The Secret to Happiness

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

What is the secret to happiness?

Ask this question to a hundred people and you’ll get a hundred different answers. Marketing executives want us to believe that buying a certain product will make us rich beyond our wildest dreams, or make us more desirable to the opposite sex, or transform us from an overweight couch potato into lean, mean fitness machine. It’s part of the message we get from our culture telling us that happiness comes from our status, accomplishments, relationships and possessions.[1] We are always looking out for the next big, better thing coming down the pike that we are confident will make us happy. We watch and wait for the newest version of the iPad and iPhone, the newest video game system, and the new car designs for the next model year. We look for the perfect mate. Once we’ve found the perfect mate, we strive for the perfect house. Once we have the perfect house, we want a bigger, more perfect one or a new, bigger car or more money in the bank. We work to find the perfect job. Once we have it, we keep an eye out for the next promotion or look forward to retirement or a new, even better job. We seem to be on a constant and futile chase after the promised land of everlasting happiness.

According to Dr. Emma Seppala, the Associate Director at Stanford University's Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, life experience as well as research data suggests that the secret to lasting happiness does not lie in any goods, relationships or achievements, but rather in what we can give: not just material gifts, but gifts of time, gifts of love, gifts of ourselves. Things like compassion and service don't just make us happy but they also have a host of other associated benefits and may even contribute to a longer life.

Giving to others even increases our well-being above and beyond spending money on ourselves. In a revealing experiment led by Harvard Business School professor Michael Norton, participants received a sum of money. Half of the participants were instructed to spend the money on themselves and the other half were told to spend the money on others. At the end of the study, participants that had spent money on others felt significantly happier than those that had spent money on themselves. This is true even for toddlers and young children! A recent study by Elizabeth Dunn and colleagues at the University of British Columbia shows that, even in children as young as two years old, giving treats to others increases their happiness more than receiving treats themselves.[2]

The text from Deuteronomy is an ancient thanksgiving liturgy that tells the story of faith. It recounts the story of Israel from the Exodus to God leading his people across the Jordan River into the Promised Land.[3] When we read the text carefully, it becomes pretty clear that God establishes tithing as the foundation of the social network of his people -- a social network that extends all the way back to their ancestor, a "wandering Aramean" (Jacob), an "alien" in a strange land who was dependent on God for everything (v. 5).

The community of his descendants became the nation that God rescued from slavery and to whom God gave a homeland (vv. 6-10). Because of God's provision for the social network that is his people, his people are to bring together the first fruits of their produce and labor to celebrate with everyone, including the Levites and the aliens among them, "all the bounty that the LORD your God has given to you and to your house" (v. 11). The giving of the tithe extended the social network to the most vulnerable people in the land, including the aliens, orphans and widows, who "may eat their fill within your towns" (v. 12).[4]

What can we as God’s stewards learn from this act of thanksgiving and praise in Deuteronomy?[5] There are three. They are:

1) True happiness doesn’t come from selfishness. Happiness does not rise to the top of the heap when it is weighed down by grudges and anger. Turn on the Bravo channel and watch the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, featuring some of the richest people in the world and you’ll see what I mean. True happiness comes when we give ourselves away; when we give life away. But most of us have a difficult time with this.

A 2005 study by the Barna Research Group found five reasons why Christians do not give more to their churches. In the words of the study's director, George Barna: "Some people lack the motivation to give away their hard-earned money because the church has failed to provide a compelling vision for how the money will make a difference in the world.... The second group are those who see their giving as leverage on the future. They withhold money from the church because they do not see a sufficient return on their investment. The third segment is comprised of people who do not realize the church needs their money to be effective. Their church has done an inadequate job of asking.... The fourth group is composed of those who are ignorant of what the Bible teaches about our responsibility to apply God's resources in ways that affect lives. The final category contains those who are just selfish. They figure they worked hard for their money and it's theirs to use as they please." Some people may fit into more than one of these categories.

Barna continues. "It helps when church leaders recognize the underlying issue related to each of these barriers, the absence of a compelling vision to motivate generosity is a leadership issue. The perception that donations do not produce significant outcomes is usually an efficiency or productivity issue, sometimes compounded by poor communications. Churches that struggle because they do not ask strategically have a process issue. When the problem is people's ignorance of scriptural principles regarding stewardship, there is a theological or educational issue. And cases where people focus on themselves rather than other people reflect a heart issue. The reality is that Americans are willing to give more generously than they typically do, but it takes a purposeful and well-executed approach to facilitate that generosity." [6]

2) As a spiritual discipline, what if, instead of talking about the obligation to God, we talked about the blessing that God has built into the discipline of tithing? Tithing is a spiritual issue; maybe even the most basic spiritual issue. Dave Ramsey gets asked all kinds of questions on financial issues on TV, the radio and in his books. On his website, he offers advice on tithing and giving. The question posed to him was “Is it acceptable to pause tithing in tough financial times?”

“The Bible does not mention anything about "pausing" tithing. Neither does it say that we will go to hell if we do not tithe. The tithe, which is a scriptural mandate, was not instituted for God's benefit because he already has all the money he needs. God does not need our money.

So why does God ask us to give 10%? Tithing was created for our benefit. It is to teach us how to keep God first in our lives and how to be unselfish people. Unselfish people make better husbands, wives, friends, relatives, employees and employers. God is trying to teach us how to prosper over time....

If you cannot live off 90% of your income, then you cannot live off 100%. It does not require a miracle for you to get through the month. I think that if you sit down and look at your budget, you will see that you can make it while giving at least 10%. Read the Bible and take from it what you will, and if you tithe, do it out of love for God, not guilt.”

This is a text that challenges our Western worldview that assumes that spiritual things are superior to material things and that one usually has little to do with the other. A biblical worldview, on the other hand, recognizes that how we handle material things is the basic indicator of how we're going to handle spiritual things as well. One has everything to do with the other.[7]

3) The ritual of tithing in today’s text reminds us that we are not born generous. This ritual is a teaching tool to illustrate to us that through giving we will find happiness. It is vital for our faith as God’s stewards. It helps us live out our faith as it did for God’s people in biblical times. When we follow the ritual of tithing, we model a life of thanksgiving and happiness for our children and new believers to the faith.

Tithing doesn't guarantee us that, someday, Publishers Clearing House is going to show up on our doorstep with an oversized check. What it does guarantee, however, is that we can experience great happiness in knowing that we are participating in God's great social network called the church -- a network that is called to expand into every corner of the world. Tithing is not about giving until it hurts, but rather, giving until it feels really good.

It's not a coincidence that when Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 9:7, "God loves a cheerful giver" the root word for "cheerful" is the Greek word "hilario" (from which we get the word "hilarious"). That's not "give 'til it hurts" but instead "give 'til you giggle!" Tithing is a discipline that brings us joy because it brings joy to others, making our whole social network hum with possibility.[8]

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[1] http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/feeling-it/201211/the-best-kept-secret-happiness

[2] http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/feeling-it/201211/the-best-kept-secret-happiness

[3] The Stewardship Companion. David N. Mosser (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007) p.186-187.

