‘Cause I am a sinner
If it’s not one thing it’s another
Caught up in words
Tangled in lies
But You are a Savior
And You take brokenness aside
And make it beautiful
Song: Brokenness Aside by All Sons and Daughters

King David wrote a song (psalm) after being called out for committing adultery and then murder to cover that up. Here is a portion of that song from Psalm 51…

Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom  in the inmost place. (v.5-6) NIV

Or

I’ve been out of step with you for a long time, in the wrong since before I was born. What you’re after is truth from the inside out. Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life. (v.5-6) The Message

 Psalm 51 is King David’s song of repentance. He bears his heart in song and these words reflect: shame, embarrassment, a disconnection from fellowship with God and a need for forgiveness.

We can look at this in two ways.

1. This is a snapshot in time. King David’s “royal” mess up is really ugly and he knows it as well as other people. David is not just sad he got caught, he is sad that he did a terrible thing. Note: People are often sorry they got caught and NOT that they did something hurtful.
2. Or we can take a step back and see that King David’s story is our story.

These two points of view are not mutually exclusive. This is King David’s experience and it is our story.

When we take a look at a macro-view of the Bible, one of the major themes (if not the primary) is this: People are flawed.

What I find interesting is that some want to argue (and dismiss scripture in the process) that we (orthodox Christianity) harp on sin, sinfulness, judgment and that is our agenda for control over others. Many go on to say, this is not God’s agenda… because God really wants us to be happy, prosperous, successful or whatever.

I do not have the time to write a treatise on this (and I am sure you wouldn’t read it if I did) but let me remind you that within the first three chapters of the Bible we are told a story about why life is so hard. Spoiler alert: Humanity caused it because we are flawed. (This is an un-nuanced theological response but when you boil it down to its essence; we are flawed.)

God’s story begins with creating a perfect world (and universe) and then people mess up perfection because we are flawed.

This story doesn’t sit in isolation, does it? God cares about flawed people… His creation. This brokenness is so concerning to God that He addresses it head on and comes to earth in the person of Jesus to deal with our flaws once and for all.

How can anyone argue that sin is not an important theme in scripture and concerning to God?

I don’t know why people want to argue that humanity as a whole are “good people” and that there are only a few “bad apples.” I don’t get it.  My personal experience tells me that I need help in life. I am a “better” person when I turn to God and I am a “better” person when I surround myself with like-minded Christians. Yes, you help me be a better person. Thank you.

Equally troubling to me are Christians who believe that we are all flawed yet some people are too flawed for God.  Honestly, that makes me sick and it makes my blood boil. NO ONE IS BEYOND THE GRACE AND LOVE OF GOD. Not even “those people” whoever they are.

So let me be clear, no one beyond the love and grace of Jesus. Nothing is more powerful than what the cross of Christ represents.

If someone enters a church on a Sunday morning wanting to connect with God they should be welcomed. You and both know that many Christian churches have a litmus test when it comes to who is welcome. Whether it is skin color, ethnicity, sexuality, physical appearance (economic factors), or a known past history, many churches make it clear who is welcome to experience the love of Jesus and who is beyond divine love. Sometimes that rejection has nothing to do with someone else’s flaws!!! The sin of exclusion and rejection is the problem not the other person’s identity (see list above).  With standards like this, King David wouldn’t be welcomed in most churches.

We are all flawed. We all need Jesus. Our doors are unlocked on Sunday morning for a reason.

Let us rejoice that God loves sinners…I mean people… you know what I mean.

God bless,
Pr. Ben

Jesus said…

“And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

 Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it?  For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him,  saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’

 Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?  If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace.  In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:27-33

 Jesus tells a group of people, before you make the decision to follow me, you better weigh the cost. You should know what you are getting into. Putting it another way, use your head and not just your heart. I can imagine that many people got caught up in the moment when they encountered Jesus. Their hearts were full to overflowing and that often leads to hasty decisions.  Don’t get me wrong, we should also engage our hearts along with our minds. However, emotional decision making can lead to trouble and even Jesus remind us to use our heads and not just our hearts.

Now Jesus is not the only one who reminds us think things through. King Solomon also reminds us to use our minds too.

