Real World: Galilee

What happens Jesus stops being polite and starts getting real?

September 9, 2012 By 2 Comments

by Mike Baughman

Epistle Reading:  Mark 8:27-38

For Sunday, Sept. 16, 2012: Year B—Ordinary 24

Chances are at some point in your life, you found yourself sucked into an episode or two of The Real World. The lectionary today is a glimpse of Biblical reality vellum. So this week, we present:

The Real World: Galilee…the true story of twelve strangers, picked to follow a Rabbi, work together and have their lives recorded to find out what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real. [Read more...]

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Brains, Reins and a Tiller

It turns out that size doesn’t matter.

September 9, 2012 By 2 Comments

by Mike Baughman

Epistle Reading: James 3:1-12

For Sunday, Sept. 16, 2012: Year B—Ordinary 24

In this week’s lectionary text on leadership and tongues, the potential significance of the small and mighty is affirmed. Napoleon (5’2”), St Francis of Assisi (5’1”), Ghandi (5’1”) and Paula Abdul (5’2”) all bear witness to what the author of James wrote thousands of years ago—you don’t have to be big to have a big impact on culture. BTW—I measure up at a mighty 5’5.”

James 3 at first offers up a word of hope for me and others whose biggest advantage in life is that we really rock the limbo at weddings. Horse bits and boat rudders are small but they can have a huge impact. [Read more...]

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When Whirlwinds Speak

June 17, 2012 By 1 Comment

I know I’m in trouble when God calls me a pansy.

by Mike Baughman

Old Testament Reading:  Job 3:1-11

For Sunday, June 24, 2012: Year B—Ordinary 12

For my undergraduate education I went to Duke University. My Masters degrees come from Princeton Theological Seminary (the actual diplomas are in Latin). My high school is called The Pingry School and, yes, it is every bit as pretentious as it sounds. The strange thing is, I’m very rarely snobbish about education and don’t look down on people from other schools (unless, of course, you attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill).

But I’m still a snob. I’m a spiritual snob.

So there. And Furthermore…

I wrestle with God. I challenge God because God’s children are not named after Abraham—the first one to make the covenant with God. They’re not named after Noah—the one who saved creation from utter destruction and who was righteous enough to give God hope. The children of God are named after Israel—one who wrestles with God.

I wrestle with God because it’s intimate. You cannot wrestle with someone and not smell their sweat, feel their breath and quicken your heartbeat to match theirs. I challenge God and I ask hard questions of God, again and again, because it is in those questioning places that I most often encounter the Holy.

[Read more...]

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Bailing Buckets

June 17, 2012 By 5 Comments

Sometimes Jesus gets grouchy.

by Mike Baughman

Gospel Reading:  Mark 4:35-41

For Sunday, June 24, 2012: Year B—Ordinary 12

For most pastors, this is an easy Sunday. They flip open to Mark 4, see that this is the story of God calming the storm. They think of the metaphorical storms in congregants’ lives and tweak up their best “Jesus can calm the storm in your life” sermon.

It’s a good sermon and a good message. If that’s the sermon you want to preach, go for it. Feel free to ignore what I write below.

Jesus is Kind of a Jerk

I’ve spent some time sailing—I’ve been trapped in the midst of a sudden storm with swells as big as the boat I was in. It’s scary…like I’m glad I was wearing a bathing suit scary because it makes the pee a lot less noticeable. If my sailing partner had been napping at the time, I sure as hell would have woken her up!

Still, I’m not bagging on Jesus. I can relate. The disciples might have just been waking up Jesus to grab a bucket and start bailing water from the boat. I get pretty grouchy when people wake me up and want something from me, but I’m not sure the disciples deserve this kind of treatment.

“All hands on deck,” as they say!

[Read more...]

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And the Horse You Rode in On

March 25, 2012 By 2 Comments

Should you drive to church in an old Pinto or a fresh Prius?

by Rev. Mike Baughman

Gospel Reading: Mark 11:1-11

For Sunday, April 1, 2012: Year B—Liturgy of the Palms

In America, cars matter.

A lot of people make personal statements by way of their rides. Want to be a badass? Saddle up a Harley Davidson, not a Vespa scooter. Want to show what a success you are? Try a Lexus instead of a Nissan Versa. Want to show that you’re a responsible, caring citizen? Try a Prius, not a Hummer.

There are tons of websites and quizzes dedicated to this phenomenon. We have built an entire industrial complex around the notion that our cars somehow reflect who we are or who we want to be. This, however, isn’t a new cultural phenomenon.

