Christing

The message given in the Sunday night worship service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church February 5, 2023.  The Bible verses used are Galatians 5:22--6:2.

            There’s a word that’s come into fashion in recent years.  The word is “adulting”.  It means “the practice of behaving in a way characteristic of a responsible adult, especially the accomplishment of mundane but necessary tasks.”  In other words, if you speak or act or live the way a mature, reasonable, intelligent adult is supposed to, you’re said to be “adulting”.

            The thing is that adulting--learning how to speak or act or live like a mature, reasonable, intelligent adult--is not something that happens overnight.  It does not just come to you all at once.  It’s a process.  It takes time.  We have to learn it.  Each of us, had to learn how to be an adult.

            How did you learn it?  Probably in a lot of ways, but the chances are you learned adulting from people who were adults.  First it was your parents, then it may have been teachers or pastors or other influential people in your life.  It might even have been people you saw on television.  And the way you learned was probably not from the things they said.  That may have been part of it, but the chances are the way you learned from them was by watching them.  You watched them, and you imitated them.  You tried to do the things they did and live the way they lived.  That’s the way we learn adulting--by imitating the adults who are important in our lives.

            It seems to me that there’s a faith lesson for us in that.  Just as children learn adulting by imitating adults, we can learn to be Christians by imitating Christ.  We could refer to this as “Christing”.  The practice of behaving in a way characteristic of Jesus Christ.

            That’s what the Apostle Paul told us to do in our reading from Ephesians.  The version of the Bible we normally use, the New International Version, says “follow God’s example”, but a lot of versions actually come out and say, “Be imitators of Christ.”  Either way, though, the point is that, as Christians, our goal is to be as much like Christ as possible.

            And Paul tells us ways in which we can do that.  Here’s what he says:  Speak the truth.  Try not to get angry, but if we do, get over it.  Don’t get carried away by anger, so that our agner makes us sin.  Don’t steal.  Work hard.  Share with each other.  Watch the things we say.  Let the things we say be encouraging and build people up.  Let our words benefit people who hear them.

            And then, to sup it all up, Paul says this:

Get rid of all bitterness, rage, and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.  Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you...And walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Now, that’s a pretty good checklist that Paul gave us.  If each of us did all those things, we’d probably do a pretty good job of Christing.  We’d do about as good a job as a human can do of being like Jesus Christ if we did all of those things.

But here’s the thing.  A person really cannot live their life by following a checklist.  Every time we go to act or speak, we cannot pull out a list to see if what we’re about to do or say is on it.  We cannot even do that mentally.  Most people’s minds simply do not work that way.

If you doubt me on that, think about this--how many times have you spoken before you thought?  How many times have you done something without really thinking it through?  For most of us, it happens quite a bit.  We speak before we think and we act before we think.  We regret it, later, but we still do it.  For a lot of us, it happens pretty regularly.

Or, think of it this way.  Think of a time you were learning to do something.  Learning to swim, learning to sew, learning to work on machinery, learning to cook, learning to play a sport or a musical instrument, whatever.  What’s the best way to learn?  Is it to read a book about it?  Is it to listen to a lecture about it?  Or is ti to have someone work with you and show you how to do it?  For most of us, that’s what we need.  We need someone to show us how.  We need an example to follow.  And that’s the best way for us to learn how to be like Jesus Christ, too.

And that’s why Jesus did not, for the most part, teach “Christing” with lectures.  There were times when Jesus told us things we should and should not do.  But Jesus did not stop there.  He provided examples.  

First, he provided the example of his own life.  The life Jesus lived--a life of love, a life of healing, a life of giving, a life of self-sacrifice--is the ultimate example of how a Christian should live.  If we could all imitate Jesus’ life, we’d all be Christing perfectly.

But Jesus provided examples in other ways, too.  That’s one of the reasons for jesus’ parables.  Think of how most of the parables came about.  The way it usually worked was that someone would come up to Jesus and say, “Here’s a situation.  Now what do you think about it.  What should we do.”  

How did Jesus respond.  It was never by giving a direct answer, right?  Jesus never answered by saying, “You should do this.”  What Jesus would say, in effect, is “let me tell you a story.  It might be a story about a man with two sons.  It might be a story about a guy who was traveling and was attacked by thieves.  It might be a story about a man who went out to plant a field.  

Story after story after story.  Jesus would tell the story, and then say, “Now, what do you think the right thing to do is?’  And of course, the answer would be obvious.  Jesus taught t hat way because he knew that just telling people what to do does not work.  We need to be shown what to do.  We need examples to follow.

So what does that mean for our lives?  Well, it means a few things.  For one thing, it shows the importance of reading the Bible, especially the gospels.  Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are the books that tell us about Jesus’ life.  After all, if we want to be like Christ, we need to get to know Christ.  The old phrase “What Would Jesus Do” is still a good guide, but in order to know what Jesus would do we need to know what Jesus actually did.  So if we want to get better at Christing, we need to know how Jesus lived his life on earth and know the examples Jesus gave us for how we should live our lives.

But again, it’s not enough to read about it.  We need to be shown.   So what do we do?

The letter to the Hebrews answers that.  In Hebrews Thirteen, Verse Seven, we read, “Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you.  Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.”  And in Hebrews Six, Verse Twelve, it says, “Imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.”

We may not be able to see Jesus.  We may not be able to see Paul.  But there are people we can see.  There are people whose way of life shows their faith.  There are people who are imitators of Christ.  There are people who are Christing.  And we can imitate them, and so learn Christing ourselves.

Who are those people for you?  Who are the people you know whose way of life shows their faith?  Who do you know who you believe, through faith and patience, will inherit what God has promised?

Those are the people who can show us how to imitate Christ.  Don’t get me wrong--Jesus is still the ultimate standard.  Jesus is the one to follow.  But to the extent we need someone we can see, these are the people.  These are the ones who can help us with “Christing”, with imtiating Jesus Christ in our lives.

But here’s another thing to think about.  Who might you be an example to?  In fact, who might be looking to you as an example right now?  Because I’m pretty sure someone is.  Whether you know it or not, whether you intend it or not, whether you like it or not, someone is.  Someone is learning Christing from you.  Even if you don’t think they should be, even if you don’t think you’re worthy fo that, it’s true.  Someone is learning Christing from you.  And someone may be learning Christing from me, too.

