WHAT IS FREEDOM

Freedom is oftentimes misunderstood my many people. Many believe that freedom is doing anything that you want without control or restrictions. This is license. In real life and according to the Bible, freedom is not without limit and control on anything and at any time that we would like to do something. Real life tells us that our freedom ends upon meeting with the rights of others. In other words, freedom is allowed, as long as we don't hurt anyone or intrude into other's turf, or violate others' rights. The Bible also defines freedom as exercising love for God and neighbor. We can do anything as long as it fulfills love for God and neighbor. This only happens when we surrender our lives to God. Life before we accept Christ as Savior is not freedom at all; it is being enslaved by sin, that is, giving in to our selfish and carnal desires. When we are not with God, we are in the bondage of sin. When we do everything we want at any time is letting the power of sin control us. We become free only when we return to God. We cannot will to love God and our neighbor without God's help. We are created by God and for God; it is only when we accept this truth that we find true freedom.

How do we illustrate this truth? The image of a kite might illustrate this freedom that we have when we surrender to God. A kite could not fly unless it is played and controlled by the owner. The kite flies and soars freely with the direction and control of the owner or player. The moment the string is cut off, or the owner/player stops directing, the kite immediately falls down on trees or straight to the ground. Such is our life of freedom in God. Apart from God, we are nothing (John 15:1-5). Apart from God we are left to the mercy of sin and cannot will otherwise. It is only when we are connected to God that we can fly and soar and enjoy life. It is only when we are attached to the vine that we can live, flourish and bear much fruit. Freedom is not the ability to do what we want; it is the power to the right thing. That's the reason why when we accept Christ, we become free indeed. Jesus' life, death and resurrection embody a life that is totally surrendered and fully connected and anchored with God.

MAKING FAITH IN CHARGE

Noah Ben Shea wrote in his book, The Journey to Greatness and How to Get There: "Imagine your life as a wagon filled with everything you represent. To pull that wagon through life, you are going to need horses. Now, imagine that your fears and your faith are the horses you can call on. Of course, each of us has more fears than faith, so let's say we have eleven horses of fear and only one horse of faith. If we put any of the horses of fear at the head of the team, they will be hesitant to lead, unsure of their capacity, and afraid they will not be able to do what is expected of them. And your wagon won't go anywhere. But if you put the one single horse of faith at the lead of the team, the horses of fear will follow. In fact, your fears, when led by our faith, will provide the strength to pull our wagon. The challenge for all of us is to put your faith and not our fears in charge."

Psychologists tell us that of all the emotions known to human, none is more common than that of fear. Along with love, hate, joy and the other basic emotions, fear is universally known. Fear has been common in every age of human's history and in every stage of human's development. No one is exempted or spared. So we ask, "What is fear?" Webster Dictionary defines fear as "Painful emotion marked by alarm; dread; disquiet; anxious concern; solicitude." It also includes feelings of uncertainty, lack of self-assurance, and need of help. The general reaction to fear is negative, for men universally consider fear undesirable and evil.

The Bible tells us that everything that God created is good, in fact, very good (Genesis 1-2). This means including "fear." There must be a purpose why fear was given to us by God. BenShea, I believe, is correct when he said that we only need to do is to make faith in charge of our life not fear. When we do that, fear will become a fuel to help us become better people rather than something that turns us into our base self, or worse, evil. When fear is led by faith, it becomes a challenge to be prepared for. When fear is led by faith, it makes us humble realizing that we are not God. When fear is led by faith, it makes us do all we can and leave the rest to God. When fear is led by faith, we dare to risk, venturing even in doing things that has never been tried before. Fear led by faith, becomes our check and balance so that we would not forget that we are only creators but we also won't forget that we have a Creator to depend upon. Fear led by faith keeps our faith on the ground and our minds reach out to limitless possibilities because in God, nothing is impossible.

ASH WEDNESDAY: A TIME OF SELF-EXAMINATION AND AFFIRMATION

I was born in the Roman Catholic Church though I was not a practicing one. But I know many of the traditions and practices of the Roman Church including the imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday. Since the Philippines is overwhelmingly a Roman Catholic country, I thought it was only the Catholics who embraced this ritual. I realized now, that more and more people are now participating in this practice not only the other Christian churches but even the popular culture. I know many people who are not necessarily members of the Christian church and yet they love receiving the ashes on Ash Wednesday.

