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I Have Moved!

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Praying the Gospels.

"Unhooked from the Trailer"

John 8:31-36

I can't remember how many times I’ve gone boating on the lake. I attach my boat to the trailer hitch on my truck, drive to the ramp, and back the trailer onto the boat ramp. I put my fishing poles and tackle boxes in place, place a sack lunch and drinks in the cooler, and I put the plug in the boat so it doesn’t fill up with water and sink.

I’m all ready to go out for a day of peace and relaxation. Then I get in the truck and slowly back the trailer down the ramp until the boat is resting on the water. I get out of the truck, step onto the front of the trailer and climb into the boat. I sit down, turn on the ignition key to start the outboard motor, and then put it in reverse to back off the trailer.

There have been a few times when the boat didn’t move. It would rock and do unusual things until I figured out that I hadn’t unhooked the boat from the trailer. Rather than being set free to feel the peace and tranquility of floating on the water, I was still tethered to the trailer.

It had carried me to the point where joy and peace could be found, but once I was at that point, I needed to be unhooked from the trailer to experience the wonderful and exhilarating freedom of being on the water.


I think the Law of Moses and the prophets are like my trailer and my boat represents the Christian life of faith. They go together. The trailer is important. I can’t journey from one place in my life to another without it. The Law of Moses and the Ten Commandments are important to me. I can’t live the Christian life without them.

But there is a time and a place where the two need to be separated in order to find the peace and the joy that the Christian life can bring to us. Like a rope held my boat to the trailer, something holds us to the law until we are liberated from it.


The question is: What is the rope that keeps your boat, your Christian life tied to the law? To say “sin keeps us from joy” is true. And the apostle Paul said with the law came sin, so it’s the same thing. To be a slave to sin is to be a slave to the law. And we, in Christ, are no longer under the law – even though it’s helpful in many ways.

How do we detach from the law and sin that comes with it? St. Paul said, “We are justified by faith in Jesus Christ, apart from works of the law.”


Faith in Jesus Christ is what allows us to detach ourselves from required obedience to the law so we can enjoy the peace and freedom of living as a Christian.

Boats can be a metaphor for the church. The church can be a wonderful instrument that leads people to great joy and peace in their lives, but if the boat can’t be unhooked from the trailer, there can be no peace and joy. It’s like saying, “Hey, world, come and sit in our boat. It’s a great boat. We can cook on it; we can read a book in it; we can sunbathe on it. Come and join us.”

What does the world say? “That’s nice – but who wants to sit in a boat on a trailer? You guys are so tied to the law, you’re slaves to it. You have no freedom. The day you can detach yourselves from that trailer, we’ll be glad to join you. We want some joy. We need some peace. We need some freedom. We can’t find any where we are and we don’t see any with you because of all your arguing, so we’ll just keep looking until we find someone who has it.”

When Christians start living in the freedom that faith in Jesus Christ gives us, the world will be able to see joy, peace, and freedom in the church of Jesus Christ. Then maybe they’ll be attracted to the body of Christ.


Faith that Jesus has paid for the sin of the world - past, present, and future - unhooks me from the mentality of being required to obey the law to get to heaven.

Being unhooked from the law doesn’t mean I can throw the law away. It’s too valuable and too necessary to throw away. There’s a fine line between freedom and stupidity. How can I get my boat to the lake if I don’t use a trailer? The trailer helps me get to places in my life that my boat can’t get to by its own means.


In the same way, the law helps me on the journey to wonderful places in the Christian life. The law keeps me out of trouble. A trailer prevents the road of life from tearing up the bottom of my boat. The consequences of breaking the law don’t disappear just because I can unhook myself from it. If I steal, I still suffer the consequences of stealing.


Jesus has freed us from slavery to sin and the law. Believe it and you will have no fear of what God might do to you whenever you break it. The only thing you need to fear now is what the road will do to you if you don’t use a trailer to journey to new places in life where you can experience peace and joy and freedom.

The truth is found in Jesus Christ. Have a little faith. Unhook yourself from the law and sin. Throw your rope to him. He will set you free to enjoy places of peace and rest in your life.

Peace - PWM

"Are You Inspired"

Okay. Somebody help me here. I’m reading 2 Timothy 3:16. It says, “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness…”

I’m feeling a bit sensitive about that word “all.” Why? Well, just read these words from Scripture and tell me if you think they are “inspired”:

Deuteronomy 21:18, 21, “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who when they have chastened him, will not heed them…then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stone; so you shall put away evil from among you; and all Israel shall hear and fear.”

