I remember the first time I stood up to a bully. In my mind, victory had to be mine. But no, it didn't work out the way they portrayed it on TV. The bully didn't walk away afraid and I didn't win the ensuing fight. You don't always come out on top, even if you do the right thing.

I thought bullies were just playground problems. So, it surprised me to learn adults can easily bring middle school drama to adult life. And imagine my disappointment when I learned some bullies even carry Bibles.

Once, Jesus ignored a crowd of people who were rushing over each other to see him. His sight was set on his disciples. He warned them to watch out for what The Message Bible calls "Pharisee phoniness." Part of the lesson was that you can put on a religious show only for so long. It will catch up to you. To those who preferred the phoniness, the biggest issue with Jesus was his willingness to call it out. Their little egos couldn't handle it and their anger drove them to seek his life.

And Jesus, knowing the cost, knew his disciples must learn to cope with this kind of attitude as well. As The Message puts it, "Don't be bluffed into silence or insincerity by the threats of religious bullies." To be sure, some of them can harm you. They can even kill you. But don't let that stop you from being faithful to what God has called you to be and do. For sure don't put on a show for them or anyone else.

My mom used to own a cleaning agency on Galveston Island. As a kid, I loved tagging along. I did help a little. Most times, though, I was a barefoot sand explorer. Or I'd run through the beach houses like they were castles. Mom knew these houses impressed me. And I remember asking her something like, "How rich do you have to be to have a couple of these?" Not one, but a couple!

Now, she never gave me an actual figure. But she did use my beach-house gawking to explain our family's richness. We had each other and there was always something on the table to eat. Throw in a few more classic mom-isms and it was clear we were rich, just not beach-house rich.

Marin Luther King Jr longed for us to build and become a "Beloved Community." In his final book, Where Do We Go From Here, published just before his assassination in 1968, King reflected on the impact the fight for civil rights had on the nation. There had been victories in the fight for equality. But eliminating racism and hatred would be no easy task. Pursuing such an objective would require us to answer several questions.

Will we choose the chaos of violence and hatred or will we choose community? Will we destroy one another or build together the hopeful future we envision?

Everyone on the battlefield heard what Goliath said. He'd been spewing the same mockery day after day. He intimidated and threatened the people of God. And every day was the same. They heard him and shrunk back. After forty days, young David made his way to the ranks. It was un expected arrival that proved to be all the difference. As David joined the armies, Goliath shouted again just as before. Scripture says something so simple that we might skip it's power: "And David heard him."

Well, of course, he heard him. Everyone did.

But this hearing wasn't just with his ears. David heard with his spirit. He heard with his faith. He heard with conviction. The shepherd boy heard in his soul Goliath's contempt. And that hearing is what makes the story what we remember.

Now, we all hear things everyday. We hear the lies. The injustice. We hear of people's grief. But, sometimes, what we hear doesn't just land on your ears. It hits your heart and it stirs your spirit. I'm hopeful we all hear like this more.

I had a friend who became a pastor after years of serving as a state trooper. One night, he came upon an accident on the highway. One of the people involved looked so frantic. As it turned out, that person was deaf. That night, no one there could offer them calmness or assurance. My friend had been trained for danger, skilled in control, but never had he felt so helpless. Nothing about his badge or his uniform helped him. He'd tell you that was the moment he heard God calling. And his calling was to be a pastor within the deaf community.

I've always joked that you can make a better case to play drums in worship than you can an organ. Not many people appreciated that as we went through the worship war years. But Psalm 150 backs me up.

No, I'm not suggesting the psalm is mandating what instruments we should use in our worship. That's not how I read the text at all. Instead, Psalm 150 seems to be a pull-out-all-the-stops approach to the worship of our good God. It's not an "only these" list, but a sense of "bring everything you've got."

I arrived at the church at 6pm for our Good Friday service. The service began at 7, so I wanted to be early. But I didn't know what early was.

When we arrived, we noticed several chairs at the door to one of our buildings. People had already began lining up to enter. Except, they weren't there for Good Friday. They were there for the food pantry distribution we would do later. Like more than twelve hours later on Saturday morning.

I watched The House of David and thought about how far warfare has developed. We moved beyond sticks and stones, swords and shields. Today, we fight with drones, bombs, and cyber attacks.

We fight with misinformation masked as truth and propaganda dressed up like patriotism. Nations don’t always send soldiers. They often send lies wrapped in funny memes and legislation. In the middle of all war, people suffer, especially the poor, the young, the vulnerable. How many of our modern conflicts are just another example of a "rich man's war and a poor man's fight"?