What are they learning?  If someone patterened their Christian faith after yourse, what would they be like?  How good at Christing would they be?

You’ll have to answer that for yourself.  If you’re happy with the answer, that’s great.  But if you’re not, then it leads to another question.  What are you going to do about it?

Little kids learn adulting by imitating adults.  You and I learn Christing by imitating Christ and by imitating Christians we respect and admire.  And others will learn Christing by imitating us. 

May we learn well.  May we follow Christ in our own lives, and may we also help others learn to follow Christ in their lives.

 

Sharing the Load

The message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday morning, February 5, 2023.  The Bible verses used are Galatians 6:1-16.

            As Christians, the way we are supposed to live our lives can sometimes lead to tension and contradiction.  What I mean is this:  we are supposed to live our lives in the world.  After all, we’re supposed to love others and we’re supposed to go and make disciples, and the only way we can do that is to be a part of the world.  And yet, as Christians, we are not supposed to follow the ways of the world.  We’re supposed to keep our hearts and minds focused on God.  To focus on the concerns of God, rather than human concerns, as Jesus said to Peter in Mark Chapter Eight.

            That’s not always an easy thing to do.  In fact, it seems kind of contradictory, really.  How can we be part of the world and yet not be influenced by the world?  How can we live in the world and yet not let the things of the world affect how we live.  

            Our reading from Galatians for today tells us something about that.  And it does so with two seemingly contradictory statements.  Did you catch them?  I don’t know that I ever have until I was looking at this passage this week.  In verse two, Paul says, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”  But then, in verse five, Paul says, “for each one should carry their own load.”

            Well, which is it?  Are we supposed to carry each other’s burdens?  Or are we supposed to carry our own load?

            I think the answer is:  Both.  As Christians, we are supposed to carry our own load.  We’re not supposed to expect other people to do everything for us.  Paul himself took pride in the fact that he had a trade, that he was a tentmaker.  That meant he could support himself and did not have to rely on the Christians in the towns to which he traveled to support him.  

And of course, Paul’s statement about carrying our own load was not limited to finances.  He makes some other statements in this passage that add up to the same thing:  each of us is responsible for who we are and what we do.  He says, “Each one should test their own actions.  Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else.”  He says, “If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves.”  Paul is telling us that each of us is responsible for our own actions and for our own faith.  When need to be honest with ourselves about who we are and what we are.  Each of us is responsible for our own load and how we carry it.  And when we fail, we need to own up to that.  It’s no good to try to blame anyone but ourselves.

But, we are also supposed to be there to help others.  We are, as Paul says, supposed to carry each other’s burdens.  That truly does fulfill the law of Christ.  And Paul also says this, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

And this is one of the things that can make Christianity hard.  We are responsible for carrying our own load AND carrying each other’s burdens.  

That can feel like a lot to carry sometimes.  It’s all very well for Paul to say, “let us not become weary in doing good”, but there are times when we do.  There are times when just carrying our own load seems like more than we can manage, and yet we’re supposed to help others carry their burdens, too.  It seems like that’s quite a bit to ask of us.

And that’s where we get back to living in the world but not following the ways of the world.  Because there are times when the world will tell us the exact opposite.  The world will tell us, hey, don’t worry about carrying your load.  Make someone else do it.  You’re not responsible for taking care of yourself.  Other people should be taking care of you.  And the world will also tell us, hey, you don’t need to help anyone else.  If they cannot take care of themselves, that’s their problem, not your problem.  Let somebody else take care of them.  Let the government take care of them.  It’s none of your concern.

And you know, there are times when what the world tells us starts to make sense.  And that’s especially true when what the world tells us is something we want to hear.  There are times we’d really like to not be responsible for ourselves.  We’d like to be able to just do whatever we want and let someone else take care of things.  And there are times when we’d like to just be able to focus on ourselves and not have to deal with other people’s problems.  It’s a message that can be very appealing to us sometimes.

It can be tempting to give in to the message of the world.  That’s why Paul says, “watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.”  It’s tempting, but it’s a dangerous temptation.  Look at verse eight:  “Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”

That’s the choice we have.  And of course, we know what we should do.  I mean, if someone came up to you and asked, “Would you rather have destruction or eternal life?”, it’s pretty obvious what the right choice is.  And it’s not that we don’t want to make the right choice.  It’s just that, well, the right choice can be hard sometimes.  Sometimes it feels like a heavy load, and we do get tired.  Whether that’s good or bad, right or wrong, it’s just the truth.

Jesus never promised that being a Christian would be easy, of course.  In fact, he often promised the exact opposite.  That’s why, after Paul tells us not to become weary in doing good, he tells us this:  “As we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”

Did you catch that last part?  We should do good for everyone whenever we can, of course.  But Paul says we should especially do good to those who belong to the family of believers.  Why would Paul say that?  I mean, we hear all the time that we should be focused on outreach, on reaching those people who are not part of a church and are not believers.  And Paul does not contradict that.  But still, Paul goes out of his way to tell us to especially do good to our fellow Christians.  Why would Paul do that?

I think the reason Paul says that is because Paul knows just how heavy that load can get.  When you think about it, Paul had a really unique perspective on just how heavy the load can be.  You remember, he started out as one of the leading persecutors of Christians.  He was one of the people making the load heavy.  And then, after he converted to Christianity, he became a target of the persecution.  He was one of the people carrying the load.  And as one of the leaders of this new movement of people called Christians, he had one of the heaviest loads of anyone.

Because of that, Paul knew that there’s only one way we, as Christians, can do what we’re supposed to do.  There’s only one way in which we, as Christians, can both carry our own load and reach out to carry the burdens of others.  And that’s if we support each other.  If we encourage each other.  If we are there for each other.  If we love each other.

That’s why it’s so important for us, as Christians, to be part of a church.  Can someone love God and believe in Jesus and not be part of a church?  Of course they can.  But they’ll be missing something.  They’ll be missing that support system.  They’ll be missing that help in carrying the load.  They’ll be missing that group of believers who can encourage each other and love each other and be there for each other.  They’ll be missing that group of people who, in Paul’s words, do good to each other.