[4] http://www.homileticsonline.com/subscriber/btl_display.asp?installment_id=93040729>

[5] The Stewardship Companion. David N. Mosser (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007) p.186-187

[6] Barna Research Group, "Americans donate billions to charity, but giving to churches has declined," April 25, 2005, barna.org/barna-update/article/5-barna-update/180-americans-donate-billions-to-charity-but-giving-to-churches-has-declined. Retrieved August 8, 2012.

[7] http://www.homileticsonline.com/subscriber/btl_display.asp?installment_id=93040729

[8] <http://www.homileticsonline.com/subscriber/btl_display.asp?installment_id=93040729

There's An "App" for That"

Luke 4:1-13

Do you like to read the New York Times? Watch Sophia the First on Disney Junior? Want a better way to keep track of your appointments and obligations? There’s an app for that. Want to train your brain? Keep and edit digital pictures of those you love? Do you want to play pinball or golf or basketball? There’s an app for that, too.

Some estimates say that more than 500,000 apps are now available for our smartphones or other mobile devices. An “App”, short for application, is a specialized program that you download to your smartphone or other mobile device. Many promise to make our lives better. Many claim to save you time and money; others will help you communicate more effectively. Too many apps promise entertainment value for yourself and others and while other apps serve as learning tools. These apps are supposed to make our lives better and more efficient.

So is there an app for everything? No wonder so many of us can be seen staring down at our phones in hand rather than conversing face-to-face with someone. Discussions on cell phone etiquette encourage us to put the phone down and be fully present in the here and now. D’Anna and I were at Genghis Grill for lunch recently and the couple at a table near us each had their phones out, not saying a word to each other. One of my favorite slogans I heard at a Young Life Camp was, "Putting your phone away and paying attention to those talking to you? There's an app for that. It's called 'RESPECT.'”

But even if smartphones are causing problems, we should not dismiss them. According to The Atlantic magazine (June 2012), apps are now available to transform us into "thinner, richer, all-around-better versions of ourselves.”[1]

Want to lose weight, become wealthy or break a bad habit? There's an app for that! It is behavior modification, supported by smartphone technology.[2] There is an app called “Lose It!” that will help make losing weight a reality. If you want to save money and build wealth, Mint.com has an app that will track expenses, budget and manage your money, remind you when bills are due, find you an insurance quote and provide investment advice. There are at least a thousand apps for those who want to quit smoking.

So there is an app for everything, even for breaking bad habits.

While in the wilderness, Jesus watched his own behavior carefully knowing that there is a direct relationship between personal habits and ones quality of life. Jesus made a set of choices; choices that developed into good habits for us; ones that will change our lives for the better. Jesus gave us support, guidelines and ammunition to defend ourselves against temptation. Jesus developed some apps for us to strengthen us to resist temptation. They are from the three confrontations Jesus had with Satan.

The first one is the “Trust God, not self” app.[3] Jesus is starving. He hasn’t eaten in 40 days, so he’s pretty famished. Satan takes advantage of Jesus in his current state daring him to turn the stones all around him into bread. Jesus knows he can do this and Satan knows he can do this. Jesus would love something to eat. And there are so many people who are hungry, too. If he turns the stones into bread, he could feed himself and hungry poor people. If he turns the stones into bread, he would essentially be bribing people with materials things to come follow him. Jesus references Deuteronomy 8:3 as he responds to Satan, “A person will never find life in material things.” The primary task for Jesus is to make and create new people; their conditions will follow.

The second one is the “Serve only God” app.[4] Satan shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world, promising him that they would be his if he worshipped Satan. This offer is a reasonable one, because think of all the good Jesus could do if he had authority over the kingdoms of the world. With a single command, he could eliminate poverty, disease, hunger, injustice, violence and abuse and people would follow him. But what Satan is asking Jesus to do is to compromise his own standards and beliefs with the power of evil. Jesus responds, again taken from Deuteronomy, saying, “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only”. God is God, right is right and wrong is wrong. “There can be no compromise in the war on evil”.[5]

This app is a tough one for us, because we're asked to make compromises every day. Do we work overtime to make money for our family, or go home at a normal hour to spend time with our family? Do we save money by buying products manufactured in countries where workers are exploited, or do we pay a little more for American-made goods? Do we push for better environmental standards, even when protecting the environment will hinder certain industries? These are tough choices, and none of them breaks down into good versus evil, God versus the devil.

But what Jesus is asking us to do is serve God ahead of ourselves, putting God's interests ahead of our own success. Jesus could've had great earthly success if he had worshiped the devil, but instead he chose to focus on serving God. We can do the same, by turning to God in prayer when we are confronted by a choice between overtime and family time. We can commit ourselves to loving our neighbors as ourselves before we purchase a particular item. We can take seriously our role as stewards of God's creation when we take stands on the economy and the environment, knowing that God wants us both to use and to preserve the resources of the earth. If we apply ourselves to serving only God, we will find a faithful path through these challenges.[6]

The third and final one is the “Do not put God to the test” app.[7] Satan takes Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem and tempts him to throw himself down so that angels of God could save him from the fall. Satan is clever enough to quote God’s Word to Jesus. Jesus trusts God to save him in times of trouble, but he is not going to tell God how to do it. Even at the end of his life, he does not ask God to rush in and rescue him from the cross. This is the temptation to make a spectacle of himself to the people.

Let’s be honest with ourselves, we’ve all put God to the test. We’ve all had those moments in our lives when we cried out to God, “Dear God, if you get me an “A” on this test, I will go to church every Sunday.” Or perhaps, “O God, if you get me that job promotion, I’ll stop cursing and gossiping for a week.” Or perhaps even, “Lord, if you want me to stop and buy some donuts, let there be an open parking spot directly in front of the bakery, even if I have to around the block twelve times.” These are examples of bargaining with God making promises to do something for specific kinds of help. It’s all about God’s will, not our own.

Looking at the entire temptation story, we see that all of Jesus' choices enable him to remain close to God and his divine agenda.

If there is some temptation you are trying to resist, you must be intentional about it. The idea is to think specifically about your temptation and about the situation in which you are most likely to see it. Then, there are two things you can do. First, resolve to stick with your goal, even when you encounter the temptation. Second, make a specific plan to help you stick with your goal. In the case of a tempting piece of chocolate cake, for example, consider walking away from it. If you are at a restaurant, and someone else is eating the cake, think about getting a cup of coffee or a glass of water instead.[8] We must be intentional with how we live life.

