Faith Challenges: It Ain't All Comfort

“The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” – John 17:22-23 Much can be said about where the UMC is right now in the context of disagreement and conflict over homosexuality. Much is being said about where the UMC is right now. Some is true. Some is untrue. Some lacks nuance. Some is purposefully misleading. First of all, we are a people of diverse opinions and holding different stakes in the conversation. It is difficult to hear each other among our differences of opinion, experience, history, and emotional responses to words that trigger uncomfortable reactions and strongly held positions. It is common for us to downplay a position that is contrary to our own. Landlubbers once held strongly to the conviction that the earth is flat, while seafarers were ready to speak of...

We are besieged by Hallmark pictures of some idyllic setting for Christmas, sanitized and sparkling manger scenes, steeped in a sense of joy and wonder and stripped of the reality of living. We picture angels singing to shepherds, Mary and Joseph dressed in clean clothing, and a stable devoid of barnyard smells. None of that seems to do justice to what the gospels actually tell us about the birth of Jesus, even if they don't dwell on the details. Matthew tells us Mary was pregnant and Joseph was surprised, recognizing he was not responsible. He was getting ready to end their engagement when he had a dream of an angel telling him God was blessing Mary's pregnancy and to go ahead with the wedding. Matthew tells us Joseph's own lineage included several women who were outcasts, outsiders, and victims of sexual abuse. He sets the stage for Jesus growing up under a cloud of shame and being considered a bastard son very much in keeping with elements of his ancestry. Just as ...

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan, Earth turned hard as iron, water like a stone. Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow, In the bleak midwinter, long ago. — Christina Rosetti, c. 1872 Frozen children seeking answers to their plight, Yearning for redemption mid the wintry night. Cold invading ev’ry heart, gripping ev’ry breast, Plaguing weary mortals, too distraught to rest. Hope is light in darkness, blossoms in the chill. Light is life in winter, overcoming ill. Promise holds no meaning once the spring is come, Yet we claim its comfort mid the howling storm. In our bleak mid-winter icy winds may blow, Seeking to extinguish hope for all below. In our midnight yearning promise is reborn. Hope re-lights our candle, we await the morn. — ©Copyright 2004, Christopher B. Harbin http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/ My latest books  can be found here on Amazon

It’s time to sit around and wait. Well, if the hurry, rush, and business of the holiday season gave us the option to sit around. Regardless, we are just entering a time of waiting. It is a time of preparation. It is a time of anticipating. It is a time to reflect on what is yet to come. We are not all that good at waiting. We like to fill in the time with things to do, people to see, and places to go. I tend to carry at least one book with me to occupy myself when I know there is a high chance that I will be waiting. Advent, however, is not quite the same as sitting around the doctor’s office in anticipation of my appointment, awaiting the doctor’s return after a review of my chart, of sitting in line awaiting blood work. Advent’s waiting has more to do with getting myself ready along the lines of training for a marathon, prepping for an exam, or preparing for the coming of a baby. We await our celebration of Jesus’ birth, yet we likewise live in the expectation of Christ’s...

We gather on Thanksgiving to reflect on all the blessings of God bestowed on us. We think back to stories we have heard of native peoples supplying the pilgrims with food to enable their survival through a bleak winter. We gather to celebrate harvest and rejoice in knowing that God has provided for us. We gather to join our hearts with one another, to remember that all good things come from God who sends wind, rain, and sunshine for the benefit of all. We gather to remind ourselves that we indeed depend upon God. Is it a formality, or are our lives truly built on the confidence declared in our practices of Thanksgiving? The psalmist begins his words with a declaration that Yahweh is indeed good, that steadfast love is God’s essential character. John Wesley would likely have used the term grace if writing this psalm. The concept is essentially the same. God is good, because God is gracious. God is gracious, because God is loving. God is loving, because God is gracious. God is grac...

As we move into Thanksgiving and toward the Christmas season, I find that some reflection on how we deal with concepts of generosity is helpful. How we think about the poor and needy around us is important, as it directs not only what we give, but how we go about it. Our society has come a long way from the era of the Great Depression. We have made many advancements in science, medicine, education, transportation, communications, and economics. We became the world’s superpower and hold a level of influence on the world stage that is unprecedented in human history. We have also shifted toward considering poverty as antithetical to being American. Indeed, we have begun to respond to poverty as more than a lack of access to resources. We have begun treating poverty as a moral failure. As a result, we blame the poor for their poverty and treat them with disdain because they dare not be rich. We don’t speak of it in quite those words, but that is the force of so many of our attitu...

2nd Kings 10:12-17 12 Then he set out and went to Samaria. On the way, when he was at Beth-eked of the Shepherds, 13 Jehu met relatives of King Ahaziah of Judah and said, “Who are you?” They answered, “We are kin of Ahaziah; we have come down to visit the royal princes and the sons of the queen mother.” 14 He said, “Take them alive.” They took them alive, and slaughtered them at the pit of Beth-eked, forty-two in all; he spared none of them. 15 When he left there, he met Jehonadab son of Rechab coming to meet him; he greeted him, and said to him, “Is your heart as true to mine as mine is to yours?” Jehonadab answered, “It is.” Jehu said, “If it is, give me your hand.” So he gave him his hand. Jehu took him up with him into the chariot. 16 He said, “Come with me, and see my zeal for the LORD.” So he had him ride in his chariot. 17 When he came to Samaria, he killed all who were left to Ahab in Samaria, until he had wiped them out, according to the word of the LORD that he ...