9-12-12

Dear Family of faith, I write this midweek on a day when news comes that our U.S. Ambassador to Libya and three other embassy personnel have been killed by a militant attack in Benghazi, supposedly in response to a video produced by extremists in our own country slamming Islam's prophet Mohammed. It is a sad reminder of how fundamentalists in any religion can inflame hatred against those who are different and of the painful results of such animosity. Unfortunately some politicians have tried to make the issue political in a time of national mourning while others are calling us to take a good look at our own tolerance or lack of it for those who are different. On our way back from Minnesota this past month, Jill and I stopped in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas. There in the beautiful little town of Eureka Springs I purchased my only souvenir from the area-nothing created by the locals, but a bright, rainbow-colored plaque with the word "IMAGINE" spelled out in a mosaic. Of course I thought of John Lennon's song, and on a day like today, I think even more about his lyrics: "Imagine there's no countries, It isn't hard to do, Nothing to kill or die for, And no religion too, Imagine all the people living life in peace." When I first heard that song, I took offense to the thought of "no religion," but the older I get, the more I get it. Our challenge in the world is to make religion something positive, something of value-not something to be wished away because it causes so much death and destruction in the world. How do we do that? By being different from those who give religion a bad name! Jesus said, "If you hate those who hate you, how are you any different from anyone else?" Even faced with this most recent violent attack against our nation and our principles of freedom, we cannot become vengeful. If we do, we are no different than those who have perpetrated the crimes. We must raise our threshold of forgiveness if we would be followers of Jesus' way. Jesus did not despise even his own murderers, but forgave them. If that seems radical, you've got it right! So why not start with those who have offended you personally? Can you forgive those who have hurt you, run out on your, or hurt your family members? Can you pray for those who despise you, be kind to those who gossip about you, help those who take advantage of you? It's a big order, I know. That's why we need God's help to do it. But that's what makes us different from the world. Hold your children tight. Call your parents often. Be generous to strangers. Love your friends. And keep being the welcoming, kind and beautiful people that you are! With affection, Pastor Carlan

9-5-12

Dear Family of faith, On the way to the church this afternoon I was listening on the radio to news about the Voyager 1 spaceship that was sent out by NASA in 1977 with a mission to Jupiter and is now on its way out of our solar system. None of the scientists were sure of when it would actually get to the edge since they didn't know much about that, but what struck me was the expert's comment that it would take tens of thousands of years to make it to the next solar system. TENS OF THOUSANDS of years just to get to the nearest solar system, never mind the nearest star! And the spaceship is traveling at 636 miles per MINUTE (38,160 m.p.h.)! It's mind-boggling to think that our universe is so vast and that we are such a small part of it. Reflecting on this data brings two things to mind for me: (1) we can huff and puff all we want, but we'd be a lot better off with a large dose of humility; we're not as important as we think; (2) our Creator is surely not as interested in the minutiae of our doctrines and opinions as we are often led to believe. In the Christian community at large we spend a lot of time bickering over biblical interpretations and doctrines, many of which are human opinions and only divisive in the church. Does our Great God really care about who's right and who's wrong....or does this magnificent God revealed to us in Jesus care more about how we treat each other and care for each other? At this point in my life, I'm think that far too much time is wasted on meaningless trivia in our lives-- speculation about the end times, deciding what God approves or disapproves of in our social relationships, debating the mode of baptism, trying to find in the Bible everything from the age of the universe to the evolution of humankind. In the end God will not give us a "pop quiz" on what we know; God is more likely to play a video of what we did and ask us to explain ourselves. Let's seek to encourage others, not condemn them; help others, not hurt them; accept others even with their faults, not push them farther from God and the church. One of the big debates going on these days in the political realm is whether the government should be helping poor people. I got to thinking about this in reference to what the Bible says. The Old Testament prophets held kings and rulers accountable for doing justice; in Psalm 72 we read "Give the king your justice, O God,.....may he defend the cause of of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the needy, and crush the oppressor." Some may argue that "doing justice" to the poor is not the same as helping them in a material way; but justice in the Scriptures always includes economic fairness so that there are no starving people among God's people. This principle was taught even as farmers were commanded not to harvest every last bit of grain but leave some in the fields for the poor to glean. Our nation was founded on biblical principles and equality for all people. We need to think seriously what this means for us as Americans and the way we treat others within our borders. More than that, we need to think about those we know and how we might help them through tough times. I am always proud of you, my church family, for the way you rise up and respond to those in crisis situations. May your generosity and hospitality seep out into all your life so that others may know to whom you belong! See you on Sunday! With affection, Pastor Carlan