Wounded Love

Clean Us - Mark 1: 40-45

2012-02-13T10:30:00.001-05:00

There are many different names and titles that we use to identify characteristics of Jesus. Counselor. Prince of Peace. Mighty God. Lord of Lords. Messiah. Teacher. Preacher. Son of God and Son of Man. Christ. Rabbi. The Great I Am. Most High. Emmanuel. The Almighty. The Great Lamb. Our Shepherd. The Way. The Vine. The Living Bread of Life. The Rose of Sharon. The Light. The Bright Morning Star. The Living Stone. The Chief Cornerstone. The Advocate. The Cup of Life. The list goes on and on. But in today’s scripture passage Jesus is most notably the Healer.

In fact, Jesus has been the Great Healer for most of the first chapter of Mark’s gospel. This is the third healing story within 45 verses. What is Mark trying to tell us through these narratives and what makes this healing story different then the others the gospel writer told?

Two weeks ago we looked at the first healing story in the gospel of Mark about the man with the evil spirits. That man was healed within the synagogue, amongst his neighbors and friends. He did not ask to be healed, yet Jesus cast out the evil spirits anyway. The second healing story we haven’t discussed as part of a sermon. It was of Simon’s mother-in-law who was at death’s door with a high fever. Others asked Jesus to go and heal her and she was simply healed. But in today’s story, a man had the faith and gumption to approach Jesus and ask for healing.

Why was it such a bold act for this man to approach Jesus? Haven’t we all asked Jesus for healing at one point or another in our lives? This man was a leper, a social outcast. By law he wasn’t allowed to approach Jesus or any other person. Because his disease was so contagious, those with lepersay were banished from the community and had to go and live by themselves or in a colony with others suffering from lepresey. They were marginalized by a social illness brought on by their physical disease. They were viewed as impure, unclean, and a source of dangerous contamination. So under Levitical law, once the priest became aware of someone contracting lepresey, they were were no longer allowed to pray in the temple or go to the synagogue. They were completely expelled from society.

Yet, this leper came to Jesus. He knew that he shouldn’t according to the law. He knew that he was putting Jesus at risk of contracting his isolating disease. But he was at his wits end. He had to try something. So he went to Jesus and knelt before him, begging to be healed. He obviously had some sort of faith to come and see Jesus in this way; he had to believe that Jesus could truly heal him. Further he tells Jesus, “if you choose you can make me clean.” And Jesus did choose.

We live in a culture where many preachers ave used and abused this story and others like it to condemn people who are ill. Telling people that if they just had enough faith they would be healed. But what these preachers and those following their teachings miss is who Jesus was really healing in this passage. On the surface it looks like Jesus healed the man who had faith. And this may be true. But the story doesn’t end there. Some translations, including the one that we are using today state that Jesus was moved with compassion to heal this man, but an equal number say that Jesus was moved with anger. What did Jesus have to be angry about? And can pity and anger be mixed together?

Jesus was angry at the societal norms that made this beloved man of God an outcast from society. Jesus’ healing of this man disrupted the social order and turned around all of the laws that Jesus was supposed to be abiding by concerning people who were deemed unclean. Unfit to interact with the rest of society. He was breaking down boundaries. Jesus was so angry by how the religious and civil society were treating this man, and others with his disease, that he was moved with pity, and with this pity he reached out and did something that he did not have to do - he touched the man. Jesus is powerful enough to heal people without touching them. He had already shown that when he cast out the unclean spirits from the man in the temple simply by the command of his voice. But he knew that this man needed human touch, so he reached out and caressed him, breaking the rules that had prevented the man from not having any human contact for so long. Jesus said with both his actions and his voice that he did choose to heal the man. And isn’t this truly the message of the gospel - that Jesus has come to liberate those who have been deemed unclean. Those who have been marginalized and outcasted from society. Those who are in need of the caress of hope.

This past week I was in New York City at the General Board of Global Missions, one of the parts of the United Methodist Church that serves people who are in need of hope and healing around the world through our shares of ministry. I was so impressed to see how the United Methodist Church was present in over 136 countries around the wold. Working with the poor to change systems and societal norms. Teaching native women how to share the gospel with societies where reading is not the norm. Training chiefs, preachers, and emams about malaria and other preventable diseases and helping them be agents of change through the Nothing But Nets and Imagine No Malaria campaigns. GBGM is helping pastors reach out to those in their congregations suffering from addictions and related violence. They are training young people to be peer counselors concerning abusive relationships and addictions. And these are just a few examples of how we are reaching out and partnering with people to bring hope and healing and wholeness around the world.

The seminar was two jam packed days and on the day in between our learnings we traveled to three United Methodist ministries and churches in New York City who are truly offering the caress of hope to those whom others have turned away. While there another young clergy made the following comment to me: “I love ministry that evolves from the simple questions: ‘what is God calling us to do about this?’ There is an aids epidemic? Maybe we should make it possible for people to get tested twice a week. People can’t find work? We have a kitchen to feed them and a chef who comes in to teach them how to cook so they can find work. People haven’t paid their taxes in a few years? We have a basement where some accountants came come. Let’s put two and two together.”

What I loved about these ministries we visited and the work that GBGM is doing is that it is truly the intersection between compassion for people and anger at society. Brothers and sisters we have moved well beyond the time when we can simply respond to people with compassion while allowing the same oppressive systems to be untouched and unchanged. This is neither love nor justice. Our United Methodist heritage calls for us to change systems while reaching out to people. And honestly, that can be scary work. It seems a lot easier to give people some money then to ask the hard question of what has prevented them from having a job or money to take care of their family in the first place and striving to help the individual while charing the system.It means that we need to be asking questions that do not have easy answers. It also means acknowledging our own guilt.

