A Psalm of Thanksgiving

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A Psalm of Thanksgiving

Thursday, November 27, 2014
Jeff Lampl

Psalm 100

“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
        2Worship the Lord with gladness;
        come before him with joyful songs.

3 Know that the Lord is God.
        It is he who made us, and we are his;
        we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
        and his courts with praise;
        give thanks to him and praise his name.

5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
        his faithfulness continues through all generations”
 

Hebrews 13:14-15
“For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.  Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our
 allegiance to his name."

 

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Where was Jesus on Monday Night?

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Where was Jesus on Monday Night?

Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Jeff Lampl

“For a child is born to us, a son is given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace.  
His government and its peace will never end.
He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity.
The passionate commitment of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!”
                                                              Isaiah 9:6-7 (NLT)

 

On Monday evening a Grand Jury announced that it would not indict Officer Darren Wilson for the shooting death of Michael Brown.   As I watched the announcement I thought of the Gospel which tells us that both men were created in the image of God and as loved by God as you and I. 

I read that a recent poll showed that 54 percent of nonwhites, including blacks, Latinos and Asians, say Wilson should be charged with murder, while just 23 percent of whites agree.

I wonder how different my opinion of the Grand Jury’s decision would be were I black, in particular, black and poor.   It is amazing how differently different people, ethnicities, socio economic groups, sexes see the world.   It’s certain that each of us is swayed by self-validation bias, yet it’s still amazing that we can’t seem to transcend our own pre-judgments.   We are a cynical people, even we Christians.   Has the Gospel really changed us?   Maybe we are not as converted as we think we are (the most segregated time of the week in America is Sunday morning in our churches).   I know that I have light years to go before I am fully converted.

Yet Jesus showed up as always.   He was there in the statements of Michael Brown’s father, “please keep your protests peaceful.” “Answering violence with violence is not the appropriate reaction – Let’s not just make noise, let’s make a difference,”

He was there when President Obama read Mr. Brown’s words calling for people to avoid violence: “Hurting and destroying others is not the answer,” “I do not want my son’s death to be in vain. I want it to lead to incredible change, positive change, change that makes the St. Louis region better for everyone.”

He was there as when Attorney General Holder said last week, “History has . . . . shown us that the most successful and enduring movements for change are those that adhere to non-aggression and non-violence,”

The Message that transformed the world two thousand years ago in Palestine is this; “Christ died for our sins, rose from the dead and is now Lord of all”  (1 Cor. 1:3,4, Romans 10:9).   The Apostle Paul summarized it well this way, “all things work together for the good those who love the Lord and are called are according to His purpose” (Romans8:28)    God is working everything together for the good of everyone and everything.   Those who believe that will not only see it, they’ll also get in on it.  Those who remain in their cynicism won’t.  

*quotes cited from Juan William op-ed and from Christian Post.

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Isn't Amnesty Totally Unfair!

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Isn't Amnesty Totally Unfair!

Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Jeff Lampl

“For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard.  He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work.  

“At nine o’clock in the morning he was passing through the marketplace and saw some people standing around doing nothing.  So he hired them, telling them he would pay them whatever was right at the end of the day.  So they went to work in the vineyard. At noon and again at three o’clock he did the same thing.

“At five o’clock that afternoon he was in town again and saw some more people standing around. He asked them, ‘Why haven’t you been working today?’  

“They replied, ‘Because no one hired us.’ “The landowner told them, ‘Then go out and join the others in my vineyard.’  

“That evening he told the foreman to call the workers in and pay them, beginning with the last workers first. When those hired at five o’clock were paid, each received a full day’s wage.  When those hired first came to get their pay, they assumed they would receive more. But they, too, were paid a day’s wage.  When they received their pay, they protested to the owner, ‘Those people worked only one hour, and yet you’ve paid them just as much as you paid us who worked all day in the scorching heat.’  

“He answered one of them, ‘Friend, I haven’t been unfair! Didn’t you agree to work all day for the usual wage? Take your money and go. I wanted to pay this last worker the same as you.  Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money? Should you be jealous because I am kind to others?’  

“So those who are last now will be first then, and those who are first will be last.”              
                                                    Matthew 20:1-16 (NLT)

What is fair?   How do you define it?