Though Jesus refused to turn stones into bread, he did feed the hungry. Though he refused political power, the proclamation of God’s empire of justice and peace is the focus of his preaching and teaching. Though he refused to jump off the temple to see if God would send angels to catch him, he goes to the cross in confidence that God’s Will for all life will trump the world’s decision to execute him.[9]

Trusting God, serving God and not putting God to the test. These are the apps that Jesus uses in his own time of trial, and they are habits that he recommends we apply to our own struggles.

If we change our habits, we can change our lives. If we can change our lives, we can change the world.

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[1] Freedman, David H. "The perfected self.” The Atlantic, June 2012, 42-52.

[2] http://www.homileticsonline.com/subscriber/btl_display.asp?installment_id=93040728

[3] http://www.homileticsonline.com/subscriber/btl_display.asp?installment_id=93040728

[4] http://www.homileticsonline.com/subscriber/btl_display.asp?installment_id=93040728

[5] The Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of Luke. By William Barclay. (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1976) p. 44.

[6] http://www.homileticsonline.com/subscriber/btl_display.asp?installment_id=93040728

[7]  http://www.homileticsonline.com/subscriber/btl_display.asp?installment_id=93040728

[8] Art Markman, "Harness the power of temptation,” Psychology Today, October 18, 2011, psychologytoday.com.

[9] Sharon H. Ringe, Reflection on Luke 4:1-13. Daily Feast: Meditations from Feasting on the Word – Year C. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2012)p.170.

A Sort of Homecoming

Luke 4:16-30

I talked to an old friend several months ago catching up with what was happening in each other’s lives. He loves to tell stories. He told me a story he had told me several times before, about a certain fishing trip he took many years before. He was fishing by himself along the lakeshore. The fish weren’t biting, but he was enjoying the quiet sounds of nature all around him. Suddenly, he said something was pulling hard on the end of his line. He tried to bring whatever it was to shore. His pole, he said, was bent so far that he thought it would break. He dug in his heels to anchor himself to the ground. As he is pulling, he looked out and saw the gigantic fish splashing in the water at the end of his line. It had to be at least 5 feet long. It was the biggest fish he had ever seen from that lake. He pulled and pulled and pulled. The fish was getting closer and closer to the shore, then “SNAP!” the line broke and the big fish swam away. When he finished his tall tale, I said, “No matter how many times you tell this story, I still find it hard to believe. You’re crazy you are.” We laughed it off and continued our conversation.

We love to share stories and tales about ourselves and others. There are the classic “the fish that got away” tall tales. There are the “out of this world” UFO sightings; seen by one human at a time living in the middle of nowhere. In classic American folklore, there are the legendary tales of Johnny Appleseed, Davy Crockett and Paul Bunyan. They are stories filled with unbelievable events, twists and turns, but told as if it were true and factual. Some of these stories are exaggerations of actual events, while others are completely fictional tales set in familiar setting.

When Jesus stands to read the scripture in his hometown synagogue, rumors were circulating all over town about things Jesus did in the nearby town of Capernaum. But this is Jesus the carpenter, son of Joseph and Mary; just an ordinary guy from the old neighborhood. He is a faithful and devout Jew, who regularly attended synagogue services on the Sabbath and adhered to the Law of Moses. Most of the people in the synagogue that day didn’t know what to think of him at first because the idea of Jesus as the promised Messiah was such a remote, foreign idea that never crossed their minds.

I imagine that Jesus was quiet and humble as he stood before the congregation and read the appointed reading for the day from Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me, to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Now you’ll notice in the text that Jesus rolls up the scroll, gives it to the attendant and he sat down with everybody’s eyes on him. Jesus says, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” In other words, the reign of the kingdom of God has begun. Luke says that, “all spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.” (Luke 4:23) They loved him. He captivated them. I imagine some in the congregation cried out, “Amen! Amen!”. He has a good thing going.

What Jesus says is that he is the one Isaiah is writing about. Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah, but he is not what the people expected. Jesus is sharing God’s truth, a truth so radical, so unorthodox, the people become enraged. Jesus of Nazareth can’t be the Messiah of God, they thought. We’ve seen him grow up from a boy to a man. He’s an ordinary man. What makes him so special? God’s truth comes in ways that we choose not to accept.

Jesus came to tell us that God’s plan for the redemption of the world goes beyond the chosen few. Our God is sovereign and not limited in any way, shape or form. The grace of God that we receive is freely available to all of us, for everyone. Elijah was sent to care for a Gentile widow, instead of the many widows in Israel. Elisha was sent to cleanse Naaman the Syrian from his leperosy, another Gentile. What’s God doing here? God’s love and the salvation he offers us in Jesus Christ is for all people, not just a chosen few. God's truth may come in ways that we choose not to accept.

Think how often, especially during our teen and young adult years, our parents urged certain behaviors or responses from us that we dismissed, thinking they were out-of-touch or too fussy or not hip enough to know what they were talking about. Later, with the perspective of maturity, we may recognize the wisdom in what they offered, but by then, we'd already gotten ourselves in the very complexities they were warning us about.

Further, how often does our familiarity with an advice-giver cause us to disallow that person's suggestions? He or she can't know as much, we think, as someone who's grown up in a more exciting part of the world, encountered more exotic situations or been blessed with the ability to think more deeply than most.

What about when words of truth regarding our faults and shortcomings come from the lips of our spouses or even our children? It takes a special kind of humility to hear those things, and not all of us have it.

Sometimes we even discount encouragement when it comes from someone who is a part of our routine life. We receive praise from other church members for a job well done on a church project, and we think they are only grateful that they didn't have to do the job themselves.

Truth is, we tend to dismiss the crazy idea that God could be speaking through someone who's part of our daily sphere of influence or that our spouses, our parents, our children, or our friends could ever be prophets for us. So when their advice hits too close to home, we dismiss them as crazy and insane.

Not every word that comes our way from those who share our lives is a pearl of wisdom. But who is more likely for God to tap as a channel for spiritual warning or direction -- those who love us and care about us or those who've never heard our names? God is not limited, and he surely uses both, but we should not declare one of those channels -- perhaps the primary channel -- worthless because it is close to home. For the people of Nazareth, to see Jesus, one of their own, as the Messiah, was one tall tale they found too hard to accept and believe. Amen.

How Do You Play the Game?

Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
I Corinthians 12:12-31

A church youth group was on a weekend retreat working through a low ropes course. A low ropes course is an outdoor team-building challenge usually set up in the woods and done in small to medium sized groups. They were doing well until they reached one of the more challenging elements. The teamwork and unity they had been building came to a crushing end: they sudden stopped getting along, there was a lot of yelling and screaming at one another, nobody wanted to help anyone. In fact one of the youth, an ordained youth elder at the time, tried to form a committee to figure out what to do. When the new youth pastor arrived the following year, the same church youth group returned to the same course and the same challenging element. In preparation for the retreat, the new youth pastor taught I Corinthians 12 in church school and youth group to give them the building blocks they would need.

