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My heart beats for love. I want to be different. I want to be who I am called to be. WORTHY and LOVED!

Sunday, April 29, 2018

“Following Christ: Led by the Spirit” Matt 28: 16-20

Jesus has been crucified, buried, and is now resurrected. As one of his last act, the last act and last words of the Gospel of Matthew in fact, he is telling his disciples that the time has come for them to go out into the world and do what he has done -  to go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that Christ has commanded. Not a small task. 
We may have heard this scripture passage before. In fact, we may have heard it more times then we can count. As United Methodists, its the basis of our mission statement: “to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”  But I think in order to understand what Jesus is asking, even commanding, in this passage, we need to understand what it means to be a disciple.
When I was in college we were required to attend chapel. When school was in session, chapel would be held before lunch several times a week. Usually it would be a guest speaker or the dean. Sometimes special groups would come and offer music. But during the summer session, when fewer students were on campus, we would gather into the student center and watch devotional videos and spend time discussing them. 
One of those videos was Dust by Rob Bell, where he talked about what it meant and felt like to be a disciple. As disciples of any rabbi, and most importantly to us, Jesus, disciples would follow their teacher around. They didn’t just glean the knowledge being offered to them - they wanted to be like that rabbi. They ate what their teacher ate, slept where their teacher slept. When you were a disciple, a follower, you wanted to be covered in the dust from your rabbi’s feet because you followed after them so closely and for so long. I remember watching that video and thinking I want that. I want to be covered in the dust of Jesus’s feet. I want to be known, known, brothers and sisters as a disciple of Jesus. 
But as much as that image struck me, so did some of the wisdom about being a disciple that Rob offered - believing in Jesus does not make you a disciple of Christ. Let me say that again, believing in Jesus does not make you a disciple of Christ. They are two different things. We could believe in the power and message of Christ without feeling the need to go and live out the great commission commanded in today’s passage of scripture. But I believe that when we do not desire with our beings to follow Jesus, to know what Jesus knows and to be like Jesus, and we don’t strive to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world by baptizing and teaching others what Jesus has taught us, that we are not being the church.
There are lots of reasons that we would rather know Jesus ourselves instead of being disciples – discipleship is hard. Its messy. But above all, I think that we do not go and spread this message of hope, love, and peace, because we do not think that we are good enough. We don’t have a seminary education. We haven’t studied the Bible enough. But brothers and sisters Jesus called the not good enough’s, those who others had rejected and gave them the same authority that he had been given. He invested time in them and they changed the world. We do not need to know everything about Jesus or have our methods for sharing Christ perfected. We are simply called to go, and share our love for Jesus.
I’m sure the disciples felt in this moment, this time of sending that they weren’t ready as well. Sure they had done some of the things that Jesus had done - being sent out two by two to teach and bring healing - but sometimes they returned triumphant and sometimes they returned feeling like failures. I call this their internship phase of being disciples -  they could test the waters out before having to fully do it themselves. They could return to Jesus and ask for help. They could be tentative up to this point - learning along the way. 
I have to believe that at least some of the disciples are thinking about what took place after they returned from the mountain top where Jesus was transfigured. Didn’t Jesus remember how they couldn’t even heal a son struggling with epilepsy and Jesus had to step in. Did Jesus really trust them to be the ones who brought the good news? 
And what Jesus was commanding them to do was hard. The instructions were given to the disciples in Galilee - the land of the Gentiles. When Jesus is telling them to go and baptize all nations, it isn’t what we imagine it to be today - all of the nation states of the world. No, Jesus is telling them in the land of foreigners to go to those who are not like them. Those who don’t believe what they believe. Those who don’t speak like they speak. Those who may not look like them. They are to go to everyone and proclaim the Good News, not just those who they are comfortable with. 
It is this call that Jesus leaves his disciples with. To go and do the hard thing. To go and doing the seemingly impossible thing. Which may be just be the point. The disciples could not live into this commandment apart from the mercy and strength of God. In the words of Shirely Guthrie, author and theologian, “The same God who is God over us as God the Father and Creator, and God with and for us as the incarnation of the Word and Son, is also God in and among as the Holy Spirit” It is the power of this God that was sending the disciples into this mission field and would not leave them there alone. And brothers and sisters, we are not done in that mission field. We are not done inviting people to come and know the grace of our saving God. But we can only do it by the power of the Holy Spirit. 
The truth is, we are bearers of a powerful message. But we have to believe in the power of that which we are called to share. And if we believe in the power of our God and the power of the Gospel, then what is stopping us? How can be we go from those who believe in Jesus to those who cannot help but share about Jesus? Go from those who know about Jesus to being disciples who venture out in Christ’s name?

