Champions of Honor

Happy Easter everyone! He has Risen!

Jesus was controversial for sharing a table and a meal with those that others rejected, hated or called sinners. He was showing us that love and healing lies in inclusion and not exclusion.

So, we must ask ourselves…who do our religious leaders or our communities reject? Those are the ones that we must include if we are to follow Jesus. Immigrants, Drag performers, LGBTQIA folks, black and brown people, the poor or homeless. Who is being targeted with new laws or used to stir up strife, anger and fear? Those are the ones we should stand with. Eat with. Include.

For some of us, it might be liberals. And for some of us, it might be MAGA conservatives. People mud-slinging back and forth. This is not love, though. Love is sharing the same table. It doesn’t mean we all have to agree or think the same way. It just means we don’t reject or hate someone because they are different than us.

Like in Paul’s metaphor if the body, just because a hand is not the same as the eyes doesn’t mean each don’t serve a purpose together. Humanity is one body. But we don’t like how that toe looks, so we try to cut it off. But when we do, we stumble and fall. That toe was needed. Was valued. Was loved and created by God.

This is not an easy path, but it the path of Christ. Just as Jesus’ path led to suffering and death in order to bring new life, our path (if we choose this narrow path) follows the same trajectory. What must die in us is the individualistic blurry-visioned ego. And it is hard and painful to let go of. We fear that if we let go, we will lose something. We fear that if we go down that path of radical inclusivity and radical love and hospitality, that we might be rejected by our communities, like Jesus was rejected by his.

It isn’t an easy path the walk, but we don’t walk it alone. We walk alongside Jesus with the Holy Spirit lighting our path and God the father as a mother hen protecting us under her wings. We will find that we can still love those who rejected us and that there is enough love for all. We don’t have to pick who we side with or who we include. wWe begins to see more clearly the value of ourselves and others. And how all - regardless of our own thoughts about them - are loved and valued by God.

The payoff is worth the price.

A good reminder these days, as we see more and more people wielding the Bible as a means to exclude, reject, control and hate. This is why we must study scripture with humility and with a desire for understanding from the Holy Spirit, who brings life to the pages, directs our path and is a lamp for our feet.

The Bible has been used for good and for evil. The difference lies in our hearts and motivations. Are we looking for God? Or looking to satisfy our egos and need to be right or better than others? Or even just simply ticking a spiritual discipline box? It’s important to search our own hearts before we approach this beautiful guide, a gift that points to the heart of God, if that is what we are looking for.

TikTok · Ken 363 likes, 46 comments. “A word about “getting back to a ‘Biblical’ standard” - The Bible reflects humanity's deep connection with God over millennia. However, its interpretation can be diverse, leading to both healing and harm. I've observed a push for "Biblical standards" recently. Yet, ...

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Champions of Honor – The Brewster Group We welcome you in the process that will change your life and a challenge that will grow your walk with God. We believe it is time for men to quit being spiritually weak and develop as warriors for Christ. Each man must be a man of vision, understand the meaning of unity on the team, be disciplined a...

There are ways in which we need to adjust our thinking that might end up making us more compassionate, empathetic and loving. For starters, we need to understand that we are punished *by* our sins rather than *for* our sins.

When we understand that it is our sin and not God that is punitive, we will begin to see that other sinners should be seen with compassion rather than judgment because they are already suffering due to their sin - whether or not they understand that yet.

The hope we have in Christ’s work on the cross is access to our LORD and their help freeing us from the punishment from our sins. From their strangle hold on us.

God isn’t watching and waiting to punish us. Just like with the Israelites when their kings broke covenant, God waits to be called on to save and redeem us. Our sin leads us into captivity. It isolates us and harms our relationships. But through Christ’s work, we don’t have to remain in captivity.

It’s both very simple and also very difficult to accept this help from God. The hard part is facing oneself with honesty and humility and knowing that it isn’t a one-time act, but a new way of being. God already knows where and how we are entangled and trapped in sin, it’s us who don’t always see it.