The preparation paid off. It was a complete turnaround for the whole group. It took a long time to complete, but they stuck with it and with each other. They were getting along and working together: the stronger kids helped the weaker ones, the seniors worked with the freshmen, the quiet kids worked with the outgoing kids. When something didn’t go right they didn’t quit on themselves or each other. They persevered and tried again. They learned patience. They learned empathy and respect. They learned to trust each other. There was no yelling and screaming; everyone stepped up to help a friend who needed help; and thankfully no committees were formed. The youth group actually looked and worked like an actual group, an actual fellowship of Christ’s disciples filled with the Holy Spirit. They worked as a team and cared for one another, respecting each other’s differences, gifts and shortcomings. How you play the game matters to everyone.

The church in Corinth is plagued by a division amongst followers where some exalted themselves over others because they believed God had blessed them with unique spiritual gifts and graces.[1] There were other members who appeared to push for a uniformity that stressed one gift (perhaps speaking in tongues) over all the rest. It is a uniformity that leads to disunion and division. In our reading this morning, Paul writes of the abuse of spiritual gifts, gifts given from God to us through the Holy Spirit. He argues in favor of the diversity of Christ’s disciples, employing the well-known image of the human body. “For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body…and were made to drink of one Spirit…now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” (I Corinthians 12:13, 27)

Next Sunday, the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens go head-to-head where only one of them will be named Super Bowl Champions and be recipients of the Lombardi trophy. To become a Super Bowl champion requires a great deal of time, effort, preparation and commitment on the part of each player, each coach and everyone in the organization. It’s a team effort. Everyone has to be fully committed and work together to be successful.

I can best describe this by sharing with you the Super Bowl version of 1 Corinthians 12:12-26: "For the team is one and has many players, and all the players of the team, though many, are one team ... Indeed, the team does not consist of one player, but of many. If the defensive end would say, 'Because I am not the quarterback, I do not belong to the team,' that would not make him any less a part of the team. And if the right tackle would say, 'Because I am not a wide receiver, I do not belong to the team,' that would not make him any less a part of the team. If the whole team were tackles, where would the running backs be? If the whole team were running backs, where would the kickers be? And if the whole team were kickers, where would the cornerbacks be? But as it is, the coach has arranged the players of the team, each one of them, as he chose. If all were quarterbacks, where would the team be? As it is, there are many players, yet one team. The quarterback cannot say to the tackle, ‘I don't need you.' Nor can the defensive ends say to the running backs, 'We don't need you.' On the contrary ... if one player suffers, the team suffers together with him; if one player is honored, the team rejoices with him."[2]

So what Paul is saying here is that everybody matters because everybody has something to offer, something to give to society, to the church, to the world. God wants to be partners with us. God created us as partners to make creation what God designed it to be. The people hear Ezra read the Torah aloud after returning from exile. They renew their covenant with God as one united people. As partners, we share in one another’s sufferings and joys. It is a fundamental element of the Christian life. We do our part, others do their part, and God does God’s part. And although God does not need us in any ultimate sense, God wants us in every ultimate sense.[3] We are all interdependent parts of the body of Christ.

But in the church, like the church in Corinth, we occasionally forget that in the life of the church each believer is crucial. We each have different abilities and gifts to offer the community of faith and every gift is important. Every one of us has new ideas, perspectives and experiences to share. Good, effective teamwork and cooperation allow for those new ideas, perspectives and experiences to be seriously considered and perhaps implemented into the life of the community.[4] Ezra reminds us that we too are recipients of divine instruction, a people called to continued renewal and reinterpretation of God Word among us.

Unfortunately some people spend too much time and energy in the church trying to jockey for the best positions and places of honor and control. There are some people in the church who exclude others because they don’t contribute enough, or they don’t work hard enough or they don’t do things the way they’ve always been done. They are the ones who stifle, ignore and disregard the gifts and ideas of others as inappropriate.

But Paul is very clear: no one gift is better than another’s; all who confess belief in Christ have been given gifts by the Spirit; gifts that are vital to the work of God in Christ’s church. It’s the game that cannot be won, only played.

Sixteenth century poet and pastor John Donne once wrote, “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main…any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind…so never ask for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.” Everybody matters because we are all interconnected, having been made and formed by the Creator. Everybody has something to give to society, to the church, and to the world. Every single one of us has a purpose; a calling from God; a series of different gifts that reveal to each of us our place in this world. When someone’s gifts are not being used, it’s an offense against God. It’s not what God wants. It’s not what God needs, because God wants to unite us in Christ, with all our gifts, skills, faults and failures.

In my former congregation, the high school church school class was learning about how to be a good steward of God’s creation. They had put one of their ideas into practice through a campaign against the use of Styrofoam cups, sharing what damage they do to the environment. The alternative was to only use mugs and cups. They asked the congregation to bring in from home any old coffee mugs that they weren’t using. Instead of throwing away Styrofoam cups, they reused the donated mugs. At first it was met with some resistance: How will we keep them clean and sanitary? Where will we keep them? What if we don’t get enough mugs donated? The naysayers were all wrong. It was a hit! Everybody caught on and now it’s seen as the way we’ve always done it. The youth of the church used their gifts, talent and knowledge rooted in their Christian faith to make their world a better place.

God’s will for the church is for the Holy Spirit to edify the church through the gifts offered by that same Spirit. When we place our gifts at the feet of Christ and then offer our whole selves to Christ’s ministry, then we satisfy and we respond to God’s call. Jesus calls us to, “Seek first the kingdom of God and…all these things will be given to you as well (Matt. 6:33).

The Holy Spirit unites us, his disciples, “so just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of body, though many, are one body…in one spirit we were all baptized into the body of Christ.”(I Cor. 12:12) So we are to go and “lead a life worthy of the calling to which we’ve been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as we were called to the one hope of our calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and in all and through all.” (Ephesians 4:2-5)

How do you play the game? Let us play it together as the body of Christ.

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[1] The Stewardship Companion, by David Mosser. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007) p.177.

[2] http://www.homileticsonline.com/subscriber/btl_display.asp?installment_id=2629

[3] The Stewardship Companion, David N. Mosser (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2007) p.177.

[4] Ibid., p.178.

Money Cannot Do Everything

Isaiah 43:1-7
Acts 8:14-25

There are just some things in this world that money cannot buy. You cannot buy someone’s heart. You cannot buy forgiveness. The Beatles first told us that you can’t buy love. The Bible tells us that the love of money is the root of all evil (1 Timothy, 6. 10). W.C Fields is known for saying, “A rich man is nothing but a poor man with money.” And Benjamin Franklin once said, “He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money”. Money cannot do everything.

Today's lesson from Acts offers great insight about the power of the gospel and the occasional uselessness of money in the light of the good news.

