David with his Birthday Cake (Made from scratch by my wife).

I have a friend named David. He lives in an orange grove. He lives in a tent. Most people would say he is homeless. And I would have to agree except David’s real home is 1041 Corporate Drive. That’s the address of the church I pastor.

I have a friend named David. He rarely changes his clothes. His hygiene is almost non-existent . David smells bad too. When I talk to him, I am greeted by the odor of cigarettes and Bud light beer. People don’t like to sit near him in church. I’ve even heard people don’t want to worship God when David is near.

I have a friend named David. He comes to church every week. He comes on Friday night to hear the worship team rehearse for the next day. He comes back again the following day, for both services. He sits through CrossWalk U. where we talk theology and philosophy. David tells us about the night Jesus Christ walked into his tent and talked to him—and he wasn’t even doing drugs. He tells us this story, again, and again, and again. David loves our church. David prays for our church—every night.

I have a friend named David. He’s a former drug addict. He’s an alcoholic. His mind is gone. At times he doesn’t remember my name, my wife’s name, or my kid’s names. What does David remember? He remembers how his mother died when he was young. How his wife left him in Colorado and broke his heart. He remembers that he used to do the “hard stuff, but not anymore”, as he says. He remembers to tell me these stories every time I see him, as if it’s the first time. And David remembers, that every week when he gets to church there’s warm coffee waiting for him, sometimes a bagel and donuts too.

I have a friend named David. I watched him in church today. He was sitting three rows in front of me. He was wearing his new blue coat. A coat from donations I helped him find in storage today.  I watched David listening to the music, trying to sing. I watched him leave three times to have a cigarette. But David always comes back. I watched him sing “It is Well with My Soul” and it is well with my soul, for I belong to a church that has a homeless man who worships God better than I do.

I have a friend named David. I’ve been told I need to talk to him about his drinking and his smoking. I’ve been told I need to talk to him about his hygiene. We are glad he’s here but we want him to change. We want him to be like us. Smell like us. Look like us. Act like us.

I have a friend named David. I wish he would change. I wish there would be a miracle. But I doubt it can happen. I do not even worry if it will happen. I am at peace. God hasn’t given me the power to heal my friend, fix my friend. He’s only given me the power to love my friend.

I have a friend named David. I watched him in church today. I smelled him in church today. I heard him in church today. And I thanked God for my friend today. Jesus was in church today, not in the beautiful people I saw, not in the lovely children that sat near me, not in the songs or the prayers or the sermon today. Jesus was in church today through a homeless man named David.

I have a friend named David. He’s been sent from God. When I see David, when I hear David, when I smell David, I am reminded that church isn’t about me. This worship experience isn’t about me. It’s not about my comfort, it’s not about my happiness, it’s not about my well being. It’s about Jesus, and Jesus is sitting three rows in front of me in a homeless man named David.

I have a friend named David. Do you?

]]> http://jeffreygang.com/2011/12/25/simply-jesus-with-n-t-wright/feed/ 0 http://jeffreygang.com/2010/09/21/tuesdays-with-willard-introduction/ http://jeffreygang.com/2010/09/21/tuesdays-with-willard-introduction/#comments Wed, 22 Sep 2010 05:39:28 +0000 Jeff Gang http://jeffreygang.com/?p=874 Note: I am re-reading Dallas Willard’s book, The Divine Conspiracy. Over the next several weeks’ I’ll be posting my reflections as I make my way through a book  that changed my life nearly a decade ago.

Dallas Willard, says he wrote The Divine Conspiracy, “to gain a fresh hearing of Jesus.” Willard believes over familiarity with Jesus’ teachings have led many Christians to “profound ignorance” about following him, meaning “he [Jesus] is not taken to be a person of much ability.”  For example, when Jesus says love your enemies, he can’t be serious, it’s an ideal that doesn’t work in the “real” world. In contrast Willard argues, Jesus’ original followers took him at his word, they saw his teachings as the best way to live in this world. He writes:

The early message was, accordingly, not experienced as something its hearers had to believe or do because otherwise something bad—something with no essential connection with real life—would happen to them. The people generally impacted by that message generally concluded that they would be fools to disregard it. That was the basis of their conversion.