Revelation 12 illustrates for us a different kind of battlefield. It isn't a military fight, but a moral one. A dragon tries to kill a child before he’s born. It would have been enough, of course, to kill the mother having the child. Evil, though, doesn't just want to kill hope. It wants to make sure it never even has breath. Revelation reminds us that God's people are always caught in the middle of this spiritual war.

Every year, we notice the shift in the crowd's tone between Palm Sunday and Good Friday. One moment, they're shouting "Hosanna!" That's a word of praise and of seeking protection. In a matter of days, the crowds shout, "Crucify him!" The people dropped their palm branches only to raise their fists in condemnation.

I assume not everyone in the Good Friday crowd was there on Sunday. Not everyone knew who Jesus really was. They hadn't heard him preach peace. They never saw him feed hungry people or ever witnesses him heal the sick. What they saw was what the government and religious leaders wanted them to see. A bloodied man, labeled a criminal and a problem needing to be addressed.

Stay blessed...john

It was my job to plan worship for a community outreach project. The weather looked like we would be able to be outside for this special gathering. Only, there weren't many large gathering spaces to choose from. So, had things worked out, we would have set up on the community basketball court. Before the weather changed our plans, I had envisioned our communion setup. Our table would be a graffiti-covered concrete bench.

Personally, it would be a symbol of God's willingness to meet us on our terms. Christ became flesh to dwell among us, after all. As Jesus traveled, he didn't only meet in synagogues and in the temple. He met with sinners at their tables and their spaces. The kingdom of God has come and it may surprise us where it's willing to be.

We ended up meeting inside. So, no concrete stained-glass altar. Even though it would have been a powerful visual, our communion was just as meaningful inside as it would have been outside. That's because of what Jesus has made it to be.

When we break the bread and lift the cup, it is no mere ceremony of our making. By God's invitation, we have been invited. All are welcome because God has made the invitation. When we accept God's invite, we become a part of God's declaration. So, communion is not just a private moment between us and God. It is a public proclamation of God's holy foolishness, no matter where it is. 

The world calls the cross foolish. But the bread and cup preach otherwise. They shout the truth of God.

When you gather around God's table, bring someone with you. Bring, especially, those who have been told they don't belong, as if there's a place God is unwilling to be or a person God is unwilling to commune with. Bring an unseen neighbor. For every lie that says some are not worthy, let there be a table set that proclaims otherwise.

Stay blessed...john

There's a temptation to do all we can to defend Jesus. We must protect all things Christian. Or all things supposedly Christian. Or anything related to my Christian culture. I say that's a temptation because, if you're not careful, it will morph into a pursuit all its own, often devoid of anything Christ-like.

We end up protecting our symbols and slogans more than we try protecting the people Jesus came to love. Christianity becomes a cause to stake our flag to.

We shouldn't relegate the way of Jesus to a cause. Especially if we sacrifice morality, integrity and our Christian witness. Besides, when Jesus was literally on trial, he didn't even defend himself.

Long before he approached Jerusalem for the final time, he understood where his way would lead. He didn't reroute his mission or shy away from it. In fact, he prepared his disciples for it so that they would understand what mattered more to him. As Eugene Peterson put it: "We can't suppress the Jesus way in order to sell the Jesus truth."

So, how do we respond to a world of confusion and fear? The writer of Hebrews tells a weary people--and tells us--to look to Jesus. Not to our Jesus nostalgia, but to the very Jesus who preached good news to the poor, proclaimed release to the captives, gave sight to the blind, set the oppressed free and proclaimed that God's kingdom had come.

That Jesus knows what suffering is. He knows what injustice is. Even in the face of persecution and trials, Jesus didn't ask us to be religion's bodyguards. We are to be body builders--building the body of Christ in the way of Christ.

As the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, Jesus doesn't need your defense. You need his vision. See the world's pain through his eyes. See people with his compassion. See with his courage how to live faithfully to God.

Stay blessed...john

If we're honest, a lot of us probably wouldn't pick ourselves. We know too well who we really are. What's been done to us. What we've done to others. We carry scars, secrets and shame that often weigh on our sense of worth. Now, we dress ourselves up for everyone to see. There's a mask for pain and a smile to hide our insecurities. But we're still left with a full measure of self doubt.

My wife had a family member who sold perfume and cologne. He always had a good stock on hand. So, once, he gave me an entire box of cologne. I was set. When we left his house, I put the box in the trunk of our car.

And then I forgot about it.

