Chris Yaw

Why do Christians bless marriages?

Why does God care if you marry somebody or not?

It boils down to human happiness, and the scientific conclusion that the happiest moments of our lives involve relationships.

Research says, and our own experience concludes, that there's nothing that brings us more joy than the friendship, nurture, and love we find in and with other people.

And when we find our person: we find the more we invest in them, the more our happiness grows.

At one point Jesus quoted the Book of Genesis and this idea of two becoming one flesh, which suggests an Apex of Union and an apex of happiness!

This is why divorce, for most people, is so devastating!

In the beginning, for most, there were high hopes, big dreams, that just didn't work out.

It's why the brokenness that many divorced people have, or continue to feel can be so traumatic,

And this is why Jesus, and Christians, have always urged caution before breaking up.

Jesus said I came to bring you life and life more abundantly, Christians bless marriages because God wants to make us happy, as the psalmist says, God rejoices in the joy of God's children.

God is invested in our deepest relationships, let's invest in them as well!

So Jesus is walking from one town to another and for some reason the disciples are behind him and not walking with him. Maybe they're planning his surprise birthday party, in hopes someone will soon invent Christmas.

Anyway, they get to the town and Jesus knows what they were talking about, of course because he's Jesus, and he calls them out, saying, "Why are you obsessed with personal ambition and achievement, that's not what this is about!"

John mutters under his breath, "You mean I don't get to run a church church the size of a football stadium, ride in private jets, and roll around in all that tax-free cash?"

Peter elbows him in the ribs, just as Jesus asks a bunch of little kids to come over and sit there with them,

How convenient! We don't know if they're card carrying, free range children, Junior members of a street gang, or divinely placed there to be Jesus's perfect object lesson!

Which is when Jesus says, "Look at these Little people, they're totally dependent on others, for food, toilet paper, and Legos - It's this kind of dependence that you need if you're going to follow me!"

Still perplexed, John says, "What, no parsonage, clothing expense account, or parking spot with my name on it?"

Once again, he gets the elbow from Peter, which actually could be for you and me too, because how much time do we waste obsessing about our own personal gain, and forgetting that our own happiness is directly related to how much we care about others?

Yes, the disciples will get this one day, and hopefully you and me too!

It's interesting that what got Jesus killed was not violent actions, but challenging words!

When the Book of James invites us to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry, it reminds us of the importance of our words!

This Sunday we will hear James talk about the incredible power of our speech, how we use it to lift up, or to bring down!

How will you use your words today? You have the power to be encouraging, uplifting, life-giving, and of course to do the opposite!

How can you keep words of gossip, criticism, and judgment to yourself, and be quick to commend, congratulate, and encourage those around you?

Your job is to do three things today, be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger! This is the foundation of wisdom, dignity, and peace! Our words are more valuable, more powerful, than we suspect.

Choose those words wisely, and let them shine with the glory of God!

See you Sunday.

A man was moved by awe and wonder at the first sight of a bonsai tree.

He immediately bought one and enrolled in a class to learn to care for it.

"Watch out for how much sun, water, and fertilizer it gets! Be on the lookout for insects. Regularly monitor the PH of the soil!"

Within a few months his awe and wonder had turned to ritual duty, as he poured over checklists and almanacs - slowly losing sight of the majesty before him, as he let himself became consumed by the task of caring for it.

This Sunday we hear Jesus confront a group of religious people who had done just that!

The awe and wonder of God had been displaced by ritual and service - as their work for God overshadowed their relationship with God...

So much so, that when God showed up right in front of them, they could not recognize it!

The heart of our faith is relationship!

How are we making our time with God more important than our work for God?

See you Sunday.

I had lunch this week with a man whose daughter was killed in a mass shooting.

Such a faithful, conscientious, determined soul, one rarely meets!

I held back tears as he described the tragic incident, what he did on that day, and what he was doing now.

Amidst the questions and the mystery behind why this terrible event struck such a wonderful family, his great obsession was with the most important question we can all ask in the face of any problem, setback, or tragedy:

What good can come out of this?

Instead of getting bogged down with that looming question that has no answer: why? my friend has made the decision to be utterly consumed with the question of what?

What good can come out of this?

This Sunday we'll hear the horrid story of the Martyrdom of John the Baptist at the whimsy of the brutal King Herod, after a belly dance depicted in the artwork above.

What were John's friends and followers to do in the face of such senseless tragedy?

I think my friend understands.

He knows how needful it is to concern ourselves with productive acts of love, and not gloomy, thoughts of regret.

What good can come out of this?

That has been my friend's choice and it's a good one

How do we need to do the same thing?

I'm sure they're good people, but a handful of gun rights legislators put forth a terrible bill in the Michigan legislature to make the AR-15 rifle the official State weapon.

It's silly and it's sad, first, because of the optics, the AR-15 used in five of the 10 deadliest mass shootings in the nation, including Sandy Hook, Las Vegas, and parkland. Is that an appropriate state symbol?

It's silly because the majority of state residents do not own a gun, much less an AR-15, in a democratically LED State, so this will never pass.

And on the heels of the Surgeon General's declaration of gun violence as a public health threat, our limited resources need to be used, not putting forth clickbait legislation, but compromising and coming together to address this scourge of gun violence.

As Christians, our job isn't so much to criticize the government or commend the government as it is to be a moral conscience, the Bible reminds us that our time here is short, and we need positive change now!

We have good people in our legislature that can come up with good compromises! This bill is not one of them.

So you finally found your dream home site!

You imagine sitting in the living room looking through that plate glass window at the snow-capped mountains and pristine lake below, so you call a builder who makes it happen!

