I'll Be Fine in the End - A Geeks of Faith Dr. Who Devotion

When we watched the Premier of the New Dr. Who she said something that really resonated with me.  Don’t worry, this quote could fit any of the Doctors.  There won’t be any spoilers for those who haven’t seen it yet!  Although I do recommend you see it.  It was very good.  The Doctor, as frequently happens was having identity issues after regenerating.  She said:

The Doctor: Right now, I’m a stranger to myself. There’s echoes of who I was and a sort of call towards who I am. And I have to hold my nerve and trust all these new instincts. Shape myself towards them. I’ll be fine. In the end. Hopefully. I have to be. Because you guys need help. ‘Cause there’s one thing I’m certain of, when people need help, I never refuse. Right. This is going to be fun!

That speech really struck me.  I often feel like that.  There are “echoes of who I was and a sort of call towards who I am. And I have to hold my nerve and trust all these new instincts.”  Whenever life throws me a curve or I am facing great change.  When I was called into the ministry, when Jon-Paul and I were planning our lives together, when one of us gets a job that will mean the other leaving security and taking a leap of faith, even trying to start this Geeks of Faith group.  I don’t really know what I am doing or why God wants me in this place.  I just have to hold on and trust.  I have to trust that Jesus walks with me no matter where life takes me.  I have to trust that if I make mistakes, I will be forgiven and given a chance to start again.  I have to trust that God will be there if life knocks me down.  God will be there to pick me up and dust me off.

But the part of the Doctor’s speech that I loved the best was the last bit.  “I’ll be fine in the end. Hopefully. I have to be. Because you guys need help.  “Cause there’s one thing I’m certain of, when people need help.  I never refuse. Right.”  Even though the Doctor is confused about who she is, she knows in the core of her beliefs.

It is the same for us.  When we are tossed about on the waves of the world we need to remember who we are at the core.  We are children of God, loved and called.  We need to remember whose we are.  We don’t belong to the world.  We don’t belong to a job or a city.  We belong to God.  When we baptize a baby in the Presbyterian church we don’t use their last name.  We use “child of God” or “child of the covenant”.  Yes, our earthly families are important.  They can be a great means of support and comfort.  But they are also human.  They can make mistakes, hurt our feelings, let us down, and even die on us.  Not that we ever want that, but it is life.  There is only one being that will never let us down… not even the Doctor can promise that, but Jesus does.

So, how does knowing that we are beloved children of God help us through times where we don’t know what to do, where to go, or even who we are supposed to be?  We have the Bible to tell us what Jesus is like.  As the Doctor knew in her core that she helped people, we can know that we are supposed to be like Jesus.  We are called to help people, too.

In our Bible content course in seminary there were a few key verses that we were told that we had to know, that we should never forget.  Of course there was John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”  That is greatly comforting, but it doesn’t help us figure out what we are supposed to do or who we are supposed to be at our core.

There are the two greatest commandments:  Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love our neighbors as ourselves.  That helps a little with who we are called to be.  Another that they said we should never forget was Micah 6:8, “He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
    and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
    and to walk humbly with your God?”

No matter what happens to throw my life into turmoil.  No matter what happens that makes me wonder who I really am, I have this.  I know in my core that I am a child of God.  When I am too upset or confused to remember what that means I can turn to this. “God so loved the world” which includes me.  I need to love God and neighbor.  And this scripture helps me know what loving my neighbor means.  Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with my God.

I may not know where God is leading, or what I am supposed to do, I may even feel like a stranger to myself, but in my core I know this.  I am loved.  I need to love.  I need to be just.  I need to be kind, and I need to be humble.  Like the Doctor, I know that means that I need to help people.  It is only with that knowledge that I can say, like the Doctor, “This is going to be fun.”

For those who are struggling with who you are and what to do, remember God is there, Jesus is walking with you, and you have been given “companions” to help you on your way.  Like in Dr. Who, sometimes you get to choose them, and sometimes your are thrown together.  Either way remember we are called to be brothers and sisters.  We are called to be that kind and loving presence.  If you are in need of that, look for us at Geeks of Faith on Facebook or leave a message here.” 

Follow Your Heart With Something You Love - A Geeks of Faith Devotion on Spiritual Gifts

Ever since I was a little girl I have loved musical theatre.  When I grew up I wanted to be on Broadway.  I loved the singing, the dancing, the acting, and the costumes and make up.  When I felt called into the ministry I wanted to argue with God.  Couldn’t I be a Christian singer like Amy Grant or work for a Christian Theatre Company.  As I felt stronger about God’s call part of me thought that I would have to settle for doing good without using my best talents.

          Part of it may come from a well-meaning, but (in my opinion) mistaken Bible study leader.  We took a “Spiritual gifts inventory” test to determine our Spiritual gifts.  It listed the Spiritual Gifts Paul talks of in First Corinthians 12: Wisdom, Knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment of Spirits, tongues, and interpretation of tongues.  It gave you percentages of these gifts and what ones were you best in.  I asked where singing fit in, because I had been singing with the choir since I was in preschool.  His answer was that is a nice service to the church but it isn’t a gift of the Spirit.  That made me sad.  Yes, I had some portions of the things listed in Paul’s letter, but the things that made me happy, the things that gave me joy, and that I felt were my best gifts were apparently NOT gifts of the Spirit.  It hurts when someone tells you what you have to offer isn’t what God wants.

