No More Rules

          
            It seems like a lot of people have the erroneous concept that  Christianity is all about following a lot of rules. Many believe that to be a Christian you have to sign up for doing this and not doing that - a standardized set of rules handed down from God to humanity through the church. In truth, historically the church tried to control its congregants through lists of ethical and moral standards. This church dogma was for the most part well intentioned. The church wanted us to avoid falling out of relationship with God and thought these rules would keep us out of trouble. The problem with these sets of standards is they don't fit. People are not standardized. What each of us needs to avoid is that which separates us from God. All of us unique human beings have different weaknesses, different issues that can get between us and God. Therefore, there is no one standard that fits all people. As in any relationship, the standards are unique to the individuals and the situations in which they find themselves. God handed down very few commandments - love God and love one another. The ten commandments and all other laws are encapsulated within these simple two.
               During a lifetime of considering how best to live and love God and others, I have discovered what it takes for me to be involved in these love relationships and have developed my own personal standards for living. There are things I need to avoid and there are things I need to do in order to keep my life on the right path. However, to try and apply my personal standards to someone else would be absurd. We are all different and our relationships with God and others will also be different. To try to force the world to follow my life rules makes no sense. What is right for me is not necessarily right for anyone else. For the church to try to force human dogma on all people with the threat of damnation if anyone wavers is a sin in itself. Forced dogma separates people from each other and makes people believe God has turned God's back on the individual who believes differently than the church. The dogmatic church breaks the two great commandments of loving God and each other by driving a divisive wedge between us. To quote the Rev. Phil Snider, "I believe in the separation of Church and hate." We need to stop being so concerned with who is in and who is out and follow the role model of inclusivity lived out by Jesus as He revealed God to us. www.fcccarrollton.org

How Can You Not Believe?

         Many people ask me, "How can you believe in a God who allows such terrible things to happen?" "How can you believe in a God who lets people starve, children die, and disease run rampant?" I believe that God has given us free will. With free will comes the responsibility for what happens in our lives and in the world. What we experience is almost always directly related to our own actions or the ripple effect of others' acting out their free will. How can God let people starve? The question should rather be, how can we? When we either pollute or allow the pollution of our air, water, and earth, is it any surprise that there is disease? When we allow our food sources to become corrupted, are we surprised that there are consequences? When we try to genetically modify the plants and animals that we eat, adding hormones and antibiotics to our meats, is it any wonder that cancer is growing exponentially? How can God kill our children and us? The better question is how can we? Greed has led to shortcuts and short-term thinking, and these actions are having dire consequences for our planet and its people. We have placed our own economic success above the well-being of our own children. We've undervalued education. We have not protected our own children from abuse; children suffer because of our actions or lack thereof. The one who created  the universe and us understands how we can best live in harmony with the earth and each other. However, if we choose not to follow the guidance given, how can we blame the one who showed us the way? These enactments of our free will put the blame for the state of the earth firmly upon our own shoulders. We cannot blame God for what we have done.
        I turn from the chaotic world that we have created and look deeply into its original state. I look at the wonder of the variety of creatures, the different colors and types, each unique and yet somehow connected. I see the complexity of the ecosystems, the interdependence of all life, and I know this universe had a creator. I look at the complexity of  human beings, and I know that this design was no accident. People ask me how can I believe in God, and I look around me and answer how can we not? www.fcccarrollton.org

More than Worm Food

      I might get attacked for sacrilege but I would love to change one word in the classic "Amazing Grace "by John Newton from the line which says, "that saved a wretch like me,"  and one in  Isaac Watts hymn “Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed,” the line which says, “Would He devote that sacred head for such a worm as I?”   I would like to change the words "wretch" and "worm" to "child". Our spiritual growth is more about maturing in our relationship with God than it is moving from wretchedness to acceptance. I don't believe God ever thought of us as wretches. God did not create us to be wretches but to be God's children participating in a love relationship with God in the midst of the beauty of creation. When we do something wrong, we do not become a wretched sinner --  we are still a beloved child who has done something wrong. God hates sin but still loves the sinner.
     Neither are we born a wretch or a worm.  Dr. Karen McClintock, author of "Shame - less Lives and Grace - full Congregations" talks about the wrongness of "Worm Theology". Worm theology tells us that the more shame I experience the more glory Jesus receives when He saves me. The lower my self-esteem, the worse I feel about myself, the more likely God is to have mercy on me. Even conservative Dr. James Dobson is quoted as saying about Worm Theology,  “That teaching,” writes Dobson of worm theology, “did not come from Scripture.” The triune God -- Parent, Jesus, and Holy Spirit has  more than enough glory as they are. They do not need to define me as a shameful worm in order to build a glory ego. God does not desire or need me to feel shame. God loves me and when I am hurting myself God wants to stop me. When I have sin in my life, God wants to cure me. But God never shames me. God does not label me a bad child. Instead God says you are my beloved child, and I want to separate you from the badness that is harming you. "Worm Theology" takes away our intrinsic value as a human being. We find ourselves living in shame, thinking, "How can God or anyone else love someone like me?" I ask, "How can a loving God create us to live as worms?" We are not worthless worms or wretches; we are children of God loved so much that God sacrificed God's Self to save us from our potential demise.
     I hope you are enjoying  reading my blog and sharing it with others. I am enjoying reading the progressive group of bloggers on "Patheos." I don't agree with everything they write but it is stimulating. I am a pastor at First Christian Church in Carrollton, TX, www.fcccarrollton.org and a member of the Disciples of Christ denomination.