The Divine Conspiracy, p. xiv

Yet this isn’t the case today. Many Christians believe in Jesus, but they don’t believe Jesus. There’s a difference for Willard.  And he claims, one reason for the “weakened effect of Christianity in the world.” Willard hoped The Divine Conspiracy would help people do what Jesus Christ said, once again, as people did in the past.

His view of discipleship has been compelling to me over the years. Before reading The Divine Conspiracy I had never considered the idea of following Jesus simply because it was the best thing to do with my life, or in Willard’s words, “the best strategy I ever heard of.” He writes about this in one of my favorite passages from the introduction:

Individual Christians still hear Jesus say, “Whoever hears these words of mine and does them is like those intelligent people who build their houses upon rock,” standing firm against every pressure of life [Matt. 7.24-25]. How life giving it would be their understanding of the gospel allowed them simply to reply, “I will do them! I will find out how. I will devote my life to it! This is the best life strategy I ever head of!” and then go off to their fellowship and its teachers, and into their daily life, to learn how to live in his kingdom as Jesus indicated was best.

The Divine Conspiracy, p. xvi

One of the reasons for rereading this book is to see if that idea still resonates with me. Luke ends with the disciples hiding in fear. Acts begins with the disciples proclaiming the Gospel without fear. What happened? After spending three years with Jesus, hearing him teach about the Kingdom of God, did they finally get it? Did they wake up one day and say, “Ah, this is the best way to live our lives!” Is that what compelled them?

In recent years I’ve come to believe that Jesus’ followers were compelled to trust him when they witnessed his resurrection.  That’s what validated the life and teachings of Jesus.  That single event gave Jesus’ followers the confidence to trust him even when he commanded them to love your enemies. If God could raise Jesus from the dead, he can be trusted with anything. Even our own lives. So I agree with Willard, Jesus’ teachings offer the best way to live in this world, but without the resurrection, it’s just ethics. I believe that’s the point Paul is making to the Church in Corinth:

If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

]]> http://jeffreygang.com/2010/09/21/tuesdays-with-willard-introduction/feed/ 1 http://jeffreygang.com/2010/02/21/living-the-jesus-creed/ http://jeffreygang.com/2010/02/21/living-the-jesus-creed/#comments Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:17:45 +0000 Jeff Gang http://jeffreygang.com/?p=602 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. And … love your neighbor as yourself.”

I pastor a church in the suburbs called CrossWalk. We have a saying around our church that we are learning to love well.  It’s our mission and it comes from this simple yet challenging teaching of Jesus.  Scot McKnight refers to this as the  Jesus Creed. Several years ago be began reciting it throughout the day. It transformed his life and eventually led him to write The Jesus Creed.

Since the Jesus Creed is the basis of  CrossWalk’s mission we decided to encourage our community to go through Scot’s companion book 40 Days Living the Jesus Creed during the season of Lent. Each day provides a simple reflection on learning to love well. So far it’s been a good experience. In fact my family is using it everyday. We’re reciting the Jesus Creed with our kids each morning and evening (we’ve even had some fun with it while driving around town).

So if you’re looking for something to add to your Lenten practices this year, there’s still time to grab a copy and join us on our journey. In fact, come by CrossWalk this week if you are in town and I’ll give you a free copy (We gave away 300 copies at CrossWalk the last few weeks). There’s a few books left, but its first come first serve at this point.

This week is Transfiguration Sabbath at CrossWalk. The lectionary readings come from Exodus 34:29-35; Psalm 99; 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2; and Luke 9:28-36, (37-43). I am focusing on the Gospel reading for my sermon this week, but I’m weaving all of the readings together to make my point. Dwelling in these passages leaves me in awe of God’s humility. What kind of a God chooses to reveal his glory to the world through suffering (Lk. 9:57-62) and brokenness (2 Cor. 4)? Would anyone choose to make up this kind of god? We want temples and shrines for our gods. But the God of the Gospels gets things done another way. And our “departure” (Lk. 9:31) is the same—the path of Jesus Christ and his radical call to discipleship. So what are the implications? How about the church is meant to give herself away rather than prop herself up with success, impressing people with her buildings, attendance, or cash (a kind of pseudo-glory)?  Seems to me, Jesus’ path is the only way the world is transformed. I think Henry Nouwen would agree:

“Jesus showed us all that the very things we often flee – our vulnerability and mortality – can, at any moment, become the place of holy transfiguration, for us and for our world.”

