All Shook Up -- FPC sermon excerpt

My hands are shaky and my knees are weak
I can’t seem to stand on my own two feet
Who do you thank when you have such luck?
I’m in love
I’m all shook up!

Hard to believe, but it’s been 50 years since Elvis Presley’s song “All Shook Up” was at the top of the charts. Yes, it reached the pinnacle of Billboard magazine’s charts in April of 1957, and it stayed there for eight weeks.

Elvis, who died 30 years ago this August, shook the American music scene like no other pioneer of rock and roll. He became known as “The King of Rock and Roll,” or simply “The King.”

A lot of folks worship Elvis, and have compared him to Jesus. Consider these connections:

Jesus said “Love thy neighbor.”
Elvis said, “Don’t be cruel.”

Jesus is part of the Trinity.
Elvis’s first band was a trio.

Jesus walked on water.
Elvis surfed.

Jesus is the Lamb of God.
Elvis had mutton chop sideburns.

Jesus is alive.
Elvis is ... alive?

Luke 19 contains the Palm Sunday procession of Jesus the king, one that leaves the city of Jerusalem “all shook up.” And why not? Jesus has just finished telling his followers a parable — the parable of the vengeful king. This is a shocking story which ends with the monarch giving the command, “as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them — bring them here and slaughter them in my presence” (Luke 19:27).

That’s right: Slaughter them. Kill ’em all, and let God sort ’em out. That’s the standard approach of numerous ancient kings, and the followers of Jesus are wondering if this is what their ruler will bring to the enemies of Israel. Jesus knows what is in their hearts, and tells this story “because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately” (v. 11).

At this moment, it’s hard to predict what Jesus is going to bring. Salvation or slaughter? Reconciliation or revenge? Peace or a sword? The disciples are feeling the anxiety captured so well by Elvis, the King of Rock and Roll:

A well I bless my soul
What’s wrong with me?
I’m itching like a man on a fuzzy tree.

You can picture that, can’t you — disciples “itching like a man on a fuzzy tree.” They’re nervous wrecks. It’s hard to tell what Jesus is going to do as he approaches the city of Jerusalem. Some hope he will drive out the Romans, and rescue the Jews from oppression. Others long for him to push out the corrupt King Herod, and become God’s own king — the Messiah! Either way, some heads are going to roll.

But as he approaches Jerusalem, it appears that Jesus has another agenda. From the Mount of Olives, Jesus dispatches two disciples, saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here” (vv. 28-30). He picks a colt, because he wants to fulfill the words of the prophet Zechariah, “Lo, your king comes to you … on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9). He hungers to show the crowd a sense of humility, instead of arrogance — he enters the city as Zechariah predicted he would, “humble and riding on a donkey” (v. 9). The choice of a donkey also sends the message that he is the bringer of peace instead of violence. If he had wanted to take down the Romans, he most certainly would have entered on a war horse.

It looks this king named Jesus is more interested in reconciliation than revenge.

The Fitness Trinity III: Good Nutrition -- FPC sermon excerpt

After endurance exercise and strength training comes the third part of the Fitness Trinity: Good nutrition. In this case, my friend Vik Khanna’s recommendation is that you eat from the garden — eat from the Garden of Eden, that is. This means a diet grounded in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, heart healthy fats, and lean protein. This goes right back to the Book of Genesis, in which God says, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food” (Genesis 1:29). Although you might not have noticed it before, God recommends a vegetarian diet to Adam and Eve.

For those of you looking forward to a steak dinner, I’m sorry. Nowhere in the Garden of Eden does God say, “Adam, I am giving you a New York Strip Steak.”

But don’t worry — I’m not a vegetarian, I enjoy a good cut of meat, and there’s really no reason to avoid protein. The challenge is to lean toward fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Here’s a field trip for you: Go to the grocery store, and compare the produce section to the meat section. In the produce section, you will find a wide variety of textures, flavors, colors and tastes among the fruits and vegetables, but in the meat section you’ll see the drab monotony of white and red chicken, beef, and pork. In many ways, good nutrition comes from eating what looks good, in a colorful selection of foods.