Why Live If We Are Just Going to Die?

Why should we live if we are just going to die? This is right up there with why make your bed if you are just going to mess it up again or clean your house if it is just going to get dirty again? Why bother to enjoy a steak if it is just going to be eaten up? While it is true that we live until we die there is much to experience while living. It's choosing to look at the positive instead of the negative. Certainly someday we will all die, but we're not dead yet. So why live in fear of death rather than living in celebration of life. Each day is a new adventure; any number of wondrous things can happen in any given day especially if you are open to it. There is so much that life has to give, so much that we can grasp if we are willing. You can wake up  each day and say today I may die or today I am alive. The choice is completely ours – - it is one of the wonderful things about living.
 As much as I enjoy life, I too would wonder about the purpose of life if this was all there was, but I believe there is oh so much more. I believe this life is a gift. We enjoy the gift, but it also prepares us for what is yet to come. Yes, I believe there is life after death; it is part of my belief in God. I believe that death is just a transition between this life and the next. Death is neither something to fear nor something to rush into, but simply to accept when the time is right. Death is like a chrysalis or cocoon. As the caterpillar enters the cocoon and exits a butterfly, so we too change through death - - a physical being into a spiritual being. I have no idea what this next life will be like, but because I trust in God's love I do not fear it; I look forward to it. If God poured so much into this short life we live here on earth, the amazingly complex creation, how much more will God put into that which will last for eternity.

But back to this life again, how can we hope to enjoy eternity if we get bored with just 100 years? There is no doubt that God's presence will fill life with so much meaning in the afterlife, but God is already doing that now. God's loving gifts are offered in the here and now, not just in what is yet to come. We have the capacity to enjoy our lives no matter in what condition we find ourselves. Certainly there will be times of difficulty, sometimes great tragedies, and yet even in these moments we can achieve our full potential of living. In fact I wonder if fully living this life is one of the things that helps us move more smoothly into the next. If you have this perspective of living from this life into the afterlife, then there is no longer the question why live if we are just going to die? It's more like why go to school if you're just going to graduate? Enjoy the great gift of life, fully live, celebrate! First Christian Church, www.fcccarrollton.org

Light on the Hill

        There is a lot of confusion as to what the church is actually. Every one will have a different definition. The church is not actually a place; it is a gathering of people. The church is not really the house of God, for God lives everywhere. We do not have to reach beyond ourselves to find God because the contact point for God is within our own selves. I believe each of us is born with an internal connecting place with God; it is our soul. To remain unconnected to God is to have an unrealized soul. The church is a gathering of people who are all seeking  a relationship with God. The church is a learning place where we pray, study, sing, and commune with God and each other. The church is a family, the all inclusive positive image of family. We, as church members, support each other, love each other, and help each other. We motivate and inspire each other. We encourage each other towards positive growth. Without growth there is stagnation, and stagnation is dying while living. The church is where someone can go to feel safe not judged. The church is an embodiment of God's love, visible for all to see -- a light on the hill.
           The church is actually the authority on very little. It is a mistake to think the church has the answers to all questions. Church dogma comes from humans not from God. The church is a place where we can ask questions freely not fearfully. We seek the answers together; we try to find the distinct truth for each individual, different answers for different people. God has the answers, and we seek God's guidance together. There are some questions for which we do not yet know the answers. We do our best not to speak for God but to let God speak for God's own self. The church, being a gathering of people, is imperfect. We are accepted and loved by God in spite of our imperfections. Don't go to  a church gathering and expect to find perfect people. We are doing our best to live our faith every day -- to love God and each other. But there are times when we fall short. God's loving grace wraps us in love anyway, and we try to do the same for each other in our own imperfect ways. To paraphrase a Billy Sunday quote, "Being part of a church does not save you or make you  a perfect Christian any more than sleeping in a garage would make you a car." We depend on God, and God does not disappoint. This is at least what I believe the church should be and what we aim for at First Christian Church, www.fcccarrollton.org