- Henri Nouwen: Writings Selected With An Introduction By Robert A. Jonas

I. Surprised!

If you watched the NFL Championship games this past weekend, you may have seen the debut of a television ad that’s gone viral on the internet.  The ad is for Wal-Mart. And as much as it pains me to promote their business in any form, you’ve got to see it if you haven’t already [I paused the ad just as the Dad was jumping into the air]:

Let’s pause it for a moment; I promise we’ll come back. When was the last time you were surprised? I remember the surprise birthday party my wife threw for me when I turned thirty… last year. Okay, so its been a few years. Anyways, Gina blindfolded me, put me in a car and drove me around town until I was completely disoriented, and then she took me to another house where my friends were waiting to surprise me. I knew something was up since it was my birthday, but you know what really got me? She left me blindfolded for the big “surprise;” I totally didn’t see it coming, literally.

I think planning the surprise can be more fun than being surprised. When Gina and I were engaged, my Mom’s best friend, Charlene, wanted to have a wedding shower for us. Only she wanted to host it back in New Jersey, were I grew up, so my parents’ friends could be part of the shower. She also wanted it to be a surprise for my parents. We were attending school at Andrews University in Michigan at the time. So one weekend we drove to New Jersey, and hid out at Charlene’s place until the shower.

If it sounds complicated, it was. It took lots of strategizing. But it was a blast! My parents didn’t have a clue. At times we flat out deceived them. (You know that’s okay when your trying to surprise someone, right?) My Mom made it difficult too, because she kept calling Charlene about getting together. At one point my parents actually showed up at Charlene’s house, sending us scrambling to hide. It was a close call.

Of course, the best part of any surprise is the reaction—I’ll never forget my parents that night. Classic response. You know there’s always that bewildered look, like the brain is trying to catch up to what’s happening, like their minds have just gone through an entire process of reasoning in a few seconds, and then there’s the moment of recognition—Some people laugh, others scream, and lots of them cry, especially my Mom.

II. Jesus’ Surprise

Go with me to the Gospel of Luke, Luke 4:21-30.  The lectionary spends two weeks in this story. So here’s a recap: Jesus, has returned to his home town, Nazareth. It’s the Sabbath day, and he goes to the local synagogue, all the men are there, many of them old friends, playmates from his childhood. And he’s given an opportunity to read from the sacred Scriptures. He chooses to read the Prophet Isaiah:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free,
19 and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”1

Then Luke says, “Everyone in the synagogue looked at him intently.” Why? Word has gotten back to Nazareth. They say Joseph and Mary’s son has been traveling throughout Galilee, preaching in synagogues, causing quite a stir.  Everyone’s talking about him. They claim he’s filled with the Spirit of God, that he’s performed miracles—the blind see, deaf hear, lame walk, the possessed are set free, even the dead raised!

And then he chooses to read from the Prophet Isaiah. And not just any passage from Isaiah, but one of THE passages–a messianic passage, a jubilee passage, a passage that is the sum of their hope as a people: the time of the Lord’s favor. They’re not dumb. They can connect the dots. Could it be true? Is it possible? And a Galilean too? But someone from Nazareth? What’s up with that?

After all, Galileans were common people, intermarried with Gentiles, religiously uneducated, and considered “unwashed” people of the land. The upper crust people of the South despised Jesus and his fellow Nazarenes, they spat on them with contempt.2

Caleb Rosado, says “no room in the inn” for Mary & Joseph, didn’t mean it was full. It was more like how a black family from the North would’ve been received at a white motel in the South during the 1950’s. That’s what being a Jew from Nazareth was like. Nothing good was expected to come from there.3

So Jesus reads from the Scriptures, he reads of time when the Lord’s favor will rest on their people. They’ve longed for this day for centuries. All of Israel and Judah have longed for this day, surrounded by nations that oppressed them, occupied them, controlled them. Now, finally, once and for all, they’ll be the one’s on top.