Is it fair that I am here, born into this, the most privileged “bubble” of wealth and comfort in the history of humanity, while others are born into poverty?   Is it fair that I, as a white privileged European American, consume a disproportionately large “piece of the world pie” while others starve.   Is it fair that I don’t want “aliens” to infringe on my expectations of what society should look like based on what works for me?   Is it fair that a huge amount of what America is was built on the oppression of native Americans?  On what basis do we Americans assert that there’s room for “us four and no more?”

Of course we Americans and we Christians must do things decently and in order
(I Cor. 14).  After all who knows that better than Presbyterians?

Yet Jesus’ stories, including the one above, tell me, a person who doesn’t like his world messed with, who hates injustice (at least when others are unjust to me) that maybe my definition of fairness doesn’t match God’s definition of fairness.


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Is Our President Right on "Amnesty"?

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Is Our President Right on "Amnesty"?

Monday, November 24, 2014
Jeff Lampl

"Do not oppress an alien; you yourselves know how it feels to be aliens,
because you were aliens in Egypt.” 
Exodus 23:9 (NIV)

Last week President Obama issued an executive order to allow 5 million illegal immigrants to live without the pressure of deportation for up to three years without the promise of citizenship.   Citing the above scripture and former President Bush, the President said,

"Scripture tells us that we shall not oppress a stranger, for we know the heart of a stranger—we were strangers once, too," said Obama. "My fellow Americans, we are and always will be a nation of immigrants. We were strangers once, too."

That seems to me to be exactly right.

It has been said that James Madison would have rolled over in his grave at the brashness of this executive order which breaches the fundamental principles of the constitution of which Madison is the primary author (he wrote it based on the Christian principle that humans are sinners and the three branches of government exist so that no one branch can overstep) 

I’m not so sure, however, that Madison would be rolling over in his grave.   Why? Because behind the desire to ensure that government does not become a dictatorship is the desire to protect people from injustice.   Whether our President has overstepped his authority or not, is it not true that the Christian claim is that everyone who finds his or her way into God’s Kingdom has done so without merit?   Is it not true that I, a sinner, who spends so much of his energies on grasping at ways to serve myself, have nevertheless been invited into God’s kingdom by his sacrifice for me?  Is it not true that while “yet a sinner’ (Romans 5:8) God in Christ paid the highest price to adopt me, an undeserving “alien” so I that I could have full rights as God’s child (Romans 8:14-17) and citizenship “in his new country” (Ephesians 2:19 TLB).  Is it not also true that it is by pure Grace that I am a citizen of this country? 

I have always been so moved by the incredible poem that is carved into our statue of Liberty.

"Give me your tired, your poor, 
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
 I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"  

Perhaps you are wondering how this “amnesty” order is fair to those who have come to America legally.   Perhaps you are wondering how fair it is to Americans who are seeking employment only to find the doors shut because an illegal has his job.  Perhaps you cannot make the leap from being adopted by God into His Kingdom by Grace translates into “amnesty’ for those south of the border.  Tune in tomorrow for part two.


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Why Does Giving Matter So Much?

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Why Does Giving Matter So Much?

Friday, November 21, 2014
Jeff Lampl

 “A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees,
belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord.” 
Leviticus 27:30

Over the years I’ve learned dozens of reasons why giving a portion of my income to the Lord is important.  Those reasons range from how it benefits others to the benefits that giving provides me to how it is only what we give away that ever lasts both in this world and also into the world to come.  

However there is a bigger reason than any of those and it is so big that I feel wholly inadequate to explain it.   God tells us that our giving to the Lord is Holy.   Don’t fall into the trap that says that if you give ten percent of your income (tithe means tenth) to the Lord, you will earn God’s blessing.  You already have the Lord’s blessing and nothing you can do for him can cause him to bless you more.  The reason to move toward becoming a tither and beyond is simply God’s love for you issuing in your love of God and the desire to become more and more Christ-like.   It’s a love thing.  It’s a trust thing.  As I mentioned before, Kathy and started out by giving a tenth of our income to the Lord and it has been a neat and gratifying thing to have grown from there.  Yet what is Holy unto the Lord, is not the written check, rather it is the part of us that God has taken hold of through our giving.  

