Thinking Red Together means taking the words of Jesus seriously, believing he meant for us to do the things he said. To Think Red sounds like an honorable goal to me but what do we do when the words Jesus said seem far out of reach? Here are four things from his Sermon on the Mount that are stretching me emotionally, mentally and spiritually: Don’t be angry with your brother or sister. Don’t call people names. If someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. Love your enemies. I need to confess; these sayings are difficult for me because I have a growing issue with anger. I thought walking with Jesus for the past forty years would help me chill–out and be at peace with the world around me. The truth is, I was more easy–going ten years ago than I am now. Little things hack me off. It’s like I walk around on a thin layer of ice and when something doesn’t go my way the ice cracks and all kinds of impulsive anger emerges. But I cover it well. No one sees these emotional outbursts of rage, other than my wife Kathie. Come to find out, my experience is not that different than the majority of all Americans. ROTW certified studies indicate that 48% of Americans are angrier this year than ever in the past. 70% of all Americans report to be angry every day and 31% report they’re “really angry” every day. According to an article in Revival Outside the Walls, “Americans are twice as angry as they were 20 years ago. Almost a third of all American describe their anger as being seething, furious, and boiling mad. Almost 30% of us have at least one friend or relative who is unable to control their temper.” This means half of our population is angrier than they’ve ever been. How about you? Do you find yourself more agitated than you were pre–Covid? Is the civil unrest and the on–going issues of racism and hate in our country wearing you down? Does the economic disparity in our neighborhoods and financial insecurity keep you on edge? Do the technological tools we’ve created to make our lives easier irritate you because they seem to work for everyone except you? If so: Welcome to my world. This culture of anger—we find ourselves in—needs to see a Church that looks like Jesus. As followers of Jesus, we must do our part to “Stop The Hate!” We must find healthy ways to decompress our anger. We must, with God’s help, treat others (even those with whom we disagree) with decency and respect. Since I can’t stop the anger brewing in our culture, I’ve decided to make a personal list of ten things I can stop doing. I believe stopping these things will help defuse the anger brewing in my own soul. My personal “Stop It” list won’t change the world but it may change me! And a more peaceful me will be better equipped to help create a more peaceful world.
If you want to help “Stop the Hate” I encourage you to create your own personal Stop It list. Feel free to share your list in the comment section. In the mean time, I’m going to work my Stop It plan and begin crafting a Stop and Do plan. I’ll share it in my next post.
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Today is July Fourth! The day mattresses go on sale, families gather for picnics, children light off fireworks all day and through the night; and most importantly, we celebrate the idea of freedom. We remind ourselves how fortunate we are to live in a country whose constitution is built on the cornerstone of freedom:
Today I’m reminded of how fortunate I am to live in a country that values freedom. However, I’m also reminded that many of my friends and fellow citizens have not benefited from the ideas expressed in our constitution. I’ll never forget the week I spent with Dr. John M. Perkins, an evangelical civil rights leader who has spent his entire life preaching, teaching and working to build communities based on God’s love; communities where justice, tranquility, welfare and liberty are experienced by all of its citizens, not a select few.
Dr. Perkins lives in Jackson Mississippi. The week of my visit with Dr. Perkins was the very week the Civil Right Museum in Jackson was to open. Dr. Perkins was given a private tour of the museum before the grand opening and he invited me to go on the tour with him. Surreal doesn’t come close to describing the experience of walking through the museum with this iconic civil rights leader; as he looked at the exhibits, with tears in his eyes, he shared his personal memories of those moments in time with me. On our ride back home he said, “Sometimes people ask me when I joined the civil rights movement!” He shook his head and with vehemence in his voice, he continued, “I didn’t join a movement. I was born wanting to be free!” All of us are born wanting to be free. Some of us experience the privilege and full benefit of living in a country built on the principles of freedom. It’s right and good to celebrate! However, as we celebrate our independence, let us not forget those who have struggled hard and long to gain their freedom. Let us also remember that some of our fellow citizens still struggle under oppressive systems that prevent them from knowing tranquility and welfare; some struggle to survive and provide for their families because of economic insecurity; still others face every day with mental illness and addiction without access to adequate healthcare. If you love and value the privilege of living free, as a part of your Fourth of July celebration will you recommit yourself to the work of insuring that all of our neighbors have access to the benefits of freedom? When our children were young, Kathie would wake them up for school by busting into their bedrooms singing a song about Noah and the Ark. The chorus of the song went like this: Arise and shine and give God the glory, glory Arise and shine and give God the glory, glory ARISE AND SHINE AND GIVE GOD THE GLORY, GLORY Children of the Lord! The kids would usually moan and groan rather than arise and shine. They would pull the covers back over their heads and pretend the scene was a bad recurring dream. Some folks, like my wife Kathie, are morning people. They jump out bed and say: Good morning God! Others, like my children, roll out of bed and say: Good God, its morning! I’m more like my kids. It’s usually after 10:00 o’clock and two cups of coffee before I know God exists. I might be wrong but I think Jesus is a morning person. I have a hunch that long before any of us get out of bed, he’s up and singing—waiting for us to let our lights shine. He knows the world needs the people of God to bring light and hope to the dark places looming in every corner of the globe.
