Tuesdays with Morris

I ran across this quote while doing some reading this morning. The source of the quote sort of took me by surprise. Now, don’t cheat and look ahead. But, see if you can guess who said the following:

“If the positive element of Christianity is the love of one’s neighbor, that is, caring for the sick, clothing the poor, feeding the hungry, quenching the thirst of the parched, then we are true Christians!”

Sounds pretty good! I mean, we need Christians to take this “love of one’s neighbor” seriously. We all need to do all we can to care for the sick, cloth the poor, feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty. It’s the whole “putting our faith into action” thing.

However, the source of the quote seems to contradict the whole message of Christianity…the whole concept of loving one’s neighbor would seem foreign to the person that made the statement.

2 Corinthians 11:14-15 says, “…for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.”

You know, I believe there are a lot of Christians out there, who by words or actions, totally mis-represent the message of Jesus. Heck, most of us probably mis-represent the message of Christ from time to time. If I saw that quote, I’d probably guess it came from Falwell, Robertson, W talking about our Christian nation, Dobson, or Benny Hinn. But, the quote didn’t come from any of these usual suspects.

The quote came from a 1939 speech given by Adolf Hitler. Knowing the source of the quote really makes that passage from 2 Corinthians come to life. Of course, I tend to think of my “usual suspects” list when I read that passage too.

Anyway, I guess my point is that we need to be careful and examine what we hear and consider the source.

Now, I know that some people have a hard time laughing at things that poke at issues of faith and religion. So, if that’s you, don’t follow this link. If you, like me, tend to laugh at religious things on a regular basis…this post is for you.

My friend Matt D’Amico posted this on his blog. Click HERE to view the article. Enjoy!

Recently, I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about the things people of “faith” do in the name of their respective faiths…Just take a moment to think of some of the latest things groups of people have done in the name of their faith (need a hint: how about protesting soldiers funerals, suicide bombings, flying planes into buildings, etc).

Most of you know by now that “faith” is extremely important to me. Yesterday, in reading “Oh, the Things I Know!” by Al Franken, I came across a passage that he wrote on faith that I find both humorous and truthful.

“The Hopis say that man is closest to God when he reaches out his hand to help and furthest from God when he raises his hand to strike. This may explain why the Hopis were overrun by the far more warlike Navaho, who have a different saying, which is that your neighbor’s corn will not fill your belly unless you take it from him. I could fill an entire book with these sayings. But most of them would be pretty useless. The point I’m trying to make is that faith in something is better than no faith at all, a lesson the Navaho learned when they were forced onto reservations by white Christians who firmly believed in forgiveness, mercy, and the principle of loving thy neighbor as thyself.”

Recently, my father let me borrow Absorbing Spongebob: Ten Ways to Squeeze More Happiness Out of Life. He mainly wanted me to read it because of a section on theology. In that section, there was a chapter called “Believing is Believing.”

I started thinking about what the author said in the chapter. He talked about how, if we truly believe something, our actions will line up with our beliefs. I’ve thought about how this plays out in the church.

We have creeds, doctrines, foundational beliefs that many of us can recite with great confidence. However, one thing I’ve noticed in the modern church is that we often don’t act on what we believe. I understand this is a broad generalization, a horrible stereotype…But, most the time sterotypes and generalizations come from what we see play out over time.

We believe that we should invite our friends to church, but we talk about sports instead of church.
We believe we should feed the hungry and clothe the poor, but we buy a new car instead.
We believe that we should study the Bible more often, but it continues to collect dust.
We believe that we should spend more time in prayer, but watching the Jamie Oliver interview on 60 minutes is more interesting.
We believe “this”, but we do “that”.
We believe that their is good in others, but we focus on the bad.
We believe in peace, but we go to war.

The list of things we believe can go on and on. But, if we aren’t putting our beliefs into practice, are they really beliefs? This is what I’m wrestling with this afternoon.

Tonight was our Maundy Thursday service. Due to my duties as an Associate Pastor, I’m expected to attend our special services. This evening, I didn’t exactly feel motivated to fulfill this expectation. Sometimes I feel like when we get to periods of the year (like Advent and Lent) we simply go through the motions. We have Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter…and sometimes I get caught up in going through my religious duties rather than savoring the whole experience. And, sometimes I don’t like being around because I feel like I should have a more active role than sitting in the congregation. Four services this week and I’m sitting on the sidelines for all of them. So, I guess you could say I had a bit of a chip on my shoulder.

So, I found myself sitting in the sanctuary, somewhat reluctant to fully connect and participate in the service. Instead of thinking about what Maundy Thursday is about, instead of focusing on my relationship with Christ, I was spending my time thinking about all the other things I could be doing. Even as the service started, I was longing to be elsewhere…my heart and my mind just weren’t in it.

As our pastor led us through the Scripture, I found myself thinking about what I would have shared on a night like this…So, I continued to do my best to not engage in the experience at hand. Why? I’m not really sure…The scene was set…the sanctuary looked great (low lights, candles, the way I’d like to see it more often)…yet, I was doing all I could to distance myself from the experience. I was focusing on pointing out all the things I would have done differently. I just wasn’t “feeling” it. Does that make sense?

Well, it came time to take communion. There was a table set in the front of the sanctuary for 12 people to participate at a time. One chair was empty with a white linen placed over it, representing Christ’s seat at the table. Another chair was empty with a black linen placed over it, representing Judas’ seat. We sat, served one another, prayed, and returned to our seats.

As I sat down, I said a simple prayer, “Lord, meet me here.” When I received the bread in my hand, I suddenly realized what this was all about. The evening wasn’t about what else I could be doing…it wasn’t about whether or not I thought things were “right”…it was about spending time with a friend…Jesus! With the touch and taste of the bread, the reality of Maundy Thursday and what it brings became clear. I found myself a full participant in what God was trying to do in that moment. He was trying to let me know He loves me and that I need to stop worrying about what I would do or if I’m being overlooked and to stop being so dang judgmental about every thing and just participate in what He is doing in the world today.

As I left the church this evening, I was thankful I had participated in our Maundy Thursday service.

There’s great power in the story of the Last Supper. It’s the passage that was shared at our service this evening. It reads like this,

Mark 14:12-26: [12] On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread (the day the Passover lambs were sacrificed), Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go to prepare the Passover supper?” [13] So Jesus sent two of them into Jerusalem to make the arrangements. “As you go into the city,” he told them, “a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him. [14] At the house he enters, say to the owner, ‘The Teacher asks, Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ [15] He will take you upstairs to a large room that is already set up. That is the place; go ahead and prepare our supper there.” [16] So the two disciples went on ahead into the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and they prepared the Passover supper there. [17] In the evening Jesus arrived with the twelve disciples. [18] As they were sitting around the table eating, Jesus said, “The truth is, one of you will betray me, one of you who is here eating with me.” [19] Greatly distressed, one by one they began to ask him, “I’m not the one, am I?” [20] He replied, “It is one of you twelve, one who is eating with me now. [21] For I, the Son of Man, must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago. But how terrible it will be for my betrayer. Far better for him if he had never been born!” [22] As they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread and asked God’s blessing on it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take it, for this is my body.” [23] And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. [24] And he said to them, “This is my blood, poured out for many, sealing the covenant between God and his people. [25] I solemnly declare that I will not drink wine again until that day when I drink it new in the Kingdom of God.” [26] Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.