Looking Towards Sunday: A Culture of Hospitality

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.

--Hebrews 13:2 NRSV

This Sunday I will be preaching on Christian hospitality.

If you have been fortunate enough to travel, you probably have had varied experiences at hotels.  Some hotels have staff who work hard to ensure their guests have a good stay.  It quickly becomes obvious in how they greet you, answer questions, offer suggestions or help you with any needs you have.  Often, managers of such hotels hire staff who are good with people and train their staff how to make guests feel “at home.”  At other hotels, however, it becomes instantly obvious that all you are to the desk clerk is merely another annoyance in a long line of annoyances.

I have a number of friends in the restaurant business who tell stories of working for different owners, companies and managers.  They tell me every restaurant has its own culture.  Some have a culture that treat patrons merely as a means to an end; each person who orders is only one number added to a total.  The goal at such restaurants is to get as high a total as possible to make as much money as possible.  At other restaurants, while the goal is still to remain profitable, just as importantly the owners and managers work hard to create an environment where people feel welcome and seen.  In these restaurants, quality of service matters, so does the quality of food, and often they are profitable because people are willing to pay for a place where they feel welcome.

I believe churches have cultures too and creating a culture of welcome and hospitality doesn’t just happen; it must be intentionally created.  No doubt, some churches have a more friendly atmosphere than others, but friendliness is not the same as a church oriented toward welcoming strangers.  Churches focused on insiders (members of the club) know when to stand, sit, pray and sing, but someone from another tradition or from no faith tradition may be baffled what to do on their first visit.  Most churchgoers have been at it so long, they don’t even remember visiting a church for the first time, but in today’s culture where fewer and fewer people claim a religious tradition or practice, those who take the adventurous step of entering a church feel like they are entering a foreign land with strange customs and rituals.  A church has to work on making such church “tourists” feel at home.

More than merely welcoming visitors, healthy churches have an outward facing orientation.  Their church building and all aspects of church life are meant for sharing with those outside the church.  This is more difficult to manage than it may appear on the surface. 

Church members work in jobs all week concerned with protecting the property and assets of their businesses or that of the companies they work at.  In their personal lives, church members work to increase their financial assets and protect their homes.  Is it any wonder that when they come to church and serve on church boards, they approach the church building and its other assets in the same way?  In a time of dwindling attendance and financial giving, what church people learn in every other area of their lives comes into play—get as much as possible, hold onto as much as possible and cut back on outflow of money and resources.

A church’s “profit” however is not found on its balance sheet.  As much as good fiscal policy matters in any organization, the point of the church is not to accumulate more but to give away more.  A blessing of the decline of American churchgoing may be that Christians learn the point was never to pile up more money and build bigger buildings.  Instead, the point was to demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ by doing what Jesus did: giving himself away.  Jesus said, “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves?” (Luke 9:24-25 NRSV).  What does it profit a church if they build the biggest building, have the biggest budget, have the most members, but nobody experiences the sacrificial love of Jesus?  Or maybe in this day and age, what does it profit a church if it has a building and an endowment but because it’s holding onto what it has with clenched fists it can never open its hands and arms to welcome the stranger at its door?

A church’s “profit” is in sharing what it has with those who need it.  Of course, budgets, giving and building maintenance matter, but those things are merely just tools to show love to others.  A church that wants new people to join so it can make its budget goal is no different than the restaurant or hotel that sees people as numbers.  People in our culture are dying for an alternative way to liv.  Whether they realize it or not, they hunger for a way to let go of the things they are clinging to in order to embrace something that spiritually matters.  The problem may be that too many church folks have the same problem.

Grace and Peace,

Chase  

Listening Before Speaking: White People and Race

You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.

--James 1:19 NRSV

I need to put these words of wisdom from the Letter of James on my computer, my phone and maybe put it on masking tape to cover my mouth.   Ever since social media became a thing, I have struggled with the temptation to mouth off, vent my spleen and comment/post/tweet before taking time to think.  I struggle with reacting rather than thoughtfully responding.  Recent weeks’ news of the killings of black men in America makes this task even more difficult.  I, along with everyone else, am emotional and prone to speaking before listening.

This past Sunday I preached on racism in America.  I tried to spend time in prayerful reflection before giving it, but whenever a preacher touches on a painful and difficult subject like racism in America the potential pitfalls are great.  I tried to express my fear and anger as the father of two young black men, and to confess my failures as a white man to understand black people’s experience of racism in America.  The discussions I've had with church folks since my sermon on Sunday covered a range of topics, but a recurring question was how do we as white people engage in conversations with black people without causing harm?  We want to make things better when it comes to race, but we fear being judged or criticized for our lack of awareness of what it means to be black in America.  These fears keep us from doing anything of substance.

