"The Cross is Like an Enemy Loved"

Junior High. Need I say more? If those were the best years of your life, I say good for you. For the rest of us, may I wallow in the misery of those years with you?

Whenever I think of Junior High the face and name of one boy comes to mind. He had failed a few times so he was older and further along in the puberty cycle than the rest of us. His voice was deeper and I am pretty sure he was already shaving. For some reason, he picked me out as his instinctive enemy. It was weird really. I had never met him or even said a word to him. But he did not need to talk to me to know he did not like me.

God in all of his wisdom decided to make sure I had gym class with the brute. O, he, who I soon came to call my arch-enemy, loved having gym class with me. Talk about fuel for fire...He tormented me with threats and belittling words every day. Of course, I was a bit mouthy myself and so I did not really help matters any. One thing was for sure, he hated me and I hated him.

Then one day after school, I saw that boy outside his house. His dad was screaming at him; Calling him every name in the book. Then I watched his Dad back-hand him across the face. My enemy did not cry. He barely flinched. It was obvious it was not the first time. This was normal to him. He would not cry. He would simply become angry. He would do to someone else what was done to him.

So, the rest of Junior High he continued his name calling and belittling of me. I wish I could tell you that after seeing what he lived with, we became best friends, but we didn't.

However, I distinctly remember that while the mistreatment was still embarrassing, I no longer took it personally. I now saw why he was my enemy. And it is hard to hate someone you understand.

The Bible says we have a high priest in Jesus who sympathizes with our weaknesses and intercedes to the Father on our behalf. How could Jesus love and forgive us to the point of death? Because he understands us. He does not just see the sin behavior, he sees the lies, the pain and everything that is behind it. He sees you. And because he experienced the trials and temptations of life, he sympathizes and says, "Hey Dad, I know what its like to be where they are. That's what sin and suffering in that world does to a person. Let me love them to you."

"The Cross is Like a Battle Won"

Many, many years ago, in the time when horses, wagons and walking were the major forms of transportation, an old man was carrying a very heavy load on his back. The poor, old man was bent over under the weight. His face was beat red from over-exertion. His eyes looked strained and tired. Every step he took was nothing less than a battle.

As the old man walked on under his burden, a father and his young boy came down the dirt road riding their horse and wagon. The father and his boy laughed and talked together as they let the horse pull the weight of their load. Suddenly, they saw the outline of the man and his load in the distance. As they drew closer they noticed the man's age and how each step was a struggle under the burden he bore.

The father pulled up next to the man, stopped the wagon and invited the old man to ride with them. The man gratefully accepted, but chose to ride in the back of the wagon. The father then urged his horse forward and the three of them continued on their journey.

It was the boy who made the observation: "Daddy," the boy said, "Why is he keeping the load on his back? Why doesn't he sit the load down in the wagon?"

The father looked over his shoulder and saw that his boy was right. The old man had accepted the ride, but not the opportunity to be relieved of his burden.

The cross is like a battle won. Christ's death and resurrection, as we read in Colossians 2 on Sunday, has already won the war. It seems that many of us are able to trust Christ to give us a ride to heaven, but few of us are willing to trust Christ to carry the daily burdens and battles that are put on our backs before we get to heaven. The FATHER sees the burdens we keep carrying and the battles we keep fighting as his SON asks, "Why?"

"The Cross is like the Devalued being Redeemed"

76 incarcerations, 9 felonies, addict...how does that lead you to picture the man I am describing? I can tell you that the picture those three images paint for me are anything but pretty or pleasant. But, the cross is like the devalued being redeemed. Our faith is not just a good story. It is more than fairy-tale fantasy. It is real. The love and power of Christ culminating on the cross continues to change the world by redeeming what has been trashed.

76 incarcerations, 9 felonies, addict describe a man in our church family's past, but not his present. In fact, if you met this man today you would never believe he was ever in prison once. He attributes his redemption to two things: Jesus Christ and other people being Christ to him. To top it all off, he is now voluntarily suffering for the redemption of other ex-offenders through a program called circles. (I encourage you to check it out at www.circlescampaign.org).

Former Ohio State Representative, John White, is now the Director of this initiative. It brings together circles of people from all walks of life to become a social support network to allow ex-offenders to have a hand-up so they will not ever be incarcerated again. It is not just a lofty mission; it is working! The success rate is amazing!

Today, they met with me to honor you. They said, we have heard that Living Hope is a church that is doing something to make a difference. The state and the county would like the opportunity to share about Circles with LH to see if any folks in your church family might be interested in knowing more about how they might give of their time to give others a hand-up. I told him we would be honored to learn more. So, in the next month or so they will be sharing literature in our bulletins and I hope that the man I mentioned will even share his story of how the cross really is like the devalued being redeemed.

Living Hope, thank you for being a church that does not just talk about it but truly is learning to be real, transformed, connected and poured out. Even the state and county are seeing it and we know what they are really seeing is our Savior, Jesus Christ. Praise God!

"Will You Let Jesus Unlock Your Prison Cell?"

A friend of mine shared this story:

Our daughter got a splinter in her finger. She ran to us in pain. We examined her wound and explained that we would need to pull the splinter out.

"Nooooo," she cried, "Don't pull it out, just put a band aid on it."

