expectations

Back to Basics, Part 3

Susan Irene Fox Susan Irene Fox , , , , , , , , , , ,

“You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn’t been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears.” (Matthew 13:11-12, The Message)

hand.reaching.out

This series is deeply personal for me.

After I wrote Sunday Afternoon I needed to be lifted out of the hopelessness I felt after the horrible week of killing and chaos. Who better to lift me than Jesus?

I desperately needed to get back to the basics of our Savior’s sweet and redeeming words – back to why we call ourselves Christians in the first place.

The Gospels and Christ’s words are my shelter, my safe place, my refuge when I am confused, when I lose hope, when the world and the enemy become too much for me. This is the whole basis for this series: Back to Basics. The Gospels ground me solidly in the heart and Spirit of Jesus. It’s where I feel most at home.

As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” So Matthew got up and followed him. And as Jesus sat at the table in Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were eating with Jesus and his disciples.

When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

But when Jesus heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a doctor, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the pious, but sinners, to repentance.” (Matthew 9:9-13)

There was a lengthy discussion in the comments section of Back to Basics, Part 2 about how we as Christians call people to repentance. Sinners, outcasts, outsiders, even believers who wander from righteousness. I also had the same kind of discussion on another blog about how we treat our Christian brothers and sisters who have fallen into temptation.

“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.” (Matthew 18:15-17)

I don’t perceive this statement of Jesus as abandonment. Matthew places this statement right after the Parable of the Lost Sheep (Matthew 18:12-14). Look back at the way Jesus treated pagans, prostitutes and tax collectors. He ate with them, he offered them grace and compassion, he loved them until they were able to feel his heart, able to feel safe enough to be totally vulnerable, able to willingly surrender to him and repent. He didn’t give up on them or ostracize the outcasts; just the opposite. He met them where they were and invited them into his arms where they saw his heart. (Luke 5:29-32, 7:37-39, 15:1, and 19:7)

Eyes to see and ears to hear come from ready hearts – hearts that have been tucked in safely on a bed of unconditional love and grace, of relationship, of knowing the history and hurts of that heart.

“Love the sinner, hate the sin,” is not safe. It says, “Your sin is your face and that is all I see of you or care to know about you.”

“Love the sinner, hate the sin,” is not safe. This phrase to all who hear it says, “I don’t want to know your history or pain. I already presume to know you globally through what I have condemned as your sin. Your sin is your face and that is all I see of you or care to know about you. Until you change, you are not worthy of my time or God’s time.”

Focusing on sin does not preach the Good News. It does not make disciples. Focusing on sin negates our own state of being when our Father adopted us through Christ. It negates everything Jesus lived and died for. It negates Christ’s resurrection.

When we focus on sin, we immediately place expectations on those we accuse. We establish a hierarchical relationship to them, we elevate their sin to a place of prominence instead of focusing on the Good News – God’s Grace (Romans 2:1-4, 3:24). And we forget that sin is a lifetime struggle.

Our job is to worry about our own sin, to whittle down our own logs, to look at the person in the mirror and begin there to make a change.

We have been left with two missions (commissions):

Reconciliation: Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:17-19)

Make disciples: “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

So how do we successfully accomplish these missions?

Continued tomorrow in Back to Basics, Part 4.

Steadfast Faith

Susan Irene Fox Susan Irene Fox , , , , , , ,

The Bible

In steadfast faith I love my God

Though prayers sometimes hang in midair

As I remain imprisoned here

And feel as though He does not care.

 

So many others rise to fame

While wealth and power still do reign

Yes, eating with the poor is nice

We’re occupied, there is no gain.

 

I baptized You and called You Lamb

Did I not read the signals right

Oh, Jesus, tell me, did I fail

Where is Your army, strength and might?

 

Or is there something I don’t see

Authority and mastery

Is grace and mercy what I’ve missed

Is love the greatest mystery?

 

My Lord, please tell Your cousin truth

I knew You ‘fore we both were born

Please let me know You once again

To You my faith will be foresworn.

 

John, meanwhile, was still in prison. But stories about the Anointed One’s teachings and healing reached him.

Quite frankly, John is perplexed. He has been awaiting the Anointed, but he believes that person will be a great political ruler, a king, or a military hero. Jesus seems to be all about healing people and insisting that the poor and the meek are blessed.

So John sent his followers to question Jesus.