That’s not to say that in the church we always do that perfectly.  Of course we don’t.  Churches are not perfect.  They’re made up of people who are not perfect and they have pastors who are not perfect.  But we try.  In our flawed, bumbling, imperfect way, we try.  We fail more times than we’d like to admit, but we try.  We try to be there for each other, and support each other, and encourage each other.  We try to carry each other’s burdens, so that no one’s load becomes heavier than they can carry.

            As Christians, we live in the world.  But, as Christians, we are not supposed to follow the ways of the world.  We are to fulfill the laws of Christ.  That means we need to carry our own load AND carry each other’s burdens.  It’s not easy.  But if we will keep trying, and if we keep helping each other, we can do this together.  We can fulfill the laws of Christ.  And we can be the people God has called us to be.

 

Against the Wind

The message given in the Sunday night worship service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church.  The Bible verses used are Mark 6:45-52.

            One of the things that can happen to us as Christians is that we sometimes get so used to saying certain words that we stop thinking about them.  They become just words that we use, without ever considering the real meaning behind them.  As you may have guessed from our Bible reading, and from the hymns we’ve used, one of those words, the word we’re going to look at today, is “faith”.

We use that word “faith” a lot.  We say that we are saved by faith, faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior.  When Jesus healed people, he would often say, “Your faith has made you well”.  We refer to our religion as a “Christian faith”.  So when we use that word “faith”, what is it that we actually mean?

Our reading from the letter to the Hebrews tells us a little about it.  It gives us what seems to me a really good definition of faith.  It says, “Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

If you think about that, it makes perfect sense.  I don’t have to have faith that this pulpit exists.  I can see it.  I can feel it.  I don’t have to have faith that the keyboard is over there.  I can see it.  If our pianist bangs on the keys, I can hear it.  If I walked over there, I could touch it.  Those things don’t require any faith at all.

There are other mundane things that take a little bit of faith.  As I stand here right now, I cannot see my car.  It was out there when I walked in here this morning.  I think it’s probably still there.  But it might not be.  Someone could’ve stolen it.  It takes a little bit of faith to believe that my car is still there.

The same thing with the parsonage.  The parsonage was there when we left this morning.  All of our stuff was in it.  I don’t know that it’s still there.  But I have faith that it is, and that all of our stuff is there, too.

And of course, there are various things in our lives that require more faith.  I have faith that Wanda loves me.  I have faith that when I take a check to the bank, it’s going to go into my account.  I have faith that when I get here for church on Sunday, the lights will be on and someone will be there to play the piano and to run the power point and to act as ushers and to do all the other things that need to be done for us to have church today.  There are all sorts of things we do every day that require faith.

But of course, when we talk about faith in the church, we’re talking about something quite a bit more serious.  We’re talking about faith that God exists.  We’re talking about faith that God loves us.  We’re talking about faith that God knows what’s best for us and that we need to follow God, even when we have no idea what God’s up to and even when what God’s telling us may not make any sense to us..  

Our Bible reading addresses that.  It gives all kinds of examples of people in the Bible who had faith.  It starts out with the example that it is by faith that we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command.  It then talks about the faith of Abel, the faith of Enoch, the faith of Noah, the faith of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah--we’re given all kinds of examples of people who had faith.

But what does the letter to the Hebrews say about their faith?  It says their faith was shown by their actions.  We know that Abel had faith because of the offering he gave to God.  We know that Noah had faith because he built an ark, even though he was living in the desert and there was not a cloud in the sky.  We know Abraham had faith because he went to a strange place at God’s command, even though he knew nothing about it and knew no one there.  

That tells us two things about faith.  One is that faith must be revealed by our actions.  It’s no good to say we have faith in God if the way we live does not show that.  That may seem like kind of an obvious point, but think about it.  Think about how we live our lives.  Does the way you live your life show that you have faith in God?  Does the way I live my life show I have faith in God?  If someone did not know you, and just observed how you live, would that person be able to tell that you have faith in God?

That’s more important than we may think.  We tend to believe that in a little town like this everyone believes in God, but it’s not true.  There are people in our parish who do not believe in God.  There are people in our parish who do not accept Jesus as the Savior.  And they’re not likely to open up the Bible and change their minds.  You and I, as Christians, are representatives of God.  We’re representatives of Jesus Christ.  What people can observe of you and me is going to be what they think a Christian is.  It’s a big responsibility.  But it’s a responsibility God gives us.  If we have faith, our faith needs to be revealed by our actions, just as the faith of those Bible heroes our reading tells us about was revealed by their actions.

And another thing it tells us about faith is that faith requires us to follow God even when we don’t know what the outcome is going to be.  Faith requires us to follow God even when we don’t understand what’s going on.  Abel did not know what was going to happen when he made his offering to God.  I’m sure he hoped God would be pleased, but he did not know.  He gave the offering because he had faith.  Enoch did not know he was going to be able to escape death, and be taken directly to heaven, when he decided to follow God.  He followed God because he had faith.  Abraham had no idea what he was going to find when God sent him to a strange land.  He went because he had faith.

And those things together--having our faith revealed by our actions, and acting in faith even when we don’t know what will happen--show one more thing about faith.  They show that faith is incredibly powerful.  Jesus said that if we have even as much faith as a mustard seed--a very tiny seed--we can move mountains.  Again, when Jesus healed people, he would generally tell them, “Your faith has made you well.”  Faith--faith in God, faith in Jesus as the Savior--has incredible power.  Faith allows us to do things that we might think are impossible.  But they’re not, because as Jesus also said, with God, all things are possible.

And that’s important.  Because a lot of times, as human beings, and even as Christians, we feel like we don’t have much power.  That can be especially true in our situation, when we’re part of a small church in a small town.  We see all kinds of things happening, and we think, “I cannot do anything about that.  I cannot affect that.  There’s nothing I can do.”

