God Loves to Repurpose People.

It seems like repurposing (or re-purposing) things has become a trend.  There are so many pictures of old pallets being repurposed for deck furniture, walls, among many other uses.  Back in the Great Depression, people didn’t throw many things away because they never knew when they’d discover a way to repurpose it.  But back then, it wasn’t called repurposing; it was reusing things.

When I was a junior higher back in the 70s, I got bored during the summer.  We had an old, rusty coaster wagon that was just sitting around the garage because my siblings & I had gotten too big for it.  A friend of mine had a go-cart that was so cool, and he even let me ride it a few times.  So I decided to repurpose (again, I’d never heard of that word back then; I thought I was just reusing) some old stuff laying around the garage.  I took the wheels & axels off the coaster wagon, & attached them to a piece of plywood the appropriate size.  I used a 2 by 2 piece of wood and some clothes line to make a crude steering rod that could control the direction of the front wheels.  The only problem was that we didn’t have an extra small engine around, & I didn’t have the mechanical ability to put it on my crude go-cart anyway.  But we’d take turns pulling it uphill a block, & then riding it down the street to our garage.  It was great for going downhill.  I could never think of a way to make a brake; so we just had to put our shoes out on the pavement to slow it down to stop.  Not the safest, but the hill wasn’t that steep; so braking wasn’t a problem.  At that point, none of us in the neighborhood had yet been on a fast amusement park ride; so riding that crude co-cart was a thrill.  When my older brother Jim saw what I’d built, he was impressed with how I’d reused some old stuff from the garage to make something we could ride on like that. 

In the 80s, some of us started recycling as a way to help the environment, which was a form of repurposing some things.  I heard of a guy in Iowa who’d figured out a way to recycle used plastics into a 4 x 8 sheet the size of a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood.  He’d made a few simple hog enclosures for them, and began selling those to farmers.  He developed it into a small business.  As the years went on, more people began finding new ways to reuse or repurpose used material into a new use.  So it’s fairly common now, to find new recycled things for sale in stores.

God is also in the repurposing business.  God specializes in repurposing people.  God could take a rejected shepherd (Moses) and remake him to lead God’s people out of slavery and guide them through the desert-wilderness.  God can take a shepherd boy named David, and reuse him to kill an agnostic giant and become a famous warrior-king.  Take another look at the disciples.  Jesus repurposed a fraudulent tax-collector, a terrorist (Simon the Zealot), and uneducated, undisciplined, crude fishermen like Peter and Andrew, James & John.  After the resurrection and the Spirit’s arrival at Pentecost, these men with dubious backgrounds, became the first missionary-pastors to a society similar to ours.  They went out and taught God’s Word, healed people, escaped from the authorities who could not get them to stop talking about this Jesus of Nazareth.

Are you feeling over the hill or washed up?  Tired of the daily grind?  Do you feel like a used up plastic bottle?   The good news is that you’re a prime candidate for God’s repurposing.  God specializes in repurposing people who humbly feel like they have nothing to offer.  Matthew had cheated so many Jewish taxpayers that the priests and religious authorities never bothered to say anything to him.  Simon the Zealot was part of a group, the Zealots, who were so patriotic that they assassinated those who publicly disagreed with them; how could God have anything to do with a murderer like that?  Those fisherman never received any attention from the religious crowd because they were just blue-collar, working-class people.  No one would have predicted that these guys would be chosen by God’s Son to be sent out as God’s ambassadors. Yet God saw their potential and repurposed them to become his representatives to do amazing things in the world.  If you think you’re not worthy of God’s call, you actually are ready for God’s repurposing. 

Celebrate the Holy Spirit!

Sunday, June 7 is the 50^th day after Easter, which is the day the Holy Spirit came on the followers of Jesus in Acts 2.  Some call it Pentecost Sunday.  The Greek word for pentecost means fifty.  Acts 2 tells us that Jesus’ disciples were gathered in the upper room when they were filled with the Holy Spirit; they heard a great wind and spoke in different languages as tongues of fire settled upon them.

The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin, which is essential for salvation.  The Spirit counsels and comforts us (John 14:16, 26).  The Spirit guides us.  In John 6:63, Jesus said, “The Spirit gives life.”  The Spirit renews us.

In the languages of the original Bible, Hebrew and Greek, the word for “Spirit” is the same as the word for “breath.”  Genesis 2:7 speaks of creation as God breathing the breath of life into Adam and Eve’s nostrils.  Sometimes we say that the Spirit is like the wind.  We can’t see it, but we can see what it does.

The Apostles’ Creed says, “I believe in the Holy Spirit.”  Do we truly believe that the Spirit is working in us and through us?

When we pray and read the Bible, do we expect the Spirit to speak God’s Word to us?  Do you let the Spirit guide you and lead your conversations with others?  Are your relationships marked by the love, joy, and peace of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)?  When we meet together in a small group, class, committee or in worship, do we really expect the Spirit to work in us or through us?

I encourage you to keep your eyes and ears open.  It’s too easy to miss what the Spirit is doing.  The Spirit is working in our midst, but if we’re not alert, we miss the special things that God’s Spirit is doing.  God’s Spirit is alive and moving and making old things new!  Let us give thanks to the Lord and praise Him for the work of His Spirit!

To God be the Glory!

This is the “Come holy Spirit” prayer from Cursillio:

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful,

and kindle in us the fire of your love.