I have these same fears, and certainly when I have had such discussions I have often revealed my own ignorance.

The more I learn about racism in America the more I learn the history and worldview I have been given from childhood must be unlearned.  The more I learn; the less I know.  I’m no expert on racism in America, but I believe God’s love for black people means white Christians must love them too—enough to risk overcoming our fears of talking about racism in America.

Before we as white Christians talk, however, we must first listen.  We must do our homework and begin to understand what we are actually talking about.  We must be “quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.”  Before we can have difficult conversations with our black friends, coworkers, neighbors and yes, relatives (if we even know any black people to even have such conversations}, we must listen, learn and hold off on our anger. 

The good news is there are lots of ways white people can learn about the black experience of racism in America on our own.  The following list is by no means an exhaustive list, just a few resources I have found helpful.  A quick google search can provide you exhaustive lists of similar items to explore (many of which are available in forms like blogs, articles, TED Talks, videos and more).

Let’s do our part to love our black brothers and sisters by doing all we can do to listen to their voices and educate ourselves before we speak and before we become angry and defensive.  As we do so, let us trust that above all God is gracious and loving to us whatever mistakes we make. 

Grace and Peace,

Chase

Books

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism   by Robin DiAngelo

Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson

I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness  by Austin Channing Brown

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Documentaries

13^th

I am Not Your Negro

Films

Just Mercy

Fruitvale Station

The Hate U Give

Selma

Kansas City Specific

Some of My Best Friends are Black: The Strange Story of Integration in America by Tanner Colby (see the chapter on Kansas City and J.C. Nichols)

Racism in Kansas City: A Short History by G.S. Griffin

Articles

"The Case for Reparations" by Ta-Nehisi Coates

"Ahmaud, Breonna, Christian, George and The Talk Every Black Boy Receives" by Timothy Peoples

There is an endless amount of online resources for learning about racism in America and unlearning what we as white people were taught about our nation and culture.  One good place to start is a recent article at medium.com “75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice” by Corinne Shutack

Asking the Wrong Questions About Masks

It’s happened again. Something rather innocuous has become the latest battle in the ongoing culture wars; this time the fight is over wearing masks. How did a question of the best way to address public health become a partisan cage match with both sides throwing rhetorical Molotov cocktails at each other? One side says wearing masks is political correctness run amok that infringes upon personal freedom. The other side says not wearing masks is ignorant and irresponsible behavior with fatal consequences for society. At its most extreme people who refuse to wear masks have reacted violently when stores require them to do so, and those wanting everyone to wear masks in public have aggressively intimidated people who refuse. Our society may respond this way to questions of wearing masks or not, but these are the wrong questions (and actions) for anyone seeking to follow Christ.

As with every other question, Christians pondering the question of whether or not to wear a mask in public should first look to the life and teachings of Jesus before all other considerations.

No, Jesus never gave instructions on whether or not to wear a mask in public during a viral outbreak, but he did provide instructions about how Christians should treat the most vulnerable in society. COVID-19 has shown itself to be the most dangerous for people who are elderly, people who are non-white without access to quality healthcare, people in prison and people with compromised immune systems—in sum, the most vulnerable in our society.

In his ministry to the sick, poor, hungry and outcasts, Jesus demonstrated how his disciples should show love. From the beggar Lazarus on the rich man’s doorstep to the man beaten and left for dead helped by the Samaritan, Jesus taught to be his follower means to care for those who are most vulnerable in their physical condition. In one of Jesus’ most startling teachings, he declares whoever welcomes a stranger, provides food, drink or clothing to one without, or cares for the sick or imprisoned person has done the same for Christ himself! In other words, Christ is incarnate in every vulnerable member of society (Matthew 25:31-46).

Building on this Christ-like ethic of caring for the vulnerable, the apostle Paul dealt with questions of individual freedom and responsibility for one’s fellow person. In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul addresses a dispute over eating food sacrificed to idols, a commonplace custom in the Greco-Roman world and maybe the most nutritious food the average person could get. Paul says you have the freedom to do so, after all idols aren’t real, but if by doing so a fellow Christian sees you doing so and is influenced to return to a non-Christian religious practice, then it is your responsibility to consider that person’s well-being before you exercise your own freedom.  He addresses a similar issue in Romans 14 and says, “If your brother or sister is being injured by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love.”  In other words, you may have the freedom to do something, but if it negatively affects your neighbor you shouldn’t do it.