As odd as that might sound, it actually fits with what a retired Navy cook once said to me. He was a member of Calvary Presbyterian in Alexandria, which I served before moving here. He would always be working in the kitchens for church suppers, and I noticed that he would garnish his plates with parsley or something else to add color. I was surprised to see a grizzled old Navy cook doing this, and so I asked him, “Kyle, why do you add color to the plate?” He said, “Henry, if it looks good, it will taste good.”

Something similar could be said for good nutrition: If it looks good, with a variety of shapes, textures, and colors, it will probably be good for you.

You can also improve your nutrition by adopting a face-of-the-clock strategy for meal planning: Imagine your plate to be a clock, and then fill the section from 12 to 6 with vegetables, 6 to 9 with lean protean, and 9 to 12 with whole grain carbohydrates. Those proportions will help you to eat a diet that is good for your heart, and for weight control as well.

Our problem as Americans is that we tend to fill half our plates with meat, and leave far smaller sections for vegetables and carbs. This is especially true at restaurants, where entrees come with meat portions that look like whole sides of beef. But here’s a trick for using the face-of-the-clock strategy while eating out: Have one person order a meat dish, and one person order a vegetarian dish. Then, when the dinners arrive, cut the meat in half, and share the veggie entrée. You’ll find yourselves full and happy, with the section of your plate 12 to 6 filled with vegetables, 6 to 9 with protein, and 9 to 12 with carbohydrates. You’ll also save some money.

But eating from the Garden of Eden is really not about saving money — it’s about saving your life. The American Cancer Society has established guidelines on diet, nutrition, and cancer prevention, and they sound very similar to The Fitness Trinity.

First, choose most of the foods you eat from plant sources. Eat five or more servings of fruits and vegetables each day. Eat other foods from plant sources, such as breads, cereals, grain products, rice, pasta, or beans several times a day. In other words, eat from the garden.

Second, limit your intake of high fat foods, particularly from animal sources. Choose foods low in fat. Limit consumption of meats, especially high-fat meats.

Third, be physically active — achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Be at least moderately active for 30 minutes or more on most days of the week.

Fourth, limit alcoholic beverages, if you drink at all.

This brings us to the end of the Fitness Trinity: Endurance exercise, strength training, and good nutrition. Together, these three form a simple, memorable, and faithful approach to taking good care of the body that God has given each of us. Living by the Fitness Trinity can help each of us to be healthy, strong, and active disciples of Jesus Christ.

The Fitness Trinity II: Strength Training -- FPC sermon excerpt

God wants us to be strong. Not so that we’ll have big bulging muscles, not so that we’ll push people around, not so that we’ll intimidate others on the softball field. No, God wants us to be strong so that we can be servants.

I discovered the importance of strength while on last fall’s mission trip to Honduras. Our Midlife Men were helping to build a science building at the Plan Escalon School, and the building was located at the bottom of a hill. The cinder blocks could only be delivered by truck to the top of the hill, so you can imagine how the blocks made their way to the construction site.

They came down in our arms. Two by two. Block after block after block. It took just about all the strength we had.

I love what Phil Beauchene said about the work of the Midlife Men: “You couldn’t pay me enough to do this kind of work in the United States.” But in Honduras, he does it for free, and he loves it, because it is an act of Christian service.

This is the second of three messages on the link between spiritual fitness and physical fitness. I have begun to introduce you to “The Fitness Trinity,” which has been devised by my friend Vik Khanna, an exercise coach and health educator.

The Fitness Trinity consists of three parts: Endurance exercise, strength training, and good nutrition. Endurance exercise is any exercise that puts you into motion and requires you to use the biggest muscles in your body — your legs, hips, and rear end. Endurance exercise can include walking, running, swimming or riding a bike, but it should be done vigorously, for at least 30 minutes at a time, and at least 3 times per week.

Now, I want to speak about strength training. I believe that strength is a virtue — whether it is physical, intellectual, emotional or spiritual. Strong people are able to resist fads, endure hardships, enjoy recreation, and perform God’s work in the community and world. Strength is not merely the absence of weakness, but is, instead, an approach to life that values the presence of mental, spiritual and physical muscle, and helps us to be the people God wants us to be. As St. Francis de Sales once said, “There is nothing so strong as gentleness and nothing so gentle as true strength.”