Are we willing to be disciples, risking ourselves for a message that is bigger then us? Are we willing to venture into the messy places in life, to share the good news that someone once dared to show us? Are we so in love with Jesus that our feet are covered with the mud of the same places that he traveled? And are we willing to truly believe that this is what Jesus has called us to, no matter what? The harvest is plentiful my friends, are we willing to believe in ourselves as Jesus believes is us, and go?  Amen. 

Sunday, April 15, 2018

“Following Christ: God Wants You” Eph 5: 1-2

The letter to the Ephesians was written to a group of believers in Ephesus for a variety of reasons, but one of the main reasons was to un-teach some of the harmful and incorrect things that they had been hearing about the faith. Remember that often these faith communities were new - having a leader like Paul live amongst them for a few months to a few years, teaching them about Christ before moving on to the next place to set up new communities of believers.
But often these new believers would be subjected to people claiming to be prophets who would come in and sound just enough like the apostles to earn people’s trust before trying to teach them things that were contrary to what they had originally been taught, leading to confusion and misbelief. 
One of the main teachings folks in Ephesus were struggling with was called gnosticism. Gnosticism started out by sounding like the Torah - sounding like Jewish teachings that were picked up by the Christian faith. But a few things were distinct among the different types of gnostics - first, some believed that there was a knowledge that could be achieved that brought you closer to the divine. In fact, for some, salvation came in knowing not believing. Other gnostics believed that you could do whatever you wanted in this life, because our earthly bodies don’t matter.
I was listening to a podcast recently that made the point that we can see why believers could get confused by gnosticism, because we can get tricked into some of these beliefs today. When we say that its about knowing about Christ, more than believing in Christ. Or that we can do whatever we want as long as we have accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior, because its our souls that matter. You hear the tinge of Christian teaching - sound just Christian enough to confuse us.
Enter the letter to the Ephesians and our scripture from it today, that tells us that faith matters. That how we live our lives as we follow Christ matters. And if we don’t know how to act as believers then we need to look back to Christ, modeling our behavior in the love that God showed to us in Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. 
Back in the 1990s there was a saying that would often accompany fabric bracelets that some folks wore asking “W.W.J.D.?” - What would Jesus do? When placed in a situation where you were unsure of what to do or what decision to make you were to ask yourself, What Would Jesus do? 
Ephesians 5: 1-2 was the original W.W.J.D - telling us to be imitators of God. Why? Because we are made in the divine image. Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created humankind[a] in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” Sometimes the idea that we are made in the divine image can make us uncomfortable, mostly because of ways this teaching too has been bent outside of what it originally meant. Genesis is telling us that we are made in the image of God - that we have the ability to believe in God because of that image. Yet, somehow it got miscommunicated and misunderstood over the years to mean that we are gods - little g - in charge of our little corners of the world and not accountable to the One and Holy God, which we know isn’t true. When scripture gets twisted around, it becomes dangerous, brothers and sisters. 
