He's In This With Us!

Several phrases have circulated globally over the past few weeks.  One is, "wash your hands for 20 seconds."  Another is, "practice social distancing."  We've heard this too, "if you're displaying Coronavirus symptoms, self-quarantine."  But one that has really stood out to me is, "we're all in this together."  From news presenters to doctors; from politicians to church leaders; many are saying, "we're all in this together."  In a nation and world that's been divided, through this pandemic, we are becoming somewhat united.

For those of us with a faith in God - or even those without any faith - in moments like these, it's natural to ask, "Is God in this with us?".  I believe the story of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, clearly demonstrates that God is in this with us - no matter what, no matter where, and no matter when "this" is.  In fact, one of the names given to Jesus in Matthew's gospel is Immanuel...God with us.

Though he is God, in his essence, Jesus Christ humbled himself - he emptied himself and became one of us.  The One who spoke everything into existence, who sustains everything by his powerful word, and the God who will bring all things to completion one day, allowed himself to become fully human.  He knows what it's like to live life, just as we live our lives.  He had to learn how to walk and talk.  He had to be disciplined by his parents.  He had to study the scriptures to discover who his Father was.  And as the writer of Hebrews reminds us, he was tempted in every way that we are tempted, yet without sin, so, he can sympathize with us when we are tempted.  When he fell down and scraped his knee, he bled, just as we bleed.  When others teased or mocked him, it hurt, just as it hurts when we face ridicule.  Jesus knew hunger, pain, thirst, loneliness, and sickness.  In fact, he's the only human to live a complete human life.  He lived his life to the full!

But Jesus didn't have to live the kind of life that he lived.  He could have chosen to live a self-absorbed life, seeking pleasure and wealth.  He could have tried to gain power through political manipulation or brute force.  He didn't have to live the life that he lived, but thank God he did!  Jesus chose to live a life full of grace.  He wasn't self-absorbed.  He loved God the Father with all his heart, soul, strength, and mind.  And he loved his neighbor as himself.  His was a life fully present to God and to others.  And his was a life full of compassion.

Let's consider the meaning of the word compassion.  Merriam-Webster tells us that it is a "sympathetic consciousness of other's distress with a desire to alleviate it."  The word comes from the Latin, com-patti, to suffer or to bear.  So, compassion isn't just sympathy, but rather having the desire to alleviate the suffering of another.  Compassion compels one to act on their feelings.  What is often translated as compassion in our English Bibles comes from the Greek word splancha which can be translated as, "to feel it from your gut!"  From the beginning to the end of the Biblical story, God is clearly seen to be compassionate.  He not only feels for us from his gut, he acted on those feelings by coming to share and suffer with us through his Son, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.  Even amid this Coronavirus pandemic, God is in this with us!

Let's reflect on a couple of stories from the gospel of Luke which highlight God's compassion and remind us that he's in this with us.  In Luke 7 we read about a woman who had already lost her husband and now has lost her one and only son.   As the funeral procession marches past Jesus, his heart goes out to this weeping woman.  But Jesus' initial words are not words one is supposed to say to a grieving mother.  Do not weep.  Do not weep?  How cruel!  How unthoughtful!  How insensitive!  Not only is it completely normal for this widow to weep, it's healthy and necessary.  But Jesus' words were uttered out of a deep compassion for this widow.  And the words he spoke next made those initial words come true.  "Young man, I say to you, rise!"  What a shock - what a joyous shock!  The young man, on the way to be buried, is raised from the dead.

For any who have lost loved ones, this story resonates in a powerful way.  Like this widow, we've grieved, we've wept, and we've hurt.  But we have faith that one day, Jesus will speak these same words to our loved ones - "I say to you, rise!".  One day he'll say to all of us who live for him, "Young man, young woman, old man, old woman, I say to you, rise!".  And it's all because our God is the God who raises the dead.  It's all because our God is a compassionate God.  He is in this with us!

