I love the Olympics. Our family watched most of the evening coverage for the first week and a half. Once the swimmer scandal took center stage, though, we got tired of hearing about the mess over and over again. In fact, we literally turned off the TV several evenings because it seemed the focus was too much on Ryan Lochte, and he wasn’t even in the pool! It’s a sad commentary about us when the national news coverage leads with a story about a guy who drank too much when floods, wildfires, and election season should have our attention.

I have gone through the same process as most people with the Ryan Lochte incident. At first, I was disgusted that the city of Rio was not a safer place (wrong!). Then, I was furious that the police and government were seeking to make an example of our athletes (still wrong!). And, as the truth emerged, I became judgmental and self-righteous (even more wrong!). Now that I am over myself and over this whole ordeal, I just feel sorry for Lochte. His life will never be the same and at this point it’s not even his fault any longer. 

I imagine Ryan Lochte feels enough guilt and regret on his own and doesn’t need our help. He has lost millions in endorsements. He betrayed his closest friends. He bears an overwhelming embarrassment that will shadow him for years. Today’s news quotes him saying that his, “life is crumbling.” It seems clear that Lochte has learned from the situation. 

Let’s all take a step back and learn something...

The obvious lesson is that we shouldn’t lie. However, I’d suggest another lesson. What did we learn in our personal response to the matter? Were we ready to pick up a stone and join the group of accusers?  This story reminds me of the adulterous woman we find in John Chapter 8. The teachers of the law had brought this woman before a group in the temple, preparing to stone her. Jesus says the famous line, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”   

Enough stones have already been thrown at Lochte and the weight of my sin precludes me from joining in the “fun”. I know he “officially” apologized, but has Lochte been afforded a chance to truly repent? I think our society is so quick to scandalize and condemn that it seems the stones are flying before the sinner even has a chance to hear us say, “Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:11) If anything as Christians, we are called to forgive and love not to condemn. We should not delight in watching others fall.  Rather, we should delight in praying and hoping for a path to redemption. I am already looking forward to seeing Lochte compete in the next Olympics.  

Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!” Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ~Matthew 9:1-5

As I write my blog this week, I am sitting at the airport getting ready to fly across the country to attend a leadership conference in Atlanta. In a little over three hours I will be 1,900 miles away. Away from my house, my family and my church. I will get on an airplane and leave everything behind. Or will I?

In this modern day of social media and technology, I can call, text, email, Facetime, check Facebook, and know everything that is going on back home. I can leave it all behind, yet take it all with me. That hasn’t always been the case. If, 100 years ago, I had left on a trip, no one would have been able to reach me until I returned back home. It is amazing how technology can bring us together and makes the world so small. 

In all of the advancements that social media and technology have brought to us, the younger generation of children and students know nothing else. There is a generation that doesn’t know a world without a cell phone, Google, Facebook or unlimited texting. Many have no recollection of MySpace or Napster, as technology just keeps advancing. With these advancements, the thing that we often lose sight of is how it effects how we understand God.     

When we talk about prayer and how we can always be in contact with God, we can reference a cell phone. God is with us everywhere. We can reference Facetime as a way of making God more relational and available. However, when we talk about forgiveness and sin it is much harder to talk about. We are told that what we post or put online will last forever. I tell Jr. and Sr. High students to be careful about what they put online and text because what they do today could affect them 10-15 years from now when they look for a job after college.

We live in a time that doesn’t forget. In fact my wife, Becca, has an app on her phone that looks at her Facebook page and brings back memories that happened on the same day years earlier. Some are good memories, like the birth of our children. Some are sad, like the passing of loved ones. The app doesn’t miss a day because it doesn’t forget,

In Matthew 9:1-5, Jesus heals a paralyzed man simply by saying, “Your sins are forgiven.” When accused of blasphemy, Jesus responds by saying “Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?” The idea of forgiveness is easy to understand, yet it is so hard to fully comprehend. When we come to God and ask for forgiveness it is more than just deleting a post or text, or taking down a picture, which still leaves a footprint of what we have done. 

 As technology continues to advance and social media becomes a constant reminder of our past, we must not forget to experience God’s forgiveness. When it comes to our faith in Christ, We must never lose sight of the fact that when we ask God for forgiveness, when we turn our sins over to God, through the work of the cross he makes them disappear; vanish. He cleans the slate, not just for now, but forever. No matter what social media tells us, we can have confidence that when we humble ourselves before our Lord and ask for forgiveness, we can leave it all behind at the foot of the cross.

Why is it that hate and violence have become ordinary occurrences in our world? Most recently it is the nine lives that were taken at the Emmanuel AME Church last week.

For some reason this church shooting has affected me to my very core. I feel sorrow and sadness for the victims that had so much more of life to share. Anger that someone would chose to violate a sacred space that is known for grace, hope and love. And awe for the forgiveness that has been shown to the 21-year-old, who has said he shot the black worshippers in hopes of sparking a race war.

