An Uncommon Love

Hello! Merry Christmas! Here is this week’s Living Water! It’s a remix of Sunday’s message. Please remember to listen to Walk With Me, Wednesday night, 8 pm on yfnradio.com. And if you’re in the North Jersey area, please join us on Christmas Eve, 5:30 pm at First Reformed Church of Saddle Brook. Blessings, Christopher

An Uncommon Love

So I typed “the need to be loved” into Google and it registered 362 million results. Not surprising right? 

Just a quick survey of conversations with family and friends as well as today’s popular songs, television shows, movies and books reveals that many of them revolve around this quest to love and be loved. 

This is not necessarily a bad thing. To love and be loved, well, those are good things. It’s the kind of loving though that is presented through these media and more importantly, the loving that many of us experience in life that is concerning. Because with reality and in media, we don’t often see loving that is healthy, life-giving and whole. And yet it is driving a significant amount of behavior and decision-making – ranging from well-intentioned to foolish to destructive to even worse. 

Unfortunately, much of the love we experience and witness is based on appearances and surface, self-serving, often manipulative, convenient, and safe; in other words not really love at all. In addition, what adds to fuel to the fire with all of this is the strong connection between self-worth and loving. 

And yet, at the heart of all the sentimentality of Christmas is a great, wonderful, powerful, transforming truth: God’s uncommon love is made visible in the birth of Christ. Let me show you…

This uncommon love has four characteristics. First, it’s a faithful and promised love. It’s hard to find good examples of faithfulness and kept promises today. When Jesus was born, it was the fulfillment of a promise God had made to His people, that their redemption, the whole world’s redemption would come through David’s lineage. “I will maintain my love to him (the promised descendant of David – Christ) forever, and my covenant with him will never fail (Psalm 89:28).” When Jesus was born that never failing love was nearer than ever before and remains as close and promised today for us through the new covenant in His blood and through the Holy Spirit.

The second characteristic of God’s uncommon love is that it is unconditional – meaning there it is a free gift – we don’t earn it, keep it or remove it. Why? Because God loves us uncommonly because it is about Him; it’s His character. Much of the love we experience is based on our behavior, expectations, agendas and more. That’s not God’s love. “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins (1 John 4:10).” God’s love as made visible in the birth of Christ was about Him and was His initiative. In our lives today, He loves us…just because. Unconditional love is so liberating – it frees us from who were were, from the past, it upholds us in the present and allows us to step confidently into the future. 

The third characteristic of this uncommon love is that it is sacrificial. Loving sacrificially is not too popular today. We want to love and be loved…conveniently, safely and without any pain. That usually doesn’t work out anyway. But God’s love in Christ is very different. “Who, being in very nature, God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness…(Philippians 2:6-7).” He was and is the Son of God and He completely condescends to us – Creator taking the form of one of His creations – to live, suffer, die and be raised for us – out of love. It wasn’t a mistake or random event that He came here. There is truly nothing like this. 

Finally, the fourth characteristic of God’s uncommon love is that it is daring. Jesus coming into this world as a human, as a child – think of the vulnerability, the risk. This is what moves us we about romantic love – a hero or heroine risks and dares to love when it doesn’t make sense, in ways that do not make sense or are unconventional. As well, Jesus enters this world not just as a vulnerable child – God dwelling in the flesh, so close, but then He dares to and actually does reach and transform human hearts, while at the same time challenging the religious establishment and turning social conventions upside down. He loved and still does love the unlovable among us and sheds His grace upon our unlovable characteristics – this is a daring, risky, nonsensical love – but it’s true and it’s ours. 

You’ve heard Garth Brooks, Adele and others sing this song. I ask you to listen to it as if it were coming from Jesus, “When the evening shadows and the stars appear and there is no one there to dry your tears, I could hold you for a million years to make you feel my love…I’d go hungry, I’d go black and blue, I’d go crawling down the avenue, know there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to make you feel my love…Go to the ends of the earth for you, to make you feel my love.” This song echoes all of these God love characteristics. When you think about all of these together – faithful, unconditional, sacrificial, and daring – this uncommon love of God is, for many of us, barely believable – too good to be true. It’s inspiring and breathtaking and adds such meaning to what Christmas is really about: the revelation of God’s love in Christ – powerful, transforming, healing and ultimately saving…in other words, a miracle, a visible demonstration of God’s love and power. 