Resurrection is our hope, but Jesus' parable in Luke 10 reminds us that we have work to do in the meantime.  Here, Jesus tells the story of the Samaritan - a story many of us have heard a thousand times.  But I would like to consider the story, not from the perspectives the priest, the Levite, or the Samaritan, but from the perspective of the injured man.  Jesus tells this parable to a lawyer who was seeking to justify himself by limiting those who could legitimately consider him a neighbor.  Considering this story through the eyes of the injured man helps Jesus' point become clear.

In this famous parable, a man was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho and was beaten to within an inch of his life by some robbers.  What if we were him?  We're lying there, beaten and dying.  But those who are like us, those who come from the same background, those we would expect to stop and help us, don't.  Maybe they're too busy?  Maybe they're too ritually pure to contaminate themselves with us (the priest and Levite would become ritually impure by touching a dead body and we look at least "half dead").

The one who stops to help is nothing like us.  He's not a Jew, he's a hated Samaritan.  If a Christian was lying there half dead, it might be like an atheist or agnostic coming to the rescue.  For an American, it might be an Iranian stopping to help.  For a modern Jew, it might be like a Palestinian providing aid.  Though this individual is from a different culture and practices a different religion, they act like a neighbor and therefore they become our neighbor.  Shouldn't this change the way we view them?  Wouldn't this remind us that their people are people made in the image of God?  The unexpected one was the neighbor in the story and Jesus says to go and do likewise.

 Not only during this pandemic, maybe especially during this pandemic, but not only during this pandemic, we have the opportunity to show love and compassion to every single person that God places in our path.  Our God is a compassionate God and we are to be like him.  Like Jesus, we are to offer words of grace, not condemnation.  And as we see in the Samaritan story, we are to offer compassion to all those God places in our path.  Because like the young man from Nain, our hope and our future is resurrection!  And so we go and do likewise.  We go and do likewise because our God is a compassionate God.  We're all in this together, because our God is in this with us! - Shay

Sabbath Rest

The world is in the middle of a "new normal" as it comes to grips with the Covid-19 pandemic.  This virus has had a serious impact globally.  Thousands of people have already died and there will be more.  We mourn and pray for their loved ones.  Though many of us are younger, in good health,  and don't have much to fear, there are those who are vulnerable.  Namely, the sick and the elderly.  We should not forget the impact this virus could have on them.  All of us have friends and relatives who may be vulnerable to this epidemic and we should not lose sight of that.

Less important, but significant, there are serious economic impacts that are already being felt and will continue to be felt for some time.  In the Roaring Fork Valley of Colorado where my family lives, the local economy is driven by tourism, which is presently at a standstill.  And depending on how the overall economy reacts over the next few months, construction, which is another major industry in this valley, may be affected.  Plus, with so many businesses of any variety shut down, quite a few people are trying to make ends meet on a reduced salary or missing wages.

Almost everywhere in the world, day to day routines have been altered.  Many, though not all of us, have more time on our hands than we did a few weeks ago.  The things that seemed important just a few days ago, no longer seem so urgent.  And so, we have time to pause for a moment and reevaluate what's most important in life.  We should not let this moment pass in vain.  To quote "Dead Poet's Society, we should "Carpe Diem", or "Seize the Day"!

We are so busy in the modern world, as T.S. Eliot wrote in his poem "Burnt Norton", we are "...distracted from distraction by distraction...".  We can become so frantic, so busy, so distracted, that we don't have the time to stop and smell the flowers, let alone contemplate the beauty of the flowers.  We're so busy living life that we sometimes forget what life is all about.  We need moments to slow down...to think...to have meaningful conversations with others.  Whether we know it or not, our bodies require rest.  And we need both time and space to be fully present to God, fully present to others, and fully present to God's creation.

Even thousands of years ago, this was true.  It's why God gave his people, Israel, the gift of Sabbath.  The gift of Sabbath was the gift of being able to cease, stop, and pause.  It was the gift of rest.  But sadly, in our quest for self-sufficiency and in our endless pursuit of the modern notion of the good life, many of us have neglected this life-giving and life-enhancing gift from God.