But when we do see and understand ourselves more clearly and honestly, through the help of the Holy Spirit, this is where we can lay it out before God and they will free us from it. This, again, is not a one-time act, but a practice. As we do this more and more, we’ll realize how intimate our relationship with God becomes. We will see the infinite love and mercy that God shows us time and time again.

We will become quick to admit our failings knowing that a loving God is there by our side to help us. And we will be slow to judge others because we will be more aware of the planks in our own eyes and how it is solely by God’s mercy that we have any hope of them being removed.

We should fear God if we refuse to face our own sin, protecting it outward instead through judgment of others. But we should never fear revealing our sin to God at any point. God already knows and still loves us. As we seek to be like God, we should also be a place where others don’t fear revealing their struggles or confessing their sins. Where they know they will be met with love and not slander or judgment.

We should hold the hands of sinners for we are sinners alike.

I think a lot about following the Way of Christ. I think that’s how it was referred to before we formed an organized religion around it. A flawed but necessary evolution. We’ve had organized religion for so long, I can’t imagine any other way. A gathering together of humans will have all the good and the bad that we humans are capable of. All we can do is not get our feet stuck in the cement of certainty and try our best see clearly the ways we can be better.

The first and easiest step is to reject Christian Nationalism. We aren’t meant to align ourselves with the state, we must leave room to be counter-cultural and speak truth to power. Violence « in the name of God » by Christians first became acceptable after it aligned with the Roman Empire. The desire to have power and control and be dominant is a human trait, but not a Godly one. We are meant to see the powerful the same way we see those without power. As solely human and loved by God. Just to be clear, this doesn’t not mean we can’t be patriotic and love the place we live. We just need to love it like a child who sometimes needs to be guided or disciplined rather than always praised.

The next step is harder, I think. It’s standing with the accused rather than the accusers. But this is what we see Jesus doing. He stands with those that others reject or call sinners. In his presence and love, they are healed and lifted up. He reveals the root of their individual issue because He knows them fully. He never chastises them, but he does call out their accusers. We like to determine for ourselves what is sin, pulling this scripture and that to justify doing this. And then we accuse others based on the prominence we put on what we’ve determined to be sin. We shame others while being blind to our own sin. We show mercy and love to ourselves and call others evil. We easily slide into the role of self-righteousness accusers, and Jesus is standing next to those we accuse, holding them in lovingkindness.

We get muddled about what is sin. We want to have a definite list. But sins are just actions that break or harm relationships. Original Sin was rejecting God to become a god. Breaking that relationship, which Christ restored on the cross and we see in the symbol of the torn veil. The Ten Commandments all have to to with our relationship to God and our relationships with each other. That is why some things are sin for one person, but not another. For the wealthy person who trusts in money, money becomes their sin. For the wealthy person who trusts in God, money is not a sin (though that is rare because wealth is so seductive).

Right now, there are many being accused by politicians and the church. Many of God’s very creation who are being told that they don’t have a place because it’s against our beliefs. Those same folks are accountable for the same sins we all are. But we make their very personhood sin and use this as a shortcut to accuse. At the same time, this makes us feel holy. Just like the accusers in Jesus’ day.

We often use this shortcut to shame or reject those who visibly exhibit that which we’ve determined to be sin according to our traditions. Meanwhile, the sins we cannot see get a pass. Stay hidden. Slowly rot the life-giving vine within us.

When the adulterous women is brought naked to be stoned, Jesus asks her accusers, « Let he who has no sin cast the first stone. » But we still walk around with stones in our hands looking for a target. « They are wrong and I am right. » or « They are evil and corrupting our society, but I am good. »

I am guilty of all of the above. But I want to follow the Way of Jesus and put my stones down and stand with the accused. To love them like Jesus does. And to call out their accusers even if that accuser is me.

Church, y’all doing something wrong when people are out there thinking diversity, equity and inclusion are against Christian values. These are major biblical themes!

We have so many “Christian culture” beliefs that are in absolute conflict with Christ. But, man oh man, do we hold on to them tightly. We want to hang the Ten Commandments everywhere we can but we don’t even follow them.