It’s not true.  We may not be able to do everything, but there are things we can do.  Remember what I said a little while ago.  There are people in this parish who do not believe in God.  There are people in this parish who do not accept Jesus as the Savior.  It’s not good enough for us to say, “There’s nothing I can do about that.”  If we don’t do something about it, who will?  If we, as Christians, don’t reach those people who are our neighbors, who else will do it?  The answer is no one.  There is no one else.  Nobody is going to come to Gettysburg, or to Onida, and reach those people who don’t have faith.  It’s up to us.  There is no one else.

How do we do that?  Well, I’ll tell you--I don’t know.  I don’t have the magic bullet solution.  But we’ve got to try.  First, we should pray.  Ask God to show us how we can reach people.  And then, have the courage to try.  

There are all kinds of ways we can try.  We can talk to people about faith.  We can post things on facebook.  We can invite people to church.  Will those things work?  I don’t know.  Are there other things we can try?  I’m sure there are.  I don’t know if those other things will work either.  But here’s one thing I do know:  if we do nothing, nothing’s going to happen.  Those people who don’t believe now will continue to not believe.  And if we believe what Jesus said--that no one comes to the Father except through him--then there are people in our parish whose eternal life is in jeopardy.  I don’t like to think that there are people around me--people that I know--who may not be going to heaven.  And I don’t think you like to think that, either.

If we claim to have faith, that faith has to be revealed by our actions.  We need to go where God sends us, to do what God asks us, to say what God tells us.  We need to do that even when we don’t know what’s going to happen.  That’s what faith is.  And when we act in faith, God will bless our efforts.  And then, all kinds of things can happen, things we never even dreamed of.  Because with God, all things are possible.

 

Faith

The message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, January 29, 2023.  The Bible verses used are Ephesians 4:22--5:2.

            One of the things that can happen to us as Christians is that we sometimes get so used to saying certain words that we stop thinking about them.  They become just words that we use, without ever considering the real meaning behind them.  As you may have guessed from our Bible reading, and from the hymns we’ve used, one of those words, the word we’re going to look at today, is “faith”.

We use that word “faith” a lot.  We say that we are saved by faith, faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior.  When Jesus healed people, he would often say, “Your faith has made you well”.  We refer to our religion as a “Christian faith”.  So when we use that word “faith”, what is it that we actually mean?

Our reading from the letter to the Hebrews tells us a little about it.  It gives us what seems to me a really good definition of faith.  It says, “Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

If you think about that, it makes perfect sense.  I don’t have to have faith that this pulpit exists.  I can see it.  I can feel it.  I don’t have to have faith that the keyboard is over there.  I can see it.  If our pianist bangs on the keys, I can hear it.  If I walked over there, I could touch it.  Those things don’t require any faith at all.

There are other mundane things that take a little bit of faith.  As I stand here right now, I cannot see my car.  It was out there when I walked in here this morning.  I think it’s probably still there.  But it might not be.  Someone could’ve stolen it.  It takes a little bit of faith to believe that my car is still there.

The same thing with the parsonage.  The parsonage was there when we left this morning.  All of our stuff was in it.  I don’t know that it’s still there.  But I have faith that it is, and that all of our stuff is there, too.

And of course, there are various things in our lives that require more faith.  I have faith that Wanda loves me.  I have faith that when I take a check to the bank, it’s going to go into my account.  I have faith that when I get here for church on Sunday, the lights will be on and someone will be there to play the piano and to run the power point and to act as ushers and to do all the other things that need to be done for us to have church today.  There are all sorts of things we do every day that require faith.

But of course, when we talk about faith in the church, we’re talking about something quite a bit more serious.  We’re talking about faith that God exists.  We’re talking about faith that God loves us.  We’re talking about faith that God knows what’s best for us and that we need to follow God, even when we have no idea what God’s up to and even when what God’s telling us may not make any sense to us..  

Our Bible reading addresses that.  It gives all kinds of examples of people in the Bible who had faith.  It starts out with the example that it is by faith that we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command.  It then talks about the faith of Abel, the faith of Enoch, the faith of Noah, the faith of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah--we’re given all kinds of examples of people who had faith.

But what does the letter to the Hebrews say about their faith?  It says their faith was shown by their actions.  We know that Abel had faith because of the offering he gave to God.  We know that Noah had faith because he built an ark, even though he was living in the desert and there was not a cloud in the sky.  We know Abraham had faith because he went to a strange place at God’s command, even though he knew nothing about it and knew no one there.  

That tells us two things about faith.  One is that faith must be revealed by our actions.  It’s no good to say we have faith in God if the way we live does not show that.  That may seem like kind of an obvious point, but think about it.  Think about how we live our lives.  Does the way you live your life show that you have faith in God?  Does the way I live my life show I have faith in God?  If someone did not know you, and just observed how you live, would that person be able to tell that you have faith in God?

That’s more important than we may think.  We tend to believe that in a little town like this everyone believes in God, but it’s not true.  There are people in our parish who do not believe in God.  There are people in our parish who do not accept Jesus as the Savior.  And they’re not likely to open up the Bible and change their minds.  You and I, as Christians, are representatives of God.  We’re representatives of Jesus Christ.  What people can observe of you and me is going to be what they think a Christian is.  It’s a big responsibility.  But it’s a responsibility God gives us.  If we have faith, our faith needs to be revealed by our actions, just as the faith of those Bible heroes our reading tells us about was revealed by their actions.

And another thing it tells us about faith is that faith requires us to follow God even when we don’t know what the outcome is going to be.  Faith requires us to follow God even when we don’t understand what’s going on.  Abel did not know what was going to happen when he made his offering to God.  I’m sure he hoped God would be pleased, but he did not know.  He gave the offering because he had faith.  Enoch did not know he was going to be able to escape death, and be taken directly to heaven, when he decided to follow God.  He followed God because he had faith.  Abraham had no idea what he was going to find when God sent him to a strange land.  He went because he had faith.

And those things together--having our faith revealed by our actions, and acting in faith even when we don’t know what will happen--show one more thing about faith.  They show that faith is incredibly powerful.  Jesus said that if we have even as much faith as a mustard seed--a very tiny seed--we can move mountains.  Again, when Jesus healed people, he would generally tell them, “Your faith has made you well.”  Faith--faith in God, faith in Jesus as the Savior--has incredible power.  Faith allows us to do things that we might think are impossible.  But they’re not, because as Jesus also said, with God, all things are possible.

