NEVER TALK ABOUT POLITICS OR RELIGION!

Having going to seminary to become a pastor in Washington, D. C., that old warning about it not being a good idea to talk about politics or religion never really made any sense to me. Of course the old adage has to do with how many arguments can take place over religious beliefs and political leanings. And as I have mentioned before, about the only thing we talked about when we were sitting around having lunch or whatever at seminary was what we believed in exactly compared to the position that other fellow students took.

However, the interesting thing about living in Washington for 17 years was that you got to the point where you really didn't ask anybody what their political beliefs were. Even if you knew that a friend was working for a particular congressman or senator, and you knew the political party of that public servant, it didn't necessarily mean that the person working for the congressman or senator was a member of the same party.

And anyway, it was better not to know if you liked the person, but were a member of the other party, and didn't want to get into any arguments that might affect the friendship. This was especially true for people that I knew at my home church. At the time that I first became a member of Foundry United Methodist Church, Senator Bob Dole and his wife Liddy, who at the time was the only woman member of the Reagan Cabinet, had been regularly attending Foundry for many years. There were other senators and congressmen who came to Foundry, too, and also children of former senators, and even a man who had run for president in the distant past worshiped there.

The first time I visited Foundry, I happened to sit in front of the Doles, and shook hands with them during the passing of the peace. And after they began living in the White House, Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton began coming to worship at Foundry, and Chelsea was involved in our youth group. The congregation was used to "famous people" being around, and the Clintons tried to keep their presence with us low-key at first, but during the Easter service of the first year that they were in the White House, a man stood up in the balcony and started shouting at them with a tirade about gay rights.

It took a really long time for the Secret Service men to get to him, and all of us were kind of amazed at everything that took place in reaction to his shouting out loud from the balcony right after the scripture had been read, during that very silent and holy time. After that, there were metal detection devices and Secret Service men and bomb dogs that went through the church before a service when the Clintons were expected to be there or came. We got used to that, and we tried to honor and respect the fact that they joined us for worship and to participate in our congregation by welcoming them and tolerating some of the inconveniences and disruptions.

For a time during the first part of the Clinton administration, the Doles continued to worship with us, too. And one Sunday our senior pastor, who had been one of the ethics professors at my seminary, noted that from where he stood in the pulpit looking out over the sanctuary, the politicians who were sitting in front of him seem to be sitting along the spectrum from left to right in the same way they placed themselves through their beliefs and party affiliations as liberals or conservatives.

For the sake of our congregation, in order to decrease the stress that we might have experienced during that time, when Bob Dole ran against President Clinton, the Doles discontinued coming to our church. Maybe that was also because our senior pastor's sermons came out of his liberal beliefs.

And also on the liberal front, concerning the perspective of the man who had shouted at the Clintons about gay rights, we had become a Reconciling Congregation, where people who were LGBT were welcomed amongst us. This was based on the belief that each person is a beloved child of God and that the persecution of any people is heinous to God who is love, as Jesus taught and demonstrated.

It took the members of our congregation seven years of strife and turmoil to become a Reconciling Congregation, and many people left Foundry over the issue. But even to talk about it as just an issue doesn't really tell the whole story. We were talking about people's lives, and about whether or not as Christians we could welcome everyone whoever wanted to come and worship and serve God with us.

This happened before the pastor who was one of the most liberal ethicists in the United Methodist Church came to serve our congregation. And at the time of the turmoil, we were blessed that a long-time member of Foundry was Arthur S. Flemming, who had been a member of Eisenhower's Cabinet, and the chairman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights from 1974-1981.

We were blessed that Dr. Flemming shepherded us through that difficult time when we wrestled with the theological issues and social conventions that were part of what was so upsetting to many people on both sides of the Reconciling Congregation issue. It got so that you couldn't even walk down the hallway in the church without people coming up to you and wanting to know which side you were on.

Politics and religion!

Whichever side you are on, there were people who were adamantly opposed to you. Folks would either try to argue with you, or if they could see that you were not going to change your mind, they would cut you off in anger and sometimes even with derision.

Very much like it is now, during the run up to this election.

I am just amazed that people that I love and care about would even consider voting for a man with so many bigoted and nasty beliefs that undergird the platform of the Republican Party this year at the convention. And even though I really don't like to post political opinions on my Facebook page, because people seem to need to argue and sometimes get abusive in reply, there comes a point where from a faith perspective, it is very important to continue to speak out against the way the Republican presidential candidate is so out of control.