God's gift of Sabbath goes all the way back to the beginning.  It's woven into the very fabric of creation.  The way Genesis 1 tells the story of creation is through poetry.  There's a rhythm - a cadence - to God speaking all things into existence.  Day one...day two...day three.  It was evening and it was morning, the sixth day.  And then, on day seven, the destination of creation is realized as God ceases from work and rests.  He bless the seventh day and makes it holy.  Work is important, but even more important is the rest that work affords.

As the Biblical story progresses, the Lord delivers his people from Egyptian bondage and then gives them the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai.  The fourth command and the one with the longest explanation says this.  "Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work.  But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work - you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.  For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it." (Exodus 20:8-11).  Did you notice that the gift of Sabbath rest extended to the children of the Israelites?  And not just their kids, but also to their slaves and their livestock, and even to the alien, the foreigner living among them.  They're told to remember the Sabbath!  So often, we in the modern world forget God's gift of rest.

In Deuteronomy 5, the Ten Commandments are repeated, including the Sabbath command.  But, in this recounting, the explanation given isn't tied back to creation, but rather to God's redemption of his people in the Exodus story.  He reminds them that they were slaves in Egypt - that they had no rest there.  But now, they've been set free, and so they are to live as free people.  And this freedom of rest is again extended to their children, slaves, animals, and resident aliens.  In Deuteronomy 5, we see that God has always been concerned for the wellbeing of his entire creation.

We see this concern, even for the land in Leviticus 25.  Every seventh year, the Israelites were to allow the land to rest.  They were to plant no crops in that year and they were to trust God to provide for their needs from the previous year's abundance.  And after forty-nine years, the fiftieth year was to be a year of Jubilee!  Debts were to be forgiven.  Indentured servants were to be set free.  And family land and inheritances were to revert to their original owners.  

What an amazing way to organize a society!  If the Israelites had trusted God to take care of them, they would have flourished.  But throughout their time in the Promised Land, they often put their faith in themselves and in the gods and the ways of the nations around them.  None of the other Middle Eastern nations had a Sabbath day or Sabbath year.  Like we sometimes do, the people of the Ancient Near East looked to their own hard work and ingenuity to provide for their needs.  And Israel and Judah often followed their lead.  In fact, one of the reasons given for the exile is that the Promised Land was to be given several decades of rest for all the Sabbath years that Judah had failed to keep.

In his commentary on Genesis, the Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann says this regarding the Judeans in exile, "The celebration of a day of rest was, then, the announcement of trust in this God who is confident enough to rest.  It was then and now an assertion that life does not depend upon our feverish activity of self-securing, but that there can be a pause in which life is given to us simply as a gift."  As Brueggemann reminds us, life if given to us as a gift and God has also given us rest - a Sabbath - if we will trust him.

Some of the Jews of Jesus' day had missed the forest for the trees in their observance of the Sabbath.  Jesus had to remind them that the Sabbath was created for mankind, not mankind for the Sabbath.  Rest is a gift, not a burden.  If the Jews of Jesus' day were guilty of "over-keeping" the Sabbath, I wonder if we're guilty of "under-keeping" it?  

Though Christians are not called to sanctify Saturday, the principle of Sabbath should still inform the way we live our lives.  Have you ever noticed how getting sick forces you to slow down, to take it easy, and to rest?  The only time some people slow down is when they are sick.  And even then, some people try to push on, despite their illness.  As bad as Coronavirus is - and make no mistake, it is bad - one of the blessings that has come out of the global shut down is that nearly everyone has been forced to slow down.  (I acknowledge that many in the healthcare field and other industries maybe busier than ever).  Many people have found themselves with more time at home, more time with family, and more time to think about what's most important in life.  When a global pandemic strikes, when people are losing their lives, and when the economy tanks, we are reminded of why we live our lives in the first place.  God gave his people the Sabbath rest, in part, to give them the time and space to focus on him and on his provision for them.  