Marianne Williamson, once said, “Light is to darkness what love is to fear; in the presence of one the other disappears." The world is haunted by fear and hate. From racism to road rage, from domestic violence in the hidden corners of homes to mass shooting of innocent people in the Public Square, from abject poverty to corporate greed, we see expressions of darkness based in fear and hate.
I read a quote from Francis of Assisi that gives me a reason to hope. In his simple, yet profound way, he said, “All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.” Saint Francis reminds me that one life can make a difference. We can bring light and hope to our corner of the world . . . if we will let our light shine and resist colluding with the darkness.
Do you ever read the words of Jesus and get confused? For instance, his Sermon on the Mount begins with a peculiar description of people he considers blessed. Reading the list might make you scratch your head and wonder, “What is Jesus really saying?”
Blessed are the poor . . . those who mourn . . . the meek . . . the hungry . . . the persecuted. It’s a strange list indeed. Who in their right mind wants to be poor, sad, week, hungry, and picked on? Is Jesus really saying, “be like this and you’ll be blessed,” or is he making it clear that his kingdom includes and values those who are typically unblessed and excluded by the world’s criteria for blessing? I believe the latter. When you read the beatitudes through this lens his sermon becomes “good news to the poor.” Think about that day in Galilee, when Jesus first spoke these words. Who was there on the hillside, listening to him teach?
The people gathered on the hillside were the poor. They were the hungry. Collectively, those setting with Jesus had spent a lifetime mourning, grieving and longing to be included in a beloved community. Jesus sits with them, celebrates their beauty and includes them in his circle of friendship—a circle he calls the kingdom of heaven. In his book, Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard paraphrases the beatitudes by saying, Blessed are the spiritual zeros—the spiritually bankrupt, deprived and deficient, the spiritual beggars, those without a wisp of religion—when the kingdom of heaven comes upon them. Unfortunately, spiritual zeros are typically not celebrated in the life of the Church; instead, we celebrate those who add “value and leadership” to the programs we offer. All to often, the church’s definition of blessing mirrors the ways of the world, more than the ways of Jesus. We fall for the lie and believe “the blessed” are the wealthy and powerful, the attractive and thin, the youthful and talented. When we chase after the world’s values—seeking a blessed life—we run the risk of missing the blessing that is being offered through the hands of Jesus. Perhaps that’s why Jesus follows the beatitudes in the Gospel of Luke with a list of woes: Woe to you who are rich . . . Woe to you who are well fed . . . Woe to you who laugh . . . Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you. The tension between the beatitudes and the woes is resolved in my mind by a quote from St. Augustine: God is always trying to give good things to us, but our hands are too full to receive them.
Are we blessed yet? It’s a question Ash Barker asks in his book, Make Poverty Personal: Taking the Poor as Seriously as the Bible Does. After raising the question, Barker reminds his reader “the point of our faith is not to have bigger and better lives or churches, but to transform the world.” Last week I wrote an article about getting “A Bigger Life” and then I read Barker’s book. He made me pause and think. I still believe we need bigger lives to receive all God wants to give us. What we don’t need is bigger barns! Jesus once told a parable about a rich man who’s farm produced such an abundant harvest he found himself up to his elbows in grain. Instead of sharing the grain with hungry people he decided to tear down his small barns and build bigger ones to store his surplus. His plan was to “take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” (Luke 12:13–21) The story doesn’t end well for the guy with the big barns. God calls him a “fool” and says, “This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” Jesus sums up the story by saying, “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.” The difference between a need for bigger lives and bigger barns is tied up in our definition of the word, “blessing.” What does the Bible mean when it says we are, “blessed to be a blessing?” What does it look like to be “rich toward God?” Far too often, we Christian’s define “blessing” in terms of material wealth, vocational success, position and power. We fail to hear the words of Jesus clearly; instead we interpret his words through our upwardly–mobile, consumer–driven filters.
Obviously, the promise of “being blessed” by Jesus and “being rich toward God” must mean something greater than material wealth. That’s why we need bigger lives and bigger hearts to receive the blessing. Jesus speaks of a spiritual blessing that brings deeper meaning and significance to our lives. God’s self-giving Spirit—poured into our lives—is a blessing that will open our hearts to a radical generosity that looks like Jesus. Filled with the Spirit of Christ, we have the potential to be a resource of blessing to others. Art Barker says, “God’s blessing today is not found in leather wallets, but among the cries of multitudes facing poverty. For there we find Jesus’s presence longing to intervene through his body, the church.”