I can relate to the little girl.

If I am really honest, I too would rather have band aids. I too prefer to simply cover up and ignore the splinters that will or are bringing infection to me. Anybody else relate?

It is always easier to put on the band aid of anger than it is to do what Jesus says and that is go to the person with whom you have a problem and to work through it to reconciliation. And if that does not work, then Jesus says, take someone with you and if that does not work ask the leadership of the church to help the two of you reach reconciliation. How many of us are willing to go that far to pull out the splinter of conflict and division? Most of us, prefer a band aid, don't we?

It is always easier to put a band aid of denial on our habits, hurts and hang-ups than it is to admit them. The Bible says, "Godly sorrow, leads to repentance, which leads to life." But it is easier to blame God, others and the world for what is wrong with us than it is to take ownership. Confessing our sin before God and others will lead to healing as James 5:16 says, but it is a whole lot more comfortable to simply cover up our sin with a band aid.

It is always easier to put the band aid of worry over our future, than it is to trust God. Certainly the latter choice produces much more positive results, but then again so does pulling out a splinter. Just because the long term result is better, does not mean we will not insist on the short-term fix of a band aid.

The examples could go on and on, couldn't they? The reality is that left to ourselves we will choose a band aid over every other option, including eternal life.

That is why Jesus died on the cross. The cross is like a prisoner going free. To all who will admit that our sin-selfish choices have earned for us a death sentence now and forever; for all who will agree that there is nothing we can do to release ourselves from this death sentence, Jesus offers us something much greater than a band aid or a pulled out splinter. He offers to take our place in the prison cell so we can walk in increasing freedom through him now and eternal freedom forever and to now help others receive the same.

Will you let Jesus unlock your prison cell? Or will you cry, "No! Just out a band aid on it?"

"Will You Cross the Bridge?"

On Sunday we looked at the first of six vantage points the Bible gives us of the cross: The cross is like a relationship being reconciled. Jesus on the cross provided a bridge that makes possible reconciliation between us and God, others and ourselves.

On Monday, someone from the church called me. She gave me permission to share her story. She said:

"Sunday after the service I was with my husband and grown children in the teen room having the burrito lunch. As we were eating we were talking about the service. I shared with my family that when we were praying at the end of the service, God showed me that I needed to let Christ's cross bring reconciliation between me and my mom. My family then began to talk about how they too felt hurt and alienated by my mom. We all began to talk about how we knew God was telling us we needed to trust him to do something about this broken relationship, but we all agreed we did not know what to do.

It was at that point that I realized that I had unknowingly called someone on my cell phone. I noticed my phone was on and so I picked it. I then realized someone was listening. "Hello," I said. I then heard my mom's voice say, "This is your mom and I have heard everything you've said." And then she hung up.

I went home, but mom was not there (her mother lives with them). Later that night my mom came home.

I said, "Mom, can we talk?"

"No," She said, "I have been so upset that my blood pressure has sky-rocketed and I can't deal with this right now."

I said, "Mom, we are going to deal with it now because if we don't do it now we never will."

I went on to share every question and every hurt I have had standing between me and my mom since I was a little girl. I then explained to my mom how much I loved her and how I was not blaming her, but how if we did not talk about our past that I feared my heart would grow colder and colder toward her.

Then, my mom did what I never dreamed would have been possible. She heard me. She really heard me. Then she shared her hurt and what had been done to her as a child and how she then passed that on to me. She apologized. I had never heard my mom apologize.

I then apologized for her for holding on to hurt and bitterness.

I know it sounds like some movie, but it was real. For the first time since I was a little girl, my mom and I came back together. We cried. We hugged. We finally understood each other. Just that quick, God brought reconciliation to what I thought could never be reconciled."

I want to thank this sister in Christ for letting me share her story. I know God used her story to speak to me and show me a bridge I need to cross so that he can bring reconciliation.

Friends, our Sister's story is the kind of story Jesus died to make possible. The only question is, will you and I cross the bridge and let him reconcile us to God, others and ourselves.

"The Cross is Like a Relationship being Reconciled"

"Nothing But Dust"

Ash Wednesday reminds us that from dust we came and to dust we shall return. Until we honestly confront that in and of ourselves we are nothing but dust we cannot embrace the gift of the cross or the hope of the resurrection.

Will you admit that you are nothing but dust? Here are some scriptures to meditate on today to help us confront that without Christ we are nothing but dust.

Genesis 2:7, "And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being."

Psalm 51:5, "Surely I have been a sinner from birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me."

Isaiah 53:6, "We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way..."

Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

How does it make you feel to confront your dust? What do these verses stir up in you?

It may not be comfortable, but it is very healthy to take an honest inventory of our falleness as humanity. This is the purpose of Ash Wednesday. It is a time to make me think about what I do not want to think about; that left to myself I am nothing but selfish, greedy, bitter, controlling, angry, hurting, fearful, hopeless dust. This acknowledgement is what will allow us to see the power of Christ's cross and empty grave. But for now, we must resist the temptation to run to Christ's symbols of hope and we must force ourselves to stare into our dust.

I hope you will join us tonight at 7 PM for our Ash Wednesday service in which we dare to confront our dust.