Mitch Lewis

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent word!
What more can he say than to you he hath said, to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, "If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!" Numbers 11:4-6

But [Jesus] answered them, "An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah." Mark 12:39

*   *   *

Does Christianity consist merely of gathering as God's people, being united to Christ in baptism, abiding in Christ in the worship and fellowship of Holy Communion and attending to the word of God? Don’t you want something more than ordinary Christianity? Don’t you need something more?

I've spent my entire life in Christian denominations that grew out of 19th century American revivalism, which in turn grew out of the 18th century pietist movement in Europe. I have frequently heard Christian messages that went something like this:

Are you sure that you are a Christian - have faith in Jesus - are saved - have the Holy Spirit? Are you really, really sure? Yes, you've been baptized and go to church, but are you really a Christian?

The revivalist continues:

Here's the reason that you're not really a Christian. You haven't had the right experience. You don't have enough enthusiasm. You don't have the right feelings in your heart. You don't have the true, inner witness of the Spirit. Your faith if - if it exists at all - is in a category too weak to save you. You're still committing secret sins. If you really loved Jesus, you would be doing some really important Christian thing. You don't really love God.

Or, there's the liberal-progressive version of that riff.

You're not really a Christian because you're not sufficiently committed to the cause. You haven't broken free of the idolatry of the capitalist imperial mindset. You're not imitating Jesus closely enough. If you really loved Jesus, you would be doing some really important Christian thing. You don’t' really love your neighbor.

Both versions share the same basic message.

Your version of Christianity is ordinary, cold, unexciting and weak. Baptism? Communion? Preaching and hearing the word of God? Don't depend on them! They don't mean anything unless you really feel it in your heart and act it out in your life (and, by the way, in the manner that I tell you is the right way to feel and act). If you were a real Christian, your heart would be filled with white-hot passion and the world would be turned upside down by your zeal. You need something more to be a true Christian.

So, don't you want something more – something more than ordinary Christianity?

What if, however, the desire for something more is not a sign of holiness, but a sign of worldliness? What if it is a sign that we've rejected what God has actually given us and demanded something else - something that better fits our human desire for emotional fulfillment, entertainment, relevance, practicality, pride and importance - something that puts us, and not God, at the center of the picture?

(more...)

One of the best things that the United Methodist Church has done in the past quarter century is to revise its liturgy. Many of the elements of the new (ancient) liturgy have worked themselves into my subconscious. I’ll find myself silently singing the “Sanctus” or the “Gloria in Excelsis.” Phrases from the creed or the Great Thanksgiving pop into my mind at the strangest times. The Eucharist – the sacrament of word and table – is the central means of grace for those who are already united to Christ in baptism. The work that God does through word and table for those who abide in him is transformation I can believe in.

We walked down this path of liturgical renewal with post-Vatican II Catholics, Lutherans and a few others who rediscovered the practices of the early church. There are all sorts of good reasons for these changes which are beyond the scope of this brief post. My starting point is simply this: the structure of our liturgy now resembles that of Catholics, Anglicans and Lutherans.

Even though Methodism was born from Anglican roots, early American Methodism never warmed up to an Anglican style liturgy. When we adopted the new liturgical structure, then, it was not something that was very familiar to many Methodist people. We were tentative and awkward. I’m sure that our Episcopal and Lutheran friends will always consider us “liturgical lite.” Even though our structures are similar, there is a different feel to the liturgy in most United Methodist churches.

We bring our evangelical and deeply-personal approach to the faith to the liturgy, and I think that’s a good thing.

(more...)

This post is a "Great Thanksgiving" or Eucharistic prayer for use on Palm Sunday. We're focusing on the Liturgy of the Palms this Sunday, without the readings from the passion narrative. I wanted a Eucharistic prayer that borrowed heavily from the Palm Sunday narrative, with its "Triumphal Entry" themes of praise and salvation, dominion and victory. I also wanted echoes of other Holy Week elements as well.

I never claim copyright on liturgical material, much of which is adapted from other sources anyway. How can we keep our words of praise as a private possession? Use or adapt as you like.

(more...)

Galatians 5:13-25

I love the scene at the end of the movie Braveheart. Mel Gibson is playing the William Wallace, the Scottish freedom fighter. Just before he is cut to pieces, he cries out one word long and loud: freedom. The scene, of course, is not historical, but it captures the imagination nonetheless.

As I watch the scene, I imagine that it could be Christ on the cross, his arms spread wide, crying "freedom," not as a defiant hope but as an accomplished gift. In Galatians 5:1, Paul puts it this way:

For freedom, Christ has set us free.

This week, the United States celebrates its national birthday. For most Americans, Independence Day is a celebration of more than our national existence. The Fourth of July is a celebration of the idea of freedom as it is about the birth of a nation.

While Christians can give thanks for political freedoms, Paul reminds us of another type of freedom in his letter to the church in Galatia.

• Freedom from the present evil age (1:4)
• Freedom from bondage to spiritual powers (4:8-9)
• Freedom from bondage to corrupted human desires (5:17-18)
• Freedom from bondage to sin (3:22)
• Freedom from bondage to the Mosaic covenant ("law") (3:23)

(more...)

Easter - Luke 24

At the Tomb

Two of the three small churches I served in the 1980s had cemeteries. Almost every day, I could look out my office window and see people coming to visit the graves of their loved ones. With flowers in hand, they came to remember the dead. A cemetery is a place of memories.

Luke tells that women who had accompanied Jesus came to his tomb at first light when the Sabbath was over. Instead of flowers, they brought spices to anoint Jesus' body. They expected, I'm sure, that they would have an hour or so alone with their memories as they performed this final act of love. The rituals of death keep the mind and hands busy; they help us find our way the first few days of grief.

The morning, however, did not go as planned. They found no body to anoint; they found, instead, an empty tomb and an angelic vision.

(more...)

Jesus ate many meals with people. These meals were the occasions of his teaching and healing. The people who ate with Jesus experienced acceptance and forgiveness.

It's not surprising, then, that Jesus gave a meal to his church as a means of receiving and continuing in his grace today. We call that meal the Lord's Supper - or Holy Communion - or the Eucharist. Certainly, we each experience God's grace to us at the table of the Lord. This meal, however, is not solely about my personal and individual relationship to God. There's a reason that we call it "communion" and that we share it with other believers.

This meal - like all meals - creates and sustains community. For the same reason that we eat together as families, we eat together as the family of God. The meal that Jesus gave us on the night before he died is the koinonia meal. It is the fellowship meal and the sharing-our-lives-with-each-other meal.

(more...)