God doesn’t just want our knowledge brothers and sisters, God wants all of us believe and follow after the Holy One. I once heard this compared to those of you who are married. Sometimes we want our spouses to help do things, like the dishes. But we don’t just want them to help us out because we asked them to, doing it resentfully. No we want them to want to help. 
God doesn’t just want us to believe and follow after Christ because we feel that we have. Being full of resentment. No God wants us to want to follow Christ with all we have and with all we are. God wants us to want to share such love with others. 1 Peter 2:21 tell us that Christ chose to suffer for us, out of deep love for us, and that is the example that we, too, as believers are called to follow. We have an example of someone who wanted to want to love us in Jesus Christ, and as followers we are to share that love with others. 
But what does that actually look like? What does it actually meant that God wants us to want to follow Christ? What does it look like to want to love others in the name of God as a fragrant offering? 
Scripture is actually pretty clear about how we are to act. We are to love God with all we have and all we are and love our neighbor as ourselves. We are to give food to those who are hungry, water to those who are thirsty, clothing to the naked. We are to visit those who are sick and in prison. We are to share the good news in word and deed. 
While I don’t think its a mystery how we are supposed to act as a reflection of the love of Christ, that does not mean that it is always easy. Often we can find ourselves asking questions like if people actually deserve our help or wondering if what we do is really sharing the good news. We want immediate results for our efforts - sharing a sandwich and then people come to know Jesus, but that isn’t how it works. And why do we think that it would be? Especially when we look at the example of Jesus?
God expressed love for us through Christ giving himself on the cross, so that we could be freed from our sins. Yet, Christ was rejected. And even as his disciples shared the good news, many believed, but many still turned away. 
Love isn’t always easy, brothers and sisters, and maybe thats why we needed those 1990s W.W.J.D. bracelets. Because it takes reminders and practices to choose to love like Christ loved. To choose to be imitators of Christ. To choose to share the good news. 
Yet, we are given opportunities every single day to make that choice. Sometimes, we choose correctly. Other times, like the Ephesians, we may let false beliefs set in that distract us from truly following Christ. Other times, we just may choose wrong. But the choice still exists. The invitation still exists. For that is what the cross of Christ is, is it not? An invitation to accept the greatest gift ever offered, but also an invitation to be sent out, as followers, in Christ name so that others may come to know the saving love of Jesus. Let us go and follow Christ, imitating him so that the message of his kingdom is shared with those we meet. Amen. 













