"It's done...complete."

It's a good day.

It's good because of the goodness of God.

It's good because of the generosity of God.

It's good because of the mercy of God.

It's good not because Jesus died, but what his death brought as a result.

It's not just any Friday, but Good Friday.

It's God's day to give a gift to all humanity, before that time and since.

It's our day to receive from the very hand of God.

It's no coincidence that on the sixth day, God completed the work of creation and the work of redemption.

Jesus even said it from the cross. "Jesus seeing everything had been completed...said, 'It's done...complete.' Bowing his head, he offered up his spirit." (John 19:28, 30, The Message)

It's today we remember it, honor it. celebrate it.

Because it was for us...

... for you!

Peace ><>

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...at the feet of a betrayer.

Jesus washed Judas' feet.

He knew his betrayer intimately. Yet that night as Jesus went around the table with the bowl of water performing one of the most humble acts as a servant, he came to Judas. It makes me wonder what was said, if anything. We have the dialogue between Jesus and and Peter, but we don't have any between Jesus and Judas here, probably because there wasn't any. It was silent. Their communication was totally non-verbal, between Jesus' penetrating eyes and Judas' guilty countenance. It revealed much more than words could have. It revealed much about both of them to one another, especially Jesus love, even for his betrayer!

Jesus later in the evening said to his disciples to "just as I have loved you, love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples - when they see the love you have for each other." (John 13:35, The Message)

That's the difference...love.

Jesus command is for his true followers to love and serve, even those who would be our enemies, those whose purpose is contrary to ours, those who disrupt what we are trying to do, those who seem to do everything just to spite us, those who hate us, as well as those who work side by side with us.

It's easy to love our friends, those who reciprocate our feelings. It's difficult to love, not just with feelings, but with actions, those who don't or won't. But that's what Jesus commanded. Love. And not just with feelings, but with actions. Jesus didn't say to his disciples, "I was going to wash your feet as a sign of my love, but you know I love you already so let's skip it." No! Jesus didn't have to say anything at that moment. He showed it, the true nature of love, action...

...at the feet of a betrayer.

"Let me give you a new command: Love one another." (John 13:34, The Message)

With a towel and basin ><>
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A Rolling of the Eyes

Sometimes that's the goal. Sheer foolishness to expose the truth of the Gospel. St. Paul said that of the cross, it's foolishness, yet it makes sense when we believe.

God's ways are not our ways. In fact, if we were to learn God's ways, we wouldn't have to be so serious all the time. I'm not saying we should be flippant with God or take faith lightly. We need to be very serious about our faith, intentional about living for God, but we don't have to be somber about it. I believe that's one of the reasons the religious leaders didn't like Jesus, he was likeable, he was fun, he would tell stories that would make people giggle just before it sank in and they understood.

And the religious leaders would roll their eyes.

I get this a lot. And when I do it makes me think that I'm getting through, I'm doing my job, I'm pleasing Christ. A little foolishness for the sake of the Gospel. Once I was told that there are certain churches I probably wouldn't serve in this conference. My credentials were fine, but my pedigree might disqualify me. At first I was apalled. I couldn't believe this was even said. Then I thought about it and was relieved. There are places I don't want to go and mostly these places wouldn't want me anyway. Then again, there were certain places Jesus wasn't accepted either so I'm in good company!

I've met some wonderful people throughout my ministry, most of them without a religious education (many without any post-secondary education at all) yet with powerful testimonies of faith. God doesn't count us as somebodies because of who we are, but because of what we are. We may have a name in the community but that doesn't matter to God, what does our heart say?

"Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don't see many of 'the brightest and the best' among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these 'nobodies' to expose the hollow pretentions of the 'somebodies?' That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have - right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start - comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That's why we have the saying, 'if you're going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God.'" (1 Corinthians 1:26-31, The Message)

Jesus went to a cross, foolishness to the world, salvation for those who believe.

So go ahead, be a little foolish. And when people roll their eyes at you, know that Jesus got that look a lot. He's using us, just as we are to change the world.