Jesus said the second greatest commandment after loving God is loving your neighbor, and Paul declares, “The whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Galatians 5:14 NRSV)  In other words, if one wishes to follow Jesus and take Christ’s name as a part of one’s identity, the first question to ask in making decisions is how does this choice affect others around me, especially those who are more vulnerable than I am?  Just because I have the freedom to do something does not make it right or good in and of itself.  Furthermore, as Christians who claim to follow Christ’s example of sacrificing our own comfort and convenience for the sake of others we are called to do likewise (see Paul’s discussion of having the “mind of Christ” in Philippians 2).

So when it comes to wearing a mask or not when we are outside our immediate family or our “bubble” or safety, the question that Christians should ask is what shows love of my neighbor, wearing or not wearing a mask?  I have the freedom not to wear one, but what if I am an asymptomatic carrier of COVID-19 and without meaning to I transmit droplets of moisture by breathing or speaking onto someone else, especially someone who’s immune system cannot fight off the virus? 

For me, the answer is clear, however effective or ineffective wearing a cloth mask may be, the people who are medical experts sayit is better to wear a mask than not if I want to avoid unknowingly spreadingCOVID-19 to others, especially the most vulnerable.  So, as a Christian, I have the freedom not to wear a mask except when it may hurt others. Let the culture warriors rage, I am not basing my decisions upon what either side says anyway. 

The question of wearing masks or not reminds us that for this and every question of behavior the choices of Christians should be grounded in Jesus’ clear demonstration of love for others, especially the most vulnerable.

Grace and Peace,

Chase

Facing Our Inner Fears

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear
1 John 4:18 NRSV

One of the books that has most shaped my spiritual journey is Parker Palmer’s LetYour Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation.  In my years of ministry, I have routinely shared it with people discerning what kind of work they should go into or struggling with careers that have left them burnt out and empty inside.  It’s a short book, and one could easily read it in an afternoon, although reflection upon its words takes much longer.

In one of its later chapters (you can read the entire chapter here, but I recommend reading the chapters that lead up to it first), Palmer writes about the kind of spiritual work we resist the most: examining the shadow sides of ourselves.  Any worthwhile spiritual journey “will take us inward and downward, toward the hardest realities of our lives, rather than outward and upward toward abstraction, idealization, and exhortation. . . Why must we go in and down? Because as we do so, we will meet the darkness that we carry within ourselves—the ultimate source of the shadows that we project onto other people. If we do not understand that the enemy is within, we will find a thousand ways of making someone ‘out there’ into the enemy.”

Palmer illustrates this truth with a story from his own life.  He attended a week-long experience with Outward Bound and found himself at the top of a cliff side about to rappel down.  It was the challenge he feared most.  He stepped off the cliff and immediately slammed into a ledge a few feet down. 

The instructor explained, “The only way to do this is to lean back as far as you can. You have to get your body at right angles to the cliff so that your weight will be on your feet. It’s counter-intuitive, but it’s the only way that works.” 

Palmer writes, “I knew that he was wrong, of course. I knew that the trick was to hug the mountain, to stay as close to the rock face as I could. So I tried it again, my way—and slammed into the next ledge.” 

The instructor explained things once again, and slowly Palmer leaned back and began inching down the cliff side.  At the halfway point, the instructor at the bottom of the cliff alerted Palmer to a hole in the cliff side he was headed for which meant he must change the course he had worked so hard to find. 

Palmer describes what happened next.

     “I knew for a certainty that attempting to do so would lead directly to my death—so I froze,      paralyzed with fear. The second instructor let me hang there, trembling, in silence for what seemed like a very long time.

Finally, she shouted up these helpful words: “Parker, is anything wrong?” To this day, I do not know where my words came from, though I have twelve witnesses to the fact that I spoke them. In a high, squeaky voice I said, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Then,” said the second instructor, “it’s time that you learned the Outward Bound motto.”

“Oh, keen,” I thought. “I’m about to die, and she’s going to give me a motto!”

But then she shouted ten words I hope never to forget, words whose impact and meaning I can still feel: “If you can’t get out of it, get into it!”

Then Palmer describes the miracle that happened next:

“I had long believed in the concept of “the word become flesh” but until that moment I had not experienced it. My teacher spoke words so compelling that they bypassed my mind, went into my flesh, and animated my legs and feet. No helicopter would come to rescue me; the instructor on the cliff would not pull me up with the rope; there was no parachute in my backpack to float me to the ground. There was no way out of my dilemma except to get into it—so my feet started to move and in a few minutes I made it safely down.”

