Jesus said this to Nicodemus the Pharisee,

I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? John 3:11-12

Jesus was of course talking about horizontal and vertical learning and living. I talked about this in my sermon recently. (Click here to listen to that message.)

Jesus spoke about this very thing almost 2000 years ago. Let me just say, if Jesus sees it as an issue, we need to be on guard and fully informed.

Here is the essence of what I said about it in my sermon.

Most of the world lives horizontally. What do I mean by that? Taking life as it comes and only seeing what’s right in front of you. We all do it to some degree.

We build relationships with others at this level. We sort people into categories at this level by picking and choosing who you will associate with and who you won’t.  People acquire knowledge at this level.

Naturally we surround ourselves with people we like and hold the same positions. As a result, our horizontal lifestyle becomes deep-seated.

You do this long enough—and you will suffer from confirmation bias, and not even know it.

Wikipedia defines it this way, “Confirmation bias, a phrase coined by English psychologist Peter Wason, is the tendency of people to favor information that confirms or strengthens their beliefs or values and is difficult to dislodge once affirmed.”

This is what happens when we exclusively live a horizontal life. We gather information that supports what we agree with and discount anything that might call into question our beliefs. The people we choose to spend time with reinforce what we believe with contributions from our favorite news network and personally cultivated social media follows.

Living horizontally can get in the way of the higher thing, the things of Jesus. Vertical living and learning come from above. Jesus calls us to live higher and better than the rest of the world by loving everyone. Even Jesus reminds his disciples at the Last Supper that Christians “are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” John 17:16

One of the biggest obstacles to vertical living and learning are the people around us if they don’t point to Jesus in their lives. Your social circle may be all Christians, but if they never talk about their faith (but lots of other things), this can impede your walk with Jesus.

Remember what Jesus said, I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?

Extreme horizontal living will cause you to question or ignore the more important vertical living that is found in Jesus.

Imagine a cross for a moment. It is the horizontal beam that is supported by the stronger vertical beam. That vertical bar supports the horizontal plank.

What comes from above is always better than what we conceive of from below.

Jesus puts this teaching into practice when he was pointing out how some religious leaders were living.

What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things. Matthew 23:23

Horizontal living is concerned with appearances. “Look at what I am doing or what I believe.” The teachers in Jesus’ day pointed to their offerings.

Vertical living is concerned with the well-being of others within the confines of relationship and building community. Therefore, concepts like justice, mercy and faith take precedence over appearances and horizontal living.

That is why when Jesus was asked what is the most important commandment, he replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.” Matthew 22:37-38

First and foremost, love God and keep a vertical mindset. Keep God and the love of Jesus as the number one thing in your life. This is primary.

But Jesus highlights a second command that falls under the first. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:39-40

Vertical and horizontal living put in their proper place.

Horizontal living isn’t bad. It only becomes a detriment when we forget what comes first and we forget to love.

God bless,
Pr. Ben

Near the beginning of the greatest sermon ever preached (The Sermon on the Mount), Jesus said this..

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 5:17-20

Wait a minute, are we supposed to be following the Jewish Law as Christians?

Is Saint Paul wrong when we wrote, “For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.” Romans 6:14

It seems like these are two contradictory statements!

Before we jump to any more conclusions, let me take a moment to unpack this.

Jesus tells us that he came to fulfil the law. He came to do what we and countless generations could never do: live up to God’s expectations for how we live in relationship. (Romans 3:23)

What is the fulfilment of the law? Or to ask it another way, what does it look like if we lived according to God’s will 100% of the time?

Saint Paul gives us the answer…

The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law. Romans 13:9-10

Love. Love God, love each other. Just love. When you boil it all down, the Law of Moses tells us to love.

Clearly, we don’t do that very well. God knew that and came to us (in Jesus) to do for us what we can’t do for ourselves. Jesus showed “the full extent of his love” (John 13:1b) by dying on the cross for our forgiveness. Specifically for the times we couldn’t love others.

Jesus takes on our brokenness and, in the process, fulfills the law (God’s expectations for his chosen people).

We no longer need to wonder about God’s intentions towards us. We see it clearly in Jesus. (John 3:16)

At the same time, Jesus encourages us to live out our faith by loving others without the fear of judgment and punishment. “…whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven…”

Our salvation doesn’t depend upon how “good we do” but we are encouraged to be a people of love wherever we go. Every loving thing we do is in response to what Jesus did for us. That is called discipleship.

God bless,

Pr. Ben

To state the obvious, it is another election year. Recently, election years have escalated a tribal instinct within all of us.

What do I mean by tribal? We draw lines in the sand and make judgments like, “you are either with me or against me.” We “circle the wagons” and insulate ourselves from those who are different (for any reason) than we are.

There is a tribal instinct within all of us. It may stem from a dormant biological need to protect ourselves. Often this tribalism is expressed in benign and innocuous ways like, “I spend time with people who I agree with.”

The dark side of tribalism is that we start to hate the other. Once that hate grows, any means to shame or hurt the other is justified. Why? Because they are in the wrong and they are bad. To be clear, anyone who takes a side in anything, if they are passionate enough, it can lead to hatred if they do not guard their heart.

We see an example of this in the gospel of John when the Pharisees bring a woman who was caught in the act of adultery to Jesus. They wanted to stone this woman to death and catch Jesus in a trap to arrest him.