Despite the negative ramifications of this dreaded disease, let's make sure that we don't miss the opportunity that this tragedy affords us.  Let's take the time to reflect on God and our relationship with him.  Maybe pick up the phone or organize a Skype call or Facetime conversation with an old friend or loved one.  If you need to be reconciled with someone, don't waste another day!  And go outside.  Social distancing doesn't have to only happen indoors.  In fact, doctors say that getting some fresh air and sunlight helps boost your immune system and your mood, provided you maintain social distancing.  So, take a walk or a hike.  Go on a bike-ride.  For those in the Northern Hemisphere, notice the changing of the seasons from Winter to Spring.  See the differences of light and shadow as the sun moves higher on the horizon.  Take a look at the plants which are beginning to green.  Notice the budding of the trees.  Take the time to stop and smell the flowers.  Look for God's beauty and majesty in his creation.  

I realize there will be times when you're stuck inside.  When you're holed up at home with your family, certainly enjoy a movie or your favorite TV Show.  But don't limit your time to those activities.  Read a book.  Many people are too busy to read these days, but this is a great opportunity to get back into the habit or to develop the habit for the first time.  And there's a pretty good book I'd like to recommend.  It's called the Bible and it's full of exciting stories and meaningful concepts.  It's home to the greatest story ever told - the good news of Jesus Christ!  Habits take time to develop, so take this time to develop the habit of daily Bible reading.  And pray.  In Philippians 4, Paul tells us that we are to be anxious for nothing, but we are take everything to God in prayer.  

As we press on through the disruptions of our normal lives, make sure to do meaningful things with those closest to you.  Of course, have fun while you do it.  Remember, mankind wasn't made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath was given to us as a gift from God.  We should see this present Sabbath rest as a gift, not a burden.  And this crisis also provides us with other opportunities.  Let's be sure to be on the lookout for those in need.  Maybe it's a neighbor, a co-worker, or a complete stranger.  Let's be fully present to God and fully present to those he places in our path as we weather this storm.  And for those who are already a part of a church family, make sure you stay connected.  If you aren't a part of a church family, this might be a good time to seek one out.  It's times like these that church family is most important!  

Regardless of our background, Jesus gives this invitation to any who would heed it.  He says this in Matthew's gospel, "Come to me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30). - Shay 

The Gift of Peace

Last month, Juli, Ashlyn, and I were in Rothenburg, Germany for the annual Euro-American Family Retreat.  I love spending time in this part of Germany and attending this excellent retreat.  But not having lived in Europe for the past four years, something stood out to me this time around.  Black Friday is now a major event, even in Europe!  The idea of having a sales promotion isn't wrong, in and of itself, but making Christmas about consumerism, rather than Jesus is troubling.  It seems to have gotten worse in the US over the past couple of decades and Black Friday now joins the list of tacky cultural exports that the US has shared with the rest of the world.  Christmas shouldn't be about consumerism, but it is about gifts and the best of those gifts has already been given - it's been given to us from God the Father, through his Son, Jesus Christ.  Jesus is our gift of peace.

And we are all in need of peace.  The world is need of peace.  From the Palestinian/Israeli conflict in the Middle East to the drug cartel violence in Mexico, the world is overrun with conflict and violence.  In late 2019, there are over 25 significant conflicts globally and the US is involved in no fewer than 5 of them.  Many others affect us indirectly - in fact, the more our world is connected through technology and travel, the more any and every conflict will affect us all.  We also experience conflict at the local, familial, and personal level.  The world needs peace.  Our countries need peace.  Our communities, our families, and all of us individually are in need of peace.  But conflict and war has been par for the course for most of human history.  Biblical history is no different.

In 2 Samuel chapters 13-19, we read of the tragic story of David's son, Absalom.  I won't go into all the details here, but to make a long story short, rather than enjoying the privileged position of a prince, Absalom instead rebels against his father and tries to usurp the throne.  Absalom and David are at war.  But its obvious that David does not desire this state of affairs.  He longs to be reconciled with his son.  He longs for peace.  But his son's rebellion has forced the issue and David must do what's right for both himself and for the greater good of his kingdom.  So, Absalom must be defeated.  Absalom must be destroyed.  If there were any other way, David would pursue it, but Absalom's selfish desires force David's hand.  When Absalom is killed, David is in pain.  He weeps and mourns for his son - the same son who wanted him dead and tried to steal his throne.