Send forth your Spirit, and we shall be created.

And You shall renew the face of the earth.

O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit,

Did instruct the hearts of the faithful,

Grant that by the same Holy Spirit,

We may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations.

Through Christ our Lord, Amen.aler

The Last Days of Jesus

This week is fearful and confusing for Christ-followers, as we seek to walk with Jesus in the last days of his life on earth.  Yes, the resurrection is coming, but we first experience the terrifying, bewildering events in the last days of Jesus’ life on earth.  Unfortunately, most followers take the easy skip from the Palm Sunday parade to the Easter resurrection.  Can’t say I blame them. 

Who wants to see your beloved Teacher arrested on trumped-up charges, betrayed by a friend, and deserted by the rest of the so-called followers?  The trial scenes in the temple or Herod’s place are not easy.  The sight of Jesus’ being beaten is heart-breaking for us helpless followers, at least those of us who dared to watch the whips snapping up the lines of blood on his back.  (This was the R-rated part of The Passion movie.)  Then they put that crown of thorns on his head to mock Him, & one guard actually spit on Him. 

The soldiers forced Him to carry his cross on the road leading outside the city, until He fell down, too weak to get up, when a bystander is drafted to carry it the rest of the way.  Some of us followed the long, winding road to the hill outside Jerusalem where He was nailed to a cross like a rotten criminal left to die a slow, excruciating death.  With the crowd there, we watched the last hours of life slowly drain from his body in agony. 

This week, we’re challenged to deny ourselves and stand up for our beloved Jesus, but like the disciples, we fail, we deny the Master, desert Him when authorities make Him suffer.  But don’t give up; keep walking with and following Him.  This hard, dark path leads to good.  Pray to God for strength and courage.  Ask the Savior to forgive your failures.  Seek the Spirit amidst other followers. 

It’s sad that some churches have no service on Good Friday (which was actually Black Friday or Death Friday) or Maundy Thursday.  How can we have a new life without experiencing the death of our Master or ourselves?  Read Matthew 26:17 – 27:44 or John 18:28 – 19:37.  A short version can be found in Mark 15: 1-39. 

This Thursday is Maundy Thursday - that last night in the upper room, when the Teacher washed his followers’ feet, shared the bread and the cup, and his last words. Maundy Thursday gets its name from the Latin word mandatum, which means "commandment." Near the end of the Last Supper, the Teacher said, "A new commandment I give unto you: That you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another."  (John 13:34)

If you do not attend a church, you’re welcome to come to First Presbyterian Church, Hugo; our Maundy Thursday service will begin at 7 PM.  The service will include communion, chimes music, Scriptures and songs on the path to the Cross. 

Divided Disciples with the Master

The Holy Land in Jesus’ time has been called a land of conflict.  People were divided by the wars, religious groups, and political parties.  The Roman occupiers were the latest oppressors.  Jesus chose 12 disciples to mentor and send to preaching and healing missions; numerous women also followed Jesus and were devoted to his teaching and work.  Four disciples left the fishing business behind.  Matthew the tax collector and Simon the Zealot are the only disciples identified by their past.

Matthew the tax collector was apparently a wealthy man and was hated by almost all Jews because he collected heavy, unfair taxes for the despised Romans.  Matthew was one of those who sat at the tax booth (Matthew 9:9, Mark 2:14) and collected customs or tolls at ports and city gates on goods passing through.  They were hated because they cooperated with the Roman oppressors and because they were usually fraudulent crooks.   He would have been politically conservative because his lucrative position depended on the Romans’ control of Israel.

Simon the Zealot was named so because of his radical views (and possibly his actions) before he became one of Jesus’ disciples.  “The Zealots” were a fanaical Jewish patriots who wanted to restore Israel to glory by brute force.  Some of them carried large knives or short swords hidden in their cloaks.  They would work their way through a crowd to get close to an official and fatally stab him.  Have you ever heard of “cloak and dagger?” They were willing to die to further their cause because they were zealous for Israel’s glory. 

So we have the only 2 disciples who were labeled by their previous lives.  One’s title represented greed and cooperation with an occupying foreign government.  The other’s title represented violence and hatred for the same government.  Can you imagine a tea party person sitting down to eat with someone involved in the Occupy movement without some tension and sparks?  Why did Jesus chose such radically diverse disciples?  There must have been times when Matthew and Simon argued about their views. 

Jesus demanded total allegiance from the disciples.  He required a forsaking and radical break from the past.  From the stories about Matthew, we can see that he did forsake his former ways and used his wealth to introduce his friends to Jesus (Luke 5:27-29).  We only assume the same for Simon.

Today we have the Culture Wars in America.  Christ-followers are divided along economic, political, and moral issues.  We have Christians on the right and on the left.  We even question the faith of those who disagree with us.

I suspect it was that way among the 12.  Jesus probably had to squash such talk.  It’s difficult to get conservatives and progressives to sit down together and discuss their beliefs, but Jesus somehow persuaded them to accept his teaching and work together for God’s Kingdom.  Despite their differences, Matthew the tax collector and Simon the Zealot are both able to live together with the rest of the 12.  After Jesus’ ascension, in Acts 1:13, both are listed with the other disciples in Jerusalem. 

In these weeks leading up to the election, I hope we can recognize that some things are more important than our political differences, and that following the Master is one of those.  If a tax-collector and a Zealot could get along well enough to serve together in God’s Kingdom, why can’t we do the same?