As people try to remove any discussion of equity and inclusion, we are meant to be counter-cultural. To stand up for and with those that others would try to exclude. Jesus paid no attention to the rules of religious rule enforcers. He paid no attention to social and political strata. He stood with those that others deemed “other” or “enemy.”

We want to decide who God hates. But God doesn’t hate people, he hates certain actions and attitudes - actions and attitudes that harm others. That are established in pride and vanity and power.

16 There are six things the Lord hates,
seven that are detestable to him:
17 haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19 a false witness who pours out lies
and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.

Just a reminder.

Following the way of Christ isn’t easy. It’s full of death and new life. It’s a challenge of letting go and trusting that we will be more than okay.

It’s often the things that we trust in or that form our identity that we need to let go of. Simon {who is called Peter} and Andrew were fishermen and Jesus asked them to leave that identity and their livelihood behind to follow him and become fishers of men.

When Jesus spoke to the rich young ruler, he told him to sell all he had and give it to the poor. But we know the rich young ruler went away sad. He could not let go of what he put his trust in.

When Jesus spoke to the woman at the well, he saw that she put her trust in husbands, in men, but offered her something greater and she became a famous evangelist whom I am writing about centuries later.

It’s not easy letting go of things that make us feel safe. We don’t want to lose what we have or who we are - or rather how we want others to see us. It feels like a blind leap. And the process does feel a bit like a death. But new life is on the other side. A freer life. A flourishing life.

I moved a lot growing up. Each time, I had to leave the identity of myself as, say, a Californian and welcome my new identity in the next place. I would attend a new school and make new friends. But there is that liminal space in between, when I had no clue what my life would look like and that could be a bit scary. But with each move, I became more confident that things would work out okay.

It’s the same when we start letting go. There is a liminal space in which things feel very uncertain and even scary; but the more we practice, the less scary it becomes. The more we realize we can trust what is next for us, the less we cling to our comfort zones.

So, how do we know what to let go? That takes prayer and meditation and learning to listen. I often feel a tightening in my chest or gut when I know I need to let go of something I’m clinging to. It might be different for others, but that’s usually how it goes for me.

Somethings are easier to let go of than others. I can wrestle and cling and ignore until I can’t anymore. It’s humbling to admit. And it’s a continual process. Thankfully, we can fail and try again. Actually, failing can help because it often moves us forward faster. Not that we strive to fail, but rather embrace ourselves with grace rather than shame and start again with a single step.

Jonah evaded God’s call on his life because he wanted his enemy to suffer. The Assyrians were a brutal empire and a great enemy of Israel. Jonah had no desire to see them benefit from God’s mercy. But God saw Jonah’s enemies as His children.

Jonah continues to be angry that the Assyrians humbled themselves and turned to God and were spared. How human of him to avoid his calling because he didn’t want to see people he loathed be given mercy. How wonderful of God to chase after Jonah and right his path.

Our calling is to love our enemies, but we often run from it like Jonah did. We paint our enemies as evil to justify our hatred or our delight in their suffering. Or we do mental gymnastics to make our hate seem like love in disguise.

A woman told be once that she loves LGBTQIA folks, but she doesn’t accept their lifestyle (lifestyle is a weird term that we’ve adopted to describe people and who they love) - so they say they feel hated by her. She didn’t understand this. If your love feels like hate to someone, it’s probably not love. It’s hard to feel loved when that love excludes your very being.

Our divided politics are another way we justify hate or desire for punishment of our enemies. We too easily paint our political opposites as evil. We can stand up against injustice and harmful legislation while loving and holding hope for those whose actions we can’t abide.

If we see God going to extreme efforts to show mercy to a violent and often barbaric enemy of Israel, we must wonder who else God is chasing after. Who else God is calling us to love against our own will?

We must examine our hearts and think about who we least want to see benefit from God’s grace and blessing. And then we should begin praying for God’s grace and blessing for them. I believe this is one way to allow our hearts to molded by God. Consider it time in the belly of the beast where God loves us enough to reset us on our path and calling to love God and our neighbors and enemies. God and all God’s creation. Our fellow brothers and sisters.