It’s the love you’ve been searching for, the love of which you’ve dreamed, the love you’ve been thirsting for…and it’s the love that doesn’t have to be sought after or found; it finds us…it has found us – that’s the baby in the manger! Please hear me today. Loving and being loved never should have been and no longer has to be a distorted, fearful, manipulated, or pretentious experience. Oh, when we awaken to find and behold the gift of God’s uncommon love for us in our hearts and lives – it’s better than even the best Christmas morning gift opening! Then all the fear and self-serving and confusion can disappear as fast as the wrapping gets torn off presents. And then when you and I, depending on God, start to try to love others in these ways – loving spouses, children, family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, fellow church members, everyone faithfully, unconditionally, sacrificially and daringly…what’s possible is this amazing, uncommon love of God becoming more and more visible so that while it may not be a baby in a manger or a man on a cross or an empty tomb; but it will still be His body. Christ in and through you and I – loving, reaching, restoring, liberating, lifting up, and embracing right here, right now for all the world to see and know. 

May the gift and miracle of God’s uncommon love truly become yours this Christmas.  

Amen. 

Rev. Christopher B. Wolf

Isaiah 42:7

cbrianwolf@gmail.com

www.christopherbwolf.com

 

Christopher B. Wolf is the author of Giving Faith a Second Chance: Restarts, Mulligans and Do-Overs (2007) and With You Every Step of the Way (September, 2011); and the host of Walk With Me, Wednesdays 8 pm on WYFN 94.9 FM-NY and on http://www.yfnradio.com.

 

“It is a matter of sharing and bearing the pain and puzzlement of the world so that the crucified love of God in Christ may be brought to bear healingly upon the world at exactly that point.” N.T. Wright

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Season’s Healings

As she stood in that familiar station in the kitchen, stirring the filling for the Thanksgiving pies, she could feel the tears welling up, then meandering down her cheek and then finally dropping into the pie mix. She vainly smiled thinking, “Well, there’s some of the salt I needed to add anyway.” The stirring of the pie filling stirred the memories of the dear ones who were no longer there to give direction, talk and share in the special day.

 

The holidays are wonderful times. But if we’re being honest, as the years go on, their effect is a combination, much like life, of laughter and tears. The holidays are a concentrated version of this – we feel the laughter and tears more intensely. The awareness of loss and vacancy is higher, appropriately so, during the holidays.

 

Whether it’s a holiday or just a regular day, it’s not just cheeks and pie fillings that are baptized and seasoned by tears, blouses and shirts, letters, pillows, keyboards, cups of coffee and more.  

 

In addition to my own tears, by virtue of being a pastor and a friend, I have witnessed a lot of tears. I love to wipe away my daughter Madelyn’s tears in part because that’s a good thing to do but also because it reminds me of the Bible verse, “And he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes (Revelation 21:4).” I want to do that for everyone – for the tears of failure, tears of fear, tears of grief, tears of loneliness, tears of powerlessness, tears of fatigue, tears of rejection and more. I don’t know, maybe I have known a lot of sad people; I mean, it’s definitely part of my mission to be in places and be with people who need comfort and strength. On a lighter note, I think that some people avoid talking to me because there are probably going to be some tears 😉   

 

If you think about it, tears are very interesting. The Bible acknowledges in multiple places and ways, that tears are a part of the faith journey. In addition to the promise of having them all wiped away, it talks about them as food during sad times, Jesus weeping at the loss of friend Lazarus, tears as repentance and grief over sin and exile; but also tears turning to joy (Psalm 126) and even the very comforting, “You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle (wineskin). Are they not in your book (Psalm 56:8)?”  

 

Another thing that makes tears interesting is that they reveal truth. As one friend said, “Tears are truth. Whatever the reason for the tears – joy, sadness, fear – whatever is causing the tears, it is a true experience.” And that friend was right. When we face the truth of our lives, tears often flow; when we read, watch or witness something that is truthful, tears often flow. Think of your favorite book or movie and how you react to it. I know as soon as Ray Cansella in the film Field of Dreams looks over and realizes that the catcher removing his equipment is his father, my eyes are already tearing – because there is beauty and truth in the pieces of life coming together and in reconciliation. Or when I am driving and I am switching radio stations and the song Wind Beneath My Wings comes on and reminds me of my Mom and I fight back the tears – because of the truth of our relationship and the grief. Or when I read or listen in the news about someone overcoming the odds or surviving a crisis or trial – because of the truth that God gives us strength we can’t even fathom until it’s needed.