The story of Absalom's rebellion gives us some insight into humanity's relationship with God.  Sin isn't just us breaking a few rules.  Sin is outright and open rebellion against God, our King.  Through sin and idolatry, we shake our fist in God's face and we tell him that we would rather do things our way, than his way.  And our rebellion has catastrophic effects, not just on our relationship with God, but also on our relationship with one another.  This, in some ways could be a summary of the macro story of the Bible.

In the beginning, we had unhindered access to God as he walked among us and communed directly with us.  But, Eve was lured by the promise of the fruit and decided that being in relationship with God wasn't enough.  She wanted to be like God and Adam joined her in this idolatry.  Like Eve (and Adam), we have all reached out and grasped for the fruit.  We've all desired God's position, rather than God himself.  Or like Paul described it in Romans, we've worshiped the creation rather than the creator.

Right after Adam and Eve are kicked out of the garden, we read of the tragic story of Cain and Able.  These two brothers are at war as Cain kills Able.  And this tale has been replayed millions of times throughout human history (at the familial, local, national, and inter-national level).  And just like Cain, Eve, and Absalom, our sin is outright rebellion.  Through our rebellion we entered a war with God as we severed our relationship with him.  Our sin has led to real hostility between us and our Father and to real hostility amongst ourselves.  We need peace.  Thankfully, God initiated a peace process.

Paul writes in Romans 1:18 that "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth."  Paul doesn't say that God's wrath is directed towards humans themselves, but to their actions.  God still loves the human beings who commit these wicked and evil attrocities, but the result of evil behavior is death.  The wages of sin is death as Paul will say later in the Roman letter.

David did not hate Absalom, but loved him.  But Absalom loved his sin more than he loved his father and it led to his death.  It's the same for us.  God loves us, but if we love our sin more than God, it will lead us to death - both physically and spiritually.

David had to consider the good of his entire kingdom, not just the good of his son.  God too considers the good of his entire creation.  We're all in this together - it's not just about us as individuals.  If we continue to rebel against God's creational intentions, then we will miss out on life in the new creation.  The wages of sin is death.

So, if we are at war with God and the wages of sin is death, how do we escape the destruction that our sin demands?  How can we be reconciled back to God?  How might we find peace?  In Luke chapter 1, we discover the answer.  After the birth of his son, John the Baptist, the priest Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke these words: "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them.  He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from old...By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."

In his letter to the Ephesians, the apostle Paul describes what Jesus, the gift of peace has accomplished.  In chapter 1, verses 3-14 we discover that our redemption (being bought back from slavery and being forgiven of our sins) has been accomplished through the blood of Jesus.  Paul then goes onto say that the mystery of God's will is the coming together of heaven and earth through Jesus.  In other words, there will be heaven's peace on earth.  And we can be certain of this because God has given us the down payment of the Holy Spirit on our future inheritance.

In chapter 2 of Ephesians, Paul states that we have peace through Jesus.  In fact, Jesus is God's gift of peace.  We were far off, he states, but through Jesus we've been brought near.  All that stood between us and God has been abolished.  And all that stood between Jews and Gentiles has been abolished too.  Jesus came proclaiming peace to the far off Gentiles and peace to the nearby Jews.  And now, both Jews and Gentiles, united in Christ, make up the new humanity.  It is just like it was in the beginning.  God's new humanity is where he dwells through his Spirit.

The Biblical notion of peace isn't just the absence of conflict.  Biblical peace (shalom in Hebrew) includes the additional meaning of things being as they should be.  It's the idea of things functioning as they should function - things working right for good.  The Biblical notion of peace is not unlike what Julian of Norwich said, "All shall be well and all manner of things shall be well."

Still, all is not well, at least not yet.  We live in a broken world.  We live in a world of conflict - a world of war - a world of sin.  We live in a world that needs healing.  We live in a world that badly needs peace.  Thankfully, Jesus has become our peace.  So, the message of Christmas is good news for the entire world.  As the angels proclaimed to the shepherds on the night of Jesus' birth, "Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth, peace among those whom he favors!"

