"Freedom From Religion" Looking For It?

"Freedom From Religion"

                                                  Galatians 5: 1- 25 

Question:  How many Church and non-Church going folk today feel as though they are being stymied, strangled or outcast by their own denominational rules, regulation and dogma?   Dogma meaning a principle or set of principles laid down by an authority, {religion in this case} as incontrovertibly true.  

A modern day Parable: 

A Spiritual Master walking along a dusty road side is instructing one of his students concerning some of the rules around being with and interacting with women.  “As a Spiritual Guide you never look directly into the eyes of a women or physically touch her” he explains, “because it may bring to mind passions that have the power to develop sin in your life”.   Just then a down pour of rain causes the ditch along the side of the road to overflow with water.  Stuck on the other side of the ditch is a women hollering for help because she is caught off guard and unable to move.  The Master trudges through the water to the other side, picks up the women in his arms and brings her safely to the other side.  He looked straight into her eyes with compassion and assured her everything would be alright.  Then he and student continued along the roadside.  The student one half hour later perplexed by his Masters actions could no longer contain himself and so asked the question: “Master you broke a cardinal rule back there, I do not understand.”  “Oh yes” said the Master “I forgot to tell you!! There are no rules when responding to a call for compassion, or to show love of neighbor to do for others as you would have them do for you for,   You see Love never fails.” 

Psalm 77 and Galatians 5: 1- 25 

Folks, within Paul’s letters to the Galatian Church you will find the charter of Christian freedom that so many of us are seeking today.  Circumcision was a symbol of having the right background and doing everything required by the Jewish religion.  If a person were counting on finding favor with God by being circumcised he would also have to obey the rest of God’s laws completely and there was a whopping total of 613 of them.  Paul was trying desperately to teach that Jesus died to set them free from their religious bondage.  Not to confuse that with just being able to do any old thing that they wanted, for that would lead them to completely miss the mark.  Freedom from this kind of slavery could only be reached by trusting in the grace of God, not by following a corporate style set of Laws, rituals or regulations.  It was then and still is today, salvation is by God’s grace not by what we say or do.    

Many of us are being held in what appears to be some sort of bondage to a Christian Church that is more corporate than Gospel.  Mega Churches rely on slick theatrical TV presentations to attract their followers.  You must say the words, be baptized or even more dramatic you have to be slain by the spirit to receive the gift of God’s grace of salvation.  The small rural churches have not escaped the misconception that works saves either. Their form of bondage is trying to maintain out dated church buildings and follow corporate style church policies and rules that keep them from God mercy and grace wondering why their numbers are dwindle down to bare bones.   We are in changing times folks. 

 Here is their situation in the Church then and I ask you to compare it to our reality today within the church. 

Most of the first converts and early leaders in the church were Jewish first, then they converted to Christianity proclaiming Jesus as their Messiah.  As Jewish Christians, they struggled with a dual identity.  In other words, people carried into their new found faith some baggage from their original family home and their religious training.  Sound familiar, are we not still there folks? 

Their Jewishness constrained them to be strict followers of the law but these rules often contradicted the holy freedom Christ was inviting them to celebrate.  The difficulty was that this "radical compassion and Love Christ was showing us" was not bound to laws or rituals because it had no boundaries.   They struggled with the idea of how the Gentiles who were non-Jews could be acceptable candidates for the Kingdom of Heaven.   

Our Question for us here might be this:  Who is it that we look down upon as non-acceptable candidates for the Kingdom today.  What minorities are being discriminated against by the so called saved and how does this fit within the teachings of our Master?    

You see just the thought that someone is not acceptable goes completely against the radical love and compassion we are to embrace.  For it is within this radical love and compassion that our freedom from religion can be found folks.    

It is often the of baggage traditional church, its rituals, not conforming to or being an outsider that created bickering and in-fighting among the faithful and is this not still going on in our churches today?  Here we may find another clue that keeps religious freedom from getting to them and to us in the church today.   Keeping with tradition, following the church rules of law, its rituals, and by ignoring the newcomer, would form clicks, not community by the narrowness of their thinking.  Bickering, infighting and the upholding of old traditions within church going folk today is very common for most religions and does not help us to build a healthy community of faith either.  In fact if we were to look real closely we would probably find one of the major reason why newcomers tend to shy away after a very short period of attending, especially if they see this kind of behavior within its members.  