Deuteronomy 22:13-14, 20-22, “If any man takes a wife, and goes in to her, and detests her, and charges her with shameful conduct, and brings a bad name on her, and says, “I took this woman, and when I came to her I found she was not a virgin…if the thing is true, and evidences of virginity are not found for the young woman, then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has done a disgraceful thing in Israel, to play the harlot in her father’s house. So you shall put away the evil from among you.”

Leviticus 20:9, “For everyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.”

Leviticus 20:10, “The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.”

Deuteronomy 17:12-13 As for anyone who presumes to disobey the priest appointed to minister there to the LORD your God, or the judge, that person shall die. So you shall purge the evil from Israel. 13All the people will hear and be afraid, and will not act presumptuously again.

Leviticus 20:27 A man or a woman who is a medium or a wizard shall be put to death; they shall be stoned to death, their blood is upon them.

Exodus 31:14-15 You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you; everyone who profanes it shall be put to death; whoever does any work on it shall be cut off from among the people. 15For six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD; whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death.

Exodus 21:17 Whoever curses father or mother shall be put to death. 

Leviticus 20:10 If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death. 

These are but a few writings of Scripture that are conveniently left out when debating the “inspiration” of the Bible by a loving God. If all Scripture is inspired, then shouldn't we follow these? That’s why I’m asking you. Maybe you can clear it up for me.

I decided to look up the explanation of “all” in the Greek lexicon of the www.blueletterbible.com. I found this commentary:

“The words world and all are used in some seven or eight senses in Scripture; and it is very rarely that 'all' means all persons, taken individually.” (Charles H. Spurgeon, Particular Redemption, A Sermon, 28 Feb 1858). 

He was explaining how Christ did not necessarily redeem “all” people, a point that the honorable C.H. Spurgeon and I don’t agree upon. Yet I suppose if “all” does not refer to all persons, using his argument, then it probably doesn’t refer to all scriptures either. 

And that keeps the can of worms open. Who’s to decide which passages of Scripture are “inspired” and which are not? 

I suppose I’ll just have to follow the ones that point to (1) Christ, (2) good works – which is the conclusion of the 2 Timothy passage and the end result of “inspired” writings, and (3) to the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. Against these, there is no law. 

Peace - PWM

Icing on the Steak

Luke 17:5-10


Once upon a time, I had a Golden Retriever. She was a ninety pound lap dog. She was more auburn in color than golden. Because we lived in Nashville at the time, we named her Reba. The name had a nice ring to it in that country music city – Reba Meier, with no “McIn--” at the front.

Reba was born to retrieve. It didn’t matter what you threw, she’d go fetch it if you were willing to throw it. My arm would tire out before her energy to retrieve ever wore out.

Before breakfast, I’d say to her, “Paper?” Her eyes would get big and she’d run to the front door, doing a tap dance on the hardwood floors until I got there. I’d open the door and say, “Fetch.” She’d bolt across the yard, skid to a stop at the side of the road, and pick up the newspaper. Grinning, she’d deliver it to my waiting hand.

I’d always ruffle her ears and give her a big hug, saying, “Good girl, Reba.” Once in a while, I’d give her a milkbone. She loved that.

Fotograf: Andreas Dobler


Sunday afternoons, I’d be sitting on the living room couch, watching the Titans battle their opponents. I’d say to her, “Toy?” She’d dash to her basket of goodies in the kitchen and bring back a raggedy pull-rope made of tightly wound cloths. Holding it until I grabbed one end, she’d try to pull me off the couch in a game of tug-of-war. She was born to retrieve, and to entertain, and she couldn’t get enough of it.

St. Paul tells us (Eph. 2:10) that “we are [God’s] workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” We have been created for good works and we should walk in them.

The world teaches us to expect rewards for doing the things we are expected to do. In the church, we start young. We give perfect attendance pins to children for coming to Sunday school every week, even though it’s expected. If they get sick, in consideration for not bringing their germs to infect anyone else, we take away their milkbone. Nice move.

The accolades of the world, like honor, praise, fame, money, even a word of “thanks,” are nice milkbones. But they will never fill our deepest hunger.

Like a Golden or Labrador is created to retrieve, we are created in Christ Jesus to love. This is what is expected of us. When love and service become our reward in and of themselves, we will know God lives within us, and we will be filled.