Some of my best friends are Republican.

And my prayer is that there will be enough people in our country who recognize the underlying violence, bigotry and oppression represented by the Republican candidate's rhetoric that he won't get elected.

And another prayer is that people who believe that "all people are created equal" and that all people are endowed by our Creator with "unalienable rights including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" will vote against his dangerous and sickening proposals.

Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy.

My Lord continue to bless and keep you and yours. And may God continue to bless America.

LOVE, WHEN THERE CAN BE NO 👍🏻

Over and over again on Facebook I get faced with the dilemma of not being able to "like" (👍) a post by somebody that I love very much.  So I was thinking about how to love people when you totally oppose what to believe or how they act toward others. It's not the first time I have had to think about this kind of thing. When I was in pastoral ministry serving local churches, I was told that there were KKK members in the congregations that I was sent to love and serve.

And who am I to judge? Jesus said we will be judged by the same criteria that we judge others. He also said that He did not come to judge but to save. And once when I was serving as a Christian minister in the national parks at Dinali national park in Alaska, I heard the Lord say to me, "Who are you to criticize my servant?"

At the time I wasn't aware that I was judging or criticizing anyone of the Lord's servants, though of course as a seminary student I had critiqued other students sermons, and certainly had opinions about the belief of fellow students when we debated ethics and theology. This was a constant occupation whenever we gathered for meals and the refectory or just set around somewhere. I "heard" the Lord admonishing me about that for several days before I had occasion to meet a man who was on fire for the Lord, but was also a former Hell's Angel who told me that he had murdered people. He spent about five hours trying to convince me that baptism of the babies is invalid, but only baptism of adults is from God.  At the time I was sitting all by myself with him on a crowded bus driving through Denali National Park on a day when Denali, a.k.a. Mt. McKinley was visible, which is a very rare, holy, and wonderful thing to behold.  But, he was kind of scary, and it took me a while to warm up to him. After hearing his testimony the following night, it dawned on me that because he felt's sent to proclaim the Gospel to other bikers like himself, that the Lord no doubt knew what he was doing to have called him and appointed him to be a shepherd to a flock that probably no one else could reach in the same way.

I realized at that time, that the Holy Spirit was convicting me of being judgmental when the Lord asked, "Who are you to criticize my servant?"  Through the experience with the biker evangelist, I came to realize in a deeper way how much the Lord loves each and every person. He is always calling us to love one another as Jesus loves us, just as Jesus told His disciples to love one another as He loved them. And there were several times when it was clear that at a particular moment He didn't really like them. He called Peter "Satan" and told him to get out of His sight when Peter tried to dissuade him from facing the Cross. The disciples disappointed Him by not getting what He was trying to teach them, and Jesus was probably shaking His head when He said in disappointment, "O ye of little faith!"

And even though God loves each person who He created and creates, God in Christ Jesus showed that He didn't like (👍 ) the members of the religious establishment by calling them "a brood of vipers".

When we are on Facebook, we see a lot of ways that people like (👍) posts or not. So much electronic "ink" and cyber space is taken up with arguments and even bullying when people disagree with one another. I have been in the position where I have felt led to delete posts on my Facebook page when I put up something that I believe very strongly, but then get attacked by people who don't agree with me.

 I don't mind debating with people about what I believe, but I won't leave abusive and nasty comments on my page. There is too much disrespect and nastiness out there as it is.  I don't want to could contribute to it by leaving anything out there that someone would see. And it makes me sad for the people who feel the need to badger and force their opinions on others in a kind of self-righteousness, especially when it is done under the guise of "Christianity".

 I see that that probably sounds judgmental. And I'm sorry about that, but each one of us has a right to his or her own opinions. However, no one has the right to bully another person. And I just can't like (👍) it at all.
Ever. No apologies.

 So, my hope is that we will continue to love one another as Jesus loves us, and respect and honor each other, too, even when there's no way we can like (👍) something that is said or done.

Beloved, may the Lord continue to bless and keep you and yours, today and always.

❤️ ❤️ ❤️

KNOWING GOD AND THE ONE HE SENT

Good morning, Beloved! This promise is very special, because it elucidates one of the ways that we know God's love. The Holy Spirit is around us all the time, and God knows everything that is happening to us and everything about us. But in order to really be open to God, and to be in a relationship with Him, we have to open our hearts to the Holy Spirit.