Now folks you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see this same struggle happening today within the church.  It is as though we haven’t really gone very far from where the apple fell.   The congregants of today struggle with denominational identify which has its rules, rituals and dogma.  We often fight and picker among ourselves as to what rule applies where, who fits in and of course who’s out.  On one hand we want the freedom to worship and invite newcomers but what they see is a turn off because our churches seem to be more corporate than community.  Most denominations require you to become a registered member to fit in properly and leaders must be properly educated with the proper status in order to lead.  With policies that restrict the spirits movement within the church how do we embrace the changes that are necessary to become free to show this radical love and hospitality to the community as a whole. 

Religious freedom seekers of today who want to follow the teachings of the Master are often being held in bondage seemingly by what appears to be corporate denominational laws, rules or regulations.   

These letters by Paul were not just meant for his time but resonate with all who are struggling for religious freedom and true salvation today.   It certainly seems that we have not gone far from the early traditions as many seeking freedom from Religion seems to be stymied, strangled or controlled by buildings, denominational rules, regulations and church dogma.   As in the parable this morning, it appears that we too were not told or at least we didn’t listen because there are no rules that should prevent us from responding to God's call for justice, compassion, and love of self and neighbor.  If we look closely within the Gospel and the writings of Paul, we will see that Paul letters to the Galatians church proclaims that the reality of their freedom and liberty could only be found in Christ Jesus.  Paul proclaims that religious freedom can only be found when we are freed from our bondage to Church membership laws, the rituals of the tradition and the power of corporate sin.  Being set free we can now serve this radical hospitality of compassion and love shown to us by the birth, life, teachings and death of our Master.   So what is Paul really saying here folks?   May I suggest that the Love of Christ and the freedom it offers has no Religion?  In fact unconditional Love is not a religion it is a way of life and there are no rules that caution you to rethink God’s love.  Love with rules is conditional and the love you seek, the love of God through Christ is unconditional.   Human love as hard as we try to keep the conditions out it seems to us almost impossible.  God’s love on the other hand is totally and completely free of conditions. In fact that is what true salvation is all about, you surrendering to the love of God.  That is why with God’s love in you, around you, and through you, if you truly accept it, you will be able to love your enemy, you will love those who hurt or persecute you, and yes, even those who would kill you.  Love you see, breaks all the rules just as it did in the parable at the first of my message. 

Who Is John Chapman???

Fathers Day 2016

When I was a little boy well my daddy, he could do anything.

Around age six well, my dad is smarter than your dad.

By the time I was ten well, dad really doesn’t seem to know everything.

And when I hit twelve, naturally dad doesn't know anything about that.  He is too old to remember his childhood.

At the ripe old age of fourteen,  dad, well he is too old- fashioned.

At twenty-one DAD!!!   my heavens, he's hopelessly out of date.

But you know when I hit my thirties things began to change:  Maybe I should ask dad what he thinks.  After all, he's had a lot of experience.

At forty, ENLIGHTENMENT sets in and things really change.  Now I'm am not doing a single thing until I at least talk it over with my dad.   

These last comments are meant for those of us, including me who’s earthy DAD has passed on. 

As I get older still:  - I think, if dad were here now I would want to talk things over with him again,  and I would tell him how much I love him.  

In a moment of thoughtful silence, consider what is special about your DAD. ---------------------------------------------Amen

You know we all have the same DAD and He was with us from the very beginning, and has never left our side, he’s in Me and in You because He made us in his image the image of love, and he loves us no matter what, He has never left or forsaken us.  He is our God, our Heavenly DAD, and he is there for everyone who will accept him.  Thanks be to our Heavenly DAD.

The Pearly Gates?
Over the massive ornate carved front doors of a cathedral church, these words were inscribed: "The Gates of Heaven". Below that was a small cardboard sign with an arrow pointing to the side which read: "Please enter by the service entrance."   