 

Have you ever noticed that the some of the most blessed, sacred, and wonderful things in our lives have come during or after the tears? Think about the hopes and dreams that have come after tears. Think about the strength and renewal that has come after the tears. Think about the clarity and focus that has followed after our tears. Am I right?

 

It’s no coincidence that Psalm 126:5 says, “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.” As much as tears of fear, grief, sadness and isolation are a part of our lives and a part of our faith journeys, they do not have the last word; they are not the end. In fact, they are a gateway to God’s comfort, the comfort of others, truth, clarity, renewal and much more.

 

And, how about this – what is left when the tears dry or are wiped away? Salt, right? Remember what Jesus said, “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be the salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth (Matthew 5:13 MSG).” If and when we are ready, God wants to convert and transform the wounds and tears of our lives into healing and hope for us and for others. “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.” The most authentic witnesses and people of faith are the ones who have endured, who have hung on through the tears and who have loved others and offered hope out of their brokenness – “seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth.”

 

Maybe your tears have been “seasoning” parts of your life today – because of grief, loss, anxiety, despair, isolation, futility or another; but I want you to be comforted knowing that they are real, they are the truth, that God knows them and has compassion for you, that these tears are a path to true joy and serving others, and that ultimately they will be wiped away by God himself.

 

Amen!

 

 

Rev. Christopher B. Wolf

Isaiah 42:7

cbrianwolf@gmail.com

www.christopherbwolf.com

 

Christopher B. Wolf is the author of Giving Faith a Second Chance: Restarts, Mulligans and Do-Overs (2007) and With You Every Step of the Way (September, 2011).

 

“It is a matter of sharing and bearing the pain and puzzlement of the world so that the crucified love of God in Christ may be brought to bear healingly upon the world at exactly that point.” N.T. Wright

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A Handful of Cloak

Jerry was desperate…

His daughter was deathly ill. He needed help fast. He needed a miracle.

Likewise, there was a woman who had suffered for years. But it wouldn’t go away. She had tried everything. She was alone. She was out of money and it wasn’t getting better. The doctors had no answers.

She was at the end of her rope.

But…

Jesus was within reach.

As you know, it is not as simple as that. Jesus is always within reach. But, it’s the reach, right?

A reach is leaving our comfort zones, it requires a choice, it requires effort, it requires risk, and it requires that something be left behind.

For both Jerry and the woman it was a risk to reach Jesus – it could have cost them everything.

For Jerry, a religious official, his turning to Jesus for help put his status and reputation at risk.

For the woman, she had virtually nothing left, but would be getting Jesus in trouble with the religious officials.

Maybe there was just something about Jesus.

Jerry, also known as Jairus, put it all on the line and humbly asked Jesus for help – and Jesus said he would come to see his daughter.

The woman, literally reached for Jesus, “if I but touch his cloak, I will be healed,” she thought to herself.

And…

Just as she grabbed his cloak, she knew it was over – she was healed! And then the words, “Daughter, you took a risk of faith, and now you’re healed and whole. Live well, live blessed! Be healed of your plague (Mark 5:34 The Message).”

Speaking of daughters, by the time Jesus got to Jairus’ daughter, she was dead. They had heard the news along the way, but that didn’t stop Jesus. And when He got into her room of mourning, the Son brought the light! With just a “Wake up, little girl” she was alive again!

I guess Jerry and the woman could have played it safe. Jerry’s daughter would have died and stayed dead. We might say that they would have healed over time. The woman would have gone on alone and suffering. Not much of a life though.

Not much of a life though.

We play it safe – too safe. We are held hostage by our fears and doubts. We make compromises and deals and say, “We can live with it.” But deep down, the ache and the regret and the “what ifs” overflow in our souls.

That is why these two, Jerry and the woman have always meant so much to me – they challenge me and remind me. They remind me to always be thinking about my faith; the times I have reached and been blessed and convicting me for the times I haven’t. And they remind me of some special people I have known who have made that reach. And how they found faith and healing and yes, even miracles.

Because when we are reaching and risking for Jesus’ sake, our faith is real and alive. From the inside out, from behind the wall, out of the silence, out from the pew, beyond the doors, beyond our fears – that is where the healing is, that is where the miracles are, it is where we live – blessed – on the other side of the reach – in the handful of His cloak, in the humbled “ask” for help.

How much risk is in your faith today? In which parts of your life are you reaching out to Jesus? What needs to be left behind as you reach? In which parts of your life are you risking something, if not everything, in faith? If you belong to a church – where is your church risking and reaching?

How is your reach?

Amen.

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Turning Point

Turning Point

O Lord!