There is something about the imposition of ashes on our forehead in the form of a cross. In baptism, we receive the sign of the cross either by oil or by water. The cross imposed upon our forehead at baptism means that "we belong to Christ forever." Water and oil are not very visible to the naked eye. During Ash Wednesday, the same cross becomes very visible because we use ashes which color is mostly dark gray. During Ash Wednesday, seemingly we become proud to show whom we belong, Christ. We want all people to know that we are marked for eternal life through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Ash Wednesday the, is one way to reclaim our baptismal promise - that we are sealed to belong to God through Christ forever.

Ash Wednesday is also a time to realize and affirm our unity, our close relationship and affinity with the rest of creation. When we receive the sign of the cross in ashes, the pastor or priest usually says, "Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return." This is a profound truth. One of the stories of creation tells us that God formed us from the earth and then God breathed into us the breath of life. Humans and the earth are one. Definitely, there is a unity between the soil of the earth and our soul. During Ash Wednesday, we say, we are part of God's creation, not the creator. Ash Wednesday teaches us humility and the value of interrelatedness. In fact, we humans cannot survive without creation but creation can survive without us. Ash Wednesday is a time, to embrace humility rather than our usual theological understanding that human is superior and has dominion over the rest of creation. Ash Wednesday is a time to reclaim and proclaim the truth that humans and creation should always be in mutual partnership so that life may be sustained.

Another important truth about Ash Wednesday is the surrender of the self to Christ. It has been observed that the sign of the cross is a capital letter "I" scratched out. This is also very meaningful. Sin is primarily means our alienation from God in our minds, hearts, souls, and actions. This is so because we put ourselves as the center of our lives rather than God. When we love ourselves more than anything else, we dethrone God, the anchor our being, the foundation of our lives, the center of who we are. As a result we commit "sins" those actions, thoughts and feelings (i.e. murder, lust, greed, etc.) that are contrary to God's will and very being. These are symptoms of our constitutional state that is alienated, separated, estranged from God. Thank God we do not need to stay in this state of sin. We can be reconciled to God, to others and to our better self as God has intended us to be. God gave us his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, that whosoever believes in him would have everlasting life. Through Jesus Christ, our "I" is scratched out by the loving, compassionate, just hands of God. Thus the cross was formed. Ash Wednesday then could be a time to publicly proclaim our redemption in Jesus Christ; a redemption that comes again and again because the grace of God is continuous.

May your Ash Wednesday be a time of self-examination and also a time of affirmation that in Christ, we belong to God forever! So be it. Amen.

PRAISING FAITH
Matthew 17:1-9

There is no better definition of faith than the one from the Bible: "Faith is the assurance of the things hope for and the conviction of the things not seen." In "The Message" Bible, it goes this way: "The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It is our handle on what we can't see."

Also from the Bible, particularly from the book of James, are the three kinds of faith. One is the Demonic faith. As all of us know the Devil is not an atheist. The Devil believes in God, that God exists, but trembles. Trembling can mean positive things like excitement and thrill. It could also means - being threatened, fearful. The Devil is like that -  the Devil doesn't obey; the Devil wants to take the place of God. Anyone who is insecure or threatened, he or she wants to destroy, remove anyone and anything on his or her. Two, a Dead Faith. This is the faith that is purely in the head. We may able to recite the apostle's creed, memorize many verses of the Bible or even the whole Bible, come to church every Sunday but that's all that we do. Such faith is dead. This faith believes that there is God but believers don't live out their faith. They give their love and loyalty to themselves or to some other power, prestige, ambition, desire and personalities. Three, a Dynamic Faith. This is the faith that believes in God in heart and mind. This the kind of faith that enjoys God in worship, in witness, and in service. This the faith that trusts wholeheartedly, obey consistently and deeply, and works tirelessly to honor God. These are the faithful people whose joy and devotion is to glorify God in everything that they say and do. This is the true Biblical understanding of Faith. Paul explained this very profoundly. Faith is belief in the head, trust in the heart and commitment in the works of our hands and feet.

There is a story of a professor who wanted to show the relations between faith and work. He brought his students into the lake. He asked them to get into a boat and launch into the deep. While they were out into the lake the professor asked his students to row only on one side. As expected they keep on moving but only in circular. The professor said, Faith must show itself in works in order to be real, powerful and meaningful. Work is the products of faith. Faith without works will only make us circle within our selfish self. It is only when we put our faith to work that we can move forward with direction, purpose and meaning. In this month of March I would like to discuss with you, at least 3 major works of faith; of a dynamic faith.