It’s time to tear down our big barns and build bigger lives. Are you an optimist or a pessimist? Read these four quotes before you answer the question:
When you consider your spiritual life, is your cup half full or half empty?
Jesus doesn’t want us to settle for a half full or a half empty life. Nor does he want us to dumb down our lives, or our theology, in order for our half–hearted, lack luster experience of the Holy Spirit to appear full. On the contrary, Jesus wants to give us the Holy Spirit without limit, (John 3:34.) His promise is not to give us a sprinkle of the Spirit; instead, he says if we embrace radical generosity as a way of life, a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into our lap, (Luke 6:38.) Jesus said his intention is to give us abundant life; (John 10:10) a life filled with meaning, purpose, and power; or as St. Peter defines it--a life filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, (I Peter 1:8.) Is that your life experience? Does your faith in Christ fill you with an inexpressible and glorious joy? Do you face the challenges of each day and the routine of life knowing that the power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you? (Romans 8:11) If not these four words from scripture may be a timely encouragement. LIVE BY THE SPIRIT (Romans 8:1-17) In this passage St. Paul distinguishes between a life lived in the flesh and one that is lived in the Spirit. There is a choice we can make each day. We can live by the flesh and let self will govern our lives and our minds; we can live under a religious spirit, believing we must appease God by being good and following the law; or we can choose to live in the freedom of the Spirit, believing there is indeed a Spirit realm and allow our lives and our minds to be governed by the Holy Spirit. DON’T GREIVE THE SPIRIT (Ephesians 4:29-32) In this passage St. Paul makes it clear that it matters how we treat one another. How we talk to and how we talk about one another makes a difference in the way the Holy Spirit interacts with and through our spirits. If you want to experience more of the Holy Spirit in your life start honoring the person right in front of you. Love your neighbor! Love your enemy! Use your words to encourage and lift up other people.
REPENT AND BELIEVE THE GOOD NEWS (Mark 1:15) In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus announces that the kingdom of heaven has invaded earth, “The time has come; the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15) I used to think repenting meant confessing sin and getting ready to die; now I know God wants me to change my mind and agree with God’s desire to invade my life with heaven today. I used to wonder, “How do we get into heaven?” But now I want to know, “How do we get heaven into us?” I used to ask, “How much of the Holy Spirit do I have in my life?” But now I ask, “How much of my life do I give to the Holy Spirit?” Jesus has settled and secured our salvation. We can bank on it! But what about here and now—what does God want to do in our lives today? I skimmed through the New Testament this morning looking for the answer, wondering how God’s Holy Spirit interacts with us. I discovered a rather energizing list.
As we prepare for heaven, let’s not miss out on the gift God wants to give us here and now. Jesus longs to give us the Holy Spirit; will we recognize and receive the gift? Will we change our minds and agree with what God says about us and about life? Will we open our hearts and receive the righteousness, peace and joy of God’s kingdom? Will we give our life and will over to the care of God, so God can fill us through and through with the presence and power of the Holy Spirit . . . without limit? (John 3:34) Right before Jesus went back to heaven he told his friends to, “stay in the city and wait for the gift his Father promised!” He knew the time was near; the gift he talked about over and over again, would be arriving soon. He wanted his friends to be alert and ready to receive the sweet surprise! This Sunday is Pentecost. Are you ready? Are you waiting to see what God has in store for you? Do you enter spaces of worship expecting a gift from God? If you’re like me, sometimes I get busy with life and forget to wait. I trudge through the day and miss the gift. Other times I wait . . . and watch . . . and pray . . . and I still miss the gift. But there are occasions when the gift shows up unexpectedly—like the wind that blows on it’s own accord—and I’m reminded once again of the beautiful relationship Jesus made possible for us all: “Christ in you, the hope of glory!” This week, as we wait for Pentecost:
Jesus said, we would receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on us and God's power would give us the strength we need to bare witness to God’s love no matter where we go or what we face. When I consider the lukewarm witness of the Church in our troubled world, I sometimes wonder if we believe its true? In her book, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard asks a similar question: Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return. I don’t know about you, but I want to be alert and ready. I want to wait for the gift of God’s Holy Spirit. I want the Spirit of the living God to draw me out to a place where I can never return the same! As you wait for Pentecost, remember Dillard’s warning: when you invoke God’s presence you are playing with dynamite! Do you believe Jesus was a nice guy? I do. I believe his compassionate and gentle spirit compelled people—especially those who were broken and beat up by the world—to follow him. But as soon as I get comfortable following Jesus “The Nice Guy,” I’m reminded of Phillip Yancy's question: How would telling people to be nice to one another get a man