Happy Good Friday!

Let today be a reminder that our paths as followers of Christ are, at first, a path of descent. We must first go down to the depths in order to be reborn. I’m not saying that our salvation isn’t by grace alone. There is no work we could do that would earn us the new life we are promised through Christ’s act on the cross.

But that act was not just something for which we simply fold our hands and give thanks. It was an act for us to follow. We talk about it in terms of dying to self, which, paradoxically, resurrects us to new life.

Spiritual practice (when we seek to know God, be taught their ways, guided by the Holy Spirit) helps us to recognize the difference between what we might call our “shadow selves” and our “true selves.” Our shadow selves should be seen in a compassionate light. They are simply snared by sin. Everyone has a shadow self. Jesus became our shadow selves and showed us they could die so that our true selves would live.

That’s the same practice we must engage in. And that path is a descent into the belly of the beast. Sometimes, God, in their grace, helps us along in that process through suffering. Like Jonah and the whale. The literal belly of the beast. We often don’t want to face the things that we know trip us up. The things we’re ashamed of. So, we elevate ourselves while pushing those things down. But they don’t go away without first being faced with honesty. We can’t be freed from them if we refuse to go down and face them.

The path forward has always been a descent. It’s counter-intuitive. But when we look at the life of Christ and the stories he told during his ministry, we begin to understand that these counter-intuitive ideas are true wisdom. Like giving leads to gain. Dying to self to truly live as yourself. Become like a child to gain mature wisdom. Let go in order to be held. Love one’s enemies instead of hating or resenting them. Humility or making yourself low rather than arrogance and lifting yourself up… and so on.

We go down in order to be raised up. Like Christ over these three days. The death and resurrection of Christ is the greatest gift to this world. But the gift doesn’t end at the atonement for the sin of the world. The gift is also the path laid out for us to follow.

Let us rejoice in this gift and follow the path.

There is a lot of talk about freedom in our churches and in politics right now. The type of freedom discussed in those two arenas is not always the same. In church, we may discuss freedom from sin and outside of church it may be freedom to do what we like.

Though we claim we want to experience freedom, I think we are also scared of it. Think about the Israelites in the exodus from Egypt. They were freed, but scared of the uncertainly that freedom brought. They longed to go back to captivity where they knew what to expect.

I think we make boundaries because we also want to know what to expect. In church, we create set in stone practices and dogma. We rarely move into “adult food” spirituality because it creates uncertainty. We don’t want to stretch or be made uncomfortable and true freedom does this.

We see this in our communities and in our politics right now as well. We say we want freedom, but we are afraid of it at the same time. So, freedom becomes freedom for me (comfortable) but not freedom for you (uncomfortable). We are passing laws that create a bubble of freedom around some while forcing others to be bound and gagged.

This happens in many of our churches as well. We are all human whether in church or not. We make the same mistakes as anyone else. We all deserve the same grace. We want freedom to walk with Christ and serve as we are called - but not just anyone. Many churches reject a woman’s calling to preach. Many won’t let a q***r person serve at all. God always chose the unlikely, I’m not sure why we think that is different today. We should maybe listen to the vulnerable and alienated in our communities right now because they may be who God uses to teach us.

Jesus called us to be like children. It’s harder to do as we get older, develop our biases. Children don’t see the categories we grown-ups determine about people. It wouldn’t make sense to them to alienate any group of people. They aren’t really concerned about someone’s race, nationality, religion or sexuality. They learn how to think about those categories as they get older, from their families and communities. Children are innocent and open, they have imaginations and are anxious to learn. They move and explore and test boundaries.

If we truly want freedom, we also have to test our own constructed boundaries to see which walls we ordained and which walls our Father put in place. They are rarely the same.

When we talk about freedom, we have to understand our fear of uncertainty. Something to remember is that the opposite of faith isn’t doubt, it’s certainty. The hardest part of faith is letting go. But we cling and cling and cling. We need those walls to feel safe and comfortable - even at the expense of making vulnerable groups of people as uncomfortable as possible. Possibly even to be targeted and die.