I have to wonder if Jesus was also angry at himself when we he saw this man. Surly it was not the first leper he had seen. Yet it was the first one that we were told that he reached out and healed. For 30 years Jesus had been part of the system, implicitly or explicitly, that ostracized this man and others like him, and now he was face to face with a human being not a set of rules or boundaries. But in that moment, Jesus set aside concern from himself, or following the rules, and took this man’s uncleanliness upon himself. Even though this man was healed by Jesus touch, under Levitical law, Jesus was now supposed to be banished even if he never contracted lepresey himself, because he intentionally put himself in harms way. And that scares us. We don’t want to be putting ourselves in situations where we may be at risk or may break rules. But Jesus felt compelled to do so in that moment, and he changed a mans life because of that, and started to change a society.

My parents are with us today, and I’m sure they can tell us about plenty of times that they have felt that I have put myself at risk for others. Times I have traveled to bad neighborhoods or have worked with people that made them feel a bit uncomfortable at first. But even with all of the risks, I felt compelled to do so because I had a vision. We are not all called to go to dangerous places, that is why GBGM represents us as a denominational church, sending missionaries to over 60 countries. And we are not called as this church to necessarily be doing the same ministries as the churches I visited in NYC - those are their missions that stem from their vision and the prayer that God has answered for them when they asked, “what are you asking us to do about this God? What are you calling us to do?” But we called to be agents of change, hope, and healing here. We are to be asking the question what is God asking us to do in this place, here and now, to bring healing. And the answer may surprise us. It may make us feel uncomfortable and ask us to put ourselves aside for others. But we have to ask. Because Jesus, the one who has all of those names and titles, has been healer in our lives so we are to be healers in the lives of others. No matter what the cost. No matter what.

Bing Single

2012-02-09T18:35:00.003-05:00

I've been thinking a lot about what it means to be single lately. The older I get, the more assumptions come along with being single, especially from older generations. The one that bothers me the most is that I must have more time because I'm single. We all have the same 24 hours in a day. Yes, how we live in those 24 hours may look differently if we have a family vs. being single. However, what many people do not consider is that the same basic activities of the day - cooking, cleaning, paying bills, doing the grocery shopping, running errands - need to be done regardless of your marital status. And when you are single you have to do them all yourself. There isn't another person to share these tasks with, so you do them in addition to working a job and everything else you do.

Some older folks seem to have forgotten what it was like to be single, mostly, because they haven't been so since college or even before that. What seems to have gotten lost is that being single while a student and being single in the "real world" are two completely different things. Yet, people fondly remember what it was like to be care-free during college, and think that is what its like to be single.

We all have a lot to learn from one another. Single or married. Those with kids and those without. But all too ofter our assumptions block us from learning. Sadly. May we approach each other with open hearts and open minds.

Priscilla Queen of the Desert

2012-02-09T18:19:00.002-05:00

This past week I went to go see Priscilla Queen of the Desert. First, I must say that some of the drag queens had very impressive legs and could certainly navigate high-heels better than I can. But my second thought is much more important. Part of what I feel called to do, as a pastor, is create a space for all people, but I'm not sure I can do that where I am at currently, or perhaps even in this annual conference at all. I kept asking myself throughout the show if someone showed up in drag to my church, would they be welcomed. And honestly, I don't know if they would be. I'm serving in an area that is still ripe with comments about "those people" and brash generalizations linking homosexuality to child abuse. And that breaks my heart. It breaks my heart because no matter what I believe or how welcoming I am as the pastor of the church, it really comes down to how the people in the pews treat others and how their ideologies get lived out in their interactions.

I'm getting back into the swing of reading again for pleasure. Last week I read The Help, which has received a good deal of press recently as it was turned into a movie. I haven't seen the movie, but in the book, which takes place in the 1960s, one of the white women in the town goes on a rampage to get the domestic help in homes different toilets, either in the backyard in a shack or in the garage. Her logic was that people of color have different diseases due to the pigment of their skin which can be transmitted through sharing toilet seats. Now we may be taken aback, but wasn't this part of the prevalent logic in the early through mid-1900s that lead to segregation? Now we cringe at the ignorance of those who have come before us. I cannot help but think that we are going to have just as much shame and cringing in the future over the absurd generalizations we make about LGBTQIQA folks in the future. Assumptions that have blocked relationships and that have prevented us from being the body of Christ.

It doesn't really matter what you believe what the Bible says about various sexualities; we can use the Bible justify whatever we want. And that has caused us to cringe as well. The ways we've used the Bible to humiliate and subjugate people and strip away their humanity. Whatever you believe, the Bible is still abundantly clear that we are called to love all people. When will we begin to let the great commandment to love the Lord our God with our entire beings and love others as we love ourselves become a reality? When will the church start to see with the eyes of Christ and respond with the Heart of God with actions lead by the Holy Spirit?

Vision

2012-02-09T09:28:00.004-05:00

The past few days I was in NYC at a seminar at the General Board of Global Ministries. It was very informative and eye opening, and affirmed my love for the United Methodist Church. While there we visited three churches/ ministries of the church that are reaching out to serve their communities. What struck me the most about the ministries that we visited was that they were all rooted in prayer. The pastor had a vision that was revealed by God through prayer. What a simple and beautiful point that we often overlook in our haste to be the biggest and the best. As my colleagues toured the ministries with me, more than one made the comment, "This is neat. I can do this at my church." to which I rebutted, "But are you called to do this at your church?" The ministries we toured were reaching their particular neighborhoods through the particular vision God gave them. We aren't called to replicate what they are doing, but to pray for our communities and wait for the vision that God reveals to us.

I love the connectional nature of the UMC, but sometimes it has its down-sides. Like when we compare ourselves to other clergy and their churches. When we judge ourselves and the churches we serve off of them. It isn't supposed to be that way, but sometimes it happens.

Could the ministries we saw be effective in our area? Certainly. But is it what we are called to do? Who we are called to be? Because that makes all the difference in the world in our ministries.

Have You Not Heard - Is 40: 21-31

2012-02-09T09:28:00.001-05:00

One of the core beliefs of Israel that is present throughout the scriptures is the assumption that faith begins with memory. Have you ever taken a moment to consider how memory defines us. Our memories sometimes aren’t the most accurate - we may not recall an event in full detail - but it is what we remember that is important, not if it is fully factual.

