does God only choose to touch or to be near to certain people? Do we ever try to come near to God? Do we ask God to touch us, to speak to us, to answer a prayer? Do I really want God to touch me, or am I just fine the way I am?

The story of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10) is a story that encourages us helps us to explore the question of whether people can change and the question of what can happen in our lives when God touches us. Jesus was traveling to Jerusalem for Passover; he was one among many travelers going to Jerusalem for the same reason. His journey was not that of a politician making a campaign stop, but I am sure that his presence swelled the crowd to an even greater size than normal, so it may be safe to assume that Jesus contributed to the donkey and people gridlock. Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus so he had to make his way through the crowd. Because he was also the kind of person everyone loved to hate – he was a tax collector – people were not about to make room for him or to make his quest any easier. Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus so badly he climbed a tree along the route which Jesus was to pass so he could see him. Zacchaeus saw Jesus and as we know from the story, Jesus saw Zacchaeus. Jesus saw Zacchaeus, he saw beyond the job, he saw beyond the height issue, he saw the person, not the labels, he saw Zacchaeus and he invited himself to dinner. We don’t know what happened at dinner. We don’t know if Jesus did anything other than eat with Zacchaeus. All we know is that God came near to Zacchaeus that day and on that day, Zacchaeus was changed. He was assured of salvation. Zacchaeus invites us to consider that people can indeed change and that God indeed has the power to touch us and move us to ways of living that we never dreamed possible. As Allen Culpepper, Dean of the Mercer School of Theology notes in the Interpretation Series Commentaries on Luke, the issue is not about how much of what Zacchaeus had, that he was willing to give away, it is Zacchaeus’ eagerness to do what is right for the poor. After meeting Jesus, this man who made people poor, who had the ability to tax people into poorness, turns one hundred and eighty degrees and starts caring for the poor instead of making people poor.

So how does God touch us? I have felt the nudge of God through the actions and words of other people. I have sensed the presence of God in the chills that run down my back sometimes in a conversation, during a baptism, when I had the trays of bread and wine to the Elders. I have experienced the presence of God in dreams sometimes and sometimes, during prayer, God talks to me, in my own voice, in my own head. I don’t think that when God touches us, it has to be big, bold and dramatic. I believe God touches us in the everyday, ordinary moments of our lives, sometimes we just don’t see God at work because of the crowd of to do lists, stress, guilt, worry and the 100’s of other things that grab our attention. Sometimes we don’t see God because we are so focused on ourselves and on our problems that we are blind to God’s presence. Most of all, I also believe that when we see God, when we comprehend that God sees us, amazing things can and do happen. When we see God and realize that God forgives us, loves us, cares about us, encourages us and is near us, our eyes are opened and our hearts are changed!

Zacchaeus, once he understood that God loved him, became more concerned about others, rather than himself, he became more concerned about the poor. It was at that moment, that Jesus announced that Salvation had come to him. Change in our lives, changing from a smaller circle of love to a larger circle of love, from less concern about others to more concern about others, from self interest to God’s interests happens when we understand that Jesus loves us. When we have turned back toward God and God’s interests and away from the exclusivity of focusing on our own, it is called repentance. In Luke and in the New Testament, repentance bears fruit; repentance is evidenced by God’s people acting differently in their lives and in the world. When we feel God touching us, near us, inside of us, we get a jolt of energy that empowers us to be concerned about our community and our world. When we feel God touching us, we suddenly see many more people than we did before. Perhaps today’s story will help us reclaim the profound good news of the gospel: God believes in us! God doesn’t just want to change our lives, God invites all to repentance, to changed hearts, to a joyous way of life. God invites sinner and saint alike, to be made new; this is what happens when God touches us.

So I started reading labels and eating a portion of whatever it was I was eating. I started paying attention to things like fiber, fat, and the ever lurking bloating agent, sodium. I continue to count calories, actually write them down every day. I try to keep my calorie consumption appropriate to my height and weight. I exercise 5-6 days per week on my Total Gym™ and my Sole E35™ elliptical machine. Oh and mentioned last, but not the least, I pray giving thanks to God for the gift of this day, this life and the blessings that come my way.

Has it been hard? That is difficult to say. I have kept my eyes on the prize, to be healthy. It has required discipline and a new understanding of how I eat and what I need to eat. There are days it has been hard not to over eat, especially days when I am stressed out (a former eating trigger if there ever was one). When I pass my old favorite candy at the grocery store or gift shop I have to ask myself if the calories of that snack are worth the pleasure of eating the snack. I do treat myself on a rare occasion.

Do you see what this means – all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running – and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed – that exhilarating finish in and with God – he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!
Hebrews 12:1-3.                     The Message. Eugene H. Peterson

In the letter to the Hebrews we have the image of disciplined running of the race of faith. I find the living out of my faith as a discipline is helping in the discipline of keeping my body healthy. I want to live the life God has given me to the fullest, I want to enjoy it to the fullest and so I have come to understand in a new way that our bodies, my body is a gift to treasure, not take for granted or abuse. I have come to understand the line in the movie “Chariots of Fire” that “what we need is more muscular Christians.” Don’t misunderstand me, I am not talking about being obsessed with our appearance or the size of our muscles, but of being healthy – for ourselves and to glorify God. I am talking about praising God with our whole self and our whole life.

I have not done this alone. My best friend, my wife Lisa has been my healthy life “running buddy” and has shared the journey with me and that has made a huge difference. So do you want to get healthy? Do you want to praise God with the fullness of the gift of life you have been given? Find a faith buddy, find a health buddy and share your journey. I’d love to hear it too.