Amazing things are happening in Samaria. Philip is preaching the Gospel in that place while at the same time a magician named Simon is wowing and mesmerizing the crowds. He promoted himself as the greatest of all. As he amazed them with his magic, they listened to him intently. Magicians were widely viewed as people who plied their trade for money. They were not always the most honest of people. But when they believed in what Philip was preaching they were baptized, including Simon himself. He never left Philip's side after that for he, too, was amazed at the great signs and miracles that took place.

Word spreads to the church in Jerusalem about the miraculous events in Samaria and they sent Peter and John to check it out. While they are there Peter and John lay hands on the new believers praying they be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Simon is amazed by what Peter and John do. So much so he offers to pay for the ability to control the Spirit as Peter and John have done. There is a reoccurring theme in Luke’s writings of a concern over money as threatening faith.

Peter and John are insulted by such a request. Peter doesn't mince words as he responds to Simon's request with righteous indignation. Peter is mad because Simon thinks he can buy God's gift of the Spirit. Peter leaves no doubt as to the hideous nature of Simon's proposal.

"While almost all of us would decry someone giving gifts to their congregation in exchange for influence, some modern day church people may 'vote with their checkbooks'." No one can influence the grace or Spirit of God with human purchasing power. A gift is a gift, nothing more. We give to God through the church not to get, but as a faithful response to what God has already given us free and clear. God pours out his grace upon all who desire to receive it.

Our money is not a weapon as a means of gaining influence or establish what we want. To use our money in this way does not demonstrate faith, but rather it smacks of intimidation and coercion. We don't give our gifts to leverage others or impose our will.

In the 1990 movie “Pretty Woman”, Edward Lewis (Gere), a successful businessman and “corporate raider” who is all business, all the time. He knows how to use money as a weapon to get what he wants. One of Edward’s business deals involves the buying of a shipbuilding company in California. At a business dinner with the owners of the company, Mr. Lewis makes it clear his intention to dismantle Morse's corporation, close down the shipyard which Morse spent 40 years building, and sell the land for real estate. Mr. Morse and his grandson are insulted by this news and excuse themselves from the table.

While all this is happening, Edward begins an unusual relationship with Vivian (Roberts), a prostitute who agrees to be his escort to various functions during his stay in Beverly Hills. On the outside at first glance Vivian dresses like a prostitute. But we learn that this isn’t the real Vivian on the inside. She is smart, funny, educated, and beautiful on the inside. Once she gets a proper wardrobe of clothes, she has a profound influence on Edward. She gets him to look at himself and his life in a different way. Edward’s outlook on life and his work begins to change.

When Edward meets with Mr. Morse again to close the deal, Edward changes his mind. His time with Vivian has shown him another way of living and working, taking time off and enjoying activities for which he initially had little time. He has a change of heart, a reversal of fortune, a desire to do better and be a better man. As a result, his strong interest in buying Mr. Morse’s business is put aside. He decides that he would rather help Mr. Morse than take over his company. They are going to work together.

When I graduated from Princeton Seminary back in 1999, the seminary was preparing to completely renovate and reconfigure the inside of Miller Chapel. Donations and gifts poured in from alumni, friends of the seminary, trustees and staff. Most of the donations were with no strings attached. However, there was one giver whose gift, one of the larger ones, came with one big, long string. This monetary gift was to go toward building a huge, Baroque-style organ pipe screen placed in the center of the chancel, but behind the pulpit. I must add that the overall architecture of the chapel was very colonial: simple, plain white walls and pews with hardwood floors. This Baroque style organ pipe screen did not match the surrounding aesthetics. What really made me upset was that the donor would withdraw his gift if the seminary didn’t do exactly what he wanted done. It turns out it was a major point of contention during the planning process. Without this one large donation, there wouldn’t be enough funds to finish the project. One person held the project hostage with his wallet.

Simon's sin was to offer physical money for a spiritual gift. He wants to use it for personal financial gain and for the economic exploitation of others. We don't give our gifts to leverage others or impose our will. We give because the Spirit prompts us: we do not give to prompt the Spirit.

The Spirit of God is not for sale. It is not a commodity to be made the personal possession of any individual or group, whether the price is large donations or immense religious and social activity. Every effort to domesticate the Holy Spirit and harness the divine power ends in frustration, because the Spirit above all else symbolizes the freedom of God.

And that, my friends, is good news you can take to the bank!

Orienteering

Isaiah 60:1-6 Matthew 2:1-12 


Three executives were enjoying a drink at the hotel bar after a long day of meetings and presentations. These high-paid, hard-working corporate executives were defining what success means, and how to know when you have really arrived. 

One said: "I'll tell you what real success is. It's being invited to the White House for a personal conversation with the President."

Another replied: "No, that's not it. You know you have arrived when you've been invited to the White House for a personal conversation with the President, the hot line rings, and he just looks at it and decides not to answer it."

The third executive said: "You both have it all wrong. Real success is when you are invited to the White House for a personal conversation with the President, the hot line rings, the President answers it and says, 'Here, it's for you.' "

Unless I’ve missed my guess, the majority of us grew up with this idea of success as a destination, a place you wanted to go in life, and that it was better to be there then in the poor house broke. Money, power, prestige, success are part of thing-oriented behavior; it is a behavior that places more importance on acquiring the things of the world above all else. But is that it? Is that all there is? Where do you look for success? Where do you look for God?

How many of us try to find God and solve the problems of life through logical, calculated schemes that insure we receive our share; we get what we deserve. This is nothing new. We are selfish creatures who are drawn to what is shiny and flashy over what is plain and ordinary. We think we know what is important to God.

What did the wise men do? They come to Jerusalem first, not Bethlehem, to the royal palace of King Herod. It is reasonably fair to say that this is where a king would be. These wise men are Gentiles who most likely don’t know the God of the star they are following. They come to look for the child who has been born King of the Jews in the royal palace of Jerusalem, in the “Washingtons” and “Wall Streets” of the world rather than somewhere off the beaten track, a sleepy little town just off the interstate. Like Bethlehem, the Messiah of God is not in a place of prominence, but rather can be found in a place of obscurity in the world’s eyes. The wise men seek the light of God in the most likely of places, but it is the wrong place.

Where do we look for God? When we look for God all around us, we realize that God is to be found in receiving, not grasping; in giving, not claiming our rights. God calls us to live love into the world based on life-oriented behavior over and above thing-oriented behavior. God moves us to celebrate spiritual graces over positional goods.

Theologian/Psychotherapist/Professor Ann Belford Ulanov, in her fascinating study of unconscious images entitled The Wisdom of the Psyche, gives an example of someone "living love into the world," someone who celebrates spiritual graces, "in whose presence ... you feel the capacity to be born." She tells the story of a woman in Harlem who for forty years had been taking into her home the infants of drug-addicted prostitutes and raising them as her own. "She is now in her eighties and very well known in Harlem. Women come and leave their babies on her doorstep. The babies they bring are addicted. She does not treat them with drugs, which is the usual medical way with children. She said in one interview: 'I love them back into being.' That means holding the infants and walking up and down with them, singing and talking to them as they suffer withdrawal from the drugs. If the babies are made well, and the mothers have kicked their own habits, she gives the babies back to their mothers. Recently, she has added to her family babies afflicted with AIDS. There, in her, is the love we have been talking about, love pulled into the world, love brought almost violently back into circulation."[1] Life-oriented behavior is living love into our fallen world.