The religious leaders hated this woman for breaking the law and they hated Jesus for teaching about love and forgiveness.  They absolutely felt justified in their actions.

This was a “two birds one stone moment” for the religious leaders. It was just short of mob action.

Most of you know, Jesus deescalated the situation by saying, “When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.’” John 8:7

The religious leaders were ready stone her and arrest Jesus because of their hate of her sin and Jesus’ message of grace and love. They knew they were right and they would be justified in their response.

Tribalism evokes that sort of response today. That person is wrong, that group or individual is terrible… let’s go after them.

Yet Jesus stands between the woman who is wrong and the religious leaders who are hateful and says, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone…”

Two wrongs never make a right.

Jesus would say the same thing to us if we resorted to the same kind of hateful attitude or action. I’ve said it at church but let me say it again, “we are a no stones church.“

In a tribal mentality, people get spun up by others and it eventually leads to hate. And hate leads a person away from Jesus.

Jesus knew this and is why he said, “But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” Luke 6:27–28

This applies to “perceived enemies” and people you don’t agree with. Once hate takes hold, people will say and do very ugly things and can justify every single negative action.

Even King Solomon knew the dangers of hate when he wrote Proverbs 900 years before Jesus.

Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs. Proverbs 10:12

In other words, give love a chance before reaching for hatred and conflict.

We have been given a gift that is so unlike the world we live in. The gift is the Church of Jesus Christ. The Church stands above all notions of tribalism and line drawing. Jesus calls us into a new reality where the lines of division can be erased if we let love and forgiveness lead us into a true reflection of the Kingdom of God.

Remember, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Matthew 5:9

I want to be a known as a child of God, what about you?

If you are struggling with having a tribal mindset, if you are quick to jump on a bandwagon of hate and anger. It’s time to take breath and breathe deep the Spirit of our loving God.

Like I said earlier, elections years have made all of us a little edgy. Turn to Jesus, turn to his love.

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. Ephesians 4:31

If, while reading this you thought, “so and so should read this.” Maybe they should. However, go back and read it again for yourself.

God bless you,
Pr. Ben

Last week (Thursday, Friday and Saturday) I was in Mesa, AZ for our annual synod assembly.

Community Lutheran Church is connected to a larger church body known as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Within the ELCA, we are located within a synod (think area or district) in which we are connected to other ELCA Lutheran churches.

The Grand Canyon Synod’s boundaries include Saint George, UT, Southern Nevada and all of Arizona.

We gather once a year to do the business of the church. Last weekend was that meeting.

I went early to report to our synod council (like our church council) about the work of the national church. https://benbergren.com/article-april-elca-church-council-meeting/

At our synod assembly we re-elected our bishop, Deborah Hutterer to another 6 year term as our bishop.

We also heard reports about thriving ministries in our synod and how churches are innovating and doing their best to make an impact in our hurting world.

When we think of the church, we often think of our own congregation and rightfully so. Let us not forget that we are not only connected regionally but also nationally! Through our partnerships we are connected to the global Lutheran church through the Lutheran World Federation.  We are not an island.

I am reminded of what Presiding Bishop Eaton of the ELCA said at our last ELCA council meeting.

I am paraphrasing but essentially our Bishop said, “We are not a social service and we are not an NGO (Non Governmental Organization). We are the Church and we are called to share the good news of God’s love found in Jesus. That is our first and most important priority.”

Yes, we serve the community and each other. Yes, we do good works because of our faith in Christ. Above all, we are to share the name and love of Jesus with all who will listen.

As Saint Peter once wrote…

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect… 1Peter 3:15

God bless you,
Pastor Ben

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Philippians 2:3-4

Some of us are really good at making snap judgments about other people. In the blink of an eye, we assess someone and decide if they are beneath us or someone we strive to be. Once we do that, we start to disdain others who don’t measure up to our standards or beliefs.

It feels like we are wired to establish a pecking order and where we fit into that order.

Societal rules quietly reinforce the notion that we are better than others.

This stands in stark contrast to our calling as people of faith and even how Jesus views us.

Christ could look down on us and view us as poor lost souls without any redeeming qualities. Instead, Jesus loves us, invites to be a part of his family, and then equips us serve others with the help of the Holy Spirit. Wow.

Rather than God looking down on us and shaking his head in disappointment, Jesus invites us in and tells us that we are siblings!

If God doesn’t look down on us why do that very thing to others?

Saint Paul reminds us to be humble. Humility is looking to God for all things and giving God all the credit (glory) for the good things in your life. When we look to God for all things, we are also acknowledging that God doesn’t negatively look down on us.

When we adopt a humble mindset, we treat others more equitably. We are less condescending and recognize the gifts and qualities that others bring to a situation.

Being humble also insulates you against being selfish and self-centered. Rather than always looking out for yourself, you keep others in mind and their needs.

The church (the family of God) is at its best when we care for and serve one another.

This is what happens when we hold others closely in care and kindness…

When we serve others in the church we are not only preparing  “God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” But the end result will be this… “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness humans in their deceitful scheming.” Ephesians 4:12-14

Our relationship with Jesus and our unity within the church insulates us from the hate and anger of this bitter world.

God bless you,
Pr. Ben