None of us would ever question the fact that Jesus was a man of strength. From resisting the temptations of Satan to standing up to the criticisms of religious and political leaders, Jesus showed incredible personal strength. His strength came from his sense of mission and purpose, his relationship with his disciples, and most of all from God himself. Jesus tapped into the very same divine power that is available to us — the power that Paul speaks of when he says, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).

Strength is a tool for achievement, purpose, and service. Spiritual and physical strength are two of the most empowering forces you can imagine. When you have taken yourself from unfit to fit, from spiritually unfulfilled to overflowing, from medically at-risk to medically robust, you make yourself into a change agent for the world. You become a person who has the strength to change the world around you.

It is clear to me that the very last thing Jesus wants is a group of inactive, sedentary disciples. He wants his followers to embrace the spirit of action. In fact, some of Christ’s strongest condemnations are directed toward those who sit and talk — rather than stand and serve. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus denounces the scribes and Pharisees who sit on Moses' seat; they “love to have the place of honor at banquets,” he observes, “and the best seats in the synagogues" (Matthew 23:6).

To all who feel tempted to take such seats, Jesus barks the command, “Don't sit there!” Disciples of Christ are not to sit and become sedentary, they are to stand and use their strength to be active ... as servants. “The greatest among you will be your servant,” says Jesus, (v. 11), standing to identify human needs and make an active effort to bring comfort, healing and hope.

The question for us, as followers of Jesus today, is this: Are we standing up and using our strength to serve others? Or, are we sitting down and focusing on ourselves?

Faith as a peacemaker -- USA TODAY, March 5, 2007

I'm a pastor who concludes each Sunday service with the words "go in peace," but I have to admit that this has become a hard sell lately. I stand by the message, but the world simply isn't cooperating.

The daily bloodbath in Iraq is mainly fighting between Shiite and Sunni Muslims. Clashes in the Palestinian territories often approach civil war and threaten the lives of people of many faiths. When violence flares across this planet, a common denominator is often religion.

Religion and violence. Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason, has made the case that religion must be abandoned because it leads only to bloodshed, and he certainly assembles some damning evidence from history and current events.

But violence is a sign of religion's failure, not its success.

The great faiths of the world challenge people to look for a unifying truth above national differences and a common humanity beneath tribal tensions. When religion fails, as it often does, people settle their differences through violence. But when it succeeds, people are inspired to do the work of reconciliation — the peaceful settling of disputes, overcoming of divisions and re-establishment of friendship.

This work might not make the nightly news, but it's out there. Many faiths seek reconciliation, sometimes with success but sometimes just short of it:

*Christian Peacemaker Teams, an international organization, accompanies refugees and shipments of medicine in Iraq, sometimes with loss of life in the process. In Colombia, CPT helps rural civilians displaced by armed groups — including rightist paramilitaries and leftist guerrillas — return to their communities and live in peace.

*The Jewish concept "tikkun" — to heal, repair and transform the world — gives rise to work for non-violence and social justice. In South Africa under the apartheid system, blacks received an inferior education, so the organization MaAfrika Tikkun now trains community leaders and offers life skills courses to children. In Canada, Tikkun Toronto touts a message of peace through drama, art and dialogue. It is part of the international Tikkun Community, which has grown beyond its Jewish roots to become an interfaith organization.

*Shiite and Sunni Muslims recently gathered in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar for a conference on reconciliation, with the hope of narrowing the gap between Islam's sects. Unfortunately, arguments broke out over sectarian violence in Iraq and the growing influence of Iran, and the conference failed to achieve its goal.

"There is more in our great holy books and religious teachings about reconciliation and peace than violence and bloodshed," says Fred Lyon, a colleague and interim pastor of Lewinsville Presbyterian Church in McLean, Va. He's right, but it is also true that there is more in our history books linking religion to violence than to reconciliation.

Reaching out

Trying to reverse this tragic trend are groups such as the InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington (IFC), an organization of 11 faith communities that hosts religious dignitaries and international visitors.

After Pope Benedict XVI angered Muslims in September with a speech that quoted a 14th-century Byzantine Christian emperor's perspective on Islamic holy war, the IFC brought together Muslim leaders and the pope's representative. They worked to fix the damage done to Catholic-Muslim relations by posting the pope's apology on several Muslim websites and delivering a message to the pope via his representative. Did it make Muslims forget about the original slight? No, but it helped the healing begin.