The Spirit of Christmas

            I love the Christmas season - - there is so much joy and giving and loving everywhere you look. I love the bright and festive colors, flashing lights, and the centuries of wondrous music. It is a time of year when people act more loving. I love to buy or make presents for my friends and family. The question is why is this true? Many people's attitudes towards Christmas aren't really based upon their faith. I have Muslim, Jewish, and Hindu friends who still participate in Christmas activities. I know people who don't believe in God at all and still put up a Christmas tree and buy each other presents. Yes, I know atheists who still enjoy having a few drinks and then going Christmas Caroling. What is it about this time of year that attracts people to its festivities whether they believe in its foundation or not? A spirit of joy, giving, and altruism are infectious. We want to be a part of the smiles and laughter. We want to see the brightness in a child's eye and a smile upon their lips. We want to remember our own youth and to recover a sense of play. Christmas brings out our imagination. I always find it amusing when on Christmas morning the children set aside the toys and play with the empty boxes - - imagination. It doesn't take religious belief to imagine Santa Claus and his elves. We watch for the sleigh and listen intently for the sound of reindeer's hooves on our roof. Santa represents the spirit of giving and thus the spirit of loving. In this way Santa actually represents the gift of God's love.

            The birth of Christ was an amazing moment in history. The incarnation of God who is love came to earth. It was God's plan that Jesus would come to earth to acquaint us with God's amazing love. God loves us and wants us to have bountiful lives. God wants us to experience joy, to share in love relationships, and understand what it means to give to one another. For God is the very role model of giving and blessing. This is the root, the foundation of what the spirit of Christmas is about. God's love is the origin of Christmas. Now we know that Jesus really wasn't born on December 25. He was more likely born in the spring, for that is when the shepherds would have been sitting out with their flocks. But the church decided to transform the pagan Midwinter Festival into a Christian holiday. So they selected December 25th as the day to celebrate Jesus’ birth. Midwinter Festival was a wonderful time, symbolically, to choose for such a celebration. December 21, the Winter Solstice, is the longest night of the year and the shortest day. In other words it is the longest period of darkness in the year and the shortest period of light. From that point forward the light increases and the darkness decreases. There can be no better symbol for what Jesus brought to the earth. For in Jesus we find God's light that cannot be overcome by the darkness. That light is gifted to us that we might experience the joy and grace of God's love. No matter what we believe we all enjoy the gift of love. We all enjoy the light overcoming the darkness, good overcoming evil. We all enjoy giving things to the people we love. Therefore, we can all enjoy the spirit of Christmas and at least catch a glimpse of how it began. Merry Christmas!  www.fcccarrollton.org

A Love Relationship

       Everyone wants a love relationship yet they are difficult to find. When we do find love it often ends up bringing more pain than good. Where can we find love that is true and honest? Where can we find love that doesn't hurt? We need love. God is love. God's love is eternal, it never fails. God does not create a 50/50 relationship - God brings 100%. Augustine said that "God loves each of us as if there were only one of us."  Nothing separates us from God's love. God does not judge. God does not cause pain. God's love is a gift. If we do nothing in turn God's love is still constant. Open yourself to God and receive the fullness of God's love. You need never feel alone again; you are always loved.

         Wait, you say there is still pain in the world. People are judging people unjustly every day. People are killed, injured, hurt everyday in every way. So how does my love relationship with God exist in such a world? For there to be a true love relationship with God there has to be free will. I have to be free to say to no to God's love for it to be true love. If God forced love on me it would not be love. Because we have free will we are free to make bad choices. Because God respects our freedom of choice God allows us to experience the consequences of our actions. Since all the earth has free will we sometimes reap the consequence of another's actions, a kind of ripple effect. So we don't blame God for the world we have created. We don't blame God for our choices or the choices of others. We can begin to change the world by making good choices and let their effects ripple. Start by saying yes to God's love. Feeling loved helps us feel better and we spread that wealth of love. Make a difference. www.fcccarrollton.org