As you choose the percentage of your income that you will give to the Lord in 2015, keep this incredible verse in the forefront of your mind.     If there is a degree to which your giving reflects God’s having taken hold of you (to whatever degree), then your offering on Sunday will be a Holy Offering.   That’s an incredible thought that you and I, yes even us, can make do anything at all that He would deem holy.  Yet so it is.   Sunday’s offering will be a holy offering.

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Spiritual Disciplines: What should we expect?

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 Spiritual Disciplines:  What should we expect?

Thursday, November 20, 2014
Jeff Lampl

The following Blog is written by New Testament Scholar Scot McKnight  

Ah, those spiritual disciplines. What are they? What do they accomplish? Which ones are most important? What are we to expect from the spiritual disciplines?

Barry Jones just might capture the whole picture in these words from his book Dwell: Life with God for the World, and I have reformatted these into “teaching points” (pp. 102-103):

Whether we live in a remote monastery, the heart of a large city or anywhere in between, we need a set of practices and patterns for living—a rule of life—

1. that will shape and sustain our life with God for the world.

2. We need practices that nurture our souls and enable us to increasingly inhabit the vision of God in the places where we dwell to live into the story of the Bible, the story of God’s personal presence, just reign and perfect peace.

3. These will be practices that demand things of us. They will require our disciplined attention and engagement.

4. These will be practices that connect us to one another. They will help us live life together as a contrast community, against the world for the sake of the world.

5. These practices will connect us to a tradition. They will have a rich heritage from the Christian past, having shaped and sustained the people of God for a long time.

6. Finally, these will be practices that orient us toward the future. They will help us inhabit the vision of God in the particular places where we dwell.

Is it fair to say that most discussions of spiritual disciplines focus on #2? (That is, on the inner personal development? Not on the church body or the world?)

What would you add or subtract from this list? What do you expect from spiritual disciplines?

And Barry Jones sees five elements of the saints and sinners who have done spiritual disciplines well:

1. Attentiveness.
2. Receptivity
3. Embodiment
4. Community
5. Rhythm

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Does My Giving Make a Difference?

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Does My Giving Make a Difference?

Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Jeff Lampl

“So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord,  for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever in vain.” 
1 Corinthians 15:58

Our giving makes a difference beyond what any of us can possibly imagine.  

The above passage is the last verse in the fifteenth chapter of Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth.   In that chapter Paul tells us something that couldn’t be more profound.   He tells us exactly what the Old Testament had insisted on, that is that God is going to renew the entire planet and that as part of that renewal, every believer will also be renewed, resurrected, re-embodied and given a new life on a brand new heaven imbued earth.   Once there, we believers will know with crystal clarity that everything on this planet earth that we have given to the Lord and to others will be found in the New Creation.   There is a very real sense in which what we give to and do for the Lord in this life will be used by the Lord as the “building blocks” of the New Creation, the new Heaven on Earth world to come.     In this way the decision each of us makes in choosing the percentage of our income that we dedicate on Sunday is a crucial one.   It’s a decision that lifts our vision to the world to come or holds our gaze away from this temporal and fleeting world.  

Secondly, every single act of giving for the Lord and for the sake of others in this life is a seed planted that God causes to grow, not only in the world to come but also in this one.   When Paul tells us to work enthusiastically for the Lord, knowing that nothing we do for him is ever in vain, Paul is speaking from experience.   He had the incredible joy of seeing the giving of himself (including his finances) to the Lord and to others bringing a harvest of changed lives, lives whose suffering in this life has been relieved and lives whose eternal destiny with the Lord has become assured.   Paul is telling each of us, that we can “take that to the bank”.

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Wednesday Adoption Night at CLC

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Wednesday Adoption Night at CLC

Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Jeff Lampl

Tomorrow evening at 7:00 at CLC (second floor) Kelly Myers of Bethanna Adoption Services will hold an information evening for those interested in adopting or fostering children.   November is National Adoption Month and it hard to imagine anything being closer to the heart of God than adoption.   You and I are in God’s forever because He has adopted us.

 "God sent (Jesus) to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.  And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”  Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir."    Galatians 4:5-7 (NLT)

 "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.  So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”  For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.  And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.  Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later."                                      Romans 8:14-18 (NLT)  

If you feel God’s heart beating within yours to give a child a home and a forever family, then I encourage you act on God’s prompting and join Kelley tomorrow evening.   She’ll be serving popcorn!

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What does the New Testament say about how much of my income I should give to the Lord?