Peace ><>
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Eggs: 5 Cents a Dozen

A man stopped at a farm stand with a big sign that said, "Eggs: 10 cents a dozen." He approached the farmer and said, "10 cents a dozen? The farmer down the road has his eggs for 5 cents a dozen."

The farmer replied, "Then why don't you go down to the other farmer and get the 5 cent eggs?"

The man replied, "because he doesn't have any."

Empty promises. That's what we get from other faiths, other religions, other gods, empty promises. Their ability to lead us, guide us, provide for us are all talk and no action. All they require is for us to work harder, to reach farther, to do the impossible, to strive for a perfection that we can never reach on our own.

But God made promises that have always been fulfilled.

"God's message, the God who created the cosmos, stretched out the skies, laid out the earth and all that grows from it, who breathes life into earth's people, makes them alive with his own life: "I am God, I have called you to live right and well. I have taken responsibility for you, kept you safe." (Isaiah 42:5-7, The Message)

"I'll take the hand of those who don't know the way, directing them through unknown country. I'll be right there to show them what roads to take, make sure they don't fall into the ditch. These are the things I'll be doing for them, sticking with them, not leaving them for a minute." (Isaiah 42:15-16, The Message)

The action of God is what we are looking for, to fulfill the promises. All we have to do is look for them; watch for the action of God among us; see what God is doing on our behalf.

This week is a time to watch and wait, to receive the gift of the fulfilled promises of God, the sacifice of his Son...

...just for us!

God's action, not ours; to reach us, not us to him.

And that's a promise.

Peace ><>
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"Worship Pastor"

One of the kids at church yesterday waved their palm branch towards me and said, "worship Pastor Chris; worship Pastor Chris." I chuckled as I turned to set them straight. "Thank you but we never worship the pastor. It's Jesus we worship and no one else."

It made me think, maybe that's part of the problem, not only of other religions, but within Christianity. It's not that we don't believe in Jesus, but we have the objects of our worship all wrong. We worship our pastors, our churches, our buildings, our budgets (or our savings), our children, our ministries. And as long as we keep believing in Jesus we're okay. But many still get sidetracked by the physical part of church and they don't truly know the very God who is to be found there.

It's the problem Jesus found with the religious leaders. Now I am not only talking about the priests and scribes, but also the rabbis and other religious leaders. The Pharisees were largely a group of teachers and leaders who were laity. They would have made up the boards and committees of the local synagogues. They were equal to Sunday School teachers, Administrators, etc. They were the leaders of their "church." And they were more concerned about their "church" than they were of their faith. I like the way Peterson put it in his translation, The Message, "The Pharisees took one look and threw up their hands: "It's out of control, The world's in a stampede after him."

I can just imagine them rolling their eyes in anger and disappointment. They didn't look closely at this Jesus, they couldn't get over their own doctrine, their own church, their own narrow view of faith. The couldn't imagine a God who was so flippant with tradition, so gracious to accept outsiders, so unfair to make Gentiles equal with Jews. I can understand how they might be angered at their own people for following this Jesus.

I can also understand the disappointment Jesus felt over these leaders failing to look beyond their doctrine, their church and and simply trust in God. They tested Jesus to see if he could be tripped up, but they never tested him to see if he was for real. Most of them never tested their faith to see if what Jesus taught resonated with their spirits.

Today, people come and go from churches for a lot of reasons. Many leave because they refuse to look honestly at the object of their faith, to identify whether they are trusting in God or trusting in the leadership, or the church itself. So when things don't go their way they "throw up their hands."

Worship is an important part of our response to God. The key phrase in yesterday's message was that "we worship what we know." The key then is to understand our worship and the object of it. It is critical to understand that it is easy to move from worshiping God through Christ to worshiping the church or the pastor. And then make sure that we are focused on Christ in our study, in our prayer, in our living. To do anything less is to move away from Christ and worship the church.

And that's idolatry.

I don't remember who it was that said it to me, but they were bothered by my priority list: God, family, relationships, church, work. They said that as a pastor my service to God was to put the church first, above everything else. But the church is not God. The church is not Christ, rather it's the bride of Christ. I don't serve the church. I serve Christ in the Church.

That's what Christ wants of you, too.

Peace ><>
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