          Then, in Seminary we studied the Theologian Frederick Buechner who said, “Your Vocation in life is where your greatest joy meets the world’s greatest need.”  Which made me wonder, does the world need music, and acting, and Cosplay?”  I was sure that God was calling me to be a minister, and there was great need… But did I have to leave out what gives me joy?  Buechner suggested that I didn’t.

          It was many years later that I found a book on Spiritual gifts that mentioned that Paul wasn’t giving a definitive list.  He was listing gifts he had seen in the Church in Corinth.  That didn’t mean those were the only gifts the Spirit gave.  That book suggested that you look at the 2^nd half of the chapter.   Verses 12-27 say: ¹² For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

¹⁴ Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. ¹⁵ If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸ But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. ¹⁹ If all were a single member, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many members, yet one body. ²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” ²² On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³ and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; ²⁴ whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, ²⁵ that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. ²⁶ If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.

²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

          Each one of us was specially created in the image of God.  We were each given gifts that are unique to us.  Every good gift can be used for the kingdom.  So, what do you love?  What are your greatest gifts that bring you joy?  Then think about how that gift can fill “the world’s greatest need.”

          Do you love to Cosplay?  How could that fill a need?  I have seen groups dress up as Super Heroes and cartoon characters to visit kids in the hospital.  I would love to find a group to do that.

          Are you a book worm?  Find an elementary school that needs someone to read to the children, or a nursing home where you could read to someone who can no longer see the words on the page.

          If you like to sing, join a church choir or Christmas carol at hospitals and nursing homes or even homeless shelters.

          Are you a gamer?  Volunteer with Big Brothers and big sisters and play games with kids who desperately need love, attention, and good role models.  If you love cooking, volunteer at as soup kitchen or teach kids how to make healthy food.  If you love gardening, start a community garden or contact a charity like the Society of St. Andrews and help glean wasted food to distribute to the hungry.

          Whatever it is that you love to do, that thing that gives you the greatest joy is a gift from God.  God has need for it.  Look around you for where our world has a need that only your gift can fill.

So Say We All - A Battlestar Galactica Geeks of Faith Devotion

When I was in Middle School I was obsessed with Battlestar Galactica.  When my friends and I would have slumber parties we would dye mashed potatoes green and call them “mushies”.  In 8th grade art when we did metal casting I made Captain’s clusters and one of my oil paintings was a viper.

          I thought that all the religious symbolism was cool.  The twelve tribes paralleled the 12 tribes of Israel.  I greatly enjoyed the reboot, even if it couldn’t hold a candle to my childhood fixation.  They also dealt with deeply religious issues.  It was Adama’s faith that led them through the dark toward what they hoped would be a new home.  It was like Moses leading the Israelites through the wilderness to the promised land.  The Bible is full of stories of God’s people trusting that God will get them out of the trouble that they have gotten themselves into.

          In neither version of the series did they get what they wanted in the end.  The original ended with Battlestar Galactica 1980.  Which in-and-of itself was horrible.  But when they got to Earth we were not advanced enough to help them.  It was even worse in the second series.  We had destroyed ourselves and they found only a dead world.  So what does that say about faith and hope?

          In the second series there is a discussion between number 6 and Baltar. Number 6 begins “Commercialism, decadence, technology run amok… Remind you of anything?”  Baltar reflects that humanity always brings about their own doom, back in the colonies and even here on earth.  They debate whether it can be different this time.  Can humanity start over without destroying itself?  Oddly enough it is number 6 who believes that it can.  I don’t know whether it is because the Cylons actually had deeper faith at that point in the series or because she believed in infinite possibilities.  But it makes you think.

          Human society does seem bent on self-destruction.  All you have to do is watch the news.  So where do we find faith to get past our own destructive natures?  How do we find hope that it can come out different?

          As a Christian and a good Calvinist, I believe in total depravity.  We are all sinful.  We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  In Romans 7:19 Paul Puts it this way, “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.” On our own we would probably wind up completely destroying the earth.  We aren’t all that far from doing that today.  Our hope comes in the fact that we are not on our own. Paul goes on to explain that it is Jesus that sets us free from sin and death.

          It is only in giving our lives to Jesus and following him that we start overcoming our sinful nature.  Our trust in Jesus allows us to choose to do good.  Following Jesus reminds us to look out for our neighbors and treat others as we want to be treated.

          In my years as a youth pastor the youth were always begging me to do Bible studies on the book of Revelation.  It was as close to Horror as you can get in the Bible.  It is creepy and weird and more than a little scary.  But those who look at the prophecies in the book of Revelation and see doom and despair don’t understand it.  It was written as a letter of hope to a crushed and downtrodden people.