When someone lets go of decades of pain and suffering and begins to move toward wholeness –

We turn to you and give thanks that healing is possible through you.

When our young people, despite our best efforts, lose their way and find themselves in all kinds of prisons –

We turn to you for the keys and the strength to believe in tomorrow.

When our young people are faced with temptations at school, on the Internet – virtually everywhere they go –

We turn to you and remember that they are your children first.

When marriages reach the point where it seems like there is no hope –

We turn to you for patience and strength.

When marriages overcome obstacles of infidelity, neglect and the interference of others –

We turn to you and praise you for your faithfulness and grace.

When we become so tired and exhausted that we feel like we can’t go on –

We turn to you for strength and endurance.

When people become so isolated that they barely exist –

We turn to you and thank you for seeing us when we are invisible.

When people come out from years of hiding in the shadows –

We turn to you and thank you for your persistence and steadfast love.

When we see that our sins have caused immeasurable damage throughout our lives –

We turn to you for second, third, fourth (and so on) chances; and know we have them in Jesus.

When we feel like we are unworthy and no longer acceptable to you –

We turn to you and feel the embrace of your grace and unconditional love in Christ.

When this whole world seems to be on the brink of falling apart –

We turn to you with whatever we have left.

When we see things falling apart and new things emerging like people coming together like never before –

We turn to you and praise you for being a God that restores and renews.

When our brothers, sisters and friends are diagnosed with terrible diseases –

We turn to you and cry out “Why?!”

When our ill brothers, sisters and friends are strengthened and sometimes even cured –

We turn to you and thank you for your mercy and providence.

When we have tried everything and it still doesn’t work –

We turn to you and throw our hands up in the air.

When other voices discourage and bring us down –

We turn to you to hear the voice of truth.

When we are disoriented and feel lost –

We turn to you to be directed and found.

When we have surrendered all of our hopes and dreams to you –

We turn to you and watch them materialize in ways we never expected.

When we see our nation drowning in violence, idols, self-indulgence and greed –

We turn to you for the life preserver of peace and satisfaction.

When we see our nation rich with compassion, abundance and hope –

We turn to you and thank you for the gift of being here.

When our loved ones die and we can’t hear their voice anymore –

We turn to you and say, “We wanted just one more time…”

When we leave this earth and enter in your presence –

We will turn to you and our loved ones and smile at that glorious reunion.

We turn to you in all of these days and times and remember your words and promises –

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:39

In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Discussion Questions

1. What can make the difference in how we view what is happening in our world?
2. How can we keep in mind that God is in control despite what it may look like?
3. What can we do about evil in this world? What is our response?
4. From where does our help and hope come? How can we keep that in mind during times like this?

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The Reach

Mark 5

The Reach

 

 

“Jerry” was desperate.

 

His daughter was deathly ill. He needed help fast. He needed a miracle.

 

Likewise, there was a woman who had suffered for years. But it wouldn’t go away. She had tried everything. She was alone. She was out of money and it wasn’t getting better. The doctors had no answers.

 

She was at the end of her rope.

 

But…

 

Jesus was within reach.

 

As you know, it is not as simple as that. Jesus is always within reach. But, it’s the reach, right?

 

A reach is leaving our comfort zones, it requires a choice, it requires effort, it requires risk, and it requires that something be left behind.

 

For both Jerry and the woman it was a risk to reach Jesus – it could have cost them everything.

 

For Jerry, a religious official, his turning to Jesus for help put his status and reputation at risk.

 

For the woman, she had virtually nothing left, but would be getting Jesus in trouble with the religious officials.

 

Maybe there was just something about Jesus.

 

Jerry, also known as Jairus, put it all on the line and humbly asked Jesus for help – and Jesus said he would come to see his daughter.

 

The woman, literally reached for Jesus, “if I but touch his cloak, I will be healed,” she thought to herself.

 

And…

 

Just as she grabbed his cloak, she knew it was over – she was healed! And then the words, “Daughter, you took a risk of faith, and now you’re healed and whole. Live well, live blessed! Be healed of your plague (Mark 5:34 The Message).”

 

Speaking of daughters, by the time Jesus got to Jairus’ daughter, she was dead. They had heard the news along the way, but that didn’t stop Jesus. And when He got into her room of mourning, the Son brought the light! With just a “Wake up, little girl” she was alive again!  

 

I guess Jerry and the woman could have played it safe. Jerry’s daughter would have died and stayed dead. We might say that they would have healed over time. The woman would have gone on alone and suffering. Not much of a life though.