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What does the New Testament say about

how much of my income I should give to the Lord?

Monday, November 17, 2014
Jeff Lampl

“You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure.  For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.  And God will generously provide all you need.  Then you will always have everything
you need and plenty left over to share with others.”
2 Corinthians 9:7-8  

“You must each decide in your heart how much to give”    vs. 7  

I take this to mean that God wants each of us to take very seriously the decision of how much of our income we give to Him.   It’s a heart decision.   We need to ask God what he want us to give and when we do, he will give us a sense of what amount would require us to trust God to make up what we’ve given beyond what we can afford.   In making the decision personally, I have discovered that it is hard but also satisfying.  When I have the feeling that my giving is more than I feel I can afford, yet sense that God is in this decision then I sense that it is a “heart decision”  

“And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. For God loves a person who gives cheerfully”     vs 7  

I’m not the type to jump up and down and cheer when I give a portion of my income to the Lord.   Yet, Kathy and I decided from day one of our marriage that our giving would be a tenth of our income based on the teaching found in the Old Testament.  Over time I came to believe that this amount is not a law to be obeyed legalistically, rather it is a step toward being the kind of person who wants to give, the kind of person who is a giver, as God is a Giver, rather than the kind of person who is a keeper.   Based on the passage above I think the apostle Paul would have each of us give in a way that grows our trust in the in Lord’s trustworthiness and grows our relationship with the Lord.   After all, givers are much happier people than takers and keepers.   

“And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.”     Vs 8  

A third guideline for us is that we should seek to give a percentage of our income to the Lord which puts us into a position where we discover concretely and practically that it really is God who provides for us. We learn to credit God not our own earning power, work ethic, or other kind of self-reliance.  In other words God want us to experience in real time the difference between living our lives relying on ourselves and living our lives relying on Him. 

The dedication of your “Blessed to be a Blessing” card on November 23 can be an important step for your growth in faith and in your trust in God’s trustworthiness.

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Why Does Mama Eagle Push Junior Out of the Nest?

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Why Does Mama Eagle Push Junior Out of the Nest?

Friday, November 14, 2014
Jeff Lampl

 “But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high
on wings like eagles.” 
Isaiah 40:31 (NLT)

It all Belongs to God

“But who am I, and who are my people, that we could give anything to you? Everything we have has come from you, and we give you only what you first gave us!”   
1 Chronicles 29:14

The Bible uses the metaphor of an eagle to describe the life that God wants believers to experience.  It goes something like this.   In order to become an eagle, one must be born an eagle.   In Christian terms this means that once God draws a person to himself as an adopted son or daughter, that person is reborn, born again.   
That person is now a new creation, “an eagle”.  

However every eagle must be taught to fly.   The baby eagle can’t remain an eaglet, a nest dweller, forever.  Mama eagle’s task, therefore, is to push the eaglet out of the nest.  She nudges Junior off the edge of the nest, and shows him the incredible world that is “all his”, the mountains, the fresh breezes, the sun, the lakes, the majestic mountains and it’s abundance (see 1^st Chronicles above).  But suddenly she pushes Junior out of the nest!  And he tumbles helplessly toward the rocks below.   He thinks he’s going to die.  His wings are tucked tightly to his body and he’s afraid to let go, open up and trust that the wind currents will catch him.   At the last minute mama eagle swoops under the eaglet, catches him on her back, and flies him back to the nest.   This process is repeated until one day the baby eagle opens his wings and discovers that the air, the wind, can not only “catch” him, but when he “catches the wind” he can soar effortlessly.  In the bible, the Hebrew and Greek words for wind are exactly the same as for Holy Spirit.  

Consider Sunday November 23^rd, your day to commemorate your having been gently and lovingly “nudged out of the comfort of your financial nest”.    When you bring your “Blessed to be a Blessing” 2015, cards with you to worship, with the percentage of your income marked on it (anonymously), you will not be dedicating money, you will be dedicating your trust in the trustworthiness of God.   If you do so having “opened you wings”, even while it feels like your falling because your giving really does represent a risk, an act of trust which requires God to catch you, then you will have taken great step toward living by the power of the wind, by the Grace of the Holy Spirit who can carry you and who can provide for you.

But how much of my income should I give to the Lord?   In Monday’s blog I’ll give you the help for that decision that the New Testament offers.

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