We, as human beings, have selective memories in this fashion. We remember things how we want to remember them. And we remember the things we want to recall. And that goes on to define who we are. For example, if we are pessimistic, we may only recall the bad things, even though good things have happened in our lives as well. And if we are optimistic, we are more prone to remember things in a positive way.

In today’s scripture passage the Israelites are facing the possibility of forgetting - forgetting who their God is and who they are as a people. For many many years they have been in captivity in Babylon after being taken from Jerusalem. They have been gone so many years that the keepers of the memories have passed on. Perhaps the people of Israel still shared these memories of who they are as the chosen people of God late at night, but the truth behind the words is starting to fade. The memories seem more like distant fantasies in the face of their captivity.

But in this passage, God cries out through the prophet for them to remember. Remember what they know. Remember what they’ve heard and what has been told to them. Remember who God is. God is preparing them for a journey back to Jerusalem to face the seemingly impossible task to rebuild the city and the temple. But it cannot be done if the people’s faith in God is not intact, if their memory has ceased to exist.

Can you identify with the amnesia of the Israelites? Are their times in your life when you have forgotten who God is? Forgotten who you are? Our type of amnesia today causes us to quickly forget God’s power and might when we enter into stressful situations. It is what causes us to ask ourselves if God has abandoned us during difficult times.

Israel is facing a real problem in today’s scripture passage because they are on the verge of corporately forgetting who they are. When a few people struggle the unit will not falter because others are in their lives to remind them who they are and that God is in control. But when the entire body has forgotten, when no one is there to testify to who they are as a people, an identity crisis begins to take root. Sometimes I wonder if we are in such a place as the Church of Jesus Christ today. If we no long remember who we are, what we believe, and why we believe it. Are we just as lost as the Israelites in captivity?

An old adage states that you cannot know where you are going unless you know where you came from. So many churches today are struggling to do the next popular thing or to offer the next program so they can draw people in, but this flurry of activity isn’t reflective of who they are as the people of God. It is more about entertaining then evangelism. More about profit then the Kingdom of God. I truly believe such activity shows that we are in a time of identify crisis, where we are desperately in need of someone to remind us who God is and who we are.

Today’s scripture passage tells us over and over again that God is powerful and in control. That other rulers will come to pass but that God remains the same. No one compares to God. Everyone and everything else is simply a creation of God. Yet, we are running around acting as if we are God. As if we are the ones in control instead of the ones following the vision that God has laid before us. We particularly forget who is who and what is what when times are going well. When we feel powerful. But today’s scripture reminds us of our unqualified powerlessness. And we don’t like that. We want to be the powerful ones being praised. Or we may even be willing to praise God’s powerfulness when things are going our way, but that’s not who today’s scripture passage is written to. It is written for the powerless. The ones who are so weighed down upon by life that they have forgotten everything that matters.

God is gracious enough to give us each moments when we are reminded who God is. Moments that remind us how big God is, yet how intimate our relationship is to the Holy. These moments are different for everyone, but they help us remember who God is. For me these moments have taken place in nature. If you enter my house, you will find pictures everywhere. Most are of people, friendly face smiling, but some are of moments. Moments that I remember every time I look at them.

As I write this sermon I see a picture of the sun setting over a bay of water. Orange and full as it disappears in its brilliance through clouds scattered across the sky. I can tell you the exact spot where that picture was taken and that it reminds me of the conversation I was having with a dear friend shortly before it was taken about who God is and why we need God in our lives. That picture and the conversation surrounding it are intricately linked and remind me of just how beautiful, grand, powerful, and creative God is.

And as I write this sermon the picture of my computer is one that simply takes my breath away. It is of a sunrise on a farm. The entire sky is yellow and deep orange. I can tell you that when that picture was taken, I had barely slept in days. It was taken on the morning I was camping. When I woke up before everyone else to be in a time of prayer, but instead the only prayer I could utter was Thank you, God. In that moment I felt enveloped by God’s peace and presence. Which I am reminded of every time I look at this picture.

But looking at these photos I also am reminded of how vulnerable I was when they were taken, and I can praise God for that now. For when we are vulnerable we are open to experience God’s power and grace. These photos and many others are like my rear view mirrors in my car as I travel through life. Rear view mirrors are important, because they help us see what is behind us so we can safely travel forward. Our memories stand as testaments to who God is and how far we have come by faith and grace. That God is everlasting. And this is good news to us when we feel faith, weary, and powerless. In our memories we can be reminded that God has renewed our strength in the past and will surely renew our strength in the future.

We will never fully understand who God is or how God works in the world. We will always have questions about Gods power and why God intervenes in some situations and not in others. I believe the Israelites had the same sorts of questions when they were in captivity. But like the Israelites we have a choice as to whether we will remember who God has been in the past so we can trust God now, or if we are going to try to live by our own power alone.

My hope and prayer for us today is that we will begin to remember who we are and who God is, and not confuse the two. I pray that we will have a way to remember those powerful moments when God unmistakably interved into our lives. I hope that we cling to those moments both when times are good and times are not so good, as a reminder that God has not forgotten or forsaken us. For just as remembering is selective, so is forgetting. So may we remember who we are so we can step out in faith. Remember our communal and personal story, God’s story, so we can live into God’s love for us. For even if our hope cannot be sustained, it can be remembered and renewed.

Running from God - Jonah 3: 1-5, 10

2012-01-22T20:47:00.000-05:00

The story of Jonah is epic. Jonah is a prophet of the Lord who had much fame in Israel. He enjoyed the prestige and status of being one called out from the chosen people. Then the Lord disturbed his comfort by commanding him to go and give a message to the people of Nineveh, who had a reputation of being some of the worst people throughout the land. Jonah was so set against giving a message from the Lord, especially one about their destruction, to this particular set of people, and so upset with the Lord from not giving him a task to do that better portrayed his status, that he ran. He ran the opposite direction of where he was commanded to go, and for his disobedience, God put him inside the belly of a whale for three days. When Jonah was spit up the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, commanding him to go to Nineveh and preach against them.