All of us as Christ’s disciples have a light to shine in the darkness, an illumination from God that can raise the roof of the world's kings and princes, presidents and prime ministers. As we turn over a new year, one thing is sure: more and more people are trying to find a way to God by climbing the ladders of success and power and respectability. The pursuit of money and power has become one of the most powerful mystery religions ever to show its face in the history of humanity.

This makes it all the more imperative that the Good News of Epiphany is that God is found in incarnation, in the humility of birth in a stable. It is the Christian message that the vulnerability found in a life of homelessness, in a life of sacrifice and the suffering of death on a cross, are heralded as marks of God's most powerful work in the human life. We are reminded that light has come upon the "little ones" to share with the "learned," a light more brilliant than the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night, more brilliant than the "thousand points of light" shining in the darkness. Christians are called to offer a ministry of light and a message of illumination to those in power. In the words of Carl F. H. Henry, "The divine mandate is to beam light, sprinkle salt, knead leaven into an otherwise hopeless world" (Christianity Today, 18 November 89, 26).

And what is this message? "Arise, shine, for your light has come." From what direction does it come? Not from economics or the wealth of nations. Not from education or the wisdom of the world. Not from science or technology. The magi point us to where the world's best hope, the world's only salvation comes from the Christ who is found and served: on the backstreets and dirt roads far from view, in the dark places where light rarely shines. The wise men show us even today where we will find the light of Christ, the light that overcomes the darkness.

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[1] The Wisdom of the Psyche. Ann Belford Ulanov (Cambridge, Mass.: Cowley Publications, 1988), 99-100.

Our Christmas Gift to God

Hebrews 10:5-10

How many of us find ourselves in the throes of last-minute Christmas gift shopping and the busyness of the season? Some of those gifts are heart-felt while others are given out of obligation. We try to keep up with all the events, activities and demands that come around this time of year. As we scramble from store to store searching for gifts amongst the empty shelves and depleted store inventory standing in line for what feels like an eternity, we make that promise to ourselves that we will never, ever do this again.

Next year will be different; next year we will be organized, next year we will plan ahead so we won’t be running around like a chicken with its head cut off getting ready for Christmas. We promise ourselves that next year we’ll have all the gift shopping done by Thanksgiving, the house decorated Thanksgiving weekend, attend all the kids’ special Christmas activities, attend all the Christmas events at church, volunteer at Helping Hands and host the annual neighborhood Christmas party. In spite of our best intentions, when next year comes, we find ourselves in the same predicament; trapped in the same pattern of behavior that we wanted to get out of; a pattern of living that holds us hostage and won’t let us go.

Our Hebrews passage highlights for us a discussion about a similar pattern of behavior that held God’s people hostage: the sacrificial system of Judaism. Worshippers offered sacrifices to God year after year for the forgiveness of their sins. And because it is repeated year after year, it implies that worshipers are not truly cleansed once for all. (Hebrews 10:2) It indicates that our offenses are not finally atoned for by these annual sacrifices. The best they can do is remind us of the reality of sin in our lives. It is a way that does not lead to true life. It’s a road to nowhere.

God’s desire of us is more than sacrifices; it’s obedience to his will. This is why God came to us in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is God’s incarnation. This incarnation is unique because Jesus so radically obeys God’s will that he makes all previous means of dealing with sin passé. His faithfulness creates “the new and living way”, by which our approach to God is redefined.

I tried talking to ants once. I was out in the woods hiking around enjoying a beautiful fall day. I stopped to eat the lunch I had brought along. As I sat there eating, watching crumbs fall from my hands, a line of ants marched by to grab the crumbs. I couldn’t say, “Excuse me!” or “Hey, where are you going?” I tried to get their attention by brushing them across the ground, blocking the sun from them, even pouring some of my water on their path. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t get their attention. I couldn’t communicate with them or tell them about the world they lived in. I couldn’t tell them about the sun and the rain; or how trees and plants grew and how animals ate. I couldn’t tell them that there are other creatures that live among them and they are a part of something bigger than themselves.

Then I concluded, “If I were an actual ant, I could communicate with the ants. I could learn about them and they could learn about me and the world we are in.” This is the way God works with us. The immortal God of the universe became one of us, a human being, in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is God’s incarnation because God wants more than sacrifices from us. He wants all of us to do God’s will. Sacrifices alone are not enough. We must do God’s will each and every day of our lives.

An enduring gift of Advent and Christmas is to appreciate that God has a precious gift for us. The holiness and perfection of God comes to us wrapped in swaddling clothes. This gift cannot be found under a Christmas tree or at the mall, but lying in a Bethlehem manger. This is God’s gift to us.

Our gift back to God is simply living the life we have been given, that we have been called to live. Our gift back to God is when we do God’s will in the world. Our gift back to God includes how we spend our money, how we treat one another, friend and stranger alike, how we live out the Good News of the Christian life. Our gift back to God is not by preserving the status quo or by maintaining an institutional structure with waning influence or by doing things the way we’ve always done it before, but our gift involves responding to the leading and the power of the Holy Spirit of God in new, fresh ways; ways that respond to the needs of our community and our world; ways that convey a message of love and care for others and one another; ways that build up and empower the downtrodden, the hopeless, and the outcast with dignity and self-respect as children of God.

This is where stewardship begins. It begins when we say to God, “I have come to do your will”. Let’s get out there and git ‘er done!

The Longing for Home

Zephaniah 3:14-20 Philippians 4:4-7 

I recently wrote on my Facebook page this phrase: “Home is…” and asked whoever wanted to finish the sentence. I was curious to see what kind of responses I would receive. I received some well-known sayings such as, “Home is where the heart is.” and “Home is where you hang your hat.” “Home is the sailor, home from sea.” I also received, “Home is where I am welcomed, loved and accepted as I am.” “Home is where people go when they are tired of being nice.” According to the writer and poet Robert Frost, “Home is where you go and they have to take you.” The one that caught my attention was, “Home is where your story begins.”

Home is where your story begins. And that is where the prophet Zephaniah begins sharing his story, from his hometown, in the midst of the great corruption and injustice in Judah. We are in the 7th century B.C. around 630 B.C. The northern kingdom has fallen to the Assyrians. Judah has evolved into a decadent society, politically subservient and religiously corrupt. The people had turned away from God. The ancient faith of Judah was in serious danger of extinction. This is the context of Zephaniah’s ministry.

The essential message Zephaniah brings is about judgment and hope. God’s chosen people constantly abandoned their privileged relationship with God, like the Prodigal Son, as if they took God for granted, an example of the saying, “you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone”. But now and then a passage crops up in which a restored relationship is celebrated between God and God’s people.