A simple person believes anything, but a prudent person gives thought to their steps. Proverbs 14:15

And…

It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way. Proverbs 19:2

God created us to think…to use our minds. God wants us to dig deeper into things to: form opinions, gain understanding, grasp faith, plan for the future and make the world a better place. We are reminded in scripture to use our heads for all things and not just matters of faith. We have been created with a brain and God wants us to use it! It is not an extraneous organ like an appendix (yes I know it serves a purpose, but as kid teachers told us it didn’t have a use)!

There is an encouragement to dig deeper and that requires to use our minds! When the call committee was interviewing me, they asked for and received lots of information about me. I filled out paperwork (it was like a 30 page questionnaire), gave them my website to review, gave them references to call and they still wanted to meet with me several times to grill me! The call committee had to dig deep to discern if I was the right candidate to Bethel’s next pastor. They did a lot of thinking and discerning before making a decision. What if I told them I wouldn’t give them any paperwork? They wouldn’t have had everything they needed to make a proper evaluation of me  (and they would not have put up with a response like that)!

I give thanks that God gave us minds to use. I give thanks for scientists and engineers. I give thanks for accountants and finance people! I give thanks for teachers, professors and pastors! I give thanks for all who use their minds to make the world a better place.

Even when Thomas the disciple who ran off after the crucifixion was using his brain. He knew following Jesus was over. Jesus was dead and people don’t come back from the grave. Even when the other disciples came to tell him that Jesus was alive, Thomas didn’t believe them. (See, he was using his mind.) He told them that he couldn’t take their word for it, Thomas needed to dig deeper. He said, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”

They convinced Thomas to go with them despite his critical mind (which is a good thing). When Jesus appeared, He wasn’t upset at Thomas. He didn’t say, “You should have believed the disciples when they told you.” Not at all. Instead he invited Thomas  closer and said, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Jesus was literally telling Thomas to dig deeper and check it out for himself. Of course, Thomas saw and believed.

Thinking and looking at things more closely is a good thing. Whether it is our finances, our future plans and of course our faith… digging deeper is a faithful action and it is a gift from God.

God bless,
Pr. Ben

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day God rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. Genesis 2:2-3

 This comes from the first story of creation. (Yes, there are two creation stories, but you knew that already.) The first one is told incrementally, in days. By day six God is done creating. God “rests” on the seventh day, as you can see in the above text.

Just so you know, God isn’t really resting. God doesn’t need to nap. Remember Psalm 121?    God will not let your foot slip— God who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, God who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

Does Psalm 121 contradict Genesis 2? Only if you read the Bible literally. (Reminder: we Lutherans in the ELCA don’t read the Bible literally. Just like our Jewish brothers and sisters who don’t read the Hebrew Bible literally.)

This part in Genesis 2 is less about God resting and more about God being “large and in charge” over His creation (see Psalm 121, no contradictions) and the blessing of the seventh day. Since Sunday is the first day of the week, Saturday is that blessed day. This is why our Jewish brothers and sisters rest and worship on Saturday (Friday sundown to Saturday sundown). We worship on Sunday because it is the day of resurrection!

Later on in Exodus we find out why this day is special:

“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 Lordyour God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lordmade the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lordblessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” Exodus 20:8-11

 God models for us a day of rest. God doesn’t need rest, but models a healthy rhythm of human life.

It is good for us to have a sabbath rest. A day to refrain from work. We honor God by resting (no, not all the time). I forgot how important that is until I took last week off and literally did close to nothing. See, I often do a little work on my day off, just so I can lighten my load on my work days. There are always emails that demand a response.

The truth is this, it is difficult to take a Sabbath day when you work for God. I didn’t realize how much I needed some down time until I went on vacation with Mrs. Pastor Ben this past week. I literally rested all week, I was either in bed, by the pool (in the shade) or on the beach. I actually cleared my head. Often when I stare off, I am thinking about something. This past week when I would stare off, I wasn’t thinking about anything. That was new for me.

Taking a sabbath day may honor God, but it is good for us. I discovered that this past week.  God is good and made sure I didn’t do any work  and so did Rachel.

I will try to rest more on my day off too.

God bless,
Pr. Ben

We are moving closer to the Labor Day Retreat… and revisiting the theme, “Practice, Not Perfect.”  This was the same theme that our high school group “Common Ground” explored on their musical tour.