To say that Jonah’s attempt at preaching was weak, would be an understatement. While there are definitely times and places for short sermons, Jonah’s one sentence came more from his apathy about the message and the people then anything else. In fact, Jonah didn’t even preach anything the first third of his way across Nineveh. Only on the second leg of his journey did he begin to proclaim, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” One sentence, with no mention of God or why the city would be overthrown, simply repeated over and over again. And yet, a great thing happened. The people of Nineveh began to believe in God and believe in the one-sentence prophecy with such intensity that they began to fast, from the person of least importance in the city the whole way up to the king. Everyone. God saw their act of good faith and was so moved that God changed God’s mind.

What our scripture lesson today leaves out is the fact that Jonah went on to get upset with God all over again for not destroying Nineveh. He craved for the Lord’s wrath to fall upon them. He was angry at God for showing mercy and compassion. By the end of the book of Jonah, there isn’t really any resolution of Jonah’s anger. We are simply left with God trying to teach him a lesson.

Many of us have grown up with fairy tales - and not the Grimm or original Hans Christen Anderson versions. We have grown up with the sanitized Disney-esqe versions where there is clearly defined good and bad and not much in between. We cheer for the hero and boo at the bad guys. It’s classic. But with the story of Jonah things are not that simple. It’s hard to tell who the good guys and the bad guys really are. At one moment we are cheering for Jonah and the next we are wondering how he could be so cruel. In fact, Jonah is the only prophet in the BIble who does not even give the people he is ministering to a chance. Generally the message the prophet brings is a call to repentance as a path to salvation, but Jonah’s message is uncompromising, simply stating that impending doom is on its way.

While I may not agree with Jonah’s message or lack of compassion, I do understand Jonah’s sense of urgency. If his time in the whale taught him anything it was that he didn’t have much time left and he had to act now. This past week at the Bishop’s retreat I had the opportunity to hear Mike Slaughter speak. Mike is the pastor of the 4th largest church in the denomination. He entered into the parish, which was smaller then our church, at the age of 27. 33 years later he hasn’t left that church, because he has helped it grow to close to 4,000 people in worship each weekend. Mike entered into this church with a message that he has not stopped having for all that years that have followed. “I’m almost dead. I don’t have time to play church.” As the members started to see the truth of this statement in their own life, they began to make their hopes and dreams for the church of Jesus Christ become a reality now, instead of putting them off for later.

Often it is easier for us to live into the urgency of our message when it is about someone else. When we tell someone else to repent. When we point out how God is going to punish another group of people. But what Jonah failed to realize that his message was just as much for himself as anyone else. After he proclaimed his message, he waited around until the day, the day of destruction, waiting to see the event of the people being overthrown. But a funny thing happened. The people weren’t overthrown, but Jonah’s life was. Jonah had to confront God that day and wrestle with the worst parts of himself - the parts that wanted to see the prophecy of destruction become a reality. The part that was full of hatred and not compassion. The part that actually didn’t want to see the Nineveites change. Jonah had the worst part of himself overthrown, and while the story doesn’t have a clear ending, we can hope that ended in Jonah’s repentance.

Sometimes we are like Jonah. We look down of those that are less then us - those that have less then us materially, those who do not make as much money as us, those who do not speak our language, those who are not at the same place spiritually, the list goes on. We look down from our place of comfort, and condemn then. The sad thing about Jonah, is that he seemed to forget all about the whale, shortly after being spit up. He forgot what it was like to be uncomfortable, without God, and forgotten. As soon as he resolved to go forward with the prophetic message, he slipped right back into the role of having power and prestige as a prophet.

Even in Jonah’s arrogance and unhappiness, God did a new thing. Jonah despite himself, was successful. Sometimes we dwell too much on numbers, but sometimes we do not honestly look at then enough. Jonah by all measures was successful - he had an entire city come to genuine repentance so the Lord saved them. Yet, that wasn’t what Jonah wanted. We sometimes are like Jonah. We pray time and time again to God to help us grow as a congregation - but grow how. Grow in our love for God? Grow in the number of people we lead to Christ? And what is that growing causes us to be uncomfortable - what if it means that we have to give up some of our desires and replace them with God’s? What if it means that we cannot keep doing things the way we always have? What if it means hard work that we may never see the fruit of in our lifetime? Are we still going to want to be successful, by God’s standards, or will be we all too quickly become angry like Jonah?

Brothers and sisters, churches today are filled with Jonah’s. People who proclaim the destruction of others without taking a hard look at themselves. People who are caught up in their prestige and power, while lacking an attitude of compassion and mercy. People who are so worried about preserving themselves that they lack a sense of urgency when it comes to bringing hope to others. People who ignore God’s message the first time and then only accept it the second time on their own terms. People who are surprised and sulk when God saves others and does a new things, instead of people who celebrate with the redeemed.

What churched need are people who believe in God sized visions. People who will not settle for the status quo and who are willing to take risks for the Kingdom of God. People who live with the urgency that their lives are short, yet they will be measured for eternity by what they did for the Kingdom of God while they were alive. People who will stop playing church and be the church, bringing not a message like Jonah’s of destruction and dismay, but a message of hope to the world in need.