The Horse That Jesus Rides

Want to show that you’re a Messianic hero who is ready to overthrow the oppressive Roman regime? You want a well-trained war steed. That’s what a conqueror rides! But Jesus intentionally chooses an unridden, untrained colt.

Symbolism is important throughout the scriptures. So I’ve got to wonder, why?

A Bit of Horsemanship

An unridden colt is likely difficult work with because it hasn’t been trained and it hasn’t been neutered. It is probably significant that Jesus does not ride a sterile mule or gelding. What Jesus is about to do will be fertile!

There are practical realities too of an unneutered horse—especially one that has been untrained. Riding this horse is dangerous because no one knows how it will respond as a mount or to the teeming crowds. Even if Jesus were accomplished horseman, there’s a good chance that the beast would not follow Jesus’ lead, making the animal dangerous to Jesus and the crowd.

Hmmmmmm.

Breaking Tradition

I think this makes total sense for Jesus’ ride into Jerusalem.

This week’s story begins on the Mount of Olives. Jesus starts on the path of others who conquered Jerusalem, but unlike them he is forging a new path, a new way to change the world.

[Read more...]

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A Divine Game of Thrones

March 25, 2012 By 2 Comments

Just how much will pile up before we get it?

by Rev. Mike Baughman

Epistle Reading: Philippians 2:5-11

For Sunday, April 1, 2012: Year B—Liturgy of the Palms

We’re playing a high-stakes game in my household right now.

It’s an epic showdown of will, emotion, tears and joy all set in a sweeping coming of age story. I call it our “Game of Thrones”—id est, Potty Training.

My Game of Thrones

My youngest son is three. His next oldest sibling is just about to turn six which means that we have been changing diapers in my household for about six years—that’s three Olympics, one and a half presidential terms and one crap-ton of diapers. If we average 4.5 diapers a day (I threw in the .5 to make it look really accurate), that’s nearly 10,000 diapers. If there are about 50 diapers in the big box of diapers at about $20 each, that’s about $4,000 spent on diapers. I have invested a lot of time and money into dealing with all that  sh*t and p*ss.

I am so VERY ready for my son to use the potty (can you tell?).

He’s much less excited about the prospect.

He shows no interest in the either the porcelain or the plastic thrones that I offer him. My patience is running out and I find myself frustrated. My mother tries to comfort me—“it will happen eventually. How many fourteen year-olds walk around with diapers on?” I hear that and think, “there’s a chance I have to wait till he’s thirteen!?”

Deep down I know that he’s going to accept potty training and I know it’s not all that far off, but I’m still sick of the sh*t and sometimes I run out of patience.

God’s Game of Thrones

I’m a dork which means that I’ve spent a significant amount of time reading the series of books by George R.R. Martin that begins with Game of Thrones. The series is all about who will “bend their knee” to whom.

Much of the Bible wrestles with the same question. Will we bow to God or pursue our own purposes, our own desires and our own glory? Will we worship God and God alone or turn to other idols?

Those are key questions, at least, until we get to Philippians 2:10-11. Paul offers a divine vision in which all eventually bend their knees at the name of Jesus. The question shifts from “will we bow” to “how long will it take for us to bow,” from “will we accept the Lordship of Christ” to “how long will it take for us to accept the Lordship of Christ.”

[Read more...]

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On Being the King’s Ass

February 12, 2012 By 1 Comment

Light shoots out of the darkest places.

by Rev. Mike Baughman

Epistle Reading:  2 Corinthians 4:3-6

For Sunday, February, 19th: Year B—Transfiguration Sunday

It’s pretty popular to beat up on the church.

The most recent YouTube anti-church meme is this guy doing spoken word, “why I hate religion, but love Jesus.” He quotes scripture to beat up on church (apparently missing the fact that he wouldn’t even have that scripture if it weren’t for religion).

That and several other logical gaps in his argument aside, I think the church needs to listen to what’s going on with all these spiritual but not religious folks. He might be right about some things and it might have a lot to do with 2 Corinthians.

I can be Kinda Braggy

It’s really easy for me to start boasting about me. In some ways, my livelihood depends on it because right now. I’m a free-lance consultant (translation: unemployed) who recently has been laid off by a church. So now I find myself boasting about me all the time as I try to land gigs, speaking events, writing assignments and whatever else I can find.

When I am at my least secure, I tend to be the most braggy. I wonder if the church is like that—in a time when the church is declining, when we’re less financially secure (or at least perceive ourselves to be), it may be far too easy to boast about ourselves and forget our duty to proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord.