Folks, I believe the service entrance is the only way to enter into the Kingdom Of Heaven. I believe the kingdom of God will not be entered into through the affluent elaborateness of the rich and famous nor through the powerful of this world.  I believe service is the key Folks and for the Christian it is through Jesus and His way of serving that we enter. 

In Mark 4: 26-27 Jesus said, "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how."

How many of us here like apples?  You probably understanding the picture at the beginning of my service today.  Of course all of us know the story of a man called Johnny Appleseed. As you might guess, Johnny Appleseed was not his real name. His real name was John Chapman. He was born in 1774 in the state of Massachusetts. When he was in his early twenties, John became a nurseryman working with plants, trees, and shrubs. John Chapman especially loved apple trees and he planted them all around the town where he lived. But that wasn't enough for John, He wanted people everywhere to enjoy apples just as much as he did, so he traveled all around the country planting apple trees and giving away apple seeds.

John’s life wasn't easy thought, but he loved what he was doing. He never married, and collected more friends than he could count. He lived a long and happy life enjoying the great outdoors and the beauty of God's creation until his death in 1845.

You may be asking, "What does the story of Johnny Appleseed have to do with our Bible lesson for today?" Well, the story of Johnny Appleseed is a bit like the parable that Jesus told in our Bible reading for today. Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he is asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but the man doesn't know how it happens." Nor can the man see what is really in the seed, but he knows that there really is a tree in there, with more apples and more seeds.  Isn’t that amazing!

Just as John Chapman was passionate about planting apple seeds, God wants you and me to be passionate about planting seeds of the Good News everywhere we go. If we will take the Good News of Jesus to people, it will take root in their life and begin to grow.  We may not understand it, but we know that, that is the way the kingdom of God grows -- by people like you and me planting the seed and watching it grow.   God chose ordinary people like you and me to get his message of unconditional love and forgiveness out into the world.    Let us plant seeds of faith in Jesus Christ wherever we go. 

                                                            A Fathers Love 

"Love As You Are Loved" No Strings Attached

                                 Easier said than done!!!

June 12 2016 Readings: Psalm 5, Galatians 2: 15-21   Luke 7:36 - 8:3

Two thoughts for today - both related to the nature of grace and to the nature of God's love and what it demands of us.  I would like illustrate that with two stories this morning.  The first story is an old one and some of you may have heard it or you may have heard a version of it before.   

Two well dressed Jewish fathers came to their rabbi.  "Rabbi, I do not understand my son," said the first father.  "I spent $25,000 on his bar mitzvah. I sent him to the finest of Hebrew schools.  Just last week he tells me he converted, he’s Christian."  "Funny you should ask," said the second father.  "I’m here for the same reason.  Rabbi what can you tell us?"   "Funny you should ask!!!," said the Rabbi.  "My own son came to me to me last week only to tell me the same story, he became a Christian."  "What did you do?" asked the two men.  "I talked to God," said the Rabbi.  "And, what did God say?" they asked?   He said  "Funny you should ask!"  it was My Son who started the whole movement. 

Now If you think that’s funny when Paul wrote to the Galatians he wrote to a Christian community who was facing the reverse problem of this old joke.   He wrote to a community where people who had discovered Jesus and converted to Christianity but were being taught by their new religion that in order to be a true follower of Christ they had to become Jewish first, that meant circumcision, initiation at the synagogue and then they must begin to observe the religious Law of the Old Testament which pertained to Feast Days and Diet and Ritual Cleanliness. 

In short they were being taught, as are still many today in the church, that to be a true follower of Jesus Christ, there are conditions that needed to be met.  That God’s grace and love was then and still is today, to some small degree conditional.  One of the biggest deceptions both inside and outside the church today still is:  you have to say, do or perform something special in order to earn God’s grace and love.  Many Christians in Paul’s time were being instructed to become Jew’s first, follow the laws, the rules and regulations or the Jewish religion to prove themselves worthy of God.  The hard question for us today is this:  Folks, Can’t you see the similarities in the church today?   Now I know we might not say it out loud but what do we demand of others, in the silence of our own heats, in order to be an acceptable Christian today.   What conditions do you put upon others when they want to come and be a part of your assembly?   Folks:  This teaching, no matter where it came from, is not true according to the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.  It is a gospel that says, that a person is not justified by observing the law, a certain religious order, a denomination of Christianity or their rituals, it says we are justified by our faith.  Faith in the unconditional love and grace of God found in and through our Lord Jesus Christ.  NOW I KNOW THIS IS GOING TO COME AS SHOCK TO MANY WITHIN RELIGION TODAY BUT, there is no rule of law, ritual, doctrine or dogma and no good deed that can make you acceptable, and there is no bad deed that excludes you.   If that were the case none of us here today would be acceptable and we would all be excluded.   If it is the desire of your heart to follow the Master, your life will change and you will produce good fruit for others to see.   As you allow his love and grace to infiltrate your being it will change you.   Listen to the words in this wonderful old hymn:     