          Like the scriptures that Adama followed and trusted to lead the “rag tag fugitive fleet to Earth” the book of Revelation gives hope that sinful humanity isn’t going to get the last word.  Yep, human nature is going to be bent on destroying creation up until the end.  But this is God’s creation.  Jesus will come back and rescue it from our inept hands.  The scary predictions and condemnations aren’t for the people who trust God.  It is a word of Justice for those who have been stepped on and persecuted and forgotten.  When you watch the news and see the horrible evil going on, those are those metaphorical monsters.  When Christ returns he will be battling racism, sexism, violence, injustice.  The things that are destroying our world and our humanity will be stopped.

          That is good news!  The Kingdom is coming and some day everything will be put back the way God intended it to be.  That doesn’t mean that we should just sit back and wait.  Jesus also proclaimed that the Kingdom is at hand.  As people of faith we are to do our best to bring the kingdom about here and now.  We are called to seek justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God.  As Paul said, no matter how much we want to, we are going to fail sometimes.  We do what we don’t want to do.  But with Christ’s help we can do our best day to day.  With confidence we know that justice will not completely depend on our success.  Justice, goodness, and peace are the ends that Jesus will bring.  We just need to keep our eyes on our heavenly goal.

So say we all!

Finding Hope - A Geeks of Faith Devotion

It is the beginning of October.  It is breast cancer awareness month.  Not to mention my email, snail mail, and Facebook feed have been full of political adds as November approaches.  So when I looked through my Geeks of Faith devotion suggestions “hope that things will work out” stuck out.

          I am a big Star Wars fan, so in my teen years when I was a lonely, picked on, nerd a book called, “The Force of Star Wars” by Frank Allnutt helped me find the parallels between the hope in the movie and the hope found in scripture.

          As Christians we are a people of hope.  The theme of hope is all through the Bible.  But it isn’t just hope that you get everything you ask for or want.  My mother had breast cancer.  We all prayed and she beat it.  She has been cancer free for several years.  One of my best friends from High School had breast cancer.  We all prayed.  Kira lost her battle with cancer September 30 2016.  That doesn’t mean that we should give up hope.  Bad things happen to good people, and bad people often seem to get away with murder.  It is an age old question.

          Jesus, himself, quoted Psalm 22 on the cross.  “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.”  At the time it seemed like the bad guys won.  But we know how it ends.  Jesus arose on the third day.  He is alive.  This gives us hope.

          Paul writes about hope in his letter to the Hebrews.  Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

          Paul started out persecuting and executing Christians before his conversion.  Then, he was persecuted, imprisoned, and eventually put to death.  Many of his letters were written from prison.  But he still had hope.  In Romans 8:28 Paul says, “We know that all things work together for good^[a] for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”

          All things working together for good, unfortunately, doesn’t mean that we get everything we want or even everything we pray for.  I know that Paul’s churches were praying for his release.  But Paul still counted it all joy because he knew he was staying faithful and that God would have the last word.

          This world is evil.  People are sinful.  Until the second coming this will be true.  Bad things are going to happen.  Good people will be hurt and even die.  Jesus didn’t promise us that if we followed our life would be all perfect and trouble free.  In fact it is quite the opposite.  In John 15:20 Jesus tells his followers, “Servants^[a] are not greater than their master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also.”

          What we are promised is that Jesus will be with us.  No matter what happens, we are not alone.  God will have the final say.

          Now that doesn’t mean that we are to sit here and do nothing.  Paul wasn’t randomly put in prison.  He was out actively doing God’s will.  When someone you love gets cancer, yes you should pray.  But it doesn’t hurt to give money to cancer research.

          Now, about all those political adds.  Today it seams that no matter who wins, half of the country is depressed.  That doesn’t mean that you should sit home and do nothing.  Pray about the issues.  Go out and vote!  If you believe the wrong person was elected, don’t give up hope.  Rome persecuted and killed Christians.  Then, the emperor became Christians and they supported the church.  Eventually it fell.  Nations and governments will come and go.  Political parties will go in and out of power.  That is the way of the world we live in.  Keep voting, keep praying, and keep hoping in the knowledge that God is there in the midst of the suffering,

          It is the same with all the things we hope for.  If you hope you get a certain job.  Yes, pray about it, but also do your very best to get it.  Give your best interview.  If you don’t get it, it is not the end of the world.  Get up and try again.  It is the same from everything from illness, to jobs, to politics, even to getting a hotel room in a host hotel at Dragon Con.  Hope but also work toward your goal.

          I am going to end with an example from Star Wars.  Talk about a bad political system that was killing and persecuting the people who didn’t agree.  The Empire had all the power.  They had the numbers.  They had the population cowed, but the rebels persisted.  They had hope.  When Alderan was destroyed and the Death Star was closing in, they had hope.  Their hope (and my interpretation of the force) God helped them get through it and do the impossible. 

          The last movie ended with only enough Rebels to fill the Millennium Falcon, but I have hope that the good guys will win in the end.

          So, keep the faith.  Hold on to that hope.  When the world throws a wrench in your plans, remember that God wants good for you.  Get up and try again.  You are not alone.  God goes with you, and so do your brothers and sisters of faith.  You are not alone.  We are in this together.  There is always hope.