Jesus > Church

But how do we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord when we’re in decline? If Jesus is Lord and we are in decline then…yikes. That’s not a message that, I’m guessing, many pastors want to preach. What if the critics are right? What if, in subtle and slow ways, we have failed to proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord because some unconscious place in our brain doesn’t want to realize or accept that our decline might be a part of the Lordship of Christ?

In the Wesleyan Tradition we have this covenant prayer that my wife and pray regularly. It goes like this and it may be the kind of prayer that churches need to pray together:

I am no longer my own, but thine.

Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt

Put me to doing, put me to suffering.

Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee

Exalted for thee or brought low for thee.

Let me be full, let me be empty.

Let me have all things, let me have nothing.

I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal. And now, o glorious and gracious God, I am thine and thou art mine. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: 2 Corinthians, Featured, New Testament, YearB Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Professor McGonagall Sunday?

February 12, 2012 By 8 Comments

There’s something kind of violent about transforming someone

by Rev. Mike Baughman

Gospel Reading:  Mark 9:2-9

For Sunday, February, 19th: Year B—Transfiguration Sunday

Transfiguration—apart from Harry Potter conversations, I never use this word.  I can’t put it in a sentence with anything other than Jesus’ Clorox bleach commercial.  Online dictionaries are inconsistent and mostly define the word with itself.

Transfiguration…I don’t know that word.

With all that confusion, I did what anybody with one semester of pass/fail biblical Greek under his belt would do—I got out my Greek dictionary and Greek Bible.  I remember roughly five Greek words so I was incredibly shocked that I didn’t need the dictionary! I didn’t even have to struggle to figure out which Greek word corresponded to the English text.

Metamorpho…I know that word!

I know the word metamorpho, but not because I went to seminary.  I know it because I took 7th grade science (thank you, Mr. Rahter!).  When I wasn’t lighting the gas jets with those cool flint things, I picked up on the fact that caterpillars metamorphose into butterflies, maggots into flies and tadpoles to toads.

Harry Potter wasn’t the only one who learned how to change one thing into another at school.  I did too, but it took me a lot longer than him.  What I learned in 7th grade science sounds similar to what Harry learned in Transfiguration.  Professor McGonagall can turn a rat into a tea cup and a hat into flowers.  But is that what happened to Jesus?

This is where Things get Squirrely

For most, the notion of Jesus changing is pretty uncomfortable.  Even if you’re a process theologian, the notion that Jesus transforms from one thing into another raises all sorts of theological questions.

If transfiguration means to transform or change, then what was Jesus before?  What was Jesus after Mark 9?  If we go down that rabbit trail, we’re about two questions away from poking Cyril of Alexandria and all of his Nicean homeboys in the eye with our middle fingers.

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Set Apart to Wear Plaid Pants

January 23, 2011 By 13 Comments

Experience tells us that Jesus’ sales pitch is a lie

by Mike Baughman

Gospel Reading: Matthew 5:1-12

For Sunday, January 30, 2011: Year A – Epiphany 4

“I’ve been really blessed, so I’m glad that I can provide good cars for everyone in my family.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard statements like these from gas-guzzling SUV drivers in the churches I’ve served. My favorite was the Hummer with the “Free Tibet” bumper sticker. You have a Hummer! No one is going to seriously believe that you have a social conscious.

Really Blessed?

There’s also this one: “I’ve been really blessed with good health, so I still get out and play a lot of golf.” I hear these statements from “strong Christians” and then I read the lectionary text for this week. I find it hard to imagine Jesus, standing atop Mt. Beatitude, saying “blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you. Oh, and BTW, blessed are those who are healthy for they shall wear silly pants whilst whacking their balls across the grass.” I get the impression that Jesus uses the word “blessed” a little differently from the average American Christian.

[Read more...]

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Heroin Addicts and their Parents

January 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Maybe God is a Little More Human than We Think

by Mike Baughman

Old Testament Reading: Micah 6:1-8

For Sunday, January 30, 2011: Year A – Epiphany 4

“I don’t know, Mike,” Kellie confided to me on the phone, “I just feel like he doesn’t care about me. I mean, he says that he loves me but he doesn’t really do the stuff he says he’s going to do for me and he just doesn’t treat me all that well.” Before I can say anything, she asks the question I knew was coming:

“What am I doing wrong?”

Of course, she wasn’t doing anything wrong. She was like so many other teenagers and parents of teens with whom I’ve had nearly the exact same conversation. She reminded herself of all the good things she’s done for her boyfriend only to see a negative result.

She was insecure—which naturally happens when someone we adore mistreats us (whether it’s a boy/girlfriend, spouse, child or friend). Because he treated her poorly, she assumed it was her fault. It couldn’t be his fault…he’s amazing! That’s why she loves him!

[Read more...]

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