But these poor country folk realize another implication of this as well. They’ve always been looked down upon by their rich cousins in cities like Jerusalem. But now? Now, if it’s true, the Scriptures are going to be fulfilled in Jesus, the hometown boy. You know what that means? He is one of us! We’ll have the power, we’ll be the one’s on top, the Galileans, the people from Nazareth.

And then, with all of these thoughts very likely racing through their minds in the synagogue that Sabbath day, Jesus closes the scrolls, hands them to the attendant, sits down (I bet you could hear a pin drop), and says, vs. 21, “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!” And Luke writes:

Everyone spoke well of him and was amazed by the gracious words that came from his lips. “How can this be?” they asked. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

Surprise!

III. Shocked!

Ok, let’s finish that Wal-Mart ad. Are you ready?

[I played the ad here in it's entirety]

I was terrified of clowns when I was a kid. I’m talking nightmares! If I’d been one of these kids at that party, I would have ended up scarred for life! I’m talking years of therapy!

So have you ever had a similar experience? Not with clowns, I mean going from surprise to shock? I think a lot of dads can relate to that. One night when I was a kid, my Dad got out an old wig, put on some tattered clothes, and snuck out of the back of the house. We’d just finished dinner, when the doorbell rang. My little sister ran to open it, and there was this creepy looking man. Her reaction? I can tell you this, it wasn’t surprise!

I’ve done it to my kids too.  Not too long ago I tried to surprise my five-year-old daughter McKenna. I heard her coming into our bedroom, so I hid behind the door, and then waited for right moment. I can’t recall exactly what I did, but I jumped out and made some strange noise. She burst into tears. No, not just tears–she was waling! Gina comes running. “What’d you do to her?” “I don’t know, she just started crying!” I wanted to surprise her but only ended up shocking her.

IV. Jesus the Revisionist

A mentor in ministry told me early on: “Always surprise people, never shock them.” Well, maybe Jesus could’ve used my mentor’s advice, because in v. 23. Jesus sees their reaction to what he’s just said, and he responds:

“You will undoubtedly quote me this proverb: ‘Physician, heal yourself’—meaning, ‘Do miracles here in your hometown like those you did in Capernaum.’ But I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his own hometown.

Then Jesus says, verse 25:

“Certainly there were many needy widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the heavens were closed for three and a half years, and a severe famine devastated the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them. He was sent instead to a foreigner—a widow of Zarephath in the land of Sidon. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, but the only one healed was Naaman, a Syrian.”

And verse 28:

“When they heard this, the people in the synagogue were furious. Jumping up, they mobbed him and forced him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built. They intended to push him over the cliff, but he passed right through the crowd and went on his way.”

From surprise to shock! What happened? A couple of comments about their prophetic past? A history lesson from the time of prophets? And this is how they react? One moment they’re amazed, the next enraged?

Jesus uses two stories from their history. The first, from the days of Elijah—-there’s a famine in the land, Elijah is being hunted down by his enemies, and God comes to his aid through a widow in the land of Sidon. And the second, from the days of Elisha—when Naman, a Syrian military officer with Leprosy is healed, after Elisha tells him to bathe in the Jordan River.

But notice how Jesus prefaces each story. First one, he says, “there were many needy widows in Israel in Elijah’s time … Yet Elijah wasn’t sent to any of them. He was sent instead to a foreigner.” Second one, he says, “there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, but the only one healed was Naman, a Syrian.”

Ok what’s the connection? They’re both outsiders! Enemies of Israel. Sidon and Syria are mentioned numerous times in the Scriptures—often as the oppressors and occupiers of Israel, Gentiles, considered cursed by God.  And the thought that God would reveal himself to an outsider, no, that he’d actually link them together—insider and outsider, is unthinkable, and it sends them into a murderous rage. “Jesus, we don’t like how you are revising our history.”