 

Not much of a life though.

 

We play it safe, too safe. We are held hostage by our fears and doubts. We make compromises and deals and say, “We can live with it.” But deep down, the ache and the regret and the “what ifs” overflow in our souls.  

 

That is why these two, Jerry and the woman have always meant so much to me – they challenge me and remind me. They remind me to always be thinking about my faith; the times I have reached and been blessed and convicting me for the times I haven’t. And they remind me of some special people I have known who have made that reach. And how they found faith and healing and yes, even miracles.

 

Because when we are reaching and risking for Jesus’ sake, our faith is real and alive. From the inside out, from behind the wall, out of the silence, out from the pew, beyond the doors, beyond our fears – that is where the healing is, that is where the miracles are, it is where we live – blessed – on the other side of the reach – in the handful of His cloak, in the humbled “ask” for help.

 

How much risk is in your faith today? In which parts of your life are you reaching out to Jesus? What needs to be left behind as you reach? In which parts of your life are you risking something, if not everything, in faith? If you belong to a church – where is your church risking and reaching?

 

How is your reach?

 

Amen.

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Reaching, Finding, Healing

 

 

 

“My dear friends, if you know people who have wandered off from God’s truth, don’t write them off. Go after them. Get them back and you will have rescued precious lives from destruction and prevented an epidemic of wandering from God.” James 5:19-20 The Message

 

 

I want to tell you about an important scene from one of my favorite movies, Seabiscuit (2003). It is one of my favorite movies because it so beautifully illustrates grace. Charles Howard is a man haunted by loss and death, looking to buy a horse and he goes through all the regular channels. But out of the corner of his eye he notices something different. He notices a “crackpot” horse trainer named Tom Smith. Later on, under the cover of night (like Nicodemus) Charles comes to find Tom. He notices that Tom is treating an older horse that no one else wanted and asks why he is “fixing” the horse. Tom explains that every horse is good for something. And then Tom says a line that I always remember – it is at the heart of the grace of Jesus Christ and the heart of my ministry, “You know, you don’t throw a whole life away just ‘cause he’s banged up a little.”

 

Banged up a little. That’s all of us – whether we are open about it or not. Whether it is visible or not. Whether it was by our choice (sin) or by circumstances and events. That is one of things I was reminded of yesterday about why Youth Sunday always stands out. The brave young people who shared their testimonies poignantly reminded us that we are all banged up a little. The difference – each year, several of our wonderful young people speak bravely and openly about it. No pretense, no apologies –

just authenticity, some tears and hope – a lot of hope.

 

Speaking of hope. “We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost. We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins everything we’ve done wrong, on him, on him (Jesus) (Isaiah 53:6).” It is by this fact that we are people of grace – received, undeserved, unearned grace as in forgiveness.

 

See, God didn’t write us off, when he could have. Sometimes Christians and churches get so good at celebrating God’s grace that we forget that God could have written us off. And we lose sight of what it was/is to be without grace and a kind of blindness develops to those who are “banged up” and who have wandered away from God.

 

That is why, when we are tempted to think people are less than perfect and don’t belong and to think that lives can be written off, we need to stop and listen…

 

“My dear friends, if you know people who have wandered off from God’s truth, don’t write them off. Go after them. Get them back and you will have rescued precious lives from destruction and prevented an epidemic of wandering from God (James 5:19-20).” 

 

Do you know someone who has wandered off from God’s truth? Do you know some people who are “banged up a little” or worse? I know I do. And I have been going after them for most of my life. I do because first I know that I am “banged up a little” and I know the grace by which I am saved – for which I am eternally thankful. And I do this because I believe every life is precious to God, even if they are “banged up a little.”

 

It is hard to precisely put into words how amazing it feels when God has allowed me to be a part of “getting them back and rescuing precious lives…” It is a peace beyond words and it feels sacred; it is the true definition of fulfillment for me. I know that I experience healing when I am a part of others’ healing. God is the initiator of grace, but if we are faithful, the grace we receive can be shared and multiplied – and really that was God’s design – for the grace to be shared. And how “wonderful and marvelous” it is to play a lead role or even to be an “extra”   in stories of grace and redemption. And though I may not get it right every time, it is at the core of my soul.   

