Upside-Down Kingdom, Feb. 15th

We have a pinch hitter this week for our Sunday morning reflection...Pastor Ed has stepped in to write about our worship service this week.

Sunday’s worship theme was “God as the Potter.” Jim Anderson, local potter and United Methodist pastor spoke about how we are clay in the hands of the potter. Many folks remarked how refreshing it was to hear a good sermon for a change.

As Jim formed and shaped a piece of clay on his potter’s wheel, he talked to us about how God does the same to us. Yet we, as pieces of clay, are always wanting to be something (or someone) other than we are. We wonder why God made us this way. Romans 9:20-21 says, “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes, and some for common use?” That is when it became personal for me. All of my life, I have asked God, “Why did you make me like this?” I wore braces for 4 years as a teenager; trying straighten my teeth. At the same time, I wore a back brace to straighten my spine. I am very nearsighted and have worn glasses since the third grade. To top it off, believe it or not; I am horribly shy and introverted. Why did God make me like this?

Jim said to us, “God has, in you, some way of revealing Himself to the world, that only you can do. It may be the thing about yourself that you are most unhappy about, that will help reveal to someone else in this world, something about God, about who he is and what he can do.” So what is it about you that you wish you could change? It may be that very thing that God will use to reveal himself to someone else.

Jubilee Conference

I just got back from hanging out with 2,500 college students in Pittsburgh. We were all attending a conference called Jubilee and it was amazing!!

The Jubilee conference is run by the CCO (Christian Coalition for Outreach) and it focuses each year on we can live deeper with Christ, focusing mostly on the college aged population. This year, the subtitle was "every square inch", and together we reflected on how Jesus encounters all aspects of our life.

At Jubilee, we encountered speakers from all aspects of the Christianity, from Lauren Winner, a professor and author from Duke Divinity school, to Bill Strickland, an entrepeneur reconstructing a missional love for the poor, to the punter from the Steelers, who is walking with Christ in the NFL. Artists surrounded us, whether those using paint or photography, to musicians playing Jazz, Indie, and worship music. The spectrum of giftedness ranged all throughout the weekend and it was a brilliant display of how God is moving in so many people and through so many unique channels.

Andy Crouch

Andy was the main speaker of the weekend, and he focused in on topics surrounding his new book "Culture Making". Often in Christianity we interlay a series of postures in response to culture: condemning, critiquing, copying and consuming. His focus was to inspire within us a effective and a God like culture which will direct us deeper. He directed us to focus in on cultivating culture, by taking what unique postures of culture are already present and passing them on then creating new ways to experience a live out our faith by residing deeper within disciplines to follow Christ. He deconstructed music, movies and slogans already used in our world and displayed for us how this culture either is great already or how we can work to cultivate a deeper sense of perfecting what our giftedness is in Christ.

Andy was a tremendous speaker, and I partictularly thought it was exciting to participate in breaking down the Pixar movie Ratatouie and see how this is a great representation of a great story and how this brilliance could underlay our drive to live out our giftedness.

On Saturday night, three artists joined together for a concert. Joy Ike (far left), Justin McRoberst (2nd from right) and Jonathan Walton (far right) all came together to mix up some reflections on life through their music and poetry. Music and poetry combine so beautifully together and as these three artists reflected, joked and simply just shared their journies of following Jesus together...just wow, it was beautiful.

Jonathan is a poet/rapper, a unique style combing together lyrical and poetic nuances into a flowing, heart filled expression of walking with God. Both Joy and Justin are musicians with unique abilities to encounter the heart. It was Valentines day night and it was great to sit their with Jessica, my girlfriend, and soak up these amazing expressions of love for Jesus.

Bill Strickland was another presenter. Bill is one of those entrepeneur types, who God has used in just amazing ways. Bill talked about creating schools for youth and adults in the midst of poverty. Now, this is great idea, anybody would agree, but Bill took this to another level. He just didn't build schools, he built great schools.

Bill talked about not just educating people in poverty but re-creating their self worth in education. The schools he built were beautiful, nicer than any school I have ever been to. He wasn't just educating them with GED's but empowering these people in poverty to be chef's, medical researchers, artists and computer programmers. I was just enamoured when he shared pictures with us gourmet deserts created by welfare moms with no prior training. Through Pennsylvania, formely poverty stricken individuals were key employees in just a plethora of businesses. He was training within these people not just talents and disciplines to help them get a job, but a he was cultivating a self worth and identity to help them be free from the burden and isolation class and identity struggles.

Just wow.

Throughout the weekend, it hit me time and time again how Jesus is alive in so many places in this world. So often, we just see the church and say...God is there. Yet, this weekend, the church was rarely mentioned. It was more pointed at the idea that we use the communities at our churches to empower us to go out and change the world. From the organization Kiva, which micro-finances people in developing countries through fair loans, to John Greene who started Emmaus Ministries in Chicago which just simply loves and creates relationships with male prostitues to give them a space to leave this lifestyle.

The stories continue and it was such an inspiring weekend.