Let me tell you a bit more about Gingemsburg Church. Gingemsburg is located in a farming community, similar to ours, 16 miles from Dayton. When Rev. Slaughter arrived he was told that the church had reached its potential, and all he had to do was maintain it so he could be moved on to a bigger and better church. But Mike had a different vision. He told the supervisor that he had a vision where the 32 people at that church would become a 3,000 person church that would be diverse, and that would change the world. And he was laughed at. But God gave him a prophetic message that would not let him go. Along the way to having this message of God’s become a reality, people became upset. People left the church because it wasn’t about them any more, it was about changing the community they served for the Kingdom. There were many people like Jonah who sat in the corner, refusing to be part of the movement, simply sulking over what the church once was, instead of celebraing that God was calling the people to be part of a new thing. But for those who got the vision and loved all the people who came through their doors and more importantly, loved the wider community, they were transformed like the Nineveites. They were transformed from people who lived for themselves to people who began to truly know God, not just know about God, and be part of something greater then themselves. And the church is still growing today, making people committed disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

Church, we have enough Jonah’s. Enough nay-sayers who live for themselves and whose messages of prophecy are more about destruction then hope. What we need is a few modern prophets who see potential and hope. A few good people who are willing to step outside of their comfort zones and live lives that are abandoned to the mission of God and who will not be surprised when God does a new thing marked by compassion, mercy and grace. People who will live into the great mandate to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. Who will you be? Will you be Jonah, sulking when things change or do not go your way, or will you be one of the new breed of prophets, excited when entire cities turn their hearts to the Lord?

The Call of the Lord - 1 Sam 3: 1-20

2012-01-15T17:34:00.001-05:00

When was the last time that someone asked you to do something for them? Perhaps it was to run an errand for them, or watch their children. Maybe it an invitation to simply spend time with them, or something else entirely. What was your response - did you do what that person asked you to do? What was your process behind deciding how to respond? And how quickly did you respond?

A lot of us feel that Christianity is expressed by doing things for others, both when they ask and when the do not. And to a certain extent this is true, when it is coupled with a discerning spirit. But today’s scripture passage reminds us that the true mark of our faith is how we respond to what God asks us to do.

One of my favorite events that the annual conference holds is called God’s Call. There are two events held every year, one for teens and another for adults, but both with the purpose to help people discern what God is calling them to. While the original aim may have been to help people who are called into ordained ministry, as the event has evolved over the years, so has the understanding that God calls us in a variety of ways to different ministries in and beyond the walls of the church. Through this event, and others like it, I have been blessed to hear hundreds of people’s call stories - their personal narratives about God calling them and pursuing them relentlessly. While each story is unique, almost all have one thing in common, resistance. As relentlessly as God pursued a person for a specific task, with that same passion did people resist God, creating excuses or trying to ignore the call on their life. One gentleman told me that he knew that he was being called for over twenty years, but was too sacred to respond, so he just ignored God.

If the story of the call on Samuel’s life teaches us anything, it is God will not be ignored. Samuel was a young boy whom his mother had hoped and prayed for during her years of infertility. While crying out to God, she promised that if he would only give her a child that she would commit the boy back to the service of the Lord. And that is what she did. When Samuel was old enough she took him to live at the temple with the priest Eli. But even with all of those years of living at the temple, Samuel did not recognize the voice of the Lord.

Samuel heard a voice call out to him after he had went to his mat to sleep for the night. “Samuel, Samuel!” And like an eager servant, he ran to the one he thought was calling him, the priest he served, Eli. I imagine that Eli was not as eager as Samuel to have his sleep interrupted. I can picture him rolling on to his other side, waving his hand, as he said, “I did not call you; lie down again.” Then it happened a second time. Samuel, might have thought that the old man was testing him, or had forgotten that he had called him, so he rushed in a second time, declaring that he had heard Eli calling his name. Again Eli dismissed him. Finally, the third time, even through his sleepy haze, Eli was able to discern who was truly calling out the boy’s name, God. He told Samuel to stay where he was next time the voice called, knowing that there certainly would be a next time, and tell the Lord to speak, for his servant was listening.

Time and time again I’ve had people tell me that they wish God would speak to them in an audible voice. Call out their name and give them instructions. But when God speaks to you, do you know that it is God, or do you mistake it for someone else? Do you respond to the voice of God by saying that you, God’s servant, are listening, or do you ignore the voice of God?

Last week during the Covenant renewal service, we affirmed the following statement together, “Christ has many services to be done. Some are more easy and honorable, others are more difficult and disgraceful. Some are suitable to our inclinations and interests, others are contrary to both. In some we may please Christ and please ourselves. But then there are other works where we cannot please Christ except by denying ourselves. It is necessary, therefore, that we consider what it means to be a servant of Christ.”The truth is, often God calls us to do thing that we would rather not do, because we our task to be easy and covenant, and God does not settle for the simple plans or the easy way out. No, God’s dreams for the Kingdom of God and our role in it, are much larger then what is easy. But they are the best.

Samuel was only a young boy, but God gave him a difficult task - Samuel was to deliver the news to his mentor, Eli, that God was doing something new and he and his house were not part of the plan. In fact, Samuel had to tell the one whom we loved like a father that his family would be perished forever for their sins against the Divine. Samuel couldn’t fall back asleep after God spoke to him, because he was so troubled by the words. So he lay there until morning, fearing what he had to tell Eli. But even through Samuel would rather have not heard the message and rather not have relayed it Eli, he did so. Samuel responded to his hard task with the grace of a servant. Are we willing to do the same? Or do we hide from the message of God, fearing what it will cost us more then we fear God?

We have much to learn from this story. Calls are not simple. They often ask us to set ourselves aside as we seek to serve God in the way we are called. While the story of Samuel was about one call in particular, the book of 1 Samuel reminds us that he was called upon by the Lord time and time again. We, too, rarely have only one call from God. Instead, we have a series of calls, or calls within calls, that emerge. I wish I could say that it gets easier to respond to calls as time goes on, but I’m not sure that it does. Even when we trust God, we often resist the call of the Lord when we are asked to do something that we would rather not do. But perhaps that is the true mark of a servant of Christ, the ability to do what we may not want to, trusting that it is for the glory of the Kingdom of God.