Jesus talks about people having ears to hear and eyes to see. He is speaking of this ability to be open to God and the willingness to seek God. Because of free will, God will not force us to be in relationship to Him. He deeply desire is that we know how much He loves us, and that we choose to trust him. When we come to realize how much God loves us, we are able to return His love, and we are able to understand that everyone who loves us is part of how God loves us.

And when we love others, we are loving them out of God's love. The only true love is love that has no agenda, and that is not given for anything in return. This is unconditional love, the kind of love that God gives us and the way that God loves everyone and all that He has created for us to be able to appreciate and wonder it.

God is so good and so faithful! Over and over, God is always trying to help you know Him and trust Him. Every moment of your life is an opportunity to open your heart to the Lord, and to get to know Him better. When we choose to do that, we open up a channel to receive God's grace, blessings, love, forgiveness and mercy.

And then we are able to be in right relationship with God and with everyone in our lives. When we come to know God and Jesus Christ as the Holy Spirit reveals Him to us, we are able to receive the gift of faith, and we are able to live our lives in the fullness of His love and grace and peace and joy. 

This is eternal life, as Jesus says, to know God and to know the one who God has sent.

So eternal life begins now, while we are still on Earth. And forever and ever we wil be in Glory with Him and all the host of witnesses to His Love and Shalom, the Fulness of God's Peace.
Recently a friend posted something about not believing in Hell. It made me sad, because I know that she also doesn't believe in Heaven. She's a very loving person, but she doesn't know God and Jesus Christ, and there is something missing from her life because of that.

When I was in pastoral ministry in the local church, often when someone passed away, people would openly speculate about whether the soul of that person was in Heaven or not. It was interesting to hear the conversations about that, and as a pastor if I was involved in the conversation this is what I would say: only God knows what is in the heart of each person, and it is between that person then God whether or not the person has chosen to be open to the Holy Spirit and to know God. The Lord does not want any barriers to exist between him and each person who lives on earth or who has ever lived on earth. After He died on the cross, Jesus went to the netherworld to deliver people.

And when John the Baptist was imprisoned and sent his disciples to Jesus to ask Him if He was indeed the Messiah, Jesus answered by pointing out all of the miracles that He had done that were signs of who He is. Then Jesus said, "Blessed is he who is not offended because of me."

Jesus meant that no one should be turned away from God because of Him or because of doubts about Him. John the Baptist was the first one to recognize Jesus as Messiah when he was given a sign about Jesus before he baptized Him. When he sent his disciples to ask Jesus the question that they asked him, maybe John was having doubts himself, but I think John was hoping that Jesus would make it clear to his followers.

The decision to believe that God loves us and to know Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit comes only through our willingness to be open. The Holy Spirit reveals Jesus Christ to us, but even when that happens, we are the ones who must choose to believe or not. Again, this is because of the free will that God is given to each human being.

No person really talk anybody into believing in Jesus Christ. We only come to know God in Christ when the Holy Spirit gives us everything we need to believe and understand. And we have to be willing to open our hearts and give God a chance to show us.

An evangelist I know says that for people who have not grown up in the church, it will take maybe 900 or so invitations or incidents of someone's witness of his or her faith for a person to believe. This may have been an exaggeration for effect, but what he meant was that if people who don't know the Lord are no longer children, there are blocks and points of resistance to the Holy Spirit.

Maybe there are blocks to you, too. There are many kinds of obstacles that keep us from being able to believe. Sometimes we have been hurt in ways that make it difficult for us to see God as father. 

Maybe even if we grew up in church, we have been spiritually abused or have witnessed some hypocrisy so that we have been turned off by people in the church. But God is always calling each person to open his or her heart and even if someone is only willing to open up a small crack, the Lord is able to use that opening to pour in His love and to help each person but answering questions and alleviating doubts.

So as ever, Beloved, my prayer for you is that if you know the Lord, that you will allow him to draw you deeper into his love and come to know him even better so that you will have more faith, joy, peace, and love. And if you do not know the Lord, my prayer for you is that you will give Him a chance to show you how much He loves you and how you can trust Him.

May the Lord continue to bless and keep you and yours, today and always.