The Oldest Profession

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden

To work it and take care of it.”

Genesis 2:15

If I were to ask you – what’s the oldest profession there is, how would you answer?  If you said farming, that would be correct.  That was Adam’s occupation.  It was the natural outgrowth of their need for food.  It was also the first responsibility God gave them.  In the garden God made them stewards of His creation.  Genesis 2:15 – “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and to take care of it.”   That’s the responsibility that goes with being made in the image of God. We are His representatives, responsible for the care of His creation.  That’s really what God was saying in Genesis 1 when He said to our first parents, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.  Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”  Making us rulers was not God saying, “You can do whatever you want with my creation…”  Being a ruler is not about having your way. When you rule over anything that makes you responsible for the care of that thing… in this case God’s creation.   We are stewards of God’s creation.  That means it belongs to Him not us. We are responsible to him for how we work it and take care of it.

This has really been driven home to Linda and to me since coming to Germany.  Back in Texas we had two garbage cans – one for recycling and one for garbage.  Here we have four kinds of garbage cans – one for paper products, one for biodegradable items, one is for both plastics and aluminum products and then one is for just plain garbage.  That is kept in another place.  They are very serious about this… we were putting the wrong things in the wrong containers when we first came and the sanitation services were refusing to take the can until we sorted things out properly. Some of the plastic and glass bottles we take back to the grocery store and recycle there to get a deposit returned.  All the rest of our glass products we take down the street to a bin where we have one compartment for brown glass, another for green glass and a third for clear glass.  I think I posted a picture on the blog.

My first reaction was, "wow" that's a lot of work.  The truth it that it hasn't been hard at all.  some of you from America might think we have become members of the Green Party or have become too
serious about global warming.  To all that I would say "No."  Whether you believe that global warming is real or not - that is not the issue.  The issue is that as believers in Jesus God calls us to take care of His creation.  The issue is being one of God's stewards of this beautiful world.  God is very serious about creation.  In Romans 8 He tells us that the liberation of creation is part of His plan for our redemption.  “The creation waits in eager expectation for the Sons of God to be revealed.  For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice but by the will of the one who subjected it in hope, that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.”  Romans 8:19-21

My point is this – when we enjoy the natural world around us with a walk outside or a swim in the ocean… when we produce and use food as well as other products made from this earth, as well as when we recycle, or don’t waste things – we are part of God’s creative and redeeming work – working and caring for His beautiful creation.  We are part of the oldest profession… carrying out the first job God gave us. 

God is Patient

“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise,

As some understand slowness.

He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish,

But everyone to come to repentance”

2 Peter 3:9

I apologize from the beginning that the video may not be the most professional.  However, I wanted to bring you outside today.  Do you remember the picture I put up on one of my first blogs – the picture of a building being torn down?  Well here it is two months later.  You can see that they are still tearing it down.   They have made progress but it’s slow.  I asked someone why this is taking so long.  They explained that the reason the building is being torn down is that it was full of asbestos.  So they are taking their time, trying to be very careful in order to protect their own health, and the health of all of us who walk by or live near this building. 

As I reflected on that, I thought, “I wish I was that patient.”  When I want something to get done or something to change in me or my situation I want that thing or that change to happen right now.  I am a pretty impatient person.   Right now, Linda and I are going through a major transition, getting used to living not only in a new place but in a new country and culture.  At times, I have found myself apologizing for not adjusting quickly enough to our new life.  Yet everyone here, especially my colleagues at Trinity keep telling me, “Pastor, take it easy on myself.  This kind of adjustment takes time - a long time.”  Some have mentioned 18 months.  “You need to be patient with yourself.”  There is that word again. 

However, like it or not, most change that God is working in our lives, takes time.  I read this past week about a woman who was in such a hurry to make her home look better that she skipped doing any prep work.  She just started painting, right over 8 layers of wall paper.  Two days after she was done the wall paper and the new paint was peeling off the wall in chunks. Her impatience made matters worse.  Before she could start painting, she had to do the time-consuming work of peeling off the old wall paper.  Only then could she apply the new paint and make good changes to her home that would last.

That’s the way it is with the changes God is working in our lives.  The process of making us new takes time.  That process involves first peeling away the old layers of sin… cleaning up the hidden rooms in our lives.  That takes time… a life time in fact.  But when He is done… then He will take us to our new homes, our eternal homes.  In the meantime, because He loves us… because He does not want any of us to perish; He does his work in His time, at His pace.  He is not slow.  He’s just patient.

That’s why I like walking by this building… watching it progress slowly day by day.  It’s a visual reminder to me and I hope to you to give ourselves a break… to trust God’s timing and work in our lives.  Because He goes about His work patiently day by day.  Perhaps we can learn from Him, who is so very patient with us, to be patient too.    

Old News and yet still Good News

“Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you;

He is Christ the Lord!”