God is the God of calls. We have seen time and time again that God has called his people to step outside of their comfort zone - Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Jesus, the Disciples, Paul, the list goes on and on. Sometimes we have an experience like Paul on the road to Damasuc where it is impossible to ignore the voice of God. Other times we have calls like Samuels, which can cause delayed recognition that God is calling us and speaking to us by name. But no matter what the call, there will be two components. First, a nudge by God. This may come in the form of a direct task, “Go and do this in-particular” other times it will simply be a leading, where we cannot see the next step until we take the first one. But no matter what the nudge feels like or it says, it will be able to be tested by scripture and other faithful Christians. Secondly, God’s call for us will involve our name. What our call is, is not for anyone else to do. Our call is specific to us, because God cares for us as individuals and knows us intimately enough to give us a personalized task or mission.

A lot of my friends have told me stories about growing up and being able to discern how much trouble they were in for something. If their parents called them by their name or nickname and asked them to do something, they should do it. But if their parents had to tell them to do something again, and had to call them by their whole name, boy were they in trouble. Does God have to call you by your full name in order for you to pay attention? Or do you respect and love God enough to do what you are called to do the first time?

There are going to be times when we do not know how to respond to God’s call in our life. Just as Samuel needed Eli to tell hi that the voice calling him was in fact the Lord’s, as well as instructions on how he should respond, so do we need Christian companions at times to help us discern the voice and call of God. We are called to hold each other accountable, which at times means we need to ask each other the hard questions about how we are responding to the call of God in our own lives and rebuking each other when we turn away from our call by taking the easy way out.

God is the God of continual new beginnings and unrelenting calls in our lives. But God will not be ignored, brothers and sisters, and we should not sit by the side if those in our midst are ignoring God’s call or struggling to live into it. We are community because we support each other, especially in times that are challenging, which most times of calling are. We gather together to help each other test our calls and live them out. We hold each other accountable as a sign of love. And we remind each other that while God’s calls are not always easy, they are indeed our calls, not to be lived out by anyone else, for the glory of the Kingdom.

What has God been calling you to do? How have you been responding to God? Has your answer been yes, but you haven’t taken any action to fulfill your call? Have you been seeking to live into your call but need support? Or have you simply been ignoring God, hoping that the call would go away, or thinking that God mis-spoke and what God has called you to do is really a task for someone else? And how have you been supporting each other in your calls as the body of Christ? Have you been holding others accountable, or do you shy away, knowing that if you hold someone else accountable that they will hold you accountable in return?

The apostle Paul reminded the communities in Corinth and Ephesus that all are called to do something in the body of Christ - some teachers, some apostles, others pastors. Some prophets, some who work miracles, and others who have the gift of healing. Some who work on administration others who are evangelists. We are all called, but we must be discerning enough to hear God’s voice and bold enough in our love for the Lord to respond to God’s call on our lives, in the hope that God is doing a new and powerful thing through us. How will you respond?

Baptized by the Holy Spirit - Mark 1: 4-11

2012-01-08T23:26:00.000-05:00

We are a country that prides itself on the idea of doing everything yourself and pulling yourself up by your own boot straps. We rarely acknowledge the people who have come before us. The ones who have shouted, “prepare the way.” The ones who quiet whispers of encouragement have given us the strength to go after our dreams, and the ones who silently had tilled the soil so we can forge ahead, reaping the benefits of their labor.

Recently, while reflecting upon 1 Corinthians I was struck by the statement made by the apostle Paul that “I planted the seed, Appolos watered it, but God made it grow.” Sometimes this verse is summarized as some plant, some water, other harvest, but God gives the increase. I like to plant and harvest, but watering sometimes is hard. Watering is in that waiting time, the time when you don’t really get to see the benefit of all of your hard work and at times you just continue to do what you are doing, running the risk of forgetting its purpose in the first place.

If I had to describe John the Baptist in terms of Pauls’s statement, he would not have even been included. John was the one who prepared the ground so the seeds of truth could even be planted. Often a thankless task. John was the one who proclaimed, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord.” He tilled the land so Jesus could come and plant and reap the harvest.

John appeared in the wilderness with a message that sounded like that of the prophets of old. It had been quite some time since the people had encountered a prophet, yet here he was preaching a baptism of repentance and forgiveness of sins. The prophets from the scriptures that the people would have known continually told them the same thing: they had screwed up, but God had prepared a way for them to repent and be forgiven. John told the people that he was not the way to repentance and forgiveness, he was simply the messenger for one who was more powerful who would come after him. One whom he was not unworthy to touch the feet of. One who would not need to baptize with water as John did, for this one who was coming would baptize with the Holy Spirit.

John wold have more then likely known his cousin Jesus. He would have heard the stories his mother told him about her womb leaping for joy at the sheer sound of the voice of the mother of the Christ child. But I wonder if John really knew that Jesus, his cousin, was the Messiah before he showed up to be baptized by John in the Jordan. For as Jesus approached the Jordan River the heavens tore open and the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove as God proclaimed, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

The words that were spoken over Jesus are spoken over each of us at the waters of baptism as well. We might not hear an audible voice or have the Holy Spirit descend upon us like a dove, but God proclaims that we are the children of God, the Beloved, with whom God is well pleased.

And most of us have a John in our life. Someone who has prepared the way for us to go to the waters of baptism, accepting that we are part of the body of Christ, redeemed, forgiveness, and sent on a mission. We might not all know our John’s by name but they were there. For those of us who were baptized as infants, we would have many more John’s in our life who would teach us about the faith, those who would exemplify what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, sharing the love of God.

There are many faithful servants of the Lord who have impacted my life. Countless Sunday School teachers, patient acolyte trainers, Youth group leaders, parents of friends, people praying for me, people who taught me about missions, United Methodist Women who adopted me into their fold early on, the list is endless. I have only recently began to think about them one by one and give thanks for what they did, and especially praise God for all of the silent things they did on my behalf that I never knew about.