 

As many of you know, the partnership of Charles Howard and Tom Smith led to finding the rider Red Pollard and the horse Seabiscuit. It is story of winning despite lost causes; it is story of finding and sharing grace and healing in the midst of brokenness; it’s about redemption. At the end of the film, during the last race, the sound of hoofs and cheers recedes to the musical theme played softly and to Red’s voice, who explains, “You know, everybody thinks we found this broken down horse and fixed him. But we didn’t. He fixed us. Every one of us (as the camera shows each of the main characters). And I guess in a way, we kinda fixed each other too.”

 

See, when it comes to people, according to God – and therefore to us, there is no such thing as a lost cause. And to believe this – to live this – is to be in the palm of Jesus’ outstretched hand.

 

We can’t prevent or stop all the wandering and the dents that we get in life – self-inflicted or the ones that just happen. But we can experience and be a part of the reaching, finding and healing.

 

That is where I want to be.

 

Will you join me?

 

Amen.

 

Discussion Questions

1. What is your own redemption story? Have you ever shared it with anyone? Would you like to share it with me?
2. Have you ever been a part of someone else’s healing and grace? What did that feel like?
3. Can you think of someone for whom you can be a part of reaching, finding and healing? What will you do about it?
4. How you can share some grace today?

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The Right Relationship

 

 

 

“The Word of God became flesh and dwelled among us.” John 1:14

 

In many ways, our lives are defined by our relationships. Certainly we are all individuals. But our times, the substance of our lives can be seen through our connections or lack thereof with others. Relationships at their best can literally be life-giving; relationships at their worst can be heartbreaking or worse.

 

For me, I have been shaped and influenced by so many relationships. Loving others, being loved, sharing the highs and lows of life, learning together. Obviously, my parents and brother Ryan to aunts, uncles and cousins; friends, teachers and coaches. All the people I have worked with at many different jobs. From my first girlfriend (second grade) Christina (who is a faithful Living Water reader today) to all the people I’ve had the privilege to serve as their pastor in a church or from a distance. And, of course, my wife and my children. And that is just in nearly 40 years. I have been very blessed with these key human relationships. Bu there is one relationship above them all…

 

See, so much of our time revolves around relationships – building them, protecting them, putting them back together, enjoying them, and figuring them out. We are frequently wondering how are relationships are doing or seeking the “right” one. Most of the joys of life flow through relationships – life enjoyed through and with others. We are relational by design – by God’s design.

 

Which is why, with the sending of Jesus into this world – God got personal.

 

The whole idea of the Word became flesh and dwelled among us was that God became fully relational with human beings by becoming a human being. No more pillar of fire, no more voice from the mountain, not speaking through prophets, but in the flesh…

 

From his birth, the child in the manger – to his personal encounters with people – healings, teachings and attending weddings – to the last supper, where he asked his friends (and us to this day) to remember him – to the crucifixion and his death and then his bodily resurrection. All lived out by a person who was God and human.

 

I keep thinking about how he was sitting at the Passover meal with his disciples and transforms that sacred meal from a remembrance of the saving power of God during the Exodus into this simple but powerful and personal, “Remember me.” God getting personal.

 

Or I think of this liturgy I use at funerals that includes, “Through his death, Jesus sanctified the graves of the saints (those who believe).” Despite the sadness, it is a beautiful thought and only possible by God becoming flesh and living and dying among us. God getting personal and enduring all things human.

 

Not a theology, not an idea, not a theory, not a hypothetical, not a building, not a tradition or denomination, not a doctrine; but a person. All the things we have made God and religion often make us miss the point that God became flesh and dwelled among us to invite us into a saving and sustaining relationship with him.

 

He came in the flesh for two main purposes – he assumed flesh to assume the sin of the world so by going to the cross and dying – the power of death and sin – that which separated us from God – would be destroyed and the door to a relationship with God could be restored. “It is accomplished,” as he said.

 

And when we think of relationships, it is the most important one. I mean, if you we don’t have this relationship right, then what do we have? Whether you liked or agreed with the book The Shack, one clear message that came from readers was a reminder that God desires a living relationship with us.

 

Relationship involves unconditional love, trust, communication, sharing, serving, encouragement, authenticity, presence. Jesus was and is God to us in all of these ways.  

 

But there was another purpose to his coming “in the flesh.” And it was demonstrate how to be Christ to one another and to the world.   

 

Think about that for a moment. To be Christ to someone. What does that mean?

 

Because he lived in the flesh among us…we can live…because he was divine as well as human, we can see what it was to be human in the best terms as well as to be Christ to one another.

 

To love others sacrificially, to serve them, to open ourselves fearlessly, to see the best in others, to want the best for others, to be instruments of God’s healing and grace – this is to be Christ to one another.