"Building relationships and understanding really changes things," says Clark Lobenstine, executive director of the IFC. "Studies have shown that people who know a Muslim are less likely to be in favor of restricting their civil rights." Across the country, other groups are holding Catholic-Muslim dialogues on spirituality, theology and interfaith marriage.

Religion can also play a healing role in countries racked by violence. For instance, in post-apartheid South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission called on victims and perpetrators of apartheid to tell their stories — a move that opened the door to confession and forgiveness.

"The key leader was Bishop Desmond Tutu," says Eric Law, an Episcopal priest in Los Angeles and author of The Word at the Crossings: Living the Good News in a Multicontextual Community.

Law says he is convinced that true reconciliation on the international level always involves religious leaders. Through extensive work with multicultural faith communities, he has discovered that in times of conflict — which create extreme uncertainties in people's lives — "religious rituals are crucial in the work of moving from conflicts to dialogue, to understanding, to possible reconciliation."

Where change must start

But religious institutions cannot do the job alone. Individuals have a role to play as well. It would be hard to find a more striking image of religion-inspired reconciliation than what took place last year in Lancaster County, Pa. It wasn't a summit in which the world's leaders met to hammer out treaties to solve the world's problems. What the world saw instead was Amish men and women who took a stand for forgiveness after a gunman slaughtered five young girls at a schoolhouse.

Most impressive about the Amish response to the schoolhouse murders was the way that these peace-loving Christians reached out with support to the gunman's widow and children.

"Such exemplary acts of witness stir the imaginations of the larger world," observes L. Gregory Jones, dean of Duke Divinity School in Durham, N.C., and author of Embodying Forgiveness: A Theological Analysis. "We need our imagination to be set on fire by stories that show that what we think is impossible or unrealistic is indeed possible — if we have the courage to cultivate habits of reconciliation."

I'm afraid that many people today have lost the courage of their convictions and are more comfortable debating internal church issues than taking a risk for reconciliation in the world around us. Instead of arguing about human sexuality, for example, our Christian denominations ought to be focusing on dialogue with other faiths, and putting together Christian Peacemaking Teams to work with Muslim Peacemaker Teams in Iraq — finding ways to use faith to stem the flow of violence rather than igniting it.

Just last month, in fact, a delegation of 13 Christian leaders from the USA traveled to Iran to meet with political and religious leaders. The goal: Ease the growing tensions between the two countries. At a time in which leaders of the two countries are loath to talk, such outreach couldn't hurt.

In a world so bloodied by religious conflict, empathetic conversation might not appear to be a powerful weapon. But it remains the best tool for settling disputes, overcoming divisions and re-establishing relationships — in other words, doing the work of reconciliation.

Now, more than ever, dialogue should be a central spiritual practice for all who take their religion seriously.

Henry G. Brinton is pastor of Fairfax Presbyterian Church in Virginia and author of Balancing Acts: Obligation, Liberation, and Contemporary Christian Conflicts.

The Fitness Trinity I: Endurance Exercise -- FPC sermon excerpt

This is the first of three messages on a topic that you don’t hear talked about in church very often — the link between spiritual fitness and physical fitness. This has been a passion of mine since I attended a most unusual worship service in New York City several Novembers ago.

Early one Sunday morning, I was among several hundred people crowded into a large tent for prayers, singing, Scripture‑reading and Holy Communion. We were a diverse group — in age, race and denomination — full of enthusiasm and nervous energy. But unlike your average Sunday morning churchgoers, we were all dressed in running clothes. The preacher encouraged us to pray for everyone we passed on the course that morning, and for everyone who passed us. Then we went out and ran 26.2 miles.

This was not your normal after-church activity.

That interdenominational worship service was held before the start of the New York City Marathon, and it served as a wake‑up call for me. For years, I had focused my Christian ministry on the soul, and I had seen the flesh as somehow less important. But that morning I caught sight of a movement that is seeking to reclaim an ancient truth: The truth that spirituality involves more than just the spirit — it also includes the body.