The question begs to be asked - who are the John’s in your life? Who are the people who prepared the way for your walk of faith? Recently, for United Methodist Student Sunday, one of the women at my former parish stood up and asked everyone to give one dollar to this special offering for everyone who taught them something in life - everyone who impacted them. When she put out this call for a tangible figure, it caused the congregation, including myself, to pause and really consider who has taught us something - anything in life - that was worth learning. Now I am asking you something similar, who are the people who have taught you something about the faith?

Being part of the body of Christ means that we also serve as Johns for other people. We are the ones who lift each other up in prayer and tech the children about the faith. We are the ones who lead by example and till the ground so others can come to know Christ. A thankless task at times, it is also vital. It calls us for self-examination. I truly believe that John had to wrestle with himself before he was able to go out and call others to repentance. He had to honestly ask himself if he lived a life that would draw others to repentance - if he himself had repented and turned around to a new life. You are someone’s John the Baptist, whether you realize it or not. Someone is looking up to you to learn about the faith. Maybe someone in this congregation. Maybe a family member. Maybe someone in the community. Maybe someone whom you don’t even know, but who recognizes something different about you. Are you living a life that is worthy of being their John? In other words, have you examined your own heart and are you striving to grow in your own relationship with Christ? Yes, there will be times that we stumble along the way, but have you repented of those times and learned from them? Are you living into the truth that you are tilling the ground for the seeds of other’s faith?

Today we have a lot to celebrate. In a few moments we are going to take part in the Wesley Covenant Service. This was adapted from a prayer written by John Welsey for the renewal of life. While the first Covenant Renewal Service was held in August, Methodists now traditionally have this service at the beginning of the new year. Admits our time of making personal resolutions in the spirit of hope that the new year brings, now is our opportunity to renew the covenant made at our baptism before God. It is paired with the celebration of the baptism of Jesus, so we are reminded that we, too, were baptized into the body of Christ and called God’s beloved. As we remember the vows made at our baptism, either by us or on our behalf, and as we renew our covenant with the Lord this day, let us also remember those who made this time possible. Those who have made it possible for us to be at this place in our faith journey today, for none of us have come this far alone. We are not a people who pride themselves on self-reliant or stand-alone faith.

Today is especially exciting for me to be renewing my convent with the Lord for this coming year, in this new place. I am humble to know the legacy of some of the people who laid the foundation on which our ministry together can now take place. Former District Superintendents like Ed Zediers and former pastors like Howard Woodruff and Christopher Shaffer, amongst many others. I am humbled because I know that these are big shoulders for me to be standing on, but I also feel blessed to know that God has called us - you and me - together for this time to do amazing things for the Kingdom of God. I am not like the pastors whom have come before me, like you are not identical to the people of whom you stand on their shoulders in faith. We have come this far, together, as the body of Christ, starting something new that is built upon so much history and hard work of those who have come before us preparing the way. May they never be forgotten. And may we never forget that we are preparing the way for those who will come after us as well. In this spirit of hope and promise may we renew our covenant with the Lord, this day.

Journey by Starlight: The Wise Men - Matthew 2: 1-12

2012-01-01T19:11:00.001-05:00

When I was a senior in high school I started attending a Bible Study in the home of a fellow classmate, whom I did not know. One day he simply walked up to me when we were both serving as tutors and asked if I would like to come to his house that evening for a Bible Study his mom was leading. To this day, I’m not sure what compelled me to go, but that Study was something that transformed my life, and transformed our high school. The first week I went, there were only ten or so people, a mixture of Christians from every denomination to strict atheist. Over the school year we out grew the living room in this women’s home, her home In general, and at one point were having close to 40 students meet in the youth trailer at the local church. Many years later, we still remember that study fondly. It was were many of us grew in our faith and learned about evangelism. It was were many of us learned about differences in beliefs, as we were diverse. And it is where we learned, some of us for the first time ever, that we have a gift to share.

Matthew’s account of Jesus’ birth is different from Luke’s. While Luke tells us that God announced the birth of the Christ child to the humble and lowly, the Shepherds, Matthew tells us that God announced Christ’ birth to all people. Like the young man who first asked me as well as many other people to come to the Bible Study, God indiscriminately invited everyone to celebrate the birth of the Christ Child. I’m sure my friend got many rejections to his offer for people to join him for Bible Study, just as many people did not respond to God’s celestial event, but some people do respond and their lives are forever changed.

Author Adam Hamilton asserts that for many of us, “our way of imaging what happened after Jesus’ birth is typically mistaken...particularly regarding the wise men.” (The Journey, 121). Let us pause to consider who the wise man really were. First, while we have just sung the song “We Three Kings”, Matthew does not describe the men as kings but as magoi, which translates in English to magician. However, they were probably not like our modern concept of magician, rather priests who study the stars, and believed that the positioning of the stars told of future events. This would make them similar to a cross between an astrologer and an astronomer.

The wise men traveled from Persia, what is now Iran, to Bethlehem. At least a four months journey and up to six months. We do not know when they started to see the star - if it appeared for a period of time before or if it did not appear until the night Christ was born. We are not even sure exactly what they saw. It may have been a star. Or a comet. Or as some scholars have recently suggested Jupiter aligning with the star Regulus and Venus, all moving in a backwards motion. Or something else entirely. But we do know that they observed something in the heavens that made them believe that a new, great king was born in Judea, and this compelled them to travel quite a distance to pay him homage.

We also know that these men were not Jewish. And they were not of humble circumstances, for they could afford to make such a long journey. They were men from a foreign land seeking truth in their own way. And God provided them with a sign that they would recognize and understand. Matthew’s gospel truly tells us that God is the God of all people and wanted everyone to have the opportunity to experience the birth of Christ! Jesus is not the King and Savior of the Jewish people, or later those who identify themselves as Christians, but everyone.

Sometimes we get so caught up in placing people into categories - good and bad, right and wrong, Christian and non-Christian, that we forget that God extends grace through Jesus Christ to all people. God does not see people through the same lens that we see them. God sees people as Beloved and worthy of being saved, even if they are not Jews or Christians. Even if they do not worship our God or even know who God is at all.