 

But it all starts with a relationship. A few years ago Chase Bank’s slogan went something like this, “The right relationship is everything.”

 

And so it is for us. God got personal with us through Jesus – he initiated the relationship. And it’s about having the “right” relationship with God by believing in his son Jesus, and from that saving and sustaining, primary relationship, all of our other relationships can be “right” by being Christ to others – to embody him to others, from his flesh through ours.

 

Amen.

 

Discussions Questions

1. How is your relationship with God? Is it healthy or dysfunctional? Is it through Jesus? Would you like to know more about this?
2. How are you relationships with others? How do you evaluate relationships? What is that based on?
3. What do you think of being Christ to others? How can we do this?
4. How has God been personal with you in your life? If you feel like he hasn’t, how would that look if he did?

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The Ugliest Day

Mark 15:25-32

The Ugliest Day  

“25 It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him… 29 Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, 30 save yourself and come down from the cross!”…“He saved others; he cannot save himself… Those who were crucified with him also taunted him.”

 

            Good Friday.

 

            One thing about Good Friday is what it reveals about us humans. You know it is the day Jesus died for our sins; He atones for our sins and takes the punishment so that we can be reconciled with God. You know that part…

 

            But there is another part of this that may often be missed.

           

            This is such an ugly scene. We have seen some very terrible things in our lifetimes – wars, murder, terrorism, September 11^th, all of these are/were awful in their own ways. And all of those were perpetrated by…other humans. 

 

            When you read the above passage we see many of the same things, directed of course at one person. And this is the crucial part of the magnitude of this. The victim or target here is Jesus Christ, the only Son of God. Here is a sample of how He was treated: Put on the cross; He was innocent but was put in the same place as criminals; humiliated and put down; and taunted by officials and the criminals. This is how we treated God then; this is how we often treat God now.

 

            Good Friday is a naked revelation of how awful and ugly the human heart can be. It is a revelation of how far away the human heart can stray from God’s Word and ways. It is a revelation of the hatred and violence and disregard the human heart is capable. It shows how easy it is to be blinded by fear and hatred to “eliminate the problem.” And before you say, “That was then and this is now,” is it really? Don’t we do these things in little ways in our lives? And while we were not there physically that day, as the old hymn asks, “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” – Yes we were. The character of humanity, in which we share, was there and at its worst.

 

            And while all of this ugliness is on display, it is called “good.” Why? How?

 

            Because even for all of what happened on that day, and all the minor ways we today mirror the hatred, violence and disregard; all of the culmination of sins in which we live and are drenched in – even with all that – and really, thanks only to Jesus going to the cross and taking all of this on, there still is an Easter morning, the resurrection and the possibility of new and eternal life.

           

            And for us, as much as we hate; as much as we kill; as much as we disregard God and others – thanks to Jesus, the door is open to acknowledge that in all that we need a savior to redeem us from all that we have done. And by acknowledging Him as our savior and repenting of our sins – we will die and be raised by, through and be with Him forever. There is this great quote by a church father named Gregory of Nyssa, “What is not assumed, is not healed.” This is a good explanation of why Good Friday had to be so bad. While on the cross, Jesus assumed the sin of the world, this fallen heart and character of humanity, so that it could be healed. So yes, was it ugly and terrible? But, it had to be to make our redemption possible.

 

            You see, we will never begin to fully understand God’s grace and love in Jesus Christ until we start to see from where it comes – from the depths and horror of sin and darkness and suffering and isolation of the cross. It wouldn’t be God’s awesome, life-giving, liberating and eternal grace, if it didn’t require a savior, a savior named Jesus…

 

            Later this week, on Good Friday, please take time to reflect on what the “good” means to you.

 

            Amen.  

 

Discussion Questions

1. Prior to reading this what were you thoughts about Good Friday?
2. What are some of your thoughts on sin after thinking about Good Friday in the above way?
3. What are some ways we can personally reflect/acknowledge Good Friday in light of this Scripture?
4. Think of some adjectives to describe the events described in the above passage.

