March 11th, "The Problem of Good"

As a pastor you get used to the question. "How could a good God allow so much evil?" But I have never been asked, "How could a good God allow so much good?" or "Why does an evil God allow so much good?"

Sometimes the speaker is wrestling with a real evil in their life which has shaken their faith. Sometimes the speaker is using the problem of evil as a proof against the existence of a Divine Being.

Isn't it interesting that we see the existence of evil as a conundrum. Why does it exist? Why is there so much suffering, hurt, and deliberate malice in our world?

But I have yet to have anyone come up to me disturbed about the presence of so much goodness in the world!

But if we probe at that assumption, it means that we think that goodness should be the status quo. We assume goodness should be the normal state of affairs.

Where in the world did we get that idea? Why should goodness be the status quo any more than badness?

Why when I see evil do I wonder if God is good, or if there is a God? Why when I see good don't I wonder the reverse. Why don't I wonder whether God is evil, or whether there is a God?

This Lent I plan to focus my attention each day on some aspect of goodness in my life. Thanks be to God.

March 10th "Push the button"

Symbols are amazing. They communicate powerfully.

Thanksgiving two years ago, climbing Enchanted Rock outside of Fredericksburg, Texas, I reached the summit, when a young boy ran up to me very excited and animated. It took a moment but I realized he was deaf, and signing something to me very emphatically and quickly. Fortunately an older girl with him who was also deaf, simply pointed at my hat. I pointed back at my hat and mouthed Denver Broncos, and held up my finger saying "They're number 1."  He yanked open his jacket and smiling ear to ear revealed his Denver Broncos t-shirt.

Symbols have power to communicate and to connect us.

When we step into an elevator, we are presented with a panel of symbols. Most of them have numbers. Each of them represent a real physical location in the building. They are symbols.

Yet those small button symbols have the power to connect us to the actual reality. If you push the button, that small symbol will connect you to a real place.

Churches are full of symbols that are like those buttons. By themselves they are pretty plain things. But they connect us to a reality beyond themselves.

So why in the world would we want to use ashes?

Ashes are so dirty, so dark, so unfriendly looking. I would prefer gold dust or glitter.

But those ashes connect us to the reality of our mortality, our powerlessness over death.

And when we connect with that utter powerlessness, then an even greater reality can break into our lives. God. God who patiently waits until we admit that we are powerless, and that we utterly, desperately, need him.

Ash Wednesday - "To the cloud!"

Hebrews 12   "1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race
that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the
sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has
taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God."

"To the cloud!" proclaim the commercials hawking the new Window's 7 operating system. We are surrounded by the great cloud of the internet. All kinds of information, web-based programs, calendars, emails, blogs, pictures, facebook, twitter, voicemail, texts, and more. A great swirling mass of electronic signals and software stored somewhere and replicated, and distributed globally.

But the writer to the Hebrews was thinking of a different "cloud"; a cloud whose existence did not depend upon access to electricity, computer hardware, and software.

Allow yourself to connect to the cloud, that great cloud of witnesses, though their writings, their stories of faith, their struggles so much like ours, and through the supernatural encouragement that they give us to keep going forward. They crossed the finish line at this marathon, and they now line the track, shouting encouragement, to keep our eyes focused on Jesus.

And sometimes, just sometimes, the veil will clear and we can sense that Jesus is also in the crowd, for he not only raced the same marathon, but ran it all the way, not just to the cross, but through death into the resurrection.

Standing at the finish line, he's calling to us, coaching us to keep running, to let go of the things that try to get us to stop, to forget the other voices which criticize our running style, the voices that tell us we shouldn't have even been allowed in the race.

Lent is coming....

Two years ago I blogged almost every day as a Lenten Discipline. This year of 2011 I plan to do it again.

It focused my thoughts and my prayer life.

It seems narcissistic, and yet about halfway through the second week I discovered I didn't care if anybody was reading besides me.

Is it immoral to contribute to the flood of information, misinformation, urban legends and spam?

Thomas Aquinas wrote that near the end of his life, that all his great works of writing were "as straw".

It that great man's impressive works are straw, then most of mine is "recycled straw" if you take my drift. Yet occasionally even the manure has something to contribute to growth.

Peace - paul frey

When in Rome?

This September I started preaching on Romans. I am so used to using the lectionary, but it has been energizing to actually look an a book of the New Testament and go through it sequentially. Of course we are just starting. I may get sick and tired of Romans in a few weeks.