Sunday, April 8, 2018

“Following Christ: Joining God on the Journey” Matthew 4: 12-23



The story of Jesus’s ministry in the Gospel of Matthew is a bit different from some of the other Gospels. In Matthew Jesus is baptized in the Jordan River by his cousin, John, is then sent off into the wilderness to be tempted, and then emerges to find out the distressing news that John had been arrested. Jesus’s public ministry began just as John’s public ministry ended. 
The first act of Jesus’s public ministry was to continue on the proclamation that John had started “Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven has come near!” The only problem is that people didn’t quite get what he was saying. They thought that Jesus was talking about a military take over of the Roman government, when really Jesus was speaking about something more powerful and lasting - people being called to follow the ways and priorities of God. 
Which is exactly what Jesus did next - Jesus called two brothers, Simon and Andrew, to follow him and he would make them fishers of people. I’m not sure they exactly knew what Jesus meant either, but something in what he said compelled them to leave their nets, leave their lively hood, leave everything that they knew and follow him. Jesus did the same thing with two other brothers - James and John, who also left their father, and followed Jesus.
Sometimes, I think that we are waiting for Jesus to walk by us and call our names to follow him as well. We are waiting for an experience like that of the first disciples to join God on the journey, where Jesus came to them in the flesh and told them that they were now going to go and fish for people. 
But for many of us that isn’t the case. My own call story is more subtle. Since I was a small child, I thought that I was supposed to be a doctor. There are pictures of me playing doctor from as young as a toddler, making my parents be the patients on the couch, up to high school when I attended a special summer program for those going into the medical profession. But when I got to college, I realized that there was a great chasm between what I thought I was supposed to do and what I was truly passionate about. I realized that medicine wasn’t calling, but I also didn’t know what was. 
I spend the next several years trying to find my way, my calling, switching both majors an d schools before settling on a career in counseling. My junior year of college when I was applying to graduate schools. I remember standing in the dissertation room at one of the universities and just breaking down in tears, realizing that this, too, was not my calling. With those tears the conversation shifted from seeking a call, to listening for a call. As I spent time in prayer, I realized that all along my passions, gifts, and graces were aligning for parish ministry.
Sometimes we let our own expectations get in the way of following Jesus. We so badly want Jesus to show up in a particular way in our lives, that we overlook his call again and again in our own lives. Yes, sometimes the call to follow Jesus comes in an audible voice. Or the encouragement of another person. Or sometimes simply in falling tears, as we lay down our own plans for those of Christ. But the central truth about Jesus calling us is it is foundational to who we are.
The disciples entire lives changed that day when they heard Jesus say “follow me” and went. Here’s the thing that we miss out on sometimes in our translations though - they didn’t just go - they went immediately. Without hesitation. In the Greek it means they “directly went”. They didn’t consult or pause, they simply went because Jesus said something that touched their souls.
Is that how we respond today, brothers and sisters? Because the truth is Jesus is calling all of us, both as individuals to follow him, and as a church. When Jesus calls us to try something new to reach new people, is our response to do it without hesitation? 
Because here’s the thing, church, we are all called to be part of the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ. Not just some of us. All of us. In fact, if we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are all also called to be fishers of people. What does it look like today to be fishers of people in this world?
I only remember fishing a few times when I was a child, but I remember that one of the basic premises was certain bait catches certain fish. In other words sometimes we need to change the lore, if we want to catch people. Friends, I’m not sure we are always quick to change our lore as the church. What do I mean by that? Do we share our faith in ways that truly speak to people’s hearts. Do we use words that they understand. 
I was recently at a training with our new Director of Congregational Development, Kay Kotan, and Kay was making the point that all too often as a church we throw the label of evangelism on things that are clearly not. She gave the example of putting a sign in the church lawn that advertised an annual chili super. Then if someone from the community actually showed up at the chili super we make them pay for it, and then they often go and sit by themselves before leaving. Then we get excited because we had a new person come through the door, but we never really talked to them. This is not evangelism that is connecting with folks who don’t know Jesus. 
Instead, what would it mean to actually examine everything that we do through the lens of a visitor. What would reach them? What words or things do we do that they may not understand? In other word, what road blocks can we remove in order to truly be fishers of people? 
Now I am not saying here that we change the message. The message is always about Jesus, brothers and sisters. But I am asking if we are serious about being fishers of people and what we are willing to do or change in order to reach new people. In other words what does it mean to be a congregation that truly fishes for people?
The disciples responded because Jesus simply said “follow me”. They didn’t know who this Jesus was. They had no idea what was coming next. What would Jesus have to say to us today, church, for us to follow him? And what does it mean for us to be followers of Jesus? Do we respond to Jesus’s invitation with excuses or do we immediately go because it is our Lord and Savior who is calling us?
Because we know the list of things that are keeping us from full-heartedly following Jesus. We don’t have the time. We can’t make the commitment. We aren’t sure since we don’t know all of the details. Friends, the early disciples could have said all of the same things, but instead, they focused on Jesus instead of all of the reasons why not. 
Church, Jesus is calling us today. How are we going to respond? Are we going to immediately go, doing whatever it takes to proclaim the Kingdom of Heaven? Are we going to risk the unknown for the sake of God? Are we going to be a congregation that fishes for people with Jesus? Are we willing to be disciples? Amen. 