crucified? What government would execute Mister Rogers? Jesus was more than nice and kind. He was more than a lamb-toting shepherd. He was a man committed to justice! His love for the poor motivated him to challenge the religious and political systems that benefitted some and oppressed others. When the economic system in the temple prevented gentiles from having access to a place of prayer he interrupted the economy by turning over the moneychanger’s tables. When entire classes of people were shunned, Jesus invited them to his table, making it clear that everyone’s life mattered to him. When the legal system limited access to healthcare, Jesus acted with civil disobedience and healed people on the Sabbath. Jesus was more than nice; he was bold and courageous. He spoke out for the oppressed and gave his life to bring God’s righteousness on earth. When people speak truth to power and challenge oppressive systems, as did Jesus, those in power will often demonize the truth teller. In Matthew chapter 12 Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath. He confronts the Pharisees and shines a light on the injustice of their legal system. In response the Pharisees “went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.” (v.14) Their plot included a public slander campaign, creating a demonizing narrative to sway people’s opinion: “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.” (v. 24) The threat of murder and the fake news about his character did not hinder his determination to pursue God’s righteousness. Jesus set his eye on the kingdom of God and pressed on toward the goal of making God’s righteousness and God’s goodness know and accessible to everyone. Jesus didn’t play it safe. He knew “being nice” wouldn’t change the unjust laws that oppressed his neighbors. In the middle of this drama Jesus speaks out and says, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” (v.30) Jesus draws a line in the sand and makes it clear to those who would follow him: There is no middle ground. This scene in the life of Jesus—and his line in the sand—reminds me of the words spoken by Angela Davis: “In a racist society it is not enough to be non–racist. We must be anti–racist.” In a world where social injustice persists and systemic racism lingers, those of us who are “with Jesus” must do far more than be nice; we cannot settle for being non–racist, we must actively work to dismantle the social evil of racism. We must be anti–racist! Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an Antiracist, says: “The only way to undo racism is to consistently identify and describe it—and then dismantle it.” For my white brothers and sisters, intellectual and emotional awareness of racism is a good first step. Me must listen and learn from our black and brown brothers and sisters. We must place ourselves in uncomfortable spaces, where we’re not the dominant culture, and feel what its like to be different than the majority of folks in the room. We must be vulnerable and willing to have the uncomfortable conversations about race. But emotional and intellectual awareness of racism is not enough; we must follow the awareness with action. One fear us white folks have about actively addressing racism is that we might say or do something wrong—maybe even harmful; so we choose to say nothing at all. This fear, which some call white fragility, will convince us the best thing we can do is to stay in our “nice, non–racist” comfort zone. But times have changed. We no longer have the luxury of hiding in our place of comfort. If white Christians want to be true to the way of Jesus we must step up and start living out our faith in the Anti–Racist Zone.
When was the last time you had a “raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure?” Mark Twain insinuated in his writing there would come a time when all of us who are “rightly constructed” would be captivated by such a desire. If Mark Twain was correct I wonder why so many of us miss the treasure hunt or fail to see the valuable gems hidden right before our eyes? Are we too lazy to look? Too bored with routine to believe in buried treasures? Maybe we’re so driven acquiring things of temporal value that we fail to see the eternal treasures hidden in familiar shadows? It was Zero Dean who said, “We never learn what hidden gems lay along the paths we fear to take.” If you forgot that God intends for your life to be a treasure hunt let’s “Think Red Together” and recall what Jesus said:
What would change in our lives if we approached everyday like a treasure hunt—seeking the kingdom of God in the ordinary places we spend our lives? Would we see people differently? Would we treat them the same? Would joy and adventure become the norm, replacing our yawns of boredom with songs of delight?
One thing is for certain; if we live everyday on a treasure hunt, seeking the kingdom of heaven in our ordinary lives, we will find it, (Matthew 7:7-8 / Jeremiah 29:13) and the hidden treasure will change everything. It will influence our values! We will rethink our priorities! And the trajectory of our lives will be fixed on eternal treasures. So what are you waiting on? Grab your treasure map and get a shovel. We have some holes to dig! |
AuthorLarry Stoess is an author, public speaker, and urban church planter. He loves telling stories about how dreaming with God will empower people to make old and broken things new again. Larry and a band of friends founded the Church of the Promise in Louisville's Portland neighborhood; The Table, a pay-what-you-can community café; and Promise Housing Plus, a non-profit construction company. He has written about their experience of dreaming with God in his new book: Think Red. Archives
August 2023
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