The fears we carry within us too often leave us paralyzed on a cliff side or trying to climb back up the cliff.  We will do almost anything to avoid the difficult work of facing our fears and trusting God will help us move past them.  Our refusals to “get into” the fears we cannot avoid causes great harm to ourselves and those around us, especially those whom we love most.

Palmer writes, “there is no way out of one’s inner life, so one had better get into it. On the inward and downward spiritual journey, the only way out is in and through.”

Loving God, help me to face the fears I most want to avoid.  Help me to trust that on the other side of my fear lies freedom and relief.  Amen.

Grace and peace,

Chase

A Progressive Minister Rethinks Fear

 “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear”

--1 John 4:18

In my first ministry job, I was a youth director for a summer, and one of the youth had a mother with severe mental illness.  The woman was so consumed with anxiety she could not leave her home, and it was an act of great love for her to allow her teen to go to youth camp and other activities.  Giving permission meant overcoming her mind’s constant alarm bells about the dangers outside her home.  She couldn’t make the same choice for herself, but out of love for her child, she would sign the permission slips.

During this time, when many of us feel trapped in our homes for legitimate reasons, it is perhaps a good thing to reflect on the role fear plays in our lives.  Fear can be a gift which can help us avoid danger, but the problem comes when our fears trap us in literal or spiritual dwelling places that diminish our lives. 

In order to survive as a species, our ancestors had highly developed senses of fear.  Those who weren’t cautious when they met a new kind of snake or found a new type of mushroom didn’t survive long.  This sense of fear dwells in our instinctual brain, sometimes called the back brain or lower brain or even reptile brain.  Anatomically, it’s our amygdala which causes us to act by instinct rather than reason, because the small fraction of time it takes to reason through the issue may be too long.  Yet, this overriding of reason does not serve us well in modern existence where most of us do not face threats to our lives at every turn.  This lack of reason can be manipulated by politicians, capitalized upon by the media, and misused by spiritual leaders.  The results of being stuck in a state of fear can be paralysis, declining health, disengaging with intimacy, making enemies out of friends and loved ones, and scapegoating of others in order to give us a false sense of control.

Yet, the first letter of John declares that God’s love casts out fear.  It’s a catastrophe that most examples of Christianity throughout its history depend upon frightening its adherents either with earthly punishments or eternal ones.  1 John declares fear is not God’s character; love is.  The antidote to our unhealthy fears is allowing the God of love to enter the mental and spiritual places where we are trapped by fear.

Glennon Doyle writes, “Scared and sacred are sisters.”  Rearrange the letters in the word “scared” and you get “sacred.”  Our moments of fear can become moments when we become uncomfortable enough to ask for God’s help.  Sadly, in my own journey, it’s usually when I do not feel in control of my circumstances that I bother to actually admit I need God.  More than anything, I fear being in pain—emotional, spiritual, physical—I want none of it.  Yet, pain is only the messenger telling us something is wrong and it needs to change.  Both fear and pain have things to teach us.

Doyle writes in her book LoveWarrior, "Pain is not a sign that you’ve taken a wrong turn or that you’re doing life wrong. It’s not a signal that you need a different life or partner or body or home or personality. Pain is not a hot potato to pass on to the next person or generation. Pain is not a mistake to fix. Pain is just a sign that a lesson is coming. Discomfort is purposeful: it is there to teach you what you need to know so you can become who you were meant to be. Pain is just a traveling professor. When pain knocks on the door—wise ones breathe deep and say: 'Come in. Sit down with me. And don’t leave until you’ve taught me what I need to know.'"

Loving God, help me not to run away from my fear and my pain.  Help me to stop, listen and learn from these teachers.  Help me to trust you are with me as I face the hard truths that make me want to run away from my true self.

Grace and Peace,

Chase

Are You Feeling Afraid Today?

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear

--1 John 4:18 NIV

There is so much to be afraid of right now.  When an invisible virus that can potentially kill you can spread from someone who exhibits no symptoms, fear seems appropriate.  When 40 million Americans are unemployed, it is natural to fear for one’s livelihood and security.  When one lives on fixed income and the stock market crashes with devastating effect upon your retirement fund, fear is understandable.  Fear is everywhere.

On Sunday morning, I’ll be preaching on 1 John 14-21.  Here’s a preview.  The author of the letter writes about fear and the context of these verses is a discussion of loving God and others.  The writer describes how fear becomes a barrier to experiencing God who is Love.  The writer assures us “perfect love drives out fear,” but sometimes we would rather hold on to fear or maybe we lack the strength to do anything other than be afraid.