The lyric in this song bring to mind this question:  Do you know the difference between surrender and submit?  If you don't, you probably did not take in the songs message.  To submit is to give in to it and when you do, it produces fruit, feelings of reluctance, being loss, bitterness and obligation.  On the other hand to surrender is to give it over and when you do, it to produces fruit, feelings of relief, being found, joy and freedom.  

       

Here is another story to consider.    A woman, a mother, tells the story, about her 10 year old son and herself.  She says:  My young son came into the kitchen one evening while I was fixing supper and he handed me a piece of paper he'd been writing on.  After wiping my hands on my apron, I read it, and this is what it said:

For mowing the grass, $5.00.  For making my own bed this week, $1.00   For going to the store $1.00.  For playing with baby brother while you went shopping $1.00   For taking out the trash $1.00  For getting a good report card $5.00   For raking the yard, $1.00 That will be $15.00 please. Have any of you ever been there with your kids?   

The mother picked up the paper he had given her, turned it over began to write:

For the nine months I carried you, while you grew inside me.  No Charge

For the nights I sat up with you,  and prayed for you.          No Charge.

For the time and the tears, and the cost through the years. No Charge

For the nights filled with dread, and the worries ahead.       No Charge.

For advice, knowledge, and the cost of your education.       No Charge.

For the toys, food and clothes, and for wiping your nose.     No Charge.

When you add it all up, the full cost of my love is, there is     No Charge.

You see that is what God’s love is all about.  There is no charge.  Just a lot of hope - God hoping for us - God praying for us - God feeding us, God watching over us.

The young boy looks up at his mother and he said, "Mama, I sure do love you."  Then he took the pen and in great big letters he wrote on his bill:   PAID IN FULL.

My friends, God owes us nothing for what we do for him, nor do we owe him - for he has written NO CHARGE upon our bill, He authorized his Son to make us a convenient, a convenient of Unconditional love and forgiveness, now and forever more, no payment necessary.   Our Challenge then becomes:  To never demand of others, that they earn your love, and never let yourself believe that you have to earn theirs either.  Rather - love as you are loved by God, unconditionally - as a gift - without ties or conditions, with only the hope that those whom you love might in turn love others in the same way.   Let go of conditions and let God’s love shine in and from you - day by day.   Again, Surrender rather than Submit, be a servant not a slave.  

"The Living Dead" Whats up here?

June 5, 2016  Readings: Psalm 146  Luke 7: 11-17

This story from Luke today produces for us a dramatic scene when you think about it -- I mean -- a funeral procession halted and the trip to the cemetery interrupted?  Of course a funeral in Middle East during Jesus' time would not be anything like our scene today in the West, Canada or America I mean.  We have the usual black Cadillac hearse, along with all the other vehicles both cars and trucks lights a blazing and most would be dressed in their best, and things generally subdued and quiet before, during and after the service.   The big brown mahogany casket with it’s ornate hand rails for carrying, usually placed on the automatic grave lowering device and the dirt from the dug grave is carefully concealed by an artificial green grass tarp.   The prayers and blessing are said in the quiet of the afternoon at his or her final resting place.  The cemetery is sometimes out back behind the church or down the road and up the lane and everything is well manicured, almost sterile.   

Quite a different story when it comes to the Middle East and It hasn’t changed since the time of Jesus.  There’s no black Cadillac hearse, there is no expense crafted wooden or brushed metal casket and there is no such things a quiet subdued service.    