Look around our country, and you’ll see what I’m talking about. The Baptist church up the street from my home is offering “Christian Yoga,” which presents elements of the Hindu practice of yoga in an intentionally Christ‑centered setting. Other churches feature weight‑loss classes with names like “Jesus Is the Weigh” — not spelled W-A-Y, as you’d expect, but W-E-I-G-H. Book publishers are turning out titles such as The Maker's Diet, outlining a “Biblically correct” eating plan, and Honoring the Body. While some of this is just a fad, I believe it reflects a very positive development in religious thought. After 2,000 years of being largely separated, body and spirit are finally coming back together.

But what does all this have to do with our relationship with Jesus? When you read the New Testament, you can’t help but notice that Jesus sees the body as a good gift of God, and he rejoices in the pleasures of touch and taste. Jesus comes on the scene in the Gospel of Mark as a man of action: curing the sick, casting out demons, cleansing a leper, and healing a paralytic — clearly, he cares deeply about the health of human bodies (2:13-19).

Jesus goes around saving people from illness, destruction and death, and then at the very end of his ministry he gives us the gift of his very own body, saying, “Take, eat; this is my body” (Matthew 26:26). He doesn’t say this is my mind, or this is my spirit — he says, this is my body. From the very beginning, Christianity has taken seriously the fact that God came to earth in a human body — “the Word became flesh and lived among us,” says the Gospel of John (1:14). This means that there is something good and important about our human flesh.

The bottom line is that Christian spirituality involves both spirit and body. Because of this, both our worship on Sunday morning and our work-outs throughout the week are critical elements in a life of health and spiritual growth. God has given each of us the gift of a body, and he wants us to take good care of this gift. In addition, the apostle Paul teaches that our body is nothing less than the “temple of the Holy Spirit,” and therefore we are to glorify God in our body.

But are we doing it? Are we caring for this gift? Are we glorifying God in it?

Or are we neglecting this gift, and dishonoring God?

I’m convinced that we can all do a better job of caring for the gift of our body, and glorifying God in it. To do this, I want to introduce you to “The Fitness Trinity,” which has been devised by my friend Vik Khanna, an exercise coach and health educator. The Fitness Trinity is simple, memorable, and, I believe, quite biblical. Like the Holy Trinity of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Fitness Trinity cannot be found in the Bible, but it is a formulation that is true to the Bible.

You might be surprised to learn that the word “Trinity” never appears in the Bible. But almost every Christian has come to accept that God is, in fact, a Trinity — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is nothing wrong with building new understandings on the foundation of Holy Scripture.

The Fitness Trinity consists of three parts: Endurance exercise, strength training, and good nutrition. Each has an important role to play in our physical and spiritual health.

Endurance exercise is any exercise that puts you into motion and requires you to use the biggest muscles in your body — your legs, hips, and rear end. Endurance exercise can include walking, running, or riding a bike, but it should be done vigorously, for at least 30 minutes at a time, and at least 3 times per week.

Since I turned 40 back in the year 2000, I’ve been doing a lot of running. I had never been a runner back in high school, and I avoided it pretty successfully during my young adult years. Then a friend challenged me, on my 40th birthday, to join him in running the Marine Corps Marathon. I thought he was crazy.

The marathon was still six months away, however, and my friend convinced me that I could train for it in that amount of time. I started out slowly … very slowly. I would go out and exercise for an hour at a time — running for 3 minutes, walking for 7, running for 3 minutes, walking for 7. Three minutes of running at a time was about all I could endure. But the next week, I ran for 4 minutes and walked for 6, ran for 4 minutes and walked for 6. After seven weeks of training in this way, I made it to the point where I could run for a full hour.

That was the key to my ability to complete a marathon — starting slowly, and building up my running time … one hour, two hours, three hours, four hours. I would sometimes let the words from the letter to the Hebrews cycle through my mind, “let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:1-2). Over the years, my marathon training has become a running meditation for me, and I have been amazed by the clarity of thought — along with the occasional agony of the body — that I experience during my workouts. This exercise cuts through the clutter of life and offers the gift of simplicity — if only for a few hours a week. There are no phones to answer, no bills to pay, no sermons to write — only the path that lies ahead. I have come to love the freedom that running provides me to think and dream and pray and problem‑solve, and I find myself becoming tense and irritable when the opportunity to exercise is taken away from me.