The nostalgia of home is very popular this time of year. Songs of the season such as “I’ll be home for Christmas” illustrate this. There are also all those Hallmark Christmas movies that the Hallmark Channel has shown non-stop since Thanksgiving. The plot of many of them, if not all of them, is about a son or daughter who hasn’t been home for Christmas in years for various reasons, mainly to just avoid their family. But the main character finally returns home to a perfectly decorated, well-to-do home in the suburbs and through a series of events comes to appreciate this home of his childhood realizing that all his fruitless searches in life led him astray. This was what he had been longing for all along.

Pastor, author and teacher Frederick Buechner, in his book, “The Longing for Home”, says home is “a very special place with very special attributes which make it clearly distinguishable from all other places.”[1] The word home conjures up complex feelings about a place you feel, or did feel once, uniquely at home.[2] It’s a place where you feel you belong and which to some degree belongs to you; a place where you spend the rest of your days searching, even if you are not aware you are searching or longing for home.

What does home look like to you? What does home mean?

Zephaniah offers us many different descriptions of what home is. Home is a place where you are “safe from enemies”(Zeph.3:15) It’s a place of peace, security and safety. It’s a retreat from the craziness of the world.

Home is a place where you are in the presence of loved ones, (Zeph.3:15) those you truly care about you, who love you for who you are, who rejoice over you, a place filled with joy and singing. There is no better feeling in the world than when I get home at the end of the day and I hear two voices scream from across the room, “Daddy’s home. Daddy’s home” as Michael and Marissa latch on to my legs. You know you are in the presence of those who love you.

Home is also a place where we live without fear (Zeph.3:15). It’s a place where we can be ourselves. Spending countless summer days on the Jersey Shore was home to me my whole life, but perhaps yours is swimming and skiing on Lake Cherokee or whole days swimming at the Meadowbrook Pool, or even time spent in a special place called Port Aransas. These may not be our physical homes, but they are still places where we can sit back, put our feet up, and let our hair down.

When we have a guest at our home we will say, “Come on in. Make yourself at home”. Home is for joyous celebrations of life’s milestones and we grow and learn and flourish as children of God.

Zephaniah reminds the Hebrews that in the midst of their joyful celebrations, God is rejoicing and exulting over them: as a father holding a homecoming party for the son who was lost but now is found (Luke 15:11-32), a shepherd exuberantly calling out to friends and neighbors that the sheep lost from the flock has been recovered (Luke 15:3-7). In heavens the morning stars sing together again to laud this new creation (Job 38:7, Luke 15:7,10), and a great multitude of the heavenly hosts sings, “Hallelujah” (Revelation 19:6-8), while the sea roars out its approval, the hills sing together for joy, and the trees of the field clap their hands. The Book of Zephaniah starts with judgment from God and ends with almost unimaginable joy.[3]

We find so much joy at home. It could be home the school or home as Grandma’s house or home the coffee shop. I think that’s why when our home is robbed we feel so violated, so exposed and so afraid. The place where we could live without fear gets spoiled.

And home is taking on a whole new meaning for families in Newtown, CT, in the wake of the horrific tragedy in that community on Friday. The shock and horror of this evil act will be felt for generations to come. Homes and families are destroyed; the serenity of a quiet community torn apart by the murdering of innocent children and adults. The home these people once knew no longer exists.

The Good News is that the season of Advent, this time of waiting and preparing for promised Messiah, is the time when we are reminded that even though horrible things are happening in the world, even though people continue to destroy one another, even though wars among nations and religions rage on, even though twenty small children and six adults were murdered in a quiet elementary school in Connecticut, we are reminded, first and foremost, that God is with us. Emmanuel: God is with us. God celebrates with us and cries with us. God stands by us in times of grief and sorrow. God is with us.

When we confess Jesus as Lord, by the grace of God, we have it in us to be Christ to other people. We all have the life-giving, life-saving and healing power to be Christ to others, and sometimes to ourselves. I believe, as Frederick Buechner does, that it is when this power is alive in me and through me that I come closest to being truly home. I cannot claim I have found the home I long for every day of my life, not by a long shot, but I believe in my heart I have found, and maybe had always known, the way that leads to it. I believe the home we long for and belong to is finally where Christ is. I believe our home is Christ’s kingdom, which exists both within us and among us as we journey through the world in search of it.[4]

Home is where the Lord is. When we are with God, we are truly home.

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[1] Frederick Buechner  “The Longing for Home”.  (San Francisco: Harper Collins Publishers, 1996) p.7.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Elizabeth Achtemeier. “Nahum – Malachi” (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1986) p.86.

[4] Frederick Buechner  “The Longing for Home”.  (San Francisco: Harper Collins Publishers, 1996) p.7.

Outliers, Inc.

Malachi 3:1-4
Luke 3:1-6

Have you ever noticed that events in life, such as untimely deaths or political scandals, tend to come in threes? Michael Jackson’s untimely death was followed by the death of Ed McMahon and Farrah Fawcett that same week. Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the “Big Bopper” all died together in a plane crash in 1959. Jimmy Hendrix, Janice Joplin and Jim Morrison all died within weeks of each other in 1970. Former Governors Eliot Spitzer, Jim McGreevey and Mark Sanford all resigned their elected offices because extra-marital affairs. Did you also know that in a group of 23 people, there is a 50 percent probability that two of them will share a birthday, not necessarily in the same year. The rule of 3 is a powerful one. In baseball, three strikes and you’re out and three outs and the inning is over. How about this: we can go three minutes without breathing, three days without water, and three weeks without food. The Trinity comes in three: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The genetic code, the code for life, is based on a trinity of nucleotides each specifying the nature of exactly one amino acid. Three is the magic number.

John’s appearance on the scene a couple millennia ago followed a 400-year period often known as the "silent years," i.e., the period of time between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament. In that period of time, there'd been no major prophetic activity.

Suddenly, things get interesting! The rule of three comes into focus. First, "the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness," so our text says. John bursts forth into the region around the Jordan River like he's swinging a baseball bat, looking for the fences: "... proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins," and his hearers quickly conclude that the time of prophetic silence is over. As another gospel writer tells it (John 1:19-23), once John makes clear that he is not himself the Messiah, the crowd immediately concludes that perhaps he is the return of Elijah or "the prophet" (a Moses-like figure, predicted to come; see Deuteronomy 18:15). But John accepts neither of those identities, describing himself only as "the voice of one crying out in the wilderness," a quote from Isaiah. But no matter how John describes himself, the people hear him as a prophetic voice from God. Jesus later calls John a prophet, too (Matthew 11:9).

Then comes along another prophet! First comes John, and then comes Jesus himself. Jesus appears on the scene, more than a prophet, to be sure, but the crowds recognized the prophetic in him as well (see Matthew 21:11). Jesus even called himself a prophet on one occasion (Luke 4:24).