And that’s important.  Because a lot of times, as human beings, and even as Christians, we feel like we don’t have much power.  That can be especially true in our situation, when we’re part of a small church in a small town.  We see all kinds of things happening, and we think, “I cannot do anything about that.  I cannot affect that.  There’s nothing I can do.”

It’s not true.  We may not be able to do everything, but there are things we can do.  Remember what I said a little while ago.  There are people in this parish who do not believe in God.  There are people in this parish who do not accept Jesus as the Savior.  It’s not good enough for us to say, “There’s nothing I can do about that.”  If we don’t do something about it, who will?  If we, as Christians, don’t reach those people who are our neighbors, who else will do it?  The answer is no one.  There is no one else.  Nobody is going to come to Gettysburg, or to Onida, and reach those people who don’t have faith.  It’s up to us.  There is no one else.

How do we do that?  Well, I’ll tell you--I don’t know.  I don’t have the magic bullet solution.  But we’ve got to try.  First, we should pray.  Ask God to show us how we can reach people.  And then, have the courage to try.  

There are all kinds of ways we can try.  We can talk to people about faith.  We can post things on facebook.  We can invite people to church.  Will those things work?  I don’t know.  Are there other things we can try?  I’m sure there are.  I don’t know if those other things will work either.  But here’s one thing I do know:  if we do nothing, nothing’s going to happen.  Those people who don’t believe now will continue to not believe.  And if we believe what Jesus said--that no one comes to the Father except through him--then there are people in our parish whose eternal life is in jeopardy.  I don’t like to think that there are people around me--people that I know--who may not be going to heaven.  And I don’t think you like to think that, either.

If we claim to have faith, that faith has to be revealed by our actions.  We need to go where God sends us, to do what God asks us, to say what God tells us.  We need to do that even when we don’t know what’s going to happen.  That’s what faith is.  And when we act in faith, God will bless our efforts.  And then, all kinds of things can happen, things we never even dreamed of.  Because with God, all things are possible.

 

Forgiving Jesus

The message given Sunday night, January 22, 2023, in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish.  The Bible verses used are Mark 3:20-35.

Jesus’ first miracle came at a wedding in Cana, when He turned water into wine.  This was a pretty unmistakable sign that it was time for Jesus to leave Nazareth and start his ministry on earth.

            Jesus’ leaving must have been hard on His mother, Mary.  She knew it had to be this way, of course.  She remembered what the angel Gabriel had told her.  She knew who Jesus was.  Still, it was hard.  Jesus had been a part of her life for thirty years, more or less.  And now, he was not there anymore.

            There probably was not a day that went by that she did not think of him.  She wondered where he was.  She wondered what he was doing.  She wondered if he was all right, if he was eating properly, if he was getting enough rest.  She wondered all the things that a mother wonders when her son is away from home, out on his own.

            Once in a while, of course, Jesus would come back to Nazareth.  And I’m sure he looked in on Mary, to see how she was doing.  It would sure be interesting to know how those conversations went, don’t you think?  Did Jesus tell Mary about all the things he’d done?  Did he tell her about being tempted in the desert?  Did he tell her about healing people?  Did he tell her about taking on demons?  If so, how would Mary react to that?  Would she be proud of Jesus?  Would she be worried about him?  Did she ever try to get him to come back home, to come back to the carpenter shop?

            Well, we don’t know any of that, of course.  But if she ever did try to get him to come back home, it did not work.  Jesus was never there very long.  He’d be there for a little while, and then he’d be gone again, back to his ministry.  And Mary would be alone again, left to wonder and worry about him.

            Obviously, communication back then was not what it is now.  It’s not like Jesus had a cell phone Mary could call.  She could not send him a text or an email.  She could not even contact him on facebook.  Still, though, I’m sure she heard things.  Probably lots of things.  Maybe she heard about the time he fed five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish.  Maybe she heard about the huge crowds he was drawing to hear him preach.  Maybe she even heard about him walking on the water and calming the storm.

            If she did, she must have been really proud of him.  I mean, think about it.  Think about if your son or your daughter could do stuff like that.  Most parents are proud of their children anyway, but this would be something really incredible right.  To think that your child was doing that.  It’d be incredible.

            But she probably heard some other things, too.  She probably heard about the times Jesus broke the Sabbath law.  She probably heard about the times he argued with the Pharisees.  She probably heard about the times he got into trouble with the authorities.  And you just know that there were some people eager to tell her about stuff like that, right?  After all, it’s not like gossip is a recent invention.  People did it back then, too.  There were probably people who just could not wait to tell Mary when they heard something critical of Jesus.

            So we come to our Bible reading for tonight.  We’re told that Jesus and his disciples go to a house, and there’s a huge crowd there, so big that Jesus could not even eat.  Then we’re told, “When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, ‘He is out of his mind.’”

            Now, we don’t know who this “family” was that thought Jesus was out of his mind.  Some people think it was not actually his family at all, at least not in the sense of blood relatives.  And that does kind of make sense, because people sometimes gave “family” a broader meaning back then.  People who were family friends were sometimes referred to as uncles or cousins, even though they were not actually related.  Whoever it was, though, it must not have been Mary, and it must not have been Jesus’ brothers, because we’re told later in the passage, “Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived.”

            And that’s the part I want to focus on.  Jesus is talking to the people, and he’s telling them things about God and about their faith.  And the things he’s telling them, the way he’s interpreting scripture and telling them who God is, are things they’ve never heard before.  They’ve certainly never heard them from the Pharisees.  And Jesus is saying it like he’s someone in authority, like he knows this stuff and has no doubt that it’s true.

            And because of that, some people think Jesus has gone nuts.  And other people think he’s possessed by demons.  And in the middle of all this chaos and confusion, Mary and Jesus’ brothers show up.  They cannot even get in the door because of the crowd.  So they send a message to Jesus to tell him that they’re there and want to talk to him.