There is no doubt that some believe that being a Christian means striving for perfection. You know, be a really, really good person. Isn’t that what God wants? Yes and no.

Sure, we should want to be decent human beings. If you only watch the news, you would question whether there are any decent people out there. Even if you don’t believe in God, I would hope one wants to be a good citizen, a good neighbor, a good co-worker and so on.  I think it is safe to say, that God created us for community. In order for community to “work” we all must contribute in a positive way. So yes, God wants us to be a good person for the sake of the other.

And no. God has zero expectation that you can be a good person…on your own. God knows we are a mess and need help. Jesus came to us- not to tell us to “be good or else.” No! Jesus came to fix the problem of us not being good people. Within the church we call that “sin.”

Let’s face it, we can be pretty selfish. It is easier to think about myself than it is about other people.  I am certain that I am not the only one. Yet God offers a refreshing alternative to being selfish…forgiveness. A chance to start over, a chance to go in a new direction and a chance to be self-less. When you fully grasp the fact that Jesus died a brutal death because he loves us so much… it will change you. Jesus didn’t want to leave us a selfish mess! He wanted to provide a way to move forward in life.

This forgiveness can change your entire life! God’s love for me (and you too) inspires me to live beyond myself and be the best version of myself! I want to honor God with my actions even though God knows I can’t do that on my own. I always need help. Thank God for Jesus.

God bless,
Pr. Ben

If God is for us, who can be against us?³² He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

 ³³ Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

 ³⁶ As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

 ³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:31-39

I feel these words of Saint Paul are some of the most powerful words found in the New Testament. I hope you have portions of scripture that speak good news to you. If you do, I would love to know what they are.  The words above are definitely good news for me!

Paul is addressing anyone who is struggling. If you are having a difficult moment, season or year, Paul is talking to you! He reminds us that it is Jesus Christ who gave all of himself for our benefit! As if to say, even if there is someone who is standing against us, have no fear they are no match for God who gave us His Son. Paul is reminding us that God has our proverbial back. When we do face challenges in life, God promises to be there with us in the muckiness.

But Paul is not done! Don’t be concerned when people falsely accuse you things. God is our only judge and it is Christ who justifies (accepts us fully). Don’t let the gossipers and accusers get under your skin! Our only concern should be God who watches over us. How many needless hours of worry have we spent on people who speak ill of us? I know I have. This reminds me to keep my mind fixed on Jesus and not on the naysayers.

Paul asks then greatest rhetorical question of all time: Who (or even what) shall separate us from the love of Christ? Paul then lists a bunch of things that could feel like we’ve been separated from God’s care. This also a subtle acknowledgement that life will have its up and downs. There will be hard times but that doesn’t mean God has abandoned us. It is easy to think God has stopped loving us or walks away from us when life  gets ugly.

Paul even quotes Psalm 44:22 in regards to the difficulties of life. Sometimes you feel like a lamb being led to slaughter. Tough stuff, but haven’t you felt that way when everything seems to be falling apart. It is usually at that moment you ask, “What’s next!?!” or “Why God?”

Then we hear one of the oddest phrases in all of scripture. …we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us.Paul is telling us that even though we will have difficult moments in our lives, Jesus has already won the most difficult battle of all on the cross. We never have to wonder if God is with us in our darkest moment… God will be there.  This phases could also be translated, “We win the supreme victory through Christ who loved us.” What is that supreme victory that has been won for us? That sin (or anything else) can separate us from God’s presence.

We are then reminded that no matter what, God will never, ever leave us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. God is good and we are loved!

This is good news for me. I hope it is for you.

God bless you,
Pr. Ben

Who deserves to be lavished with God’s love?
Christians?
Good people?
Kind people?

Many of want to be arbiters of God’s love. We see it as a commodity to be managed and/or dispensed. Last Sunday, I talked about John 3:16-17 which is: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 

 If you were there you will remember that I said, “We don’t believe those verses.” ( https://benbergren.com/sermon-the-essential-teachings-of-jesus-love/ )All we have to do is look at the way the Christian family is quick to judge if not pronounce eternal damnation on groups of people for a whole bunch of reasons. This judgment often includes other Christians who are practicing their faith in a way we don’t agree with.