And the first day you move in, you wake up, brew a cup of coffee, sit down in your favorite chair and look out at that lake when it happens,

A bird flies by and poops in the middle of your window!

You get up and clean it off, then the same thing happens the next day, and the next, and before you know it, you're no longer paying attention to the view, but the poop.

Since when has cleaning the poop become our most important job? Instead of paying attention to the view - that pristine view, the reason you built the house in the first place.

This Sunday, as we begin the season after Pentecost, the long green season that will take us all the way up through Advent, we run headlong into a group religious leaders that will oppose Jesus at every turn. While they serve God and purport to know God, they fall short when they put tradition and career ahead of revelation.

Yes, Jesus is here to reveal many things, one of the most important is for you and I to stay open to change.

Don't let the insignificant and unimportant keep you from embracing the big picture! Shrug it off, don't pay it no mind, the main thing is keeping the main thing, the main thing!

When I was a teenager I ate so quickly.

And 20 minutes later, like clockwork, I could feel it! Yes, we all know it takes about 20 minutes for us to begin feeling satiated after a meal, but time and time again I didn't pay attention to that.

It took experience, getting older, for it to finally sink in.

This Sunday we celebrate Pentecost.

For Jesus' followers, this was the time when it finally sunk in.

They had heard him preach for years, seen him heal, feed, and stand up for righteousness.

They had seen him die, rise from the dead, and ascend into heaven.

This was over a period of years.

And when they finally got it, on this iconic Jewish holiday called Pentecost we see God show up, empowering them like never before, to go out and do the works that they had witnessed.

We ask ourselves how long will it take us to get it?

Has our Pentecost come?

How are we commemorating it?

Or are we still waiting for it? For time and experience to sink in?

I bet there is a lesson, a reminder, a red flag even, in your life that you have been putting off, denying, and not allowing to sink in;

Like eating too quickly

Pentecost invites you to look at this, look for this, for your good, and the good of others.

(Thursday and again on Sunday we celebrate Ascension Day! We commemorate Jesus' last day on earth, and the first day of our sacred assignment: to continue the work he began. What does that mean to you?)

After he rose, he arose!

Jesus stuck around for forty days, basking in the miracle of new life following his resurrection before he did something just as magical: standing before his disciples 40 days after his return from the grave, he was lifted up and ascended on high into heaven.

But before he did this, he promised the disciples that power would come their way, in 10 days time, the Holy Spirit of ambition, assertiveness, adventure, and imagination would come upon them, convincing them that love is the answer,

And giving them boldness to go do more of what Jesus did, heal the sick, encourage the downtrodden;

And teach a new way of living, not based in revenge and selfishness, but love, sharing, and selflessness.

Ascension Day is about the handing over of God's work from the teacher, to the students.

We do well to imitate that teacher, to look toward Jesus as the source of our power and inspiration;

To embody his vision of a whole world that respects, assists, and loves one another, eschewing the temptations to hoard, dominate, and embrace a small, myopic view of life.

Let us also rise and arise to the challenge before us, to worship, obey, and imitate our ascended Lord.

You just got a promotion - will you take it?

That's right, Jesus whom we call Lord, has actually asked us to call him "friend!"

It's a subtle change in how the Lord considers you and me - no longer as servants, but as friends (John 15 in this Sunday's gospel).

What does this mean to be a friend? Well, it asks us to up our game.

Friends share equal status and responsibility for making the relationship work and making the work go forward. Moving out of the servant's quarters, and into a corner office means we not only enjoy a better salary, benefits, and snazzy title, but we also have responsibilities and the duties that the servant never had.

Our promotion allows us to grow up, to live into our potential, and to be the driving force of positive change in the world God created us to be. I think this Sunday's gospel asks us to contemplate what kind of relationship we want with Jesus - and that he has made it clear that he wants to partner with us - doing the difficult but needful work of self-sacrifice, reconciliation, healing, and love.

Let us take a moment and contemplate this blessed promotion and do our part to be a good friend.

A politician recently told a crowd to put on the armor of God - and to strap on a handgun.

This is the perfect image of our ongoing American wrestling match - with a cross in one hand, and a gun in the other.

But let's be clear: Jesus didn't advocate violence,
he called himself the Prince of Peace!

He didn't retaliate against his persecutors,
he forgave them.

He didn't defend himself,
but in Sunday's gospel, he says he laid down his life - and that we should too.

Time and again, Jesus showed us love, and that love is ready to die, not kill.

How are we being tempted by our evolutionary and cultural programming to fight and harm instead of following the Jesus Way of forgiveness and peace?

What will be the good news to those grandparents in Newaygo who, last week, left an unlocked and loaded weapon within reach of a toddler, resulting in the child's death?

The legal system, their neighbors, their family will understandably condemn, judge, and vilify this couple who are already punishing themselves, more than likely, much more harshly than anyone else.

Two weeks after the Resurrection, Jesus appeared to the disciples and declared his mission: 'that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed.'

There is a place for judgment, it needs to happen.

But we often go overboard - and make our sins our identity: we did something bad, hence we are bad.

The Risen Christ won't have it.

Of course those grandparents did a bad thing.

But does that make them bad people?

The Resurrection helps us separate bad deeds from good people.

It puts into perspective our divinity and humanity.

Don't let judgment overshadow forgiveness.

Chris Yaw

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Why do Christians bless marriages?

It's All About Service

Watch Your Words

Bonsai!

The One Question

We Don't Need a State Weapon

Bird Poop

Eating Fast

Rising and Arising

You Just Got a Promotion!

Love Is Ready to Die Not Kill

Forgiveness and Failure

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