            And here’s Jesus’ response.  He says, “Who are my mother and my brothers?”  Then he looks at the people around him, the people who believe in him and trust him, and he says, “Here are my mother and my brothers!  Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

            Can you imagine Mary’s reaction, when she heard that response?  She was worried about Jesus.  She’d heard he might be in trouble.  She came down to check on him, to see if he could help.  And Jesus sends a response that basically is a rejection of both Mary and of his brothers.

            Now, I don’t think Jesus really intended it that way.  It’s hard for me to believe that Jesus would’ve deliberately hurt his mother.  I think he was more making a point about how we are all brothers and sisters if we follow God.  Or, he may have been afraid that Mary and his brothers were going to try to make him stop his ministry.  Or there may have been other reasons Jesus said what he said.  But still, think of this from Mary’s point of view.  Mary has come all this way because she loves Jesus and is worried about him, and Jesus refuses to even see her.  Can you imagine how she must have felt?

            We don’t know what happened after that.  Mark drops the story at that point and moves on to something else.  So do Matthew and Luke in their versions of the story.  We’d like to think, of course, that maybe after the meal was over and the people had left, Jesus went to see Mary and explained things to her.  But for all we know, that may not have happened until much later or it may not have happened at all.  For all we know, Mary and her sons may have simply turned around and gone home, feeling like Jesus did not even care about them anymore.

            Have you ever had someone you love hurt you like that?  Have you ever felt rejected by someone you were really close to?  Someone you were just trying to help?  If so, then maybe you have some idea how Mary felt here.  To have her own son, a son whom she’d been through a lot to have and to raise, and who, after all, was supposed to be the Son of God, reject her, and in a really public way.  It had to hurt.

            But here’s the thing.  Somehow, Mary got over it.  Somehow, Mary got past the hurt.  I don’t suppose it was easy.  It probably took some time.  It probably took some prayer.  Maybe it took talking to Jesus at some point, we don’t know.  But somehow, Mary got over it.  We know she got over it because we see her with Jesus later in the gospels.  In fact, we see her at the cross when Jesus is dying, and we see her going to prepare Jesus’ body for burial. 

            In other words, Mary forgave Jesus.  Does that sound odd to you?  That Mary would forgive Jesus?  After all, Jesus is the divine Son.  Jesus is without sin.  And yet Mary forgave Jesus.  Did Jesus sin, that Mary had to forgive him?

            No, I don’t think so.  I believe that Jesus did not sin while he was on earth.  He was tempted to, but he did not.  But I still think that Mary forgave him.

            You see, I don’t think we have to sin, necessarily, to hurt people.  We can hurt people by accident.  We can hurt people with the best of intentions.  We can hurt people by things we say or do when we don’t even realize how they’re going to take what we say.

            And that can happen to us, too.  We can be hurt by people who have no intention of hurting us.  But despite their intentions, we’re still hurt.  And we have to find a way to get past it.  And that way past it is to forgive them.  We need to forgive them for hurting us even if they don’t know they hurt us.  We don’t forgive them to help them.  We forgive them to help us.

            I don’t think Jesus intended to hurt Mary.  But I suspect Mary was hurt.  And I suspect Mary needed to forgive Jesus.  Not because Jesus needed to receive forgiveness.  But because Mary needed to give it.  She needed to forgive Jesus so she could get past the hurt and have a relationship with her son again.

            Who do you need to forgive?  I suspect there’s someone.  I suspect we all have someone we need to forgive.  I’d encourage you to think about who it is.  I’d encourage you to pray about it.  And I’d encourage you to find a way to forgive them.  It won’t be easy.  It may take some time.  It may take lots of time and lots of prayer. 

            But keep trying.  Even if they don’t think they need forgiveness, keep trying.  Even if they’re not interested in receiving your forgiveness, keep trying.  Keep trying until you can do it.  Because you’re not forgiving them because they need to receive forgiveness.  You’re forgiving them because you need to give forgiveness.  You’re forgiving them so you can get past the hurt.  Because that’s the only way we can ever be free of it.  And it’s only when we’re free of that hurt that we can truly be the people God wants us to be.

 

The Sacrifice of Jesus Christ

The message given on Sunday morning, January 22, 2023, in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish.  The Bible verses used are Hebrews 10:11-25.

            One of the things I think about sometimes is how different it was to be a priest in Jesus’ time, compared to being a pastor today.  There were some similarities, of course.  You were expected to know the Bible, or at least as much of the Bible as they had at that time.  The New Testament, of course, had not been written yet.  And you were expected to talk about that Bible, and teach others what was in it.  But you had a lot of other duties, too.  And one of them, which is mentioned at the start of our reading for today, is sacrifices.

            Now, there were grain sacrifices and things like that, but when we think about sacrifices in this regard, we think of animal sacrifices.  Those were done by the priest.  The priest would slaughter the animal, burn some of it on the altar, and sprinkle the blood on the altar.  And this had to be done in a specific, ritualistic way.

            The purpose of this was to ask God for forgiveness for the sins of the people.  And this would have to be done repeatedly, over and over again.  “Day after day”, as our reading says.  And it was never enough.  As our reading also says, these sacrifices could never take away sins.

            And then Jesus came.  And it all changed.  Because, as our reading says, this priest–Jesus–”offered for all time one sacrifice for sins”.  Jesus made the only sacrifice that could truly take away sins.  Jesus sacrificed Himself.  

            The reason I’m going through this is that I think it’s tempting for us to take the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for granted.  Or maybe that’s not the right way to put it–maybe it’s just that we don’t fully understand and appreciate the incredible change that Jesus made by his sacrifice.  When Jesus sacrificed Himself, He changed everything.

            Listen to what our reading says happened as a result of Jesus’ sacrifice.  The Lord makes a new covenant–a new agreement, a new promise–to his people.  Here’s what God is going to do:  “I will put my laws in their hearts and I will write them on their minds…Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.  And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.”  “By one sacrifice, he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”

            It’s not just that the sacrifice of Jesus made other sacrifices unnecessary.  That would’ve been enough of a change–it would’ve been unthinkable to a priest that he would not be making sacrifices for the people.  But the sacrifice of Jesus made much deeper changes than that.  The sacrifice of Jesus, for those who believe in Him, makes a fundamental change in people.