Sunday, April 1, 2018

“Mosaic: God Redeems our Brokenness” Mark 16: 1-8

We have arrived. We have arrived at the most celebrated day in the Christian life - Easter Sunday. But in order to cerebrate we need to take time to reflect on the journey that brought us here. 
For the last several weeks together, we have been talking about brokenness - both our own personal brokenness, but also the brokenness of our world. While there are many people talking about how fractured our world is right now, and how things are not as they should be, as the Church we took the conversation a different direction - proclaiming that we worship a God who can redeem our brokenness, who can make beauty from the ashes and create something new out of the jagged edges of our lives. 
And that brothers and sisters is truly what today is all about - on this Easter Resurrection Sunday, we celebrate that we have a God who redeems our brokenness. Let us turn to the Gospel of Mark. 
It has been a difficult week for the disciples. The person who called them by name to follow him in the last week shared a final meal with them, was arrested, tried, falsely convicted, hung on a cross, and died. The disciples lives are shattered. They have scattered for safety.
Sunday morning, at the breaking of dawn, three of the women who had followed Jesus approached the tomb with more spices. They intended to give their Lord the proper burial he deserved. No one else had dared to visit the tomb over the Sabbath - Pilate had went as far as to post a guard in front of it at the prompting of the Jewish leaders to make sure that Jesus’ followers did not try to come and steal his body in order to claim that he had risen. The eleven were in hiding, fearing their own arrest and sorely disappointed themselves for abandoning Jesus in his time of need, just as he had predicted.
But the women were brave as they went to honor Jesus memory that morning in the best way that they knew how - by burying him properly. So Mary the mother of James, Mary Magedline, and Salome took their spices and went to the grave. As they approached they started to wonder who would roll away the heavy stone for them. But a surprise awaited them at the tomb that morning as the sun rose in the sky - the stone had already been rolled away. A stone too heavy for one or two grown men to roll on their own was aside and a young man, in a white robe, a messenger from God, was there and told them that Jesus has been raised and that he had been raised! Just as Jesus predicted! 
They were commanded to go and tell the disciples, telling them that Jesus would meet them in Galilee. They would have to leave their place of hiding in Jerusalem and follow Jesus, once again. But instead the women did not tell anyone, because they were afraid. 
Each of the four gospels tells the story slightly differently, but they share one central tenant in common - the idea that Jesus had been raised from the dead was unbelievable to those who heard it. Even to those who experienced the empty tomb with their own eyes and heard the messenger from God. Jesus had told them time and time again that this would be the case - that the grave would not even be able to hold him three days, but they still did not believe it. 
There are times that our brokenness, those jagged edges in our lives, make it so difficult to receive and believe the Easter story. Times when we struggle with the idea of the empty tomb. Time that we have doubts. 
But that is part of our faith story as well, isn’t it? Even in the midst of unbelief we are beckoned to believe the unbelievable, because we worship a God who does not simply do what we expect or what we want or even what we are able and willing to believe. We worship a God who is bigger then our expectations! We worship a God who is found in the midst of the absurd and through that absurdity transforms people! Praise God! We only need to look as far as the disciples to see this transformation in the face of doubt - even though the disciples initially wrestled in their own way with their guilt and then their disbelief that Jesus was alive, they went on to leave their place of hiding in the upper room and proclaim Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection so boldly that they were willing to die for it - and most of them did. They were compelled to tell the story! And that leads me to ask, on this celebration day, if we, too, are compelled to go and tell the story! The story of who Jesus is in our lives and what the cross and empty tomb means in our lives.Are we willing to stand up and boldly proclaim our story with Jesus, even if we don’t have it all figured out, even if we do not believe every little detail. Are we willing to share our story, Easter people!
I can remember the first time the idea that Jesus conquered the grave truly excited me. One of the first concerts I ever remember going to as a whole family was to see Carman. Now I’m not sure if Carman even still performs any more, but he was a Christian pop singer in the early 90s. My dad used to play his cassette, yes cassette, tapes for us in the car when we traveled. Carman performed at the Bryce Jordan Center when we were little and sang a song that I had heard time and time agin. I don’t remember the title, or even all of the words, but the song captured Jesus’ agony on the cross and final breath, followed by Satan’s celebration that Jesus had died. The arena went almost completely dark as the voice of Satan rejoiced. But then slowly, and softly at first, before gaining momentum and volume the Rocky music started to play signifying Jesus rising from the grave. The lights came back on and you could hear Satan howl in the pain of defeat as Jesus conquered death and the grave. For himself. For you. And for me. It caused my spine to tingle. Jesus conquered it all for you and for me! The arena started to cheer and praise God! And in that moment I understood that Jesus meant so much more then just the cross, for Jesus showed his love for us on the cross, and showed his power and our ability to have eternal life with the empty tomb.

Brothers and sisters, we are a Resurrection people! We gather in community week after week to remind each other that the worst things in life, those broken jagged edges we have, will not last and we have a hope that sometimes doesn’t seem to make sense and sometimes seems absurd, but we believe it in anyway. In fact, our faith stands on it. We gather together to live out our faith, and transform lives with our service and message. I can think of nothing else so exciting. I can think of nothing else that has transformed the world in such a powerful way. My hope and prayer, today, is that it excites you to be part of that story as well. Amen.