Faith means trusting in our call to love. To love without clauses. “I love them, but…” To love without controlling. “They aren’t allowed to say that!” To love without ego “If they are loved, will I be loved less? If we make space for them, will there be space for me?” We need to trust that God knew what they were doing when they called us to love beyond our comfort zone and community. To love even our enemies. I think that may be where true freedom lies. And why, apart from loving God, loving others is the greatest commandment. To set us free.

{quick note: love doesn’t equal letting your self be harmed or abused by someone. You can love with distance from those that would seek to hurt you. You can also love while disagreeing with someone. Love isn’t conformity. It just understands that there is enough for all}.

I love Paul’s metaphor of the body. I’ve often viewed this as applicable within the church, but I think my view was too limiting. What if we considered all persons as part of this body. All of humanity.

When we hurt another, it’s like breaking our own bone or punching ourselves in the face. When we ignore a wound in one part; the whole of us gets rotted with sepsis.

When we set a broken bone right and treat a wound rather than ignoring it, covering it up or pretending it’s already fixed — or worse, just cutting off the injured part of us — when we face and treat it, we can actually heal fully.

Let me apply this thinking to some present controversy. There is a current agenda to cut any educational curriculum that includes suffering or wrongdoing at the hands of our nation {speaking of the US}. There are those that want to cover these deep wounds and pretend they’ve had time to heal. But they never got treated correctly, the bones were never fully set right. The only salve now is truth and love.

Truth is not divisive, it is healing. When we see the wound, we can face it and treat it. Until we decide to fully air out these wounds, acknowledge their source and find the antidote, we all will continue to rot. Because that wound is a part of our collective body. We are both the cause and receiver of the wound.

Until we see each other as part of the same body, it will be easy {easier} to let others be rejected, starved, turned out on the streets, put down or ignored.

“Love others as yourself” Jesus instructs us. Even our enemies. Paul understood this - that what we do to others is done to us. You cut off a hand and you’ve lost a hand. You are weaker for it.

In our individualistic culture, it will be hard to train ourselves to see others as connected to ourselves in such an intimate way - parts of the same body. It won’t be easy. It will take an abundance of love and wisdom from the Holy Spirit. It will take humility and openness. It may lead to rejection. But that is the path we saw Jesus walk. Perhaps we should follow.

We are uncomfortable with death. Maybe because {in western culture} we grieve quietly, privately. I sense that our discomfort with death has some connection with our fear of change.

There are those that cling to the past like someone refusing to end the life support of a brain dead loved one. {And others who want to hurry things along by blowing up the whole hospital}. But Everything happens in its time. We can’t push the brakes or light the fuse.

Obviously, I don’t mean that we should be passive observers in this life. Just the opposite. We should grieve loudly so that we can heal and move forward into new life.

We need to prepare for the fact that some of our foundations are crumbling. But let me remind you that when they do, it’s because they weren’t the foundations we were meant to rely upon. They were just sand. Jesus taught us to build our houses on the rock. And Jesus is that rock. {Matthew 7:24-29}

I think change is especially scary because we misunderstand faith. Faith helps us let go, but instead we cling. And we cling to the wrong things. We cling to our traditions. We cling to our church walls, we cling to our cultural beliefs. We cling to our denominational theologies. We clench so hard that we can’t be moved. And because God loves us, they might extend their grace to us by removing those false “good” things we cling to. And many will attribute this to the “enemy.”

There are many people who have faith in Jesus. Who believe that Jesus lived and died in our place and was resurrected. But there aren’t as many who have the faith *of* Jesus. Who follow his practice of faith. Otherwise, we would see the impact all around us. But his example is a great letting go of the false things we rely on and trusting that there is something better in the free fall.

I think I step in and out of those places. I know what it’s like to cling and fear change. I’ve also felt the peace of letting go. I know my feet get stuck, but it’s my desire to be free. And I can only ask for more of the Holy Spirit to help unclench my fists and help me follow the way of Christ and trust that I am loved and provided for by God. That even if all I’ve known crumbles around me, I am safe on the everlasting rock that I’ve chosen to trust.