On the contrary, honoring the dead in the Jewish traditions was and still is important.  In the pictures you can see that the body was usually open faced, wrapped in a blanket laid on a stretcher being carried through the streets.  Hundreds of people come out to follow a funeral.  In addition, hired mourners would cry aloud and draw attention to the procession and the Families morning, why it would continue for days.    Now I need you to imagine that in the photo above,  Jesus is the one touching the body of the widow’s son.  Try and imagine that they just stop in their tracks and watch, as the scriptures suggested.  Jesus says to the young man, get up, and the young man sat up and began to talk.   Now imagine Jesus trying to get away from this crowd!  Someone would have probably call out loud a prophet, this man is a prophet.  The people of his time didn’t see Jesus as anything more than one of the heretical Major Prophets.  They would not have been unfamiliar with a prophet performing this kind of miracle.  He was not the first to raise the dead.  Prophets from the old Testament proclaimed God’s message and performed great miracles, with Moses' parting of the Red Sea,  to yes, sometimes raised the dead.  Two such prophets were Elijah and Elisha were recorded as raising children from the dead, 1 Kings 17: 17-24 and 2 Kings 4: 18-37.  The people were correct in thinking that Jesus was a prophet.   But we today, know that Jesus was more than just a prophet because we know the rest of the story.   Jesus for us is Lord of the Universe, The Cosmic Christ, there from the beginning, Genesis 1: 26, He’s the King of Kings, and the Lord or Lords, He’s the Son of God, and He is our Messiah.

Miracles by a prophet were common and may I suggest that Jesus doesn’t want us to be side tracked by the miracles either.   In fact, He often told people not to tell anyone of what He had done.  Instead from my perspective, I believe Jesus wants us to focus on the dead boy and his mom.   Why, because they are much like we are half living half dead and because the story illustrates for us the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.   Listen to this rendition of Amazing Grace to a different tune!!

Both the widow and the boy are caught up in life’s circumstances, as are many of us today.  It doesn’t matter how they got caught up in these unfortunate circumstances, the fact is, that they were.  Folks, it’s no different for us today, tragedy and mayhem are all around us.  Anything can happen to you as it did to them yes even a tragic accident or an early death. Often we, as did this mom, don’t see the unfortunate circumstances we are building around our lives with the choices we make, but then we can suffer greatly and do not see it coming because of someone else’s choice, all of a sudden we are hit with them.   How often have you caught yourself in a disagreement on some small matter and all of a sudden it bursts into a full fledged family feud, or even worst, the ending of what was a fairly good relationship, not understanding that bitterness and unforgiveness lead to death.

Oh I know some people seem to go around with blinders on, but folks don’t we all have some form of blindness when it comes to certain things?  My wife and probably my children could tell you stories of my blindness at times as a husband and father. 

Life isn’t always all that great for many, but Jesus offers us, another crack at it, if you’re willing.    With Christ in our lives we can begin to work with life and our circumstances differently.  That’s why the scriptures tells us that with Jesus, life will never be the same again.  He helps us take off the blinders folks.  It is not easy to take a moral inventory of yourself.  But you have to let him come in to your life on a daily basis in order to accomplish that.   If we remain part of the living dead, meaning dead to life, we can do nothing to help ourselves or others.   Now I’m not talking about being physically dead. I’m talking about the living dead.  The living dead are people who are alive but not living, often in our society you will have heard them referred to as a dead head.  I know this for sure because I consider myself to have been one of them.

There is a gem here in this story for the living and it is this: the dead boy did not earn his second chance at life, Jesus gave it to him.  We cannot earn ours either, you have to be given that second chance.  This is a major part of Jesus’ work folks, to give life, NEW life to all who ask for it.  Even if we don’t think of ourselves as worthy or deserving. Worthiness is not a qualification, does that surprise you?    
Even if your circumstances at the moment don’t seem to have much light in them, when you invite the light of Christ into the dark corners of your life, darkness will begin to fade.  Now that’s a real miracle and it is yours for the asking. The more light you let in, the more darkness has to move out, that only makes good sense and guess what, you will begin immediately to feel brighter and better.   So I ask you, "Are You Living"

     Ann  Murray tells us   “It Is No Secret What God Can Do”  

                            May Christ bless you in your seeking.