Thanks for listening and feel free to chat with me about any and all of this post :)

Grace and Peace!
Micah

One Amazing Team!

Last night, I had the opportunity to hang out with an amazing group of people. Once a month, these inspiring people gather around a small table to coordinate their efforts. Laughter and love flowed out of the room! The simple joy of seeing each other while connecting with their shared efforts brought this small group together. It is rare to see such a group and it was an empowered experience.

Who is this group?

The visitation team at Middlefield.

6 people, most who use a cane to get around and could be my grandparents, gathered together in this meeting to coordinate their efforts to venture out into the world and simply visit people in nursing homes.

Yes, it is that simple.

They just visit people.

But the astounding nature of their impact washed over me last night.

Stories flowed out of them like an open faucet of the experiences they have encountered while visiting people.

It is so easy to feel like we make no difference in the world, or that we are insignificant and can't do anything extraordinary, but these 6 people are truly changing people's lives. Just by spending an hour or two a week, venturing out into the nursing homes, spreading a little joy and laughter...ahh...it is just beautiful!

I soak up experiences like this because it makes me see Jesus alive on earth. I get to see people living into their gifts and I would really argue that their are few things more inspiring than that.

And it's so simple. Just a visit. Just a hug. Just a hello, saying to another person that you are important.

It's just that simple.

Grace and Peace,
Micah

(Oh yeah, you can join the group if you like...just let me know :) )

Upside-Down Kingdom, Feb. 8th

Today, at Middlefield, we traveled down the road of forgiveness. We've been looking at how being in the Kingdom of God can be a little Upside-down, and forgiveness is definitely one of those upside-down acts.

After the Cival War, President Lincoln said, "Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?" These were powerful words for our country and Lincoln did amazing things in his time. We can be inspired by Lincoln's words, not to destroy our enemies, but to end the cycle of retalliation. To rise above our human instinct to get completely even and see with different eyes is a huge step in forgiveness. Often, it is one of the most difficult things for us to do!

To understand all of the depths of injustice and forgiveness is a deep and winding road. Our scripture on Sunday pushes us one step closer to understanding this upside-down perspective.

In our scripture today we focused are thoughts on Matthew 18:23-35, the parable of the unmerciful servant... A servant is forgiven of his enormous debt by a king but the servant will not forgive someone's debt to him, which is minor in comparison. The writer tells us that if we can not forgive, then we will not be forgiven as well.

This parable is a difficult one to reconcile with the larger picture of the Christian journey. We learn of the forgiveness on the cross and we understand that our journey is to accept, trust and surrender to this forgiveness. However, in this parable, we hear a nuance to this forgiveness. We are told that we must, taken action ourselves, to forgive others, in order to receive this forgiveness.

At first glance, we are pushed to look at forgiveness with a transactional mindset. We must make the first step before we can receive forgiveness from God. It feels like God is only taking action when we firstly take the step of forgiveness.

It seems like God is being conditional with forgiveness.

But something else is going on.

Tasting the fruits of forgivness from God, when we really do this, is an experience like none other. When we believe and have trust in our savior, we relinquish the burdens of our iniquities, our failures. We learn that Jesus has let go of our failures and we rest, truly finding peace from our pain.

Once this forgiveness is tasted, and truly indwelt, what happens next? Often this is a huge question for many new believers and it is one that has many layers. The main emphasis, still, is for us to live a Christ like life. We are to model our lives like Christ, praying, meditating and learning about how that looks.

So, if we are taking after Jesus, how can we not forgive ourselves? God has washed us with such a heavenly blessing of freedom in His grace, how can we do anything else than free others as we were freed?

If we are lacking forgiveness in our own hearts, holding onto the pains of this life like a hammer over another, than are we truly following Christ?

More than anything, I see Jesus pointing us to a deeper conviction of what it means to follow Him. The journey for Jesus was amazing, forgiving people like Judas must have been difficult. Still, by living into the love of Jesus, we can let our burdens go. We can forgive.

Often, pain filled moments like abuse, betrayal, neglect and oppression seem like insurmountable moments to our forgiveness. We want justice for such horrible moments. But God is calling us to something else...something so much more beautiful with a justice infused by God.

Imagine what it would have been like if Lincoln would have held every person of the South accountable for the trials of the Civil War. What if we would have been blinded to forgiveness, allowing his pain to fester and over ride his decision making? Without forgiveness, would our country have ever been able to make it past such dire moments?

We are challenged by Matthew 18. In our world, it is so easy to get caught up in a perspective of equality of pain, getting even wherever we can. Jesus points in another direction and our journey is to walk down that path.

Grace and Peace,
Micah

Thought Provoking Quote

Last night, I was watched the TV show Criminal Minds.

Yes, I realize that it is not the best show, but it is a group of FBI agents who venture out into crime scenes and profile the subjects who commit these crimes. This show is definitely hard to watch at time, because of the intensity, but it always keeps my attention. Plus, I get to live out my unfounded dream of being in the FBI :)

In the midst of the show, there are always quotes and thoughts from famous people, interspersed at the beginning and at the end, used most likely for dramatic effect.

