Being Christ-like

REFLECTIONS
January 25, 2009

A few years ago author, Kent Keith published the “Paradoxical Commandments of Leadership.”

1. People are illogical, unreasonable, and self centered; love them anyway.
2. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; do good anyway.
3. If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies; succeed anyway.
4. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow; do good anyway.
5. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable; be honest and frank anyway.
6. The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest minds; think big anyway.
7. People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs; fight for a few underdogs anyway.
8. What you spend years building, may be destroyed overnight; build anyway.
9. People really need help but may attack you if you do help them; help them anyway.
10. Give the world the best you have and you may get kicked in the teeth; give the world the best you have anyway.

As disciples of the Church we would do well to read this list at least once each year. Especially as we endeavor to start new programs of missions and ministry.

Any of the ten items listed could be said true of Jesus and his leadership model of ministry. However, all he did came from the claim of God on his life.

So two additional commandments might read:

11. Do all of these because God has first done them for us in Christ.
12. Do them not alone, but in concert with the spirit and the body of believers. For “ANYWAY’ and in spite of our abilities, God can use us, that extraordinary things might happen.

Dr. Joey K. McDonald
First United Methodist Church
4832 Tujunga Avenue, North Hollywood, CA 91601

Too Much Talk, Not Enough Listening

REFLECTIONS
January 18, 2009

How we listen and what we hear, or rather think we hear, has a great impact on our perception of the world around us. There is a wonderful old story about a man concerned about his wife’s hearing, so he devises a text. Starting from the other side of the room and behind her as she is sitting in her chair reading, he says in the same tone and timber, “Do you love me?” The first three times there is no response. The last time he hears her say clearly, “For the forth and last time, of course, I love you!” Sometimes, we are concerned with others hearing when we might be having some difficulty of our own. Yet hearing things we do not wish to can be painful and life altering. A few years back, I went to a new doctor or at least she was new to me. After my intake interview and physical, I asked for her evaluation. She said, “Well Joey, the truth is, you are just too fat, and you need to lose weight.” I said Dr. I think I would like a second opinion. To which she replied, “Certainly, you’re ugly as well.” Sometimes the information is more than we needed or wanted. How we respond can make a difference.

I Samuel 3:1-10(11-20) is a story about the call of Samuel. Hannah, the mother of Samuel, has sent her young son to serve as an assistant to the Priest Eli. She has done this because it was in the temple which Eli served she prayed to God to end her bareness, now she has dedicated Samuel to God and asks Eli to prepare him for a call into God’s service. While living with Eli, Samuel hears voices three times in the middle of the night. Samuel believes Eli has called to him and goes to him. The fourth time it happens Samuel realizes that it is God speaking, revealing the demise of Eli’s house because of his son’s behavior. What is interesting about the passage is in the midst of judgment is a powerful word of grace.

After receiving the call from God and the revelation, Samuel collapsed on the floor and lay until daybreak. At this time Eli called to the boy and demanded to know what God had said. “So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. Then he (Eli) said, ‘It is the Lord, let him do what seems good to him.’” How poetic and powerful in terms of faith that Eli would acknowledge in the face of grave circumstances that the world belongs to God and not him. The final line of the text is a gentle reminder that even in the face of harsh circumstances or words, grace can be present and even prevail. “As Samuel grew up, the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet of the Lord.” On the other hand, there are those times when grace seems overrated. I never went to that stinking doctor again.

Dr. Joey K. McDonald
First United Methodist Church
4832 Tujunga Avenue, North Hollywood, CA 91601

From Faith Comes Heavenly Things

REFLECTIONS
January 11, 2009

Acts 19:1-7 is a text detailing what some refer to as Baptism in the Holy Spirit. Paul has followed Apollos into Ephesus and encounters followers of John the Baptist. In conversation, he discovers they have no understanding of the Holy Spirit. Paul and those with him lay hands on them, and their world is changed radically because they can now speak in tongues, and prophesy. Luke reports that there were about twelve, which is a way of linking this story back to the ministry of Jesus and the original twelve disciples. The ultimate question here is, what does it mean to follow Jesus? More importantly, how do believers respond to life in terms of the gifts it brings?

Stephen Schwartz in the song “All Good Gifts,” written for the musical “Godspell,” gives a wonderful indication. “We plow the fields and scatter the good seed on the land, but it is fed and watered by God’s almighty hand. He sends the snow in winter, the warmth to swell the grain, the breezes and the sunshine and soft refreshing rain.” (Then the refrain) “All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above, So thank the Lord, oh thank the Lord for all his love.” The difficulty, of course, is in keeping balance, lest we fall into a faulty theology where we thank God and feel blessed when things go well and then feel cursed or perhaps even curse God when bad things happen.

Here believers’ receive the Holy Spirit and have a transforming experience. However, we are all too aware that an active and deep faith does not exempt any of us from sadness, pain or suffering. The openness of these disciples is key to grasping the power of a lasting faith. For in receiving the Baptism they are saying that they understand God’s presence is lasting. This means the Love of Christ does not exempt us from harsh and hurtful times, rather it surrounds and supports us always, but especially then. The late prophet of the Protestant Church, William Sloane Coffin wrote, “When the worst in life happens in this world, we are called in the name of the Spirit to show the best of God’s love.

Dr. Joey K. McDonald
First United Methodist Church
4832 Tujunga Avenue, North Hollywood, CA 91601

A Theology of Play for the New Year

I wrote this note just four days before Christmas. How does one write about the new year when the image of Christmas looms large? You know the feeling. Too many things to do and not enough time to do them. Gifts to buy, cards and letters (even sermons to write, worship to do... not to mention the hospital calls.) The sense of being pressed between two walls moving toward you and working frantically to get all that needs to be done completed.

All too often our experience is to accomplish what we can between the rush and rancor of each day. While urgency is helpful, even essential to effective living, to work and live under undue pressure or place it on those around us is not simply unhealthy... it is not good theology.

Time and again in the ministry of Jesus we see him pressed to God's work and yet available to the people around him, and his work stands unequaled in comparison to any we know. However, he did more than model mission and ministry; he gave us a pattern for spiritual life which if followed can be strong and durable.

The Bible records that Jesus prayed, taught, healed, fed and worked with people; but he took time to draw apart and be with God alone. He took meals with friends and relaxed, even laughed along the way. Those of us rooted in the Protestant tradition get the work ethic of Jesus. We strive to model our lives by the examples he gave, however, the idea that he had a play ethic either insults or confuses us. Yet, the record would seem to indicate he had a lively sense of humor. The pitched conversations he had with those in authority and his insistence on children being allowed in his presence are but two clear indications.

To follow Jesus is our calling but not just half way. How about in this new year taking time to do God's work, but also taking time to do God's play as well. Part of the mission we have as believers is to enjoy the time we are given in this world in which we live and each other. In the meantime, we have things to do, places to be, people to meet and pressures to live up to. Nobody said a theology of play was easy. To a new year filled with love and laughter! Amen

Dr. Joey K. McDonald
First United Methodist Church
4832 Tujunga Avenue, North Hollywood, CA 91601