I set up a hummingbird feeder in my backyard. Imagine my visions of a million birds fluttering in and out. I pictured a little backyard revival. But I’ve only seen two birds. Just two. And only once.

Now, I thought I had done everything right. I mixed the sugar water. I hung the feeder. I waited. But here’s what I didn’t know: sugar water doesn’t last forever. Especially in our south Texas heat, sugar water spoils quickly. I thought, for the most part, you set up a feeder and wait until it's empty. But it needs more care than that. Otherwise, it grows mold. It turns sour and causes illness to the birds. I should change the feeder every 2-3 days.

Now I know there is harm in neglecting the water.

As I'm reflecting on today's passage, I'm also taking into mind an upcoming baptism. During that ceremony, we'll pray over the water and remember various points of our story with God that include water. When we do, we realize it’s not just about that person in the water. It's about us, too. We remember our own baptism. We remember the water poured over our heads and into our lives.

The writer of Hebrews would affirm that, I think. According to Hebrews 2, if we don't give greater attention to our faith in Jesus, we run the risk of drifting away from him. Our faith doesn't spoil like sugar water, but it certainly doesn't grow if it's left unattended. A stagnant faith doesn't produce fruit. We need the reminders to keep our minds on God's way. We're too prone to forget if we don't.

Faith isn’t something you hang up and leave be. It must be stirred. It must be nurtured. It must be made fresh.

Worship reminds us. Prayer renews us. Scripture grounds us. Community holds us. Even the quiet whisper of a hummingbird, if we’re listening, can call us back to God’s truth.

So, tend to your faith. Stir it up. Keep it alive. And keep the water fresh.

Stay blessed...john

People often long for the "good old days," assuming they were good for everyone. In that sense, nostalgia can be a corrupting force, numbing us to the truth of things. We often dress up the past in nice Sunday clothes and forget the suffering there. Our talk of simpler times almost makes it seem like there was no struggle, no injustice or even sin. As best we can, let's be careful to not let our memories get manipulated. There was no righteousness under the lynching tree. No peace in segregated schools or concentration camps.

Notice that the message of the prophets of God don't tell us to go back to something. How could we, really? Rather, knowing what we know and having experienced what we have, we press forward. That forward motion, we pray, moves us toward greater righteousness and justice. Holiness and faithfulness.

Now, we must look back. Not to escape into our fantasies of a false past, but to remember what we have seen from God. Scripture portrays the steadfast love of God not as a mere force in and of itself. But a power against evil, anguish, oppression and pain. It testifies to the power of the living God who rescues the enslaved, feeds the hungry, lifts the lowly and unseats the proud.

Habakkuk, the prophet, knew the faithlessness and injustice of his day. He didn't close his eyes to remember some time before. Instead, he opened his mouth in prayer, offering us a sense of this forward vision.

One step forward. Two steps back.

That's often more than a feeling. For many people, that's a lived reality. Why is it that just as soon as things start looking up, here comes another situation to bring us down? We finally get comfortable and find a sense of tranquility. But here comes another storm. Another burden to carry. Another blow to our peace.

We know scripture affirms God's steadfast love. We also know it never pretends to remove us from the world's pain. What scripture does is anchor our faith in something much deeper than unrealistic longings. God's love doesn't disappear when trouble comes. Remember those great words from Psalm 23. The shepherd learned God would walk with him through the valley, not around it. So, as sure as you'll face difficulty, you'll also have God's presence with you.

What I mean to offer to you today is the reminder of God's steadfastness. And that turning to the love of God doesn't always make life easy. But it does keep our eyes on what is eternal.

The poetic force of Ecclesiastes 3 impresses us; there's a lot to take in those opening verses. This passage recognizes the steps forward and backward of life. How many times have we heard today's passage at graduations and as part of commencement speeches? It's power, though, goes beyond pomp and circumstance. That's the truth behind each pair of opposites.

There's life and death, growth and loss, joy and pain. Sometimes, we have a hand in determining what will happen. We can further what pleases us and what seems most desirable. Often, though, we do not. There is a rhythm to life that we can't always control. But even when can't, we do choose how we will live. Seeking God's wisdom, we decide to act, to endure, to build or even to let go.

Stay blessed...john

Most cultures around the world consider Sunday to be the first day of the week. That was a surprise for me to learn. I grew up with the idea you put in all your work starting Monday. By Friday, you're looking forward to taking two days off to end the week. We called it the weekend, after all. I can't speak to the cultures of the world, but I know Christians made Sunday the first day. I'm not sure we know why. But since the church took its mission, apparently, they came together to break bread on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7). In Hebrew, Sunday even translates to "the first day."