The well-known African American writer and poet Sonia Sanchez shared in a poem about a conversation she had with her fellow well-known African American writer  Zora Neal Hurston.

The great writer Zora Neale Hurston said,
Fear was the greatest emotion on the planet Earth
and I said, No my dear sista
Fear will make us move to save our lives
To save our own skins
But love
Will make us save other people's skins and lives
So love is primary at this particular point in time. 

Fear, in and of itself, can be a good thing: we evolved to protect our own safety.  Yet, fear does not have the final word.  We were created to not only care for ourselves but also others.  Only love can motivate us to move beyond fear to sacrifice our well being for that of someone else.  Love for others.  Love for God.  Love for ourselves.  All three kinds of love are greater than fear.

If you are feeling afraid today, here is a simple way to begin overcoming it.  Look for a way to show someone else love.  Even the smallest gesture can be used by God to push back your fear and perhaps the recipient of your love will be less afraid too.  Give a hug to a family member.  Offer an overdue compliment.  Pick up the phone and call someone who needs to hear your voice.  Send a text or an email offering a word of love and encouragement.  Whatever love you can muster; God will use it to drive out your fear.

Grace and Peace,

Chase

Mere Survival is Not a Good Enough Reason for a Church to Exist

[Jesus Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

--Colossians 1:15-20 NRSV

Bible scholars debate whether Paul really wrote the letter to the Colossian Christians, because of verses like the ones above which have a “high Christology” equating Jesus and God.  They view that as a later occurrence in church history.  I choose to believe Paul could have written the letter, because I believe that from the beginning of the Christian movement believers understood Christ to be doing what these verses say: connecting and reconciling all things in creation to God.

These types of theological and biblical questions may seem abstract, but I believe they have everything to do with why so many churches are dying today.  For me, these verses from a two thousand year old letter that its author had no idea we would be reading today describe a concept of God that should matter to us.  I believe at the heart of Christianity is a God who refuses to remain separated from who and what God has created.

What exactly do we believe Jesus Christ was up to when he walked the earth and was executed for being a threat to the powers that be?  Was he out to establish a new religion with rules, laws and traditions or was he trying to demonstrate that God loves people enough to be in the midst of all humanity’s pain, violence, suffering and confusion?  If you believe the latter, then you accept that there is no length that God will not go to in order to be present where people are in their pain, loneliness and despair.  God will go and already is everywhere in the universe there is chaos and hurt in order to reconcile all things back to God. 

The God we see in Christ does not remain distant from people’s needs but will do anything to be there in their time of need.  So why is it that the church, which is supposed to be made up of Christ followers, refuses to do the same?

Way back in 1974 the Christian feminist scholar Letty M. Russell wrote, “The church’s role is to point to Christ in the world and not to itself.”  It’s too bad that almost for my entire lifetime I’ve watched churches do exactly the opposite of what Russell and the New Testament writers were saying.  My entire life, and even more so in my professional life as a minister, I’ve watched churches grieve their decline, pining for previous generations when church membership was an essential part of the American social fabric.  I’ve sat in countless hours of church board meetings, congregational business meetings and denominational seminars decrying shrinking budgets, rising building costs and despair over dropping membership rolls.  All of that energy has been spent working for the survival of congregations instead of helping people see Christ in people’s lives and Christ in people’s jobs and Christ in people’s families and Christ in people’s neighborhoods.  We’ve treated church buildings as the only place Christ can be instead of equipping people to recognize Christ is everywhere they are. 

Do the folks who make up your church really believe “through [Christ] God was pleased to reconcile to [God’s] self all things?”  If so, that means God is not only present in church buildings but everywhere, and the church’s job is not to act as if it is separate from what God is doing and has done outside church walls.  If the church is more than a business, a non-profit or a social club and we really believe the church is supposed to be a part of God’s work in the world, why don’t churches put their energy into being a part of what God is doing instead of surviving for survival’s sake? 

I don’t know anyone who wants to join a church to help that church survive, but I know lots of people who want to be connected to God and feel their lives have purpose and meaning. 

Merely surviving is no reason to be a church.  However, if discussion and discernment can be about where Christ is already active in the world around us and how a church can be a part of that work, then that church will do more than survive; it will have a future being a part of the reconciling work of God that has already happened, is happening now and will happen in the future.  Any other future desired for a congregation is no future at all.

Grace and Peace,

Chase