            In Jesus’ time, people were expected to follow all kinds of religious laws.  And they were to follow them to the letter.  And there were lots and lots of laws, more than anyone could even remember, much less follow.  If you took your faith seriously, you always had to be thinking about the laws, trying to remember the laws.  Every time you did something, you had to think, am I doing this right?  Am I doing this the way the law says I should?  You looked at life as following a bunch of rules.

            But the coming of Jesus means that those who believe in Him, those who follow Him, don’t have to look at life that way anymore.  Because again, God says, “I will put my laws in their hearts and I will write them on their minds.”  

            Now, that does not say we can ignore God’s laws.  It does not say, just follow your heart and everything will be fine.  What it says is that, if we are truly following Jesus, God’s Holy Spirit will come into our hearts.  We will want to do what’s right in God’s eyes, and we will do what’s right in God’s eyes.  Not because we’ve remembered some law that says we should.  But because we want to.  We want to please God.  We want to show love to our neighbors, the way Jesus told us to.  When God’s laws are in our hearts, we don’t have to look things up in a rule book.  God’s Holy Spirit will show us what to do.

            But that’s not all.  The sacrifice of Jesus did even more than that.  Not only does Jesus’ sacrifice make a fundamental change in people who believe in Him, it completely changes the relationship between human beings and God.

            The reason the priest had to make all these sacrifices is that he was making sacrifices on behalf of all the people of Israel.  The priest was the intermediary between human beings and God.  The priest could enter into the Holy Place, the place where God was, and the priest could communicate with God.  An ordinary person, someone who was not a priest, could not enter into the Holy Place.  They could not approach God.  It never even occurred to them that they might approach God.  Why would God want to have something to do with them?  The priest, because of who he was, could enter the Holy Place and communicate with God, but not just an ordinary person.  It was unthinkable.  And because of that, there was a distance between human beings and God.  

            But with the sacrifice of Jesus, that changed.  There was no longer that distance between human beings and God.  Jesus did away with that distance.  Listen again to our reading:  “Brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Holy Place by the blood of Jesus…let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.”

            Because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you and I can do what human beings of Jesus’ time never thought they could do.  You and I can draw near to God.  

            And think of this:  we don’t have to draw near hesitantly.  We don’t have to draw near fearfully.  We don’t have to wonder, as we approach God, whether God will want to have anything to do with us.  We can draw near to God confidently.  We can draw near to God knowing that God wants us to draw near to Him.

            Again, such a thing would’ve been unthinkable to people in Jesus’ time.  Even the priests approached God nervously.  They had all these rituals, and they had to make sure that got them right, for fear that God would be angry with them if they did not.  To approach God confidently, to approach God without fear, was an idea that just would not have made sense to them.

            But you and I can do that.  We can do it because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  Again to quote our reading, Jesus opened the curtain that kept people away from the Holy Place.  The curtain is now open.  We can walk right in.  We can walk right in and draw near to God.

            Again, we do that because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  It’s not because of anything we’ve done.  We’re not any better than the people who lived in Jesus’ time.  The fact that we now have cell phones and wi-fi does not make us better people than the people who wrote on scrolls with reeds.  We are allowed to draw near to God because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  If we have faith in Jesus, God allows us into His holy presence, even though by our own merits we don’t belong there.

            But there’s one more thing.  It’s a sentence I mentioned earlier, but I kind of skipped over it.  Here it is:  “For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are made holy.”

            By Jesus’ sacrifice, Jesus made those of us who have faith in Him perfect.  If you have faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior, you are perfect.  Do you believe that?

            Now, notice, it does not say we make ourselves perfect.  Jesus makes us perfect by his sacrifice.  But still, if you have faith in Jesus, you are perfect.  So again, do you believe that?

            It’s hard to believe.  Because as much as we might want to be perfect, we know we are not.  We know we never will be.  We are sinners.  We are among those who, as the Apostle Paul says, have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  So how can we be perfect?

            Well, think of it this way.  When you see a newborn baby, what do you say?  Well, you might say a lot of things, but one of the things people say is “He (or she) is perfect.”

            Now, when we say that, we don’t mean that this child will never do anything wrong.  We don’t mean that they will live a perfect, sinful life.  We mean that this child is exactly who he or she is supposed to be.  This child is loved and will always be loved.  This child is perfect because this child is a child of God.

            That’s how you and I are perfect, through the sacrifice Jesus made for us and through our faith in Him as the Savior.  It’s not that we will never do anything wrong again.  It’s not that we will live a perfect, sinful life from this day forward.  It’s that, when we accept Jesus as the Savior, we are who we are supposed to be.  That’s what being “born again” is about.  It’s not that we have some mystical experience.  It’s not that we will never sin again.  We are perfect, not because of what we do or don’t do, but because of the sacrifice Jesus made.  That sacrifice makes you and me children of God.  And as God’s children, we are made perfect, even though in human terms we are definitely not.

            The sacrifice of Jesus Christ changed everything.  It put God’s laws in our hearts and gave us the desire to please God.  It gave us the ability to approach God, to have a relationship with God, to draw near to God and enter into His holy presence.  And it made us perfect in God’s eyes, no matter how flawed and sinful we may be, if we have faith in Him as the Savior.

            So let’s never take the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for granted.  That sacrifice changed everything for us.  Let’s do our best to please God, to draw near to God, and to thank God for the incredible sacrifice Jesus made for us.

 

The Rules

The message given in the Sunday night worship service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church.  The Bible verses used are Mark 2:23--3:6.

One of the most important Bible passages to most of us is the Ten Commandments.  We study them in Sunday school.  We study them in confirmation class.  There are Bible studies based on them.  I suspect some of you had to memorize them at some point.  Maybe you still can recite them.  My Mom can.

            The Ten Commandments were even more important to the Jewish people of Jesus’ time.  Those people did not just study them.  They did not just memorize them.  They were expected to live them.  And they were expected to live them to the letter.  The Ten Commandments were supposed to govern every aspect of your everyday life.