Happy New Year!

The turning of a new year often inspires us to make resolutions. Things we want to accomplish or do differently in the next year.

I felt like the new year snuck up on me. As I was heading out to celebrate with friends on New Year’s Eve, it occurred to me that I hadn’t really considered what I might resolve to do.

So, now we are a few days in and I’ve only just begun to take time to quiet the noise and prayerfully consider the new year. Maybe you all did this days ago or, like me, got distracted by the whirlwind of the holidays.

More and more my heart is drawn toward the distinctions between our Christian faith and our current Christian culture - and how important it is to see where they conflict.

Christian culture - even as it evolves with the broader culture of the times - is so hardened in our minds that many mistake acts of Christian faith as controversial or even heresy. We have our feet stuck in the mud so deep that we can’t turn around and see anything differently. And whatever we catch in our peripheral vision scares us.

The only way to be free of the mud that holds us back from connecting with God and their creation, from this earth and our fellow humans is love. Understanding God’s love for us and all creation enables us to also love. And love heals and connects and usurp’s ego. How do we understand God’s love? Ask, seek, knock. It’s that simple.

There are generations now who are not satisfied with what Christians and church culture have to offer. And when they talk about why, it’s apparent they’ve only been taught a cruel, exclusive, team-choosing God who cares more about appearances and team loyalty than them. They are not changed by love because they’ve yet to feel it.

They have been taught rules and expectations. To not talk back or ask questions. They are told who to be friends with and what to wear and how to talk. But it’s all empty and performative. It’s fitting in. It’s “you can’t grow on the back row” nonsense.

Until we untether ourselves from Christian culture and begin following the way Jesus showed us, we will have nothing real to offer. We’ll just be inviting people to a club. Here are the membership dues and the club rules.

If something is true, no matter who said it, it is always from the Holy Spirit. —Thomas Aquinas, De Veritate

What a great insight from Aquinas. I have found that those who seek wisdom or truth often find it. This expands beyond the walls of our church, denomination or even religion.

If we know this world - every part of it - to be God’s creation, then it would make sense that those of different faiths - or no religion at all - might still discover truth.

A great example is the Good Samaritan who understood love and hospitality (the commandment to love your neighbor) and yet, he wasn’t part of Israel. He was an enemy of Israel.

The Holy Spirit does not limit itself to one group. It flows through creation. We are all sewn together in one fabric. We try to cut holes, section ourselves off. Sever threads. And we are worse off for it.

We fight the wrong fights. Culture wars that are fleeting. Nothing will change until we recognize that God loves all of their creation. And so should we.

It is so important to know in your mind and in your heart how much you are loved by God.

Knowing you are fully loved and accepted by God frees you from a scarcity mentality - from clinging to a need to get or protect « what’s yours. »

It also opens our eyes to how much God fully loves and accepts others. And their instruction to love our neighbors, our enemies, begins to make sense.

Suddenly, that « other » isn’t other at all. Every one of us is a part of God’s creation. Immigrants are loved by God. Republicans are loved by God, Trumplicans are loved by God, liberal Democrats are loved by God. Black Lives Matter protestors are loved by God, the LGBTQ+ community is loved by God, Muslims are loved by God, the elderly are loved by God, boomers, Gen-X, Millennials, Gen-Y - all loved by God. Women who have had abortions are loved by God. The Russians and the Ukrainians are loved by God. God loves those on both sides of the civil war in Ethiopia. And so on.

Sin disconnects us, but love connects us. The only way to bridge the disconnect caused by sin is through love.

Original sin was the choice to disconnect from God. But love and sacrifice repaired that bridge. Love is our greatest gift and our strongest weapon.

There is cost to our egos and small selves when we love. Jesus didn’t rule from a tower. Jesus didn’t take over branches of society in order to win the world for himself. « God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son… » Jesus loved and suffered. Loved us enough to be in communion with our own suffering.

And so we should be generous in our love, we should be in communion with the suffering of others regardless of the earthly labels that have been assigned to them, to us. We are one creation, loved by God.