And then, not too much later, along comes Paul! Nobody seems to have called him a prophet per se, but the Lord described Paul's work to Ananias in prophet-like terms, calling him "an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel" (Acts 9:15).

So what's going on here? No prophets of great stature for 400 years, and suddenly there are three!? Those three, to use a term from statistics, were outliers, which refers to something (or someone) situated away from the main group. That is, John, Jesus and Paul were prophets in a way quite different from others who also bore that title during the same time period.

Why is this important?

Because ... of the message these outliers brought to the world. There's a divine agenda behind what happens in the world. John’s main call was for a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; the ritual of cleansing, signifying a return to God with the expectation of forgiveness. In other words, what makes this so important is that the first thing people needed to do was to align themselves with God's plan by repenting and receiving forgiveness for their sins.

Malcolm Gladwell, a former business and science reporter for The Washington Post, addressed this Prophet Clustering or Genius Clustering in his best-selling book Outliers. His research suggests that high IQ itself is overrated and that many people are smart enough to succeed when they have cultural advantages and given the right opportunities -- meaning that they are in the right place at the right time as certain historical developments are occurring. Gladwell says it this way: "The people who stand before kings may look like they did it all by themselves. But in fact they are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot. It makes a difference where and when we grew up".[1]

As an example, in his book Gladwell points out that Bill Joy, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Paul Allen, Steve Ballmer, Scott McNealy and Eric Schmidt, all power-players in the U.S. computer industry, were all born between 1953 and 1956. Gladwell explains this by noting that Silicon Valley veterans agree that the most important date in the history of the personal computer revolution was January 1975, the month when the magazine Popular Mechanics ran a cover story about the Altair 8800, a desktop computer you could build from a kit at home. This was a significant departure from the huge mainframes that were up to that point the only computers available and were so expensive that only corporations, government agencies and universities could afford them. But now, here was a $397 computer kit you could assemble in your garage.

Gladwell argues that those in the best position to take advantage of this breakthrough were people born between 1953 and 1956. Those in Silicon Valley interested in computers but born before those dates had jobs at IBM, which made mainframes. Once you were part of the mainframe industry, you saw little value in pathetic desktop machines. You belonged to a different paradigm. Likewise, those born after those dates were simply too young to get in on the ground level of the personal-computing revolution.

In other words, it isn't that there aren't people just as smart as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Bill Joy born in the several years before and after them, it is that the same opportunity wasn't available to them.

Now apply all of this to the Jewish population of the first-century Roman Empire. Obviously Jesus, as the Son of God, is a special case, and I am not suggesting that given the right timing of birth and the right placement geographically, any smart Jewish child could have become the Messiah. But we can take this business of opportunity and cultural legacy to mean that many born in the years before or after Jesus and John (and perhaps Paul -- we don't know when he was born) had the potential to become great prophets, too, had the timing been right.

When John first preached in the region around the Jordan, his primary concern was not with everybody treating one another nicely or following the Ten Commandments or fighting for justice for all. John’s main calling was for a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; to align themselves with God's plan by repenting and receiving forgiveness for their sins.

Author C.S. Lewis describes the unrepentant condition as being in a "hole" where we need the help of a friend (i.e., a savior) to get us out. And what sort of hole is it we've gotten ourselves into? For one thing, it's behaving as if we belonged to ourselves. We are not simply imperfect creatures who need improvement; we are rebels who must lay down our arms. "Laying down your arms, surrendering, saying you are sorry, realizing that you have been on the wrong track and getting ready to start life over again from the ground floor -- that is the only way out of a 'hole,'" says Lewis. And this process of surrender is what we call repentance (the Greek "changing the mind" or "turning around"), and it's what John was calling for in his prophetic preaching. [2]

Lewis adds this important note: "... this repentance ... is not something God demands of you before he will take you back and which he could let you off if he chose: it is simply a description of what going back to him is like." We cannot be right with God without repentance; it's like asking God to take us back without actually going back.

In October 1989, the city of San Francisco was struck by a powerful earthquake. Huge cracks appeared in the walls of Candlestick Park, where thousands of fans were waiting to watch the third game of the World Series. Sections of freeway twisted and buckled; some collapsed. At least twenty-seven fires broke out across the city; the largest, in the Marina District, consumed dozens of buildings.

At the edge of the Marina District, a crowd of curiosity-seekers gathered, watching the firefighters as they battled the flames. After a few minutes of this, a police officer came up to the crowd and began shouting at them. "What have you come to look at?" he said to them. "This is no time to be standing around. There's been an earthquake. You all have work to do! Go home. Fill your bathtubs with water (if you still have water). Prepare yourselves to live for the next several days without electricity. The sun's going to set in another hour; your time is running out. The firefighters will do their job here: Now you go home and do yours!"

That police officer spoke truth, as John the Baptist spoke truth. He spoke with urgency, as John the Baptist spoke with urgency. His message, like John's, was what the people truly needed to hear.

What's the message we most need to hear, in these ever-shortening days of Advent? Is it a message of spending and partying and conspicuous consumption? Or is it a message of repentance and forgiveness and faithfulness?

During this Advent season, in what wilderness should our voice be crying out? Where are we needed to proclaim a baptism of repentance? It’s where we play, where we work; it’s in our schools, in our homes, downtown, out in the country, on the highways and the by-ways. We must proclaim this before the seats of power and influence at the courthouse and the statehouse; the White House and the Congressional house. We must proclaim that all people, no matter their race, gender, ethnicity or creed, must repent of our sinful nature and get right with God. In the words of John Donne, “No man is an island…we are all part of the main…”. We are all in this together.

Malcolm Gladwell also writes, "It's impossible for ... any ... outlier ... to look down from their lofty perch and say with truthfulness, 'I did this all by myself.' Superstar lawyers and math whizzes and software entrepreneurs appear at first blush to lie outside ordinary experience. But they don't. They are products of history and community, of opportunity and legacy. Their success is not exceptional or mysterious. It is grounded in a web of advantages and inheritance, some deserved, some not, some earned, some just plain lucky --- but all critical to making them who they are. The outlier, in the end, is not an outlier at all." [3]

John, Jesus and Paul indeed were a genius cluster. Jesus, of course, is unique because of his divine identity, but, if the outlier research is correct, given the right timing of birth and upbringing in a culture steeped in the Old Testament, many of us might have been able to fulfill the roles John and Paul did in the introduction of Christ to the world. That time has passed, of course, but there is still the opportunity to introduce Christ to new generations, and to tell them of repentance, the path to getting right with God. We can be a John or Paul to those who haven't yet understood that.

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[1] Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers: The Story of Success. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2008.

[2] Lewis, C.S. "The perfect penitent." Mere Christianity. New York: Macmillian Paperbacks, 1960, 56-61. 

[3] Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2008), 285.