Today we will begin with a Praising Faith. To me this is the most important work of Faith because it desires no other but to love and enjoy God. This kind of faith reveals who God is. This is what you see in the life of Jesus. Jesus' life is a life of prayer, worship, quiet time with God, reflection and reading of the scriptures. John Wesley calls these activities means of grace. But Jesus' experience in his baptism and transfiguration were special moments when God revealed Godself. In both occasions, Jesus heard God clearly saying: "This is my beloved Son to whom I am well pleased. Listen and obey him." I also believe this happened in a special way when Jesus was crucified. Jesus was so assured that his death is the salvation of the world that's why he shouted: "It is finished ... My Father into your hand I commit my spirit." Jesus received full assurance of and from God that he is God only Son to whom anyone who believes will not perish but have everlasting life.

Have you ever experienced in your life this wonderful, amazing moments when God becomes so real to you and you do not need any other assurances or affirmations from other medium like a fellow human being? Deep down in your heart and in your soul, you know such experience is no other than God Godself and your life will never be the same again. This kind of experience is so good that sometimes, like Peter, James and John, we are tempted to just dwell in such wonderful revelation. In a way, we are saying to Jesus, "Let us build booths here because this is so wonderful!". That's the reason why when we feel comfortable in the circle within the church and do not share it with others outside the four walls of the church, in a way, we have given in to the temptation to build a booth for ourselves. I know, we know better that because we know the answer of Jesus to the request of Peter, James and John, "Big No." we have to go down to the valley because there are still others who need to have this experience of the reality of God." It is the will of God that all God's children may know God and have their own transfiguration where they will see God directly, experience wholly and completely in their head and heart, in their mind and spirit, in the way they live each and every day.

A Praising Faith also longs for fellowship and unity with other believers not only today but throughout the ages. I believe this is the meaning of the appearance of Moses and Elijah in that most sacred moment of Jesus' transfiguration. There were James, Peter and John - the representatives of the present believers. There were Elijah and Moses - representatives of the faithfuls of God in the past.

We, too, need our Peter, James and John. These three were the so called inner circle of Jesus but these three were also the leaders of the disciples (the church if you will). Peter, James and John represent our small group and at the same time the church to whom we all belong. We need our small group to share not only our pains and hardships in the valley of life but also the joy and ecstacy in our mountaintop experiences. We need our small group where we can be vulnerable and yet feel safe; there is no fear of judgment only unconditional love and understanding. We need the whole church to share our common works of worship, witness and service. We, too, need our Moses and Elijah - our mentors of faith and life's journey, both living with us or now with God. These are the people that continually inspires us through the witness of their lives and works. In the understanding of the writer of Hebrews, these are the people who serves as our inspirers and cheerers. They are part of our lives, and we are part of theirs.

Theodore Jennings, which I had the privileged to learn from him as his student and an advisee for my dissertation when I was doing my Doctor of Philosophy at the Chicago Theological Seminary. He has a book on the Apostle's creed. He said that the "communion of saints" is not the same as "the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church."  He insists that it would not make sense to just repeat the same thing in a creed that every word matters. Jennings believe that the communion of saints include all people from all faiths who truly love the living God of the universe. Our communion is not only with the saints of the Christians; it is with all the saints of all the living faiths of the world - past, present and future!

Very recently, we have the phenomenon of mega churches. And I bet, there are moments of your lives when you long to be a part of a big church that is famous not only in numbers but also in power, prestige, and wonderful worship and witness in the world. Well, friends, all of us are part of the universal church of Jesus Christ throughout the ages. We are not only belong to a mega church; we belong to a church of the multitude that no one could count.

In the Tuesdays with Morrie, there is an episode where Morrie narrated a story about a wave. It is about a little wave, bobbing along in the ocean, having a grand old time. He's enjoying the wind and the fresh air-until he notices the other waves in front of him, crashing against the shore. "My God, this is terrible," the wave says. "Look what's going to happen to me!"

Then along comes another wave. It sees the first wave, looking grim, and it says to him, "Why do you look so sad?"

The first wave says, "You don't understand! We're all going to crash! All of us waves are going to be nothing! Isn't it terrible?"

WHEN HOPE ABOUNDS

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Spirit. (Romans 15:13) How does a life full of hope look like? Hope is the Hebrew word Tiqvah meaning hope; expectation; something yearned for and anticipated eagerly; something for which one waits. Tiqvah comes from the verb Qavah, meaning "to tarry" or "to wait for" or "to look hopefully" in a particular direction, an expectation, something yearned for with anticipated eagerness.

