The Upload
Posted on Oct 03, 2014 by
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
I pray you have had a blessed week.
We all have excuses for not being active in our faith, don’t we? I hear them a lot, “Oh, Pastor, sorry we weren’t there on Sunday, but the boys had a football game.” Most of the excuses can be summarized in a statement that literally means “Pastor, we won’t be able to help at that service event, or be part of that team, because we have so many other things going on in our lives.”
I get it! In fact, I often use these same excuses. In his book, “The Answer to Bad Religion is Not No Religion,” Methodist minister Martin Thielen says he recently saw a letter a neighboring pastor received from a family that had become inactive in the church. After listing a series of familiar reasons for their absence (summertime at the lake, busy weekends with soccer and basketball, and vacation trips at Christmas, etc.), they closed their letter with these words, “But one of these days, don’t be surprised when you look up and see us out there in the congregation, because we just love you and we just love our church.” In other words, we just can’t be bothered with showing up and participating in any noticeable way. Based on the parable we read last week (Matthew 21:23-32), this would be a perfect example of saying “yes” while living “no.”
Ministers are not immune to this, either. I’ve known ministers who’ve preached tithing while not giving anything to the church themselves. Their excuse? “Well, I’m seriously underpaid, so I’ll just consider the money they don’t pay me as my contribution.” That is saying “yes” while living “no.”
Or what about the congregation that says they are a welcoming community, but then don’t want to be open to the gay and lesbian community or people who don’t worship the same way as we Lutherans do? That is saying “yes” while living “no.”
Or what about those of us who gather in church every week and say together, “Forgive us our sins while we forgive those who sin against us,” and yet go on for years harboring resentments, nursing grudges, withholding grace and forgiveness and reconciliation from others while accepting it for ourselves from God? That is saying “yes” while living “no.”
In our Gospel this week (Matthew 21:33-46), Jesus continues this theme of challenging us to not just saying “yes,” but also living our lives with actions that say “yes.” This week, Jesus is challenging us to remember who is truly in charge of our lives. As I noted last week, I don’t like it when someone else has authority over me, but in the parable this week, Jesus reminds us that when we reject his authority over our lives, we are literally rejecting the very cornerstone of our faith.
Our challenge as Christians is not just to profess Jesus as our Lord and Savior with our lips, but to live our lives knowing that the one who has literally redeemed us expects us to accept his authority and to live as he lived.
This is hard stuff, but I am so thankful that Jesus is in charge, and not me.
Have a blessed week!
Shalom,
Pastor Dave