One day, Jesus will bring wholeness and healing to the entire creation.  All shall be well on that day and true peace will finally be realized.  So, let's celebrate Jesus, the gift of peace, this Christmas!  Let's rejoice in the good news that the war is over.  Peace has been achieved through Jesus Christ!  Let's celebrate our Prince of Peace this Christmas! - Shay

The Good Life

What does a meaningful life - "the good life" look like in the 21st Century?  How does a person move from simply surviving, to thriving"?  How does one know if they are fulfilling their purpose in life, rather than just drifting along to an inevitable death?  If you ask a hundred people, you'll probably get a hundred different answers, but those answers will share many of the same themes. 

At a bare minimum, people need life's basics to survive.  One probably isn't concerned with thriving, when they are struggling just to scrape by.  We all need food, shelter, and security (this would also include medical care when needed).  When those basics are not automatic - when providing for those life essentials is a day to day struggle - it's hard to imagine a human flourishing.  

But when the basics are a given - when one's daily bread is also bread for tomorrow - then a foundation is laid from which to build a meaningful life.  When the essentials are not in question, then one is free to ask other questions.  Many in our world still don't have easy access to the bare necessities, but it seems that we are moving closer to a day when at a minimum, everyone on the planet has their essentials met.  Hopefully we will see that day in my lifetime.

But beyond this, what do we need to live a meaningful life?  What does the good life look like in the modern world?  Though different people may describe it in different ways, I think that many in our world would come up with variations on two basic themes.  First, we all need community and connection to thrive.  Second, we need a purpose to pursue.  I believe these two ideas go hand in hand.  

Let's consider what it means to be a part of a community.  At it's core, to be a part of a community, is to belong.  The family is the crucial building block of all communities.  Historically, the family has been the foundation upon which all human societies have emerged.  When a family functions at its best, it provides a safe place for a person to be loved, cherished, and appreciated, regardless of the circumstances.  Of course, there is a such thing as dis-functional families, but all of us know in our core that broken families are not ideal, and hopefully, not the norm.  

Society, of course organizes itself into many other groups and organizations.  But even those groups, to some degree operate in a similar fashion to families.  There are rules and structures that each "family" chooses to organize itself by, but in many ways, a group, team, business, club, city, or even nation, is just a non-biological (and often much larger) version of a family.  But when a person no longer belongs to a family or families, whether biological, or other, it becomes very difficult to live a meaningful life.  Without being connected to a group larger than ourselves, much of what it means to be human is lost.  

But people need to not only belong, they also need to contribute.  Part of being in community is playing a vital role in that community.  Without contributing to the greater good or the larger outcome, people typically feel either underutilized or underappreciated.  And this contribution to the greater good - whatever that might be - is essential if one is to live a purposeful life.

When our basic needs are met and when we safely and securely belong to and contribute to a community (or communities), we are in a position to live a meaningful life.  This gives us the freedom to embrace challenges, the boldness to seek out adventure, and the curiosity to explore uncharted territory.  Then we have a purpose to pursue.  These purposes will vary from person to person, but for us to live the good life - a meaningful life - we must believe the purposes we pursue are worthwhile and transcend our individual context.  In other words, it is imperative for us to believe that the things that we give our time and energy to make a difference.

This only skims the surface of what it means to live the "good life".  But, at a minimum, it's hard for me to imagine anyone living what they might describe as a meaningful life if they lack basic necessities, if they lack connection to a community, and if they find that they are being underutilized, underappreciated, or if their pursuits don't seem to make a difference to world at large (regardless of how large or small that world happens to be).  What else is essential to living a meaningful life?  What do we need to live the "good life"? - Shay 

No Outsiders

About three months ago, my 9-years-old daughter, Ashlyn, delivered a speech at the LTC convention in Dallas.  I gave her a little guidance ahead of time, but when once she started to write the speech, she wrote it in its entirety without my help.  Her speech was rooted in two stories that come from John 4.  I'd like to share it now.