What is so powerful is the way the church members responded. In the moments when their sacred space had been violated in the midst of prayer they responded with grace and truth—not anger or hate. They continued to turn to Jesus for answers. 

We could go on and on about how we respond to the hate crimes and racism that have hurt others. We could talk about Jesus’ response to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. We could stand up for justice and campaign for equality. Or we could stand for what has been lost—a life of true discipleship. 

I have realized in this past week, that this massacre is not just something to be sad about, but something that requires action by all Christians. The members of Emmanuel AME Church have responded with love, worship, prayer and yes, forgiveness.

I have been reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book The Cost of Discipleship where he eloquently describes the dichotomy of cheap grace versus costly grace. Cheap grace is the grace we give ourselves. We put on blinders to ignore injustice, we proclaim forgiveness, but don’t live it and we become Sunday Christians instead of everyday followers of Christ. Costly grace on the other hand calls for complete change. To forgive and really mean it, to love even when we don’t want to, to work together in the midst of disunity and to trust in the grace of Jesus Christ to guide us each and every day.

We have a choice, as followers of Jesus, to see this event among others and simply be saddened… or we can respond as disciples in our very own community by loving, showing grace and providing hope in Christ. Our world needs costly grace. It needs Jesus. How will we respond?

1 Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent?

    Who may live on your holy mountain?

2 The one whose walk is blameless,

    who does what is righteous,

    who speaks the truth from their heart;

3 whose tongue utters no slander,

    who does no wrong to a neighbor,

    and casts no slur on others;

When I served as pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Portland our Clerk of Session was Vittz James Ramsdell. Vittz was a good Clerk, a good church man, and good Christian. Vittz owned Roberts Motors Company, which sold and serviced Kenworth Trucks. Roberts Motors had well over 100 employees in those days. One of those employees was convicted of a crime and sentenced to four years in the Oregon State Prison. Three months before he was to be released, Vittz drove down to the prison and met with the man. He asked him if he would like to have his old job back. You can imagine the man’s surprise at this visit and this offer. On the day before the man was to return to work, Vittz called a meeting of all his employees. He said, ‘As you know, Jack has been in prison for the past four years. He is being released today and will return to work here tomorrow. He has paid his debt to society. I never expect this subject to come up again at Roberts Motors. You are all dismissed’.

To remember that we are who we are…not how we act is both difficult and ongoing. The problem is the wrongness of our acts. These are external and in the view of others. Who we are is in our thoughts, feelings, disposition, and choices. This is the inner life. This is what we have to conquer the evil of our secular world. It is hard to keep these straight. Paul tells us that love is patient and kind (1 Cor 13:4). I must remember that being kind to others without genuine inner readiness and longing to secure the good of others is both shallow and short lived. I must remember the outcome of my usual prayer life, “I want patience, and I want it right now”. Both of these strategies will lead to despair and to defeat of love. These will bring forth anger and hopelessness. It is love itself—not loving behavior that has the power to “always protect, always trust, always hope, put up with anything and never quit” (1 Cor 13:7-8, my translation). I must take love itself—God’s kind of love—into my inner life. I must take God’s gift of love into my actions in a slow intentional manner to more fully explore the way God loves me. As I grow in love—the genuine readiness and longing to secure the good of others—genuine patience enters me.

Yet, I know that even with the love within and the patience expressed that I am not able to earn acceptance with God. Forgiveness is the act by which God brings a sinful human into a right relationship to himself. The work of Jesus is declaring righteous the sinner who responds in faith to the revelation in Jesus Christ. The righteousness which humans cannot achieve for themselves is offered to humanity by God in Jesus Christ. It is received in faith through accepting the word of promise in Jesus Christ. With this acceptance Jesus is walking the earth today in the hearts of those who believe in him. Through his saving grace good has been done, people have been loved, and comfort brought by his people. By his saving grace the compassion we express for the suffering and bereaved displays that our faith means something.

 It is not my vocation to “care for people” any more. Pastoral care is care for people “in the name of Jesus”. In this manner I have a treasure for those in the congregation, but it is a treasure in an earthen jar. I am a person among other persons in the congregation. I have strengths and I have weaknesses. I must remember that the treasure I have for the congregation is the treasure of the Gospel—the Word of God. I live in a culture that reduces so many of human needs as illness. I know this because for 33 yrs. I endeavored to give a name to so many of these and to classify the extent and the effect of therapy. Now I get to tell the story…the master story…the Gospel…the story of who we are and what we are destined for. It is in this manner that we learn our needs. We live in a culture that expresses desires as needs. As a human in a faith community I receive both praise and blame. In my faith and in the faith of those which I am involved I know patience, love, and forgiveness. I am so blessed to be in the body of Christ known as Pinnacle Presbyterian Church.