It also shows up in a lack of compassion for those who are struggling… as if struggling is a sign of God’s disapproval. If you didn’t know, that is the heresy of works-righteousness. I’ve seen this most recently in the lack of compassion and lack of moral outrage over separating children from their parents at our United States border. No, I am not advocating open borders or a lack of punitive action for those who break the law.

Separating children from parents and incarcerating children is an ugly thing. It shows a lack of care for the well-being of children who are only following their parents. Add to that Judge Dolly Gee ordered the government to obtain consent or a court order before administering any psychotropic medications to migrant children, except in cases of dire emergencies because they have been administrating psychotropic medications to children who have been separated from their parents at the border What??? Why is the church silent? This isn’t about politics. This about how we care (or not care) for children. Does God love these children? God absolutely loves those children as much as God loves our children.

We are not in control of God’s love. We are not in control of God’s judgment either. Any judgment we pronounce is our own and we must not presume to speak for God in such important matters.

Jesus calls us to love others as God loves the world. Maybe we can’t love everyone, but we can be loving. Don’t miss that. I fully acknowledge that because of my brokenness I am not able to love everyone but it is possible to for me to be loving in my all my interactions. Sometimes that includes speaking up on behalf of others. But it always means not pronouncing eternal judgment on others.

God bless you,

Pr. Ben

By the time you read this, I will be back in the Bay Area! (I hope that brings joy!) I have just spent my 33^rdyear at a “camp” called Leadership Lab ( http://leadershiplab.net).

It is joy to equip youth with leadership skills as well as be instrumental in helping them discover the love of Jesus. In some cases, this is the first time they have personally experienced the love of God. As you know it is one thing to be told “God loves you” and it is completely different to experience that love in way that surpasses understanding.

Like authentic Christian community, there is both the love of God and the love of “neighbor”. Without a doubt there is a relational bond that is formed by those who come to Leadership Lab, myself included. I have a deep connection with many on staff that I have known for decades. These are some of my closest friends. I truly understand what it means to be a part of the family of God. I also feel that at Bethel! I love being in a huge extended family of God! It is reassuring to know that people have my back. In return, I have the backs of others.

As I get ready to come home, I want you to know that I have been reminded this past week that love is the most important thing. The love of God is more powerful than hate and more powerful than injustice and more powerful than death.

This has been a good time for me to be reminded of the most important things of our faith.

Guess what? I’ll be talking about love this Sunday.

The pictures are of sidewalk chalk art from our students at Leadership Lab.

God bless you!
Pr. Ben

Occasionally I read an article that is too good not to share. This is one of those articles.  I hope you find it as meaningful as I do.

It is entitled, “What is Cheap Grace? by Andy Gill.

There’s so many different forms of grace: Hyper-grace, free grace, costly grace, and then there’s what we’re discussing here today, cheap grace or, cheapened grace.

 What is Cheap Grace?
Cheapened grace, similar to cheapening or watering down the gospel is what happens when we water down the message of Christs to make it a bit more “palatable.”

This term is usually attributed to Dietrich Bonhoeffer as many recognize it from his influential book, The Cost of Discipleship.

Bonhoeffer defined “cheap grace” as “the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline. Communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ.”

Bonhoeffer goes on to say, cheap grace is to hear the life of Christ preached as follows: “Of course you have sinned, but now everything is forgiven, so you can stay as you are and enjoy the consolations of forgiveness.”

It takes the teachings of Christ’s and re-accommodates them to fit the comforts and desires of society.

Essentially, it was the birth of a consumeristic version of Christianity. 

It’s pseudo spirituality; a lie packaged in the form of the gospel.

It’s the same concept as marketing companies telling you that their fast food chain is healthy;

it’s the same psychological strategies used to manipulate our behaviors in order that we continuously consume their products.

With pharmaceutical companies admitting to knowing their products were addictive to corporations purposely creating products to be addictive (e.g. Starbucks, reward programs, video games, porn, smartphones, etc)… it’s a constant battle against these “powers” to take back control of our own behaviors and to re-infuse meaning into our daily schedules.

If the grace you’re receiving doesn’t lead to a transformation then it’s safe to say that what you received quite possibly may have been cheapened.

 The Cost of Cheap Grace…
You can’t find meaning if you’re constantly numbing.

We live in a world that seems to be becoming more and more vacant of meaning or significance. Said another way, maybe it’s not that our world is becoming vacant of meaning so much as it’s becoming inundated with so many meaningless things.