Luke 2:10-11

If you look at the top of this blog post you will see a picture of old Christmas trees stacked out by the road.  This morning on my walk with Molly I passed all sorts of stacks like this one – used Christmas trees, out on the sidewalk, waiting to be picked up with the trash tomorrow.   It struck me, only four weeks ago, maybe less than four weeks ago I was at the Carols and Cookies event at church.  We were singing, “O Tannenbaum… O Christmas tree!  O Christmas tree!  Thy leaves are so unchanging…”  Now everywhere I look those supposedly unchanging trees are being thrown out.  The decorations are all down and put away.  We moved on to a new year.  The kids here in Germany are heading back to school.  Christmas like those trees piled out by the road is now yesterday’s “old news.”

That’s what happens to the decorations.  It has to happen. We can’t be in holiday mode all year long.  We have to actually live life. 

There is however one aspect of Christmas we should never pack away or toss aside.  Three short weeks ago we were celebrating the “good news of great joy…” that a “savior has been born…”  Is there a danger that we might take this unchanging message, pack it away with the decorations and forget about it?  That would be the worst thing that could happen. 

Ask yourselves questions like these – Do you find yourself worrying about anything?  Do you ever struggle with depression or fear or stress or anxiety?   Is there any guilt – real or false – weighing on your heart?  Are you grieving?  Are you or is someone you know fighting cancer or some other illness?  How are things between you and your spouse?  Between you and your parents?   Between you and your kids?  Do you have any decisions you are struggling over?  Are you struggling with an addiction, with alcoholism or with some other temptation?  Do you daily find yourself doing things you shouldn’t or failing to do things you should?  Is there anything in your life you feel hopeless about?   If you answer any one of these questions with a yes, then you dare not pack away the message of Christmas!

While the Christmas decorations aren't needed any more, the Christmas message is needed every day from now until eternity.  Whether worry or fear or depression or guilt or some temptation or illness or grief or whatever is your struggle you need the message of the angels.  That message may be old news but it is still good news… good news of great joy that God loves you so much that He gave His one and only Son to be your Savior – savior from sin, and death, worry and fear, grief and all the pains sin brings to life… This is a message we dare not forget… dare not pack away… a message we need to hear again and again every day.  So it may be the middle of January… the decorations may be packed away… and the tree thrown out, but I am going to say it anyway… “Fear Not, for behold I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people, for today in the city of David a Savior has been born for you.”  That message still applies… we still need Him… every day.  Merry Christmas! 

Get Off the Bed and Go!

I love the Old Testament Reading for Epiphany from Isaiah 60.  “Arise! Shine!  For your light has come and the glory of the Lord rises upon you!”  Whenever I read that verse I think of a sermon by Dr. Ed Westcott.  He was preaching at a Mission Festival in Tilden, NE.  What he shared has stuck with me for many years.  Reminding us that we are all called to be missionaries, he told us that “our mission fields start right where our feet hit the ground every morning.”

He was right on both accounts.  Each one of us is a missionary with a great story to tell about … of how God loves the world so much that He gave His only Son…of how Jesus paid the price for our sins by His death on the cross… of how Jesus conquered death itself by His resurrection… of how the glory of the Lord has risen upon us and changed our lives.    

Dr. Westcott was also right about where our individual mission fields are found.  They are not off in some distant land. (I know I am in Germany right now, but for me, at this moment, that is not a distant land… that is where my feet hit the ground right now.)   Our mission fields are our homes with our families, in our neighborhoods with those who live around us and the strangers who pass through; in our workplaces and schools with our co-workers and classmates; on the commuter trains we ride and planes we fly in; even in the church we attend and the people who sit next to us in the pew.  Our mission field is wherever we happen to be at any given moment.

At first that comforted me.  I didn’t have to go searching for a mission field.  Get out of bed in the morning and I was there.    But then it scared me.  After all, if my mission field is right here… if it’s not far off somewhere, then I have no excuse for not doing my mission work.   What’s more my family and friends know me too well.  I can’t fake my way through.  They know my weaknesses.  They will know it if I am playing the hypocrite.  It also scares me because I don’t know how to do it all the time…  How do I share my faith in our neighborhood when everyone speaks German and I don’t yet… when people I see on the sidewalk won’t even look at me, and when I say “Guten Morgan” they look at me like I am strange… as if they wonder, “I don’t know you why are you talking to me?”  No one talks on the commuter train.  If my mission field starts where my feet hit the ground, then the easy thing to do is stay in bed.  At least in a figurative sense, I think that is what a lot of us do… We stay in bed… we say nothing… we hide our faith…   After all what can we do?

That’s the point though.  We can’t do anything.  That’s okay.  The good news is the light has come.  Jesus has taken hold of and changed our lives.  He has made His light “shine into our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4) He doesn’t expect us to change anyone else’s life.  He just asks us to get off the bed and share His light… to be loving and friendly to the people He puts in our life tell His story as He gives us openings…  to be genuine and humble - not trying to deny our weaknesses but letting others see in us how forgiving God is… to let Him do in others what He has done in us… That light changed our lives.  He can do the same in others.   Where should we start?  Start with Him. Pray.  Ask Him to give you opportunities.  Ask Him to open doorways for you.  As Him to open your eyes to opportunities.  Ask Him to use you.  Then get off the bed. Let your feet hit the ground and Go.   That’s what the text says… “Arise!  Shine!  Let the Light take care of the rest.