What's amazing to me is what a Jewish book it is. So much of the letter is devoted to theological questions about what it means to be Jewish and believe Jesus is the Messiah.

It is also full of "Chutzpah". Here is the author of a letter who has never been to the Church in Rome. (We don't know if Paul had been to Rome before his conversion or not.)

But he writes a letter, claiming authority over a group of Christians, most of whom he has never met.

The other remarkable thing is that so much of the stuff Paul addresses is the same stuff we struggle with today. How to live in peace cross-culturally, how to live in peace with your government, how to live in peace with others, and most important, how to live in peace with God and find the serenity that comes from that relationship.

Of course the best part of preaching is always what you learn. I am always astonished that no matter what part of the Scripture I read or study, even the parts most familiar to me, still have something new.

Of course, one of my friends says, "That's because of all the brain damage from your wild youth. You did know this stuff, you just think it's new because you don't remember anything not written on the palm of your hand in indelible ink!"

While some of that may be true, I am still amazed by how God seems to surprise me in the bible.

peace - paul f.

Harry Potter flies again!

This July, one of my favorite fictional characters returned to the big screen. Harry Potter, the amazing boy wizard, once again returns for a summer appearance. I don’t know about you, but I have been grateful for Harry’s reappearance in print or the big screen.

Harry hit the bookshelves in 1997, and for the last 12 years, in print or in movies, J.K. Rowling returns her fans to Hogwarts each summer. The last book of the series broke all previous sales records for any publication when it sold more than 15 million copies globally within 24 hours of being released!

Why are these stories so captivating? I can only speak for myself. Somehow, J.K. Rowlings characters bring to life the hard work of growing up. Harry and his friends face death and its loss, the ups and downs of friendships, discerning good from evil and the hard work of choosing good especially when we’d rather choose evil.

And through it all, even the most evil characters are portrayed with understanding and when merited, compassion, without justifying their wrongdoing, Sometimes the evil people return to goodness and their evil is conquered. And sometimes their evil is simply vanquished when they die.

But what I like best is that good always conquers evil in the end. Harry’s adventures remind me that good will always eventually triumph over evil, including the evil that is part of us.

There is much that is evil in the world. I could make a list, but just read the newspaper, and you’ll find a few examples. Christians believe that evil is real, dangerous, and destructive. But we also believe that evil will be defeated.

We believe it’s defeated on a small scale in daily ways. Simple acts of kindness, compassion, and mercy defeat evil. Decisions to forgive those who have wronged us, decisions to ask forgiveness from those we have wronged. Each of these acts destroys an evil.

We believe that it will be defeated on a cosmic scale at the end of time. Someday God will renew the world in such a way that evil will cease.

We believe that our own evil will be defeated and removed from us by God’s forgiveness and love. And we believe that the evil we have experienced will be redeemed, transformed, and somehow turned into something good and holy.

Finally in Harry Potter’s world, the victories over evil are always won by sacrifice. So too in our world, for good to triumph over evil means sacrifice. Sometimes it is my small sacrifices that prevent or undo an evil. But most often evil is undone by Jesus love shown on the cross.

So get some tickets, grab your popcorn and watch the battle!

HOT ! DRY !

When we moved to Eagle Pass 11 years ago in the summer one very hot day the clouds built up in the sky. A huge thunderstorm moved in from the west. Thunder boomed, lightning flashed, but no rain materialized on the ground.

The next morning my older next door neighbor, Jack, who had lived many years in South Texas told me, "I estimate I got at least 3 or 4 inches, what did you get?" I looked at him wonderingly and asked "Did you get rain out on the ranch?" "Rain!?, I waern't talkin' 'bout rain! I'm talking about lightning!"

A few days later another storm came through, and a few drops fell and spattered dusty cars and streets. Another older fellow put his hand up to the windshield and measured the distance between the drops. "I figure this to be about a 4 inch rain he stated, and the other old timers all chuckled.

I learned quickly that it takes a sense of humor to live through the hot, dry, summer in this part of the world.

Finally in late September, it rained hard one evening. The next day I stopped by Jack's shop to pick up some hardware, and he said "Pay attention, everybody in town will be cheerful today." He was right. People were unfailingly happy, laughing, walking around with a smile on their face.

I learned to be grateful for rain.

Over these last few weeks I've been praying hard for rain, and giving thanks for clouds and shade. God knows when it will rain again. And the fact is that God does know. And when it does make sure to say "Thanks".

And for fun read this poem, "Said Hanrahan". It could have been written in South Texas.

peace - paul f.