"My name is Ashlyn Smith.  I'm a third grader.  At school we have a 'Buddy Bench'.  If someone has no one to play with, they can go sit on that bench and other students can see that they need a friend and ask to play with them.  My school isn't the only one with the 'Buddy Bench'; many schools have it.  The 'Buddy Bench' was actually created by a different school.

In John chapter 4, Jesus went over by a well.  There was this women there getting some water.  Jesus asked for a drink.  The woman was confused.  Jesus was a Jew and she was a Samaritan.  They don't talk to each other.  She asked him why he asked this.  He answered her: 'You do not know what God's gift is.  And you do not know who was asking you for a drink.  If you did know, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.'  Jesus let this woman in even though she was a Samaritan.  And that's not the only thing.  She also made some bad decisions.  Jesus made a big impact on the Samaritan woman.  After Jesus talked to her, she went out and told her entire village.

The Samaritan woman wasn't the only outsider Jesus reached in John chapter 4.  One day, Jesus visited Cana in Galilee.  A royal official was there.  His son was in bed and sick at Capernaum.  So, he went to Jesus and begged him to come and heal his son.  The boy was close to death.  Then, Jesus said, 'Go, your son will live.'  The man believed what Jesus said and so he left.  On his way home, his servant met him.  He said his child's fever went away yesterday afternoon at one o'clock - the exact time Jesus told him 'Your son will live.'  Jesus healed the man's son even though he was a Gentile.  The Bible doesn't really tell us how Jesus impacted the royal official, but I'm sure it impacted him a lot, because it says his whole family became believers.

Jesus let several outsiders in even though they were different.  We should all do that.  That's what those friendship benches are for.  One good example of the friendship bench in use is...one time there was a lonely boy at recess - Andrew.  He was sitting on the friendship bench alone and I invited him to play with my friends at recess.  Just like the Samaritan woman, Andrew made some bad behavior decisions.  Because of Andrew's bad behavior decisions towards others, Andrew doesn't have many friends.  Just like Jesus, it's important for us to reach out to other outsiders.

There is this band called Rend Collective.  They wrote a song called "No Outsiders."  I'd like to share the chorus with you.

"There are no outsiders to your love.
We are all welcome, there's grace enough.
When I have wondered, Lord,
Your cross is the open door.
There are no outsiders to your love." - Ashlyn (and Shay)

Sent

Have you ever been given a task to perform without the necessary tools to complete the job?  Have you ever felt unprepared or unequipped?  When I was in my first year of seminary, I was a substitute teacher in the Round Rock school district, just north of Austin.  One day I was assigned a PE class.  The classes in this school were on block scheduling, which meant that they lasted around 90 minutes.  I was given the task of crowd control for over 50 students for an hour and a half.  Just taking roll was a challenge.  I was told to have the students either work on homework or play pick-up basketball.  After a while, some of the kids got bored and decided to leave.  I found myself chasing two or three students who had gone out one door, and then when I came back into the gym, two or three others went out another door.  There was a total of 4 doors in the gym and so you can imagine that there was no way to keep the students from leaving.  I tried to find out the names of the young men who had deserted the class, but of course, their peers would not rat them out.  So, I decided that rather than trying to win an unwinnable battle, I would just let what happened with those lads happen.  I was given a job to do, but I didn’t have the necessary resources to do it.  Maybe you’ve found yourself in a similar situation where you were in over your head.


Isn’t it amazing that of all that ways that God could have chosen to complete his rescue mission, he’s chosen to use hard-hearted, close-minded, stubborn, fallible, gullible, fearful, scarred, and broken individuals like you and me!  Often, we don’t feel up to the task.  Why me, we ask?  The job’s just too big! 