At the end of each day, when we lie in front of the fireplace, exhausted from a day of serving the Master, we will have our reward. God is with us. We can say, “We are unworthy servants, doing only what is expected. And thank you, Lord, for giving us such pleasing and rewarding work.”

And every once in a while, if a milkbone is thrown in, that will be icing on the steak.


Peace - PWM

Filling the Chasm of Discontent

Luke 16:19-31 The Rich Man and Lazarus

John Heller wrote the classic book called Catch-22. While attending a party hosted by a billionaire friend, someone made the comment that the billionaire made more money in a single day of hedge fund trading than Heller had ever earned from his book, Heller replied: “Yes, but I have something that he will never have: enough.”  (Scott Bader-Saye, sermon on Luke 16 in Christian Century, Sept. 21, 2010, p. 20.)

People who never have enough find little peace or joy or love in their lives. The rich never have enough to make them content. They fear thieves plotting to take their stuff. They fear they won’t have enough money to live in comfort till they die. And they know they’ll live for at least another twenty years. Trusting in money is like standing on quicksand. It’s always draining away from you.

The New York Times ran an article last week called “The Angry Rich” by Paul Krugman. Those who make more than $500,000 a year are the ones who are complaining the most and the loudest about letting the Bush tax cuts end. They will be affected the most. A half million dollars a year is not enough for them.

Some people see this parable as being about heaven and hell when we die. If that’s the case, then all Jesus will have to do when he returns is to analyze your checkbook when you die. He'll calculate how much you spent on yourself and how much you gave to the poor during your lifetime. Then he’ll know what bus to assign you. That wouldn’t be good news for most of us today. 

The Love of Money 

I think the story helps us see what the love of money does to a person. What separates the rich from the poor is the level of their discontent or unpeace. Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor. They shall inherit the kingdom of God.” The poor don’t need a bank account to last the next ten years to make them content. They are content if they know they have enough food for today, and maybe tomorrow.

People today aren't convinced when Jesus says, "Your interpretation of Moses is all messed up.” (my paraphrase, :) They don’t believe someone who has come back from the dead when he says true abundance is found in helping others.

The rich protect their money. The poor protect each other. Somewhere between the two is a chasm that cannot be crossed. Except Jesus said, “With God all things are possible.” There is a way across that chasm. That way is with Jesus Christ, risen, living and breathing in your heart and mind.

Jesus is Enough

Peace and contentment in this life will only come when Jesus is enough. This is the full expression of faith – when Jesus is enough for us. When he is ruling in our hearts, we will have peace. He carries us across that chasm called discontentment. He is the bridge from a life of trust in material things to a life of compassion for our neighbors who suffer. It’s a chasm we cannot cross on our own power.

Jesus showed God’s incredible love for us. Jesus is enough because love is enough. When you know you are loved, you can do without just about anything. You can be content with very little. It’s not easy to understand how knowing you are loved by the God who made you is enough. But if you trust what Jesus taught, then you will follow him by caring and supporting those who are sick and who suffer. In this, you will be carried across the chasm and find peace.

Peace - PWM

Give Me Your Tired

Luke 10:1-11, 17-20

This Sunday is the 4th of July, so it’s appropriate to mention what Emma Lazarus wrote as the Inscription on the Statue of Liberty. It says,

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,  
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me;
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

If I didn’t know better, I might think Jesus said this. Maybe he did and Luke decided not to include it, thinking it could be used somewhere else. Sunday’s text would be a good place to say it since Jesus was talking about needing laborers for the harvest.

It seems to me that if we are trying to be the body of Jesus Christ in our communities, and if we accept the call to be laborers in the harvest, we might take the inscription on the Statue of Liberty and put it above the front doors of our churches. What a perfect invitation for a church to extend to its community:

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to us;
We lift our Lamp beside the golden door.

Statistics tell us that over 83% of the people in our neighborhoods won’t be in church Sunday morning. That might increase on July 4. The harvest is plentiful.

We need more laborers, more people willing to share what feeds them as they participate in a church community. Sharing the good news is more about growing in relationship with people than it is about recruitment.

Being the church is about people gathering in Christ’s name to rejoice in life’s blessings, helping each other in difficult times, and establishing a reputation in our communities for our kindness, our ability to help others, and our willingness to help. People are attracted to churches when we share the peace we know in Christ.

Once these tired and poor are drawn to us, I hope we can give them a place where they can experience the fruits of the Spirit: peace, joy, love, goodness, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, and self-control.

Peace - PWM