“Are You the One we have been expecting as Savior for so long? Are You the One Scripture promised would come? Or should we expect someone else?”

 “Go back and tell John the things you have heard and the things you have seen. Tell him you have seen the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers cured, the deaf hear, the dead raised, and the good news preached to the poor.

“Tell him, blessed is he who does not take offense because I did not meet his expectations of what the Messiah would be.” (Matthew 11:2-6, The Voice)

 

Inspired by a post by Jason Bradley.

You Married Who???

Cate B Cate B , , , , , , , , ,

The year was 1974, the month April, the day, the thirteenth.  I married my best friend who also happened to be my pastor.  We had spent the last couple of years ( a little longer for him) in a Christian Communal Ministry that studied and worked together and then were sent out to various cities to start, what we called, outreach centers.  These basically were houses we rented to take in people off the streets for a meal, a bed, prayer and good old-fashioned gospel preaching.  There was a movement across America during that time.  A movement of God that came in all shapes and sizes and some false gods.  There was a movement of youth that were searching.  There was a war still in progress and our boys and men were caught up fighting a battle that few understood.  It was no longer our parents life.  It was new, it was different.

I tried one year at the local community college in my hometown.  Freedom rang everywhere – hippie professors, drugs all around, new music – or was it freedom?  I knew that I did not want to go to college.  Through various travels I ended up in Oregon and met my husband to be.  It was good times back then.  We were all young and searching for a purpose.

We ended up in San Diego and opened an outreach center.  Fun times.  We met people from all walks of life: the lady who wore her purse on her head to protect her from alien’s powers, the Children of God couple that wanted to entice young girls to be apart of their cult, the upper class men and woman who were searching for their purpose in life.  Very good times and very eye-opening to a gal who never traveled and had a very sheltered childhood.

We were in love, this man and I, and off we went into the world together.  The Jesus People/Hippie Movement dwindled and we were forced to become regular people in a regular world.  We ended up in a small mountain town in southern California with three kids and a dog and pastoring our first church.  I learned very fast that I was not what the people would call a typical pastor’s wife.  You see, the church members in most organized churches have a certain idea of what a pastor and his wife should be like.  My husband was better at it that I was. After about seven years we said goodbye to California and moved the now four kids and a dog and parakeet to the east coast where I came from.  We learned a lot about our faith and about our mission in life.  We knew what we didn’t want to be or to do and set about being who God made us to be.

I continued to be a “pastor’s wife” and I continued to fail the people’s expectations.  Did I feel as if I failed God?  No.  I was true to myself as often as I could be.  You see, He made me.  I cannot be someone I am not.  And as a Christian, I cannot be someone who others want me to be.  I have to be me.  The scriptures people pull out of the bible and use to dictate what church leaders are to do and be are not always used in the proper context.  The original languages that this wonderful book was written in are much deeper than our simple English.  I got tired.  I felt like an actress trying to play a part I wasn’t meant to play.

It was during this time on the east coast that I really came alive and things became clearer to both my husband and I about ourselves and about what we were to do and be to others.  We love working with people and helping people.  I got an unexpected job at a police department (will blog about that real soon) and that taught me even more about who I am and what I am passionate about.  People in our church still didn’t get me.  I had other pastor’s wives tell me of the “duties” I was to be doing.  I ignored them.  I had church members tell me that I wasn’t like their last pastor’s wife – I ignored them also.  I began to live and enjoy life even more.  I believe I finally became more of whom God intended.  He liked that.  He liked me.

So, I wrote this to tell you a little more about me.  I also write this to tell you to find out who you are and what your passions are in life and DO NOT let others dictate who you are or what you should be doing.  Understand, we all need guidance.  We all need instruction. We all need others to help us in this journey called Life – but be true to yourself.  Surround yourself with other people who see you for who you are.  This is a BIG key to success.

Let life’s bumps and bruises and forks-in-the-road become your instructors also.  Be humble about the things you go through and the hurts that are dumped on you.  They hurt, but they are a big part in making you to become who you are meant to be.  And biggest of all try your hardest to love.  Love those who are used to hurt.  Spending time being hurt and broken and bitter is a major waste of energy.  Put your energy in letting go and forgiving as best you can and YOU will come out on top.  Let those others go.

You Can Do It!  Find you and be you!

Enjoy!

wingedprisms