 

 

Rev. Christopher B. Wolf

Isaiah 42:7

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Christopher-B-Wolf/17378287393

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The Way Back

Hosea 6:1-2

The Way Back  

“Come, let us return to the Lord. For he has torn, that he may heal us. He has stricken, and he will build us up. After two days, he will revive us; on the third day, he will raise us up, that we may live before him.” Hosea 6:1-2 (RSV)

 

The truth is that we all have some “prodigal” in us. It is easy to think of the prodigal son (Luke 15) as a person who needed a lesson and thankfully comes back. But if we are honest about most of our faith journeys, it is a process of going away and returning to the Lord. We spend seasons on the mountaintop only to have everything fall through. We find ourselves in the wilderness, at the end of our rope, finally crawling onto the edges of a promised land. Some of us have lost years, decades even. And then, without any warning, our hearts once again, begin to yearn for God or something about him. As the band Pearl Jam sings in their song “Thumbing My Way (Back to Heaven)” – “No matter how cold the winter, there’s a springtime ahead; I’m thumbing my way back to heaven.”

 

But we have to ask the questions, “Why the wilderness, why the lost years?”

 

The above verses in particular are about how that yearning sometimes comes back. Hosea, as you know was a prophet asking God’s people to wake up to the distance between them and God. “Come, let us return to the Lord (1).”

 

But then the prophet offers what will seem to some as a strange explanation. “For he (the Lord) has torn, that he may heal us.” Why do we have to be torn, so that God can heal us? Why can’t we just stay un-torn or whole? And you know what I am going to say. That we don’t start off whole to begin with. Sins like pride, lust, and others are ever present in our lives. It is the human, fallen condition. If that isn’t bad enough, our denial only makes it worse. When sin leads us to believe that we don’t need God or don’t need to follow his ways, is as they say, insult to injury.

 

And because we believe that God is always purposeful, these words from Hosea cut deeply. “For he has torn (allowing our sins and their consequences), that he may heal (come to understand our need for Him) us. How often have we felt torn, physically, mentally and spiritually? But more importantly, how often have we felt torn and then seen it as God actually trying to heal us or draw us closer? I guess it is easier to blame God for bad circumstances and just be angry. But oh what we miss when we leave it at that. Because the awful truth is that God has to tear us to get us to see that we completely need him for salvation and living. For most of us, without the tearing and wildernesses, we wouldn’t acknowledge the need for a savior.

 

Admittedly, it took many years for me to learn this to the point where I really believe it. And I do. Part of my job is not so much to give answers, but to give sight based on the Word. And more often than not, I find myself with brothers and sisters helping them to see what God is doing in their lives. And this is the principle at work many, many times. And I can say it with hope because of my own tearing experiences.

 

And there is hope in this passage, much hope! “He has stricken, and he will build us up. After two days he will revive us, on the third day, he will raise us up, that we may live before him.” You see as humans, we often look at the torn and stricken and say, “why?” instead of saying “Amen!” to the healing, building up, reviving, and raising up so that we may live parts.

 

By the way, have you caught the echoes of Jesus in these two verses? Our dear savior was torn so that we can be healed; Jesus was stricken for our sins and was built up. Built up when? On the third day he was raised up and because of that we live before God. But remember, Jesus had to be torn and had to die for us to live eternally – it was the only way. And therefore is it also the rhythm for our daily living – tearing down and then building up; dying to our sins and then finding new life in Christ.

 

I know you are torn and stricken. I wish I could take it all away. But even if I could, I would be interrupting what God is trying to do in your life. And that is – trying to get us to return to him; not just to church, although that might be one way; but leading our hearts back to him. Leading us to turn our hearts home to him again. So whether it is the first time you need to come back or the twentieth, as the verse said, “Come let us return to the Lord.”

 

And you know there is nothing like coming home. Whether it is after a long day, or after months or years. A couple of times a year I return home to New Jersey, and it starts with seeing the familiar signs and sights along Route 80 all the way until I enter my hometown Fair Lawn and arrive at my brother’s house – seeing family and friends – those blessed reunions. There is nothing like returning to a place and people where you are known and loved. Just walking up to the door, that first smile or hug, can make the journey all worth it. That is what it is like to return to the Lord.

 

And as the song says, “No matter how cold the winter, there’s a springtime ahead; I’m thumbing my way back to heaven.”

 

I am right beside you walking and praying – we can come home to Him after all.

 

Amen.

  

Discussion Questions

1. What is your gut or first reaction to hearing that God tears us (even though for a purpose)?
2. When you think of tearing times in your life (maybe even right now) what does this passage say to you?
3. Can you think of some times when you felt revived after being in the wilderness? What were they like? Does God get the credit for that too?

4.   Would you like to return to the Lord but don’t know how? Please call or email me, I would love to help.

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Photos from Africa

Please visit this site to see photos from my recent mission trip to Africa. God blessed me with many opportunities to be His hands and feet.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=510771&id=543293163&l=85ec1

 

 

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