Well, last night, one of their quotes struck me. It was from Harriet Beecher Stowe, and I think it said, "The bitterest tears left over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone."

Wow, what powerful words.

It was a reminder to me of the shortness and fragility of life.

It was also a reminder to me of how precious life is...what a gift it is just to be here. We have this wonderful opportunity to commune with the most high God and interact with the world on His behalf. We get to participate in His creation, build relationships with His people and be His children.

Whether we have words to say, or deeds to do, these are wise words to take hold of and remember. Those bitter tears are sure hard to bear and I hope they are a rarity in my life and in yours.

Grace and Peace,
Micah

Book Recommendation - The Shack

This past summer, I was stumbing through Borders, trying to quench my desire to buy more books, and I came across the Religion section. Normally, I am drawn to this section, because it always peeks my curiosity to see what new and exciting books have been written. Well, on this day, while I had probably $300 worth of books on my mind, I knew I only had about $50 dollars to spend. So, after buying a few books that I needed (yes, I really did need them), I came across a display for the book, The Shack.

Normally I don't buy novels, I like to rent them for free from the library. On this day, however, after picking up the book and sitting down in one of those not-to-comfortable chairs, I began reading.

After realizing that I had been reading this book for about half-of-an-hour, all the while being completely drawn into the story, I figured I might as well buy it.

I finished the book the next day.

The Shack is book that will definately stretch you. The author comprises a story, filled with turmoil and grief, and combines it with a beautifully painted picture of God interacting with the story. It is well written and deep, all of which I like. The images and interactions with God stretch and pull us to re-evaluate who God is to us and how we really view God. Some of the illustrations are definately not typical to God, yet they compelling.

With the amount the author, William Young, chooses to broaden the image of God, one might feel like he is going to far. But we need to remember that this is a novel, one of fiction and it can be a great supplement for our perspectives of God. With that being said, I encourage you to take a look at this book and journey into what the Shack has to offer.

On a side note, many people here at Middlefield Methodist have read this book. I will be hosting a time for us to share thoughts and opinions on the book in the near future. Stay tuned for when this will be!

Grace and Peace,

Micah

Upside-Down Kingdom, Feb. 1st

Today we turned our cheeks, walked an extra mile and gave away a cloak at Middlefield, all while reflecting on what God is saying in Matthew 5:38-42.

This is a well known scripture, used often in many different circles. Still, it is one of those sayings of Jesus that is so difficult to follow... our humanity drives us towards revenge and retalliation.

Pastor Ed told a delightful story of his own humanity compared to his sons movement towards peace. In this story, he talked about St. Francis of Assissi. The story of St. Francis is powerful, and he is definately a spiritual father to many Christians today. Here is the prayer that Pastor Ed talked about...it is called the Prayer of St. Francis.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;

to be understood as to understand;

to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Revenge and retalliation are so easy to get caught in. Our desire is to settle the score with the other person and take our own justice. The ethic of creating our own justice is so common within the media and culture today. Just take a look at a list of movies from the box office, and you will see a plethora of violent and revenge-filled stories.

Still, as we look back at the ethic Jesus is teaching us, it is hard to understand the 1st Century nuance in turning the other cheek.

What some scholars believe Jesus is referring to by turning the other cheek is alive in a master/slave relationship. Slaves were common in the 1st century and the relationship between a master and a slave often lead to violence. Masters would slap slaves to control or show dominance. While hitting them, they would use the back of their hand as a sign of power, to hit with the open hand would show a sign of equality. So...Masters would use their right hand and slap the right side of the slave with the back of their hand.

As Jesus is teaching here, he is saying that if you are abused and hit on the right side of your face with the back of the hand, that you are to turn your cheek and force the person/Master to make you an equal, and hit you with an open hand.

Subtle, the difference is to be hit with an open hand and not a backhand, but this difference would speak volumes to those in the 1st century. The metaphor of a seemingly "take it" mentality, thought of often in light of this scripture, is actually an ethic of strong non-violent resistence to the abuse.

Jesus is not teaching us to just take the abuse, but he is teaching us deep truths about how to actively engage the abuse without stooping to a level of revenge. The two most common and beautiful examples of these situations are alive in the movements led by Ghandi and MLK. Both thought long and deep about non-violent resistence in accord to these direct teachings of Jesus and both led movements fraught with potential for great violence to undermine their movements.

As Ghandi and MLK were speaking of such large systemic situations, this ethic moves right down into our lives. Every relationship, whether it is a marriage, sibling, exended family, friendship or work, all foster moments of ungrace...moments of pain. How we choose to respond often determines the outcome of the relationship...whether we will just continue plucking out eyes or if a different and more creative solution will be found.

One thing I know for sure is that the grace of God needs to surround these moments for us to live into these teachings of Christ.

As Pastor Ed concluded his sermon, let me conclude with the same statement..."An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth will just leave the world both blind and toothless." - Ghandi

Grace and Peace,

Micah