VI. Longing for an Epiphany

In Christian time, it’s the season of Epiphany—the season begins with the coming of the Magi from the east, moves on to Jesus’ baptism—where we hear the voice of God, “This is my beloved son;” looks at claims of his divinity, tells of his miracles, and ends on a mountain with Jesus’ transfiguration, were again we hear the voice of God, “This is my son, listen to him”. In each story Jesus is more than meets the eye, more than a carpenter, more than an itinerant preacher, more than rabbi, he’s being revealed to us as Messiah, Son of God.

You may not even be aware of it, or you may be fully aware of it. Every one of us wants God be revealed in some way, shape, or form. Things haven’t changed much since this story happened, that’s what they wanted then, and that’s what we want now.

Are you ready for God to be revealed? Hang on, because when God shows up, he’ll surprise you, but he’ll also shock you! There’ll be moments when you experience an epiphany sitting in a worship service, maybe through a song or sermon. But if you open your eyes, you’ll be shocked at where God reveals himself to you. If there’s one thing we can take away from this story, it’s that we can’t tell God where he can and can’t show up. He reveals himself wherever and to whoever he wishes.

“We can’t tell God what God should do. God is not under our bidding. God won’t do a miracle here just because we want God to. God will love and bless and help whomever God wants to love and bless and help. If God decides to miraculously feed a widow in Zaraphath, that’s what God will do. If God decides to heal Naaman, the Syrian, that’s what God will do.”4

If God decides to bless an illegal immigrant, or homosexual, or an atheist, self-righteous Adventist, or even a racist Christian, that’s what God will do. If God decides to do something special for an Muslim from Iraq or a terrorist from Afghanistan, that’s what God will do.

Luke’s story in our Gospel reading this week reminds us that no one is God’s “special people” to the exclusion of others. If we worship Jesus only for what he does for us, then we’ve missed out on God’s unlimitable gift. What’s that gift? His presence. And His presence is grace. And its often through the unlikeliest of people, places, and situations (or those we consider to be the unlikeliest) that we experience his presence the most.

I think it’s interesting that the Season of Epiphany begins with the Magi coming to worship Jesus. Danielle Shroyer believes we often forget the fact that these men were very likely pagan astrologers who felt compelled to search for God though a star. She’s writes in her book, The Boundary-Breaking God:

“From the very beginning of Jesus life on earth, God makes it clear this Messiah is going to muddy the lines between who is in and who is out. The story of the astrologers is the story of God’s expanding love from the viewpoint of unexpected outsiders.”

God delights in breaking through boundaries, And there’s lots of boundaries that need breaking through! There’s boundaries in our lives, boundaries in our homes, boundaries in our neighborhoods, boundaries in our schools, and boundaries in our churches. There’s boundaries that need breaking here at CrossWalk! And you know what? There’s boundaries that need breaking in our beloved Seventh-day Adventist Church! There’s boundaries that need breaking in Christianity. And there’s boundaries that need breaking in America!

We must ask ourselves, if we have a boundary breaking God, are we willing to be boundary breaking people? At CrossWalk we talk about being a community that is learning to love well. Part of that means we are a community that is learning to breakdown walls as well. A story came to mind as I thought about what that looks like for my life. In his book, The Kingdom of God is a Party, Tony Campolo tells the story of the night he threw a birthday party for a prostitute.

[Note: During the Sermon I actually read the whole story. Campolo is such a good storyteller, there was no way I’d do it justice telling it myself.]

Camplolo was visiting Honolulu, Hawaii on a speaking engagement. He happened to stop at a coffee shop at 3 AM one night when he couldn’t sleep. While eating a donut in the shop, Campolo overheard a prostitute tell her co-workers it was her birthday the next day, and that she’d never had a birthday party in her whole life. When she left Tony and the owner of the coffee shop plotted together to surprise her the next day when she came into the shop. It was a beautiful moment. A boundary breaking moment. At the end, the owner of the coffee shop find’s out Campolo is a preacher, and asks, “What kind of a church do you belong to anyway?”

“A Church that throws birthday parties for whores at 3 AM in the morning!”