The psychologists call Hope as our “Prime Psychological Capital.” The famed psychiatrist Karl Menninger called hope a “life instinct.” The Swiss Theologian Emil Brunner said: “What oxygen is to the lungs, such is hope to the meaning of life.” The writer of Hebrews uses stronger language: Hope is “the steadfast anchor of our souls” (Heb 6:18-19). One philosopher summarized by saying: “Loving is to the heart, thinking is to the mind, and hope is to the human spirit.”

In the Bible, Hope is listed as one of three most important things and it stands in between Faith and Love. I believe this is intentionally done by the author to convey the truth about these most important things in life and their complementary relationships. Hope is part of Faith and Love but it is also their servant. Faith is the vehicle of God’s revelation. Faith enables us to know that God exists. Faith assures us that there is more to life than what we see, taste, feel, hear, or smell. But when faith is faced with fear, doubt, frustrations, suffering, hatred, and other acts of evil and death, it can die. That’s why faith needs hope to keep it alive and vibrant. Love is the most important thing because it will outlast Hope and Faith. But love on earth is but a pale expression of the perfect love exemplified in the love of God in Jesus Christ. Love is both a present and future reality. Love is lived out by many people everyday but they are sporadic and incomplete. And when love is confronted with meanness, arrogance, pride, hatred, injustice and all works of evil and death, love can be dull and stiff. It needs hope to keep love passionate and to always see the vision when love will be fully realized and lived by all.

How does a life of hope look like? It is passionate, it is full of life, it never gives up, it keeps moving forward, it is transforming and inspiring. It is a life with vision, passion and excitement.

I would like to believe that I am seeing signs of hope all around us here at Wesley Church. I have seen a significant number of our people energized, empowered, and excited. Some are willing to work beyond what is expected. There is so much energy in planning and doing ministries. There is renewed vitality in prayer and worship. There is an increasing generosity in many of our members. There is an increasing number of people joining our “Inquiring and New Member Class”. We are off to a good start as people abounding in hope.

The other aspect of hope, however, is consistency. With God’s Spirit, we should be able to sustain our enthusiasm, our renewed commitment, and our resolved not to rest until the vision that God etched in our hearts becomes a reality. Hopeful people are in for a very long haul. No amount of cynicism, frustrations, and setbacks can stop us. So let us pray for and cultivate patience, endurance, inspiration, and joy so our Hope will keep on overflowing. Hope make us actively participate and pray until something happens (PUSH). We plant, we water, trusting that God will give the increase, until fruits are seen and ready to be harvested. We just started planting. There is more work in watering and fertilizing and nurturing. God’s gift of harvest depends on what we work and pray in between planting and harvesting. There is so much work to do. Let’s roll our sleeve. Let the New Year symbolizes this new beginning, this new enthusiasm, this new commitment and this new chapter of our life as a family of faith. “Let us work as if everything depends on us; let us pray as if everything depends on God.”

With all my love,

Pastor Juancho

A PERSONAL VIEW ... BUT WITH THE LIGHT OF FAITH

You must have heard the new immigration law in Arizona. This law enables the policemen to question and arrest any person whom they "reasonably" doubt their legal status in the US. What are the "reasonable suspicions" on the status of a person here in the US? In the context of the United States, who are those may be reasonably suspected with illegal status aside from those who actually commit a crime?  Would it not be those who have foreign accent, those who speak broken English and those who look like Hispanic or Asian?

A person who go and a buy a dinner for his/her family and forgot to bring his legal documents, may now be arrested. The family will wait until their dad or mom may or may not be released from prison. There should be a way to differentiate a responsible parent whose only wish is to feed and take care of his/her family from drug smuggler, and human trafficker. This law will give authority to misguided law enforcement officers to harass, intimidate, and violate the human rights of people created in the image of God.

This law also enables anyone to file charges or sue law enforcement officers who maybe suspected of not doing their job of questioning and arresting people who fit the profile of an undocumented immigrant.

We Americans should know that oceans, barb wire, walls or fences will not deter migration of people effectively to America or to any destination of hope for that matter. Our Pilgrim ancestors knew this truth. Death and persecution and perilous journeys did not deter them from seeking freedom and a better life for themselves and for their families. I suspect that the root causes of illegal immigration to the US include poverty and the uncontrolled violence that they experience in their homeland brought about by illegal businesses of drugs and weapons including assault weapons. Most of these weapons come from the US.