Let’s reflect on John 20:19-23: “When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’  After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side.  Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.  Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you.  As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’  When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’” 


Later, in this story, as recorded for us in Acts, we read of 120 people gathered for prayer in an upper room.  How did 120, average, ordinary, flawed, yet redeemed people, transform the world and turn it right side up?  When Jesus was arrested, his fearful disciples fled in terror.  Only a few women and the disciple Jesus loved followed him all the way to the cross.  How did these same people accomplish so much for the kingdom of God?  The answer:  Jesus equipped them for the task.  Yes, he sent them with their own scars out into the world.  But he also sent them with the power and presence of his own Holy Spirit!  Just as God breathed into Adam the breath of life, so Jesus breathed on his disciples and they received the wind, the breath, the Spirit of Holiness.  


And this is crucial.  They would not have been up for the task at hand had Jesus not given them his own presence and power through his Spirit.  And what a task they were given!  The salvation of the world depended on their willingness to share the message of the gospel – the message of grace and love and renewal that can only be found in Jesus Christ!
  

Just as Jesus sent these fearful, scarred disciples out into the world of the 1^st century, so we are sent out into our world.  Jesus sends us out to our families and our friends.  He sends us to our neighbors and co-workers.  We’re sometimes sent to foreign fields, but more often we’re sent just down the street, or even in our own living rooms. 

We might even be sent to our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.  Sometimes we’re sent across the church aisle.  And we carry with us our fears and our scars.  But we also carry with us the peace of Jesus.  And we’ve been equipped for the task because Jesus doesn’t send us out empty, he has empowered us with the gift of his Holy Spirit. 

So, may our encounters with the risen Jesus remind us that though we bare scars and harbor fears – though we are sent to a world of chaos and confusion – we will not only survive the storms and pass safely through the fire, God will use us in his mission of reconciliation and restoration to bring wholeness and well-being to his creation.  Jesus says to us, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” - Shay 

Scars

When I did youth ministry, for an icebreaker, we sometimes had scar “show and tell.”  Basically, we took turns showing off our various scars and telling everyone how we got them.  Of course, we limited this to the scars that were visible with all our clothes on!  One of the reasons that I’ve chosen to remain tattoo free is that I already have so many scars, I don’t need to add any more marks on my body. 


What about you?  Do you have many scars?  Think about your own scars.  Where are they?  How did you get them?  Have they faded through time?  Some of those scars may not be physical, but emotional, or spiritual.   


One of the fascinating things about Jesus’ resurrection body was that he still carried the scars of his crucifixion.  Through the resurrection, his body had been transformed and glorified, but his hands and his side still bore the marks of the price of redemption.  And because Jesus has been raised never to die again, and because Jesus has eternally embraced his humanity, it seems that we will see those same scars on his hands and on his side when we see him face to face.


John 20:19-23 states: “When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’  After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side.  Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.  Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you.  As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’  When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’” 


Jesus’ scars were the result of his faithfulness.  He didn’t receive them for doing something foolish or sinful.  He didn’t acquire them for his own misdeeds – he acquired them because of our missteps and our mistakes.  But these scars weren’t meaningless.  They are the scars that bring us redemption.  By his wounds, we have been healed. 


The visible scars on the resurrected body of Jesus show us the continuity between the body that was laid in the tomb and the body that arose on the third day.  The tomb is empty!  But there’s a further significance to these visible wounds.  


All that is right and good and true and loving and of eternal value will last into eternity.  And this seems to includes scars – the scars of Jesus and, maybe, our own scars too.  We often hear the phrase, “you can’t take it with you.”  But this statement isn’t 100% true.  All that we accomplish in this life, when achieved by the power of the Holy Spirit, when done in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and when performed for the glory of God the Father, will last into the age to come.  Could it be, that like Jesus, we’ll carry some scars as a sign of the fruit of our labors?  Who knows, but I think, quite possibly. 

We all have scars.  Many of the scars we bare, whether physical, or psychological, are a result of the pain we’ve caused ourselves.  Some come from the hurt that others have handed to us.  And some, as mentioned above, come from the good that we’ve done for others.  But we all have scars.  And though we bare these marks on our body, and though our hearts may be heavy with the weight of our scars, we are to use those scars in the service of our Savior.  As the Father sent Jesus, so Jesus sends us out into this scarred world, marred by sin. - Shay