            One of those Ten Commandments, of course, is this one:        

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.  On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.

And in our Bible reading for today, we have to examples of Jesus breaking the Sabbath law.  In one of them, Jesus and the disciples started picking crops and eating them on the Sabbath.  In the other, Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath.

To the religious leaders of the time, especially the Pharisees, that sort of thing was Just Not Done.  You were not supposed to do any work on the Sabbath.  Period.  That was a law that went back to the time of Moses, when God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses.  God had said you are not to do any work on the Sabbath, not you, not your kids, not your servants, not your animals.  Nobody.  Now they did, out of practicality, have to make some exceptions.  For example, you were allowed to feed and water your animals.  You could leave your house, as long as you did not go very far.  They had all kinds of rules about what did and did not constitute work.  Some of them got kind of technical.  But everyone knew that picking crops was work, and that healing was work, and so you could not do those things on the Sabbath, because God said so.

And here was Jesus, this person who people called the Son of God, this person who had been raised in a Jewish home, this person who surely had to know better, doing those things.  And so were his disciples.  The Pharisees could not believe it.

Jesus acknowledged that they were not following the rules, but he explained it.  And here are his reasons.  First, he cites Biblical precedent.  He cites the story, found in First Samuel, of King David being allowed to take some consecrated bread, which only priests were allowed to eat.  Not only was David, who was not a priest, allowed to eat some of that consecrated bread, but so were his soldiers.  So, Jesus says, there are precedents for breaking some of these religious laws when the situation requires it.

But Jesus’ reasoning is more than just, “We had to break the Sabbath laws because we were hungry.”  That would’ve just been an excuse.  His real reason is this:  “The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath.”

Think of the implications of that statement.  Again, we’re not just talking about any old rule here.  We’re talking about one of the Ten Commandments.  We’re talking about laws that came to Moses directly from the mouth of God.

What Jesus said about the law about not working on the Sabbath, and by implication what Jesus is saying about all of the other Ten Commandments, is, look, God did not give you these laws to make your lives harder.  God gave them to you to make your lives easier.  God did not intend these laws to make your lives miserable.  God intended them to make your lives better.  God did not give you the Ten Commandments to create burdens for you.  God gave them to you to ease your burdens.

And that’s demonstrated further when Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath.  Jesus says to the Pharisees, look, the way you’re interpreting these rules is making life hard for people.  You’re telling me that I cannot heal this man because it’s the Sabbath.  Does that really make sense to you?  Do you really think God wants this man to continue to suffer, even if it’s just for one more day?  Would God really rather I walked away and let this guy continue to live in pain and misery rather than help him, just because it’s the Sabbath?

We read that, or hear it, and of course it makes perfect sense to us.  We wonder why in the world the Pharisees could not see it, when it seems so obvious.  And yet…

You know, the Pharisees were not trying to be evil or bad or anything.  They were trying to get it right, just as much as anyone else.  They just had fallen into a trap, and it’s a trap that it’s really easy for us to fall into, too.

What God had done in the Ten Commandments, and in a lot of the other Old Testament laws God gave the people of Israel, is lay down some basic principles for living.  And they’re really good principles.  All of us, including me, would be a lot better off if we lived the way God told us to live.  

But what the Pharisees did was turn those basic principles into a bunch of inflexible rules.  Do this.  Don’t do that.  Doing this is right, doing that is wrong.  If you do this, you’ll go to heaven.  If you do that, you’ll go to hell.  The Rules are The Rules.  Period.  No exceptions.

The thing is, as human beings, we like rules.  I mean, we get frustrated with them sometimes, but by and large, we like them.  That’s why we make so many of them.  Rules make things simple.  If we have a rule, we don’t have to take circumstances into account.  If we have a rule, we don’t have to use our judgment all the time.  We just find out what the rule is and follow it.  It saves a lot of time and effort to just have rules.

But what Jesus is telling us is that God does not look at it that way.  And we should not look at it that way, either.  Because if we do, the rules can get in our way.  They can get in the way of doing good.  They can get in the way of following God.  They can get in the way of loving people the way Jesus told us to.

Now don’t get me wrong here.  I’m not saying that there’s no such thing as sin.  There is.  I’m also not saying we should just casually ignore all of God’s principles and do anything we want to do. Jesus did not say any of those things, either.  Jesus did not tell the Pharisees, “throw out all your rules and do anything you please.”  As I said, God’s principles for living are really good principles, and all of us, including me, would be better off if we lived the way God told us to live.

But what Jesus was saying is that a slavish adherence to rules can get in our way, just like it got in the Pharisees’ way.  As I said, the Pharisees were trying to get it right.  They thought that, by slavishly following the rules, they were doing what God wanted them to do.  They could not see that, sometimes, their strict adherence to the rules was keeping them from loving people and helping people.  They could not see that, sometimes, following the rules to the letter could lead them to do the exact opposite of what God wanted them to do.

It’s something for us to think about.  Because all of us have rules, whether we realize it or not.  We have rules for what we do when we get up in the morning.  We have rules for how we spend our days.  We have rules for how we do our jobs.  We have rules for how we live our lives.  We have rules for how we treat people.  We have rules for who we like and who we don’t like.  We have rules for who we care about and who we ignore.  And we have rules for what’s right and what’s wrong, who’s good and who’s bad.  A lot of the time, we may not even have realized that we made these rules, much less that we’re living by them.  But we have, and we are.

The rules we have are not necessarily bad or wrong.  Sometimes they may be exactly the same as the principles God laid out for us.  But we need to take a look at them.  We need to know what rules we have.  And we need to make sure our adherence to those rules is not getting in the way of serving God and loving the people God created.  We need to make sure we have not fallen into the trap the Pharisees did, where following the rules was leading them to do the exact opposite of what God wanted them to do.

So let’s take a look at our rules.  Let’s understand where they came from and why we have them.  And let’s understand that, even if they’re good rules, we still need to make sure they’re not getting in the way of what Jesus said are the two most important rules:  to love God and to love other people.  If they are, we need to change them.  Because ultimately, the rule of love is the standard by which every rule we have needs to be measured.