If we were to solve immigration problem, we must have a comprehensive immigration reform. We must mend our broken immigration laws. A qualified family should not wait 10-25 years before they can be reunited? Hardworking and responsible people whose only desire is to have a better future, should be given the chance to become part of the United States of America. This is what America has been known for. The selling of assault weapons to our neighboring countries should be stopped or at least controlled. The drug problem should be addressed also. America has become a profitable market for illegal drugs.

It is my prayer that what happened in Arizona will lead us to do something to address the immigration problem. Like in the past, when crisis like this happen, the best in our people and leaders especially in the Federal level, is brought forth to address comprehensively the challenge of immigration.

We need to speak up because we are all united in a "single garment of destiny". What happened to one group of people will affect all the rest of the world. We need to speak up because God wants us to share with the world God's will and vision for all his people - to have abundant life for all (John 10:10). Let us remember Jesus wants us to be the voice and strength of those "least members of Christ's family." (Matthew 25:40). In the Old Testament, God pay attention in a special way for those strangers, poor, orphans, and widows (Leviticus 19:10). If we don't, we may find ourselves in the same shoes as the Lutheran Pastor Martin Niemoeller who, reflecting on Nazi atrocities, he said:

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out -- because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out -- because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out -- because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out -- because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me -- and there was no one left to speak out for me.

God calls us sacred - all people sacred. As holy people, we are called to reflect the very life of our holy God who cares for all but with special attention to the aliens, orphans and widows. Let us live and act as holy people. Let us be bearers of love not hate, peace not oppression, justice not discrimination, freedom not repression; uphold human rights all the time not undermine the dignity and worth of every human being. Amen.

With all my love and prayers,

Pastor Juancho

THE CHALLENGE OF EASTER

Easter is the Queen of all festivals in the Christian calendar. Easter validates the birth, life, and passion of Jesus Christ. Easter is the ground of the Christian hope. Through the years, Easter has become commercialized but not yet in the level that Christmas has become.  Easter has an occasion for comfort, for family fun, and a time to forget the grim realities even just for a while. These are all good things but if this is what Easter really means to us, I think we are missing the point. Easter is both a time for comfort and inspiration, a time to look at sad realities and a time of hope for a better world, a time to realize how big is the challenge ahead of us and a time for empowerment. Christ's resurrection is saying yes to positive change! Yes to Life! Yes to human possibilities! Yes to love, and justice and peace and freedom to reign supreme in the hearts of people, communities, nations and the world.

Take for instance the following:

At the first Easter morning, the early disciples led my Mary Magdalene discovered the resurrection because they decided to go to the tomb where Jesus was buried. There was a seemingly insurmountable problem of "who will roll the stone away for us" (see Mark 16:1-8) but this did not deter them. If we were to be true to the message of Easter, we must also be willing to make our celebrations a trip to the tomb of Jesus. The tomb of Jesus is wherever justice is ridiculed, love is frowned upon, truth is suppressed, freedom is taken away and life is only for the few.

At the close of the first Easter, there were two disciples walking towards Emmaus (Luke 24). Jesus joined them but did not recognize him at first. In the course of their faith conversation along the way, they felt their heart strangely warmed but they did not recognized Jesus until the time he broke bread with them after a strong persuasion to stay with them for the night because of security reason. The message is clear, Easter's message is to help bring life to people especially the least members of Christ's family.

Few days after the first Easter morning, Jesus appeared again to the fearful disciples. The apostle Thomas, this time was there. Remember Thomas was the apostle who said: "Unless I touch the wound of Jesus hands, feet and sides, I would not believe the resurrection." Jesus gave Thomas a chance to touch the wound of Jesus. Upon touching Jesus, Thomas declared "My Lord and my God." Here again, the resurrection was revealed by touching the wounds of Jesus. There are many people out there who doubt the resurrection but if we can be bold enough to show them the wound of Jesus on our bodies and in our life as a church, the world will be easier to believe in the power of the resurrection.

Indeed a changed life - a life that is more loving and giving, a life that is committed to justice, peace and freedom, a life motivated and sustained by compassion and love - is the greatest proof of the resurrection. May this be true to us. Let us celebrate Easter, let us shout "Christ is risen," let us play egg hunting, Easter bunny and more but let not these things blind us to the call of Easter to bring peace over chaos, love over hatred, forgiveness over sin and hurt, faith over doubt, hope over despair, light over darkness, and life over death. Let our individual life be a radiance of the light of Christ's resurrection.

Happy Easter everyone.

With all my love,

Pastor Juancho