In Bonhoeffer’s definition of cheap grace, we see the lack of value and/or meaning being stripped from Christianity [that is without cost]. This leads us into a meaningless faith.

There is no such thing as meaning without cost; similarly, there is no such thing as Christianity without cost.

In the words of writer Stephen Mattson, “Consumerism drives us towards a selfish lifestyle of safety, comfort, and privilege. But Christianity is meant to point us selflessly to the cross, where Jesus was persecuted, publicly humiliated, abandoned by his friends, and tortured to death — penniless, homeless, and apparently defeated.”

Meaninglessness, this is the cost of a cheapened form of grace. We’re so far convinced that this falsified version of Jesus is the answer to all of our problems that we’re lead into a life of complicit laziness.

Cheapened grace, in my opinion, becomes a sociopathic form of grace when we recognized cheapened grace and yet, continued to disregard our call to change.

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” – Apostle Paul (Romans 6:1-2)

It’s a complete misunderstanding of what salvation is. Salvation is not the avoidance of hell; neither is it the entrance into heaven. Salvation is a transformation in the here and now.

We live in a world in which has completely normalized selfishness. It’s taken unhealthy lifestyles and marketed them as the answer to our problems. We’ve become convinced out of fear that unless we selfishly hoard, save, and protect ourselves by keeping others out and down that we’re in danger of not “living our best life”.

The gospel, in my opinion, is counter-cultural. It’s not driven by fear but it’s lead by love.

If you believe in God, then you know you were created for a purpose. If you don’t believe in God, then there is no purpose or meaning because it is by chance that we are even here at all. It is that simple.

If you believe we are here by some random cosmic roll of the dice, life is what you make of it and then it is all over. If you are lucky, you will find some like-minded people to spend time with that will bring some happiness in the midst of the randomness of your short time here on Earth.

I am not one of those people. I believe that God created everything! Not only that but when God decided to create humanity, God had a purpose. We get a glimpse of that purpose only after humans messed everything up. In Genesis 3:8 we discover an indication of God’s intention for humanity.

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day…

You might be thinking, “What does this have to do with God’s intentions for humanity?” It is simple, actually. When God created us, it was done so that we might be in relationship with Him while simultaneously being in relationship with one another. The story of creation in Genesis points to the fact that God wants to spend time with His creation especially the part of creation that was created “in our (God’s)image”and “in our (God’s)likeness.” (Genesis 1:26).

God created us to be in relationship. Most of you know that humanity chose a different purpose for themselves.

Even Jesus—God in the flesh—reminds us that the most important thing is to love God and love each other (Matthew 22:37-40) but we struggle with that don’t we?

We see God’s intention’s once again in the book of Revelation when we get a glimpse of “heaven.”  “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with humanity, and God will live with them.’” Revelation 21:3 God wants to be in a loving relationship with us now and always. The same goes for how we treat others.

Yet the world struggles with this in a mighty way. Children being separated from their parents at the border because they committed a misdemeanor. (FYI—almost all are still separated) Glad the justice system doesn’t do those who speed in their cars since that is also a misdemeanor. I saw on the news of a teenaged black man shot and killed by police in East Pittsburgh because he fled the car at a traffic stop. Add to that, the hate of humanity on display on social media every day.

I wish it would all stop. What if we just loved people instead of wishing harm? What if we helped people instead of thinking, “They get what they deserve”? What if we showed compassion instead of rushing to judgment? What if we walked a mile in someone else’s shoes before we so easily condemn from our recliners?

No, I am not saying everybody gets to do what they want and we just love them. (That is often the counter-argument to love.) What I am saying is that I am not giving into hate. I am not succumbing to cruelty and I most definitely will not judge someone by the color of their skin or nationality.

This is a dangerous business. Jesus talked about love and forgiveness and look what they did to him. They killed him for it.

Thankfully, God knew this would be the result and used that senseless violence to do something most unexpected. God used the murder of Jesus to forgive us. It sounds crazy but it is true. Then God raised him from the dead to show us that hate doesn’t rule the day in God’s Kingdom… love does.

If Jesus can forgive the criminal on the cross next to him why can’t we love our neighbor?

God bless you,
Pr. Ben