“No you don’t, there’s no church like that, if there was, I’d join it!”, the shop owner retorts.

And Campolo says, “Wouldn’t we all.” 5

VIII. In the Hands of God

I want to present a challenge for us (I am at the front of the line). In the next week or so I challenge us to look for an epiphany. We’re not going to look for it at church in a worship service, or in Bible study, or any other place we might expect God to reveal himself. Rather let’s look for God in the people, places, and situations, we least expect to find Him. Let’s open our hearts, open our eyes, let’s take some risks, even if they seem small at first. Let’s ask God to reveal himself in ways we’ve never seen him before. I can make you a promise, we’ll see him. As I look back over my life, it’s in the persons, places, and situations where I least expected to see God, where I have experienced his presence the most. And I have been changed because of it.

Thinking about the implications of following a boundary breaking God may leave us feeling like those children in the Wal-Mart ad—scared for our lives.  Maybe we’re afraid God is going to make us do something we don’t want to do. Maybe he’ll send us somewhere we don’t want to go. What will we say? What will we do? e.g. Jeremiah this week: “I am only a boy!”

But did you get a chance to see the quote in the Weekly? Bruce Epperly writes: “Those of us who seek to follow God’s vision for our lives often have moments of utter panic when we realize where God’s lure forward may take us!”6

We began our service this morning with Psalm 71, which speaks to our anxiety about the boundaries God is asking us to cross. “O Lord, you alone are my hope” sings the Psalmist, “Yes, you have been with me from birth.” Bottom line: We’re in God’s hands. Epperly goes on to say: “The lure forward is always greater than our perception of our gifts. But, the God who gives us a dream is always present as our companion to bring God’s vision to fullness.”7

IX. Shock & Awe

Do you remember the tactic the U.S. Military used when they invaded Iraq in 2003? Shock and Awe. “It was a military doctrine based on the use of overwhelming power, dominant battlefield awareness, dominant maneuvers, and spectacular displays of force to paralyze an adversary’s perception of the battlefield and destroy its will to fight.” 8

Well God has is own form of shock and awe. We may be shocked by the places God reveal himself to us. Epiphanies will abound in the unlikeliest of people, places, and situations. But if we open our eyes, if we open our hearts, if we take the risk of being vulnerable, putting our care in God’s hands, you know what will happen?  We’ll be left in awe! Not through overwhelming power, not through dominant maneuvers, and spectacular displays of force, but by one thing … LOVE.

X. Prayer

Father, you are a boundary breaking God, we want to be your boundary breaking people, please give us the courage to follow you wherever that leads. Our prayer is the same as another boundary breaking follower of Jesus, centuries ago, Francis of Assisi:

“Our Father, each day is a little life, each night a tiny death; help us to live with faith and hope and love. Lift our duty above drudgery; let not our strength fail, or the vision fade, in the heat and burden of the day. O God, make us patient and pitiful one with another in the fret and jar of life, remembering that each fights a hard fight and walks a lonely way. Forgive us, Lord, if we hurt our fellow souls; teach us a gentler tone, a sweeter charity of words, and a more healing touch. Sustain us, O God, when we must face sorrow; give us courage for the day and hope for the morrow. Day unto day may we lay hold of thy hand and look up into thy face, whatever befall, until our work is finished and the day is done. Amen.”

_________

1 Lk. 4: 18-19, NLT

2 Kim Beckmann, “Fourth Sunday After the Epiphany/Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time”

3 Ibid. Beckhann cites Caleb Rosado, The Significance of Galilee to the Mission of the Church, http://www.rosado.net (1994, rev. 1995), 1.

4 Brian P. Stoffregen Exegetical Notes on Luke 4:21-30 at http://www.crossmarks.com/brian/luke4×21.htm

5 Tony Campolo, The Kingdom of God is a Party: God’s Radical Plan for His Family, Thomas Nelson, 1992

6 Bruce Epperly, Process & Faith Lectionary Commentary, at http://www.processandfaith.org/lectionary/YearC/2009-2010/2010-01-31.shtml

7 Ibid.

8 “Shock and Awe” Wikipedia, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shock_and_awe