Often when we want to quote the gospel of John 14:6, saying Jesus “is the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” But in our haste we forget the story of the Magi, which tells a story of God deeply caring for people of different faith traditions, drawing them to God through Jesus in a unique way. The Magi were the first people who began taking the message of Christ to the ends of the world, even before Jesus gave his disciples the great commission. God went as far to coax the wise men to come meet the Christ child through something they understood and could respond to - a celestial event.

When the wise men arrived in Jerusalem, where Herod was located, they went to the King’s court to ask about the child that has been born king of the Jews, because they made the logical assumption that the child must be Herod’s, as he is the current king. However, Herod was not a Jew - he was an Idumean who had simply been appointed to be king of the region over the Jewish people by Rome. Herod knew this and knew he could not be the one who had a son who was born King of the Jews. In all honesty, he probably would not have wanted his own son to be declared the King of the Jews either. During Herod’s reign, he had his favorite wife, his mother, his brother-in-law, and three of his sons killed out of fear for his throne. It is not a surprise then that Herod wanted to use the Magi to know more about this one who had been born King of the Jews so he could have him killed. He summoned his advisors, who pointed him to Micah 5:2 which stated, “But you, Bethlehem Eprathat, though you are small among the clans of Judea, out of you will come for me, one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” Based on this clue, he sent the wise men on to Bethlehem to search for the child.

The wise men did find Jesus in Bethlehem, in a house, probably Joseph’s parents home with the additional room built on for Mary, Joseph, and their family. When the Magi finally found the child, they were overwhelmed with joy. This is the response that we saw from the Shepherd’s in Luke’s gospel as well, and it should be our response as well when we recognize who Jesus is and what he has done for us. Take a moment and reflect on what Jesus means to you. Which of the magi’s gifts - gold for kingship, frankincense for the high priesthood, and myrrh for burial of the dead (and in this case his resurrection) - point today to what Jesus means in your life? Now considering what Jesus means to you, what are you willing to give to him for his Kingdom?

I know many pastors who dislike preaching about stewardship or what membership in the Christian church means because they are fearful of driving people away. But how often do you...I....we live into the true meaning of the gifts that Christ has given us? How do we celebrate them? The reason we gave our offering away this Christmas Eve, was part of a denominational rethinking of what it would look like to give what is precious to us as an expression of joy and gratitude for the Birth of Jesus Christ and the meaning of his role in our lives. In the words of Mike Slaughter, the pastor of the second largest church in the denomination, “Christmas is not your birthday.” Yet, often we live Christmas and most other days as if it was our birthday, spending beyond our means thinking that we need something in order to bring ourselves joy. But joy can really only be found in the Christ Child, the one whom we should adore and seek to bring honor to with our entire being, including our finances. For some people struggling financially, the gift that they can give can only be small, but for many of us, we limit our giving based on what we want to give, or have to give after everything else is taken care of, or even feel that the church has earned. But what do you feel compelled to give this year, as you consider the gift of Christ?

The two largest churches in the denomination have been donating the totality of their Christmas Eve offerings for years. And for many of the seekers who find their way to their churches for Christmas Eve, this is their shining star, what attracted them the church. That a church would rethink their finances in such a way that the mission of the church to serve others, make disciples, and transform the world comes first. Many people come because of this star and stay because of the ministry that the church is doing.

There are many other stars attracting people to ministry today. When I taught my Bible Study for the Wesley Foundation, often their would be more atheists and agnostics in my group each week then Christians. They would come in for a cup of coffee and feel compelled to join us to learn more about this person who would make us so willing to give away free coffee and boundless hospitality every day. For my friend, the star was his willingness to share his faith with everyone, inviting everyone to Bible Study without fear of being judged if they rejected his offer. How are we drawing people to Christ as individuals and as Albright-Bethune United Methodist Church? What is our compelling sign that we extend to other people of Christ’s love?

Today we are celebrating Epiphany, a time in the church that marks the appearance or manifestation of the celestial event in the sky that marked the incarnation and birth of Jesus Christ. This time also celebrates the appearance of Christ’s ministry through his first miracle in the gospel of John, the turning of water into wine at the wedding feast at Canaan, reminding us that Christ appears to us in many different ways to different people. I would encourage you to take time to truly think about how you are shining Christ to others, as an extension of what Christ means to you. I would also challenge you to think about how your priorities reflect what Christ means in your life, honestly. How would you like to change in the coming year? How can you be open to Christ revealing himself to you over the coming year? For each of us have the ability to serve as stars for other people, attracting them to Christ in a variety of ways, if only we would open ourselves up to allowing God to use us and if our light is a reflection of how we live into God’s gift to us each and every day. Amen.

Joy to the World! - Isaiah 52: 7-10

2011-12-25T23:31:00.002-05:00

We have arrived! For the past four weeks we have been accompanying the Biblical characters on a joinery that mirrors our own to discovering the Christ Child in the manger. Not everyone has arrived - next week we will conclude our sermon series with the wise men arriving to adore Christ with gifts - but we, ourselves, have arrived anew this day.

We are not the only people making a journey. This scripture passage, one of my favorites, was written to the Jewish people who had once been taken captivity by Babylon, this is their triumphant song as they return to Jerusalem, to rebuild their lives together and the city they worshipped God in. Their hearts were filled with joy for what the Lord had redeemed them from. And now they were propelled into life with this message of hope and redemption.

We are a people of haste. We are constantly moving as fast as possible, often trying to get from point a to point b. When I worked at Hershey Medical Center, the first thing that we were told was to walk slowly, but with purpose, because people who walk fast in the hospital are generally going to an emergency, sometimes leading them to be the bearer of news that loved ones do not want to hear. When was the last time that you saw someone running with good news of great joy to share? When is the last time that someone shared good news with you at all?

Friends, if anyone should be running to bring good news, it should be us! The people forever marked by the gift that was given to us in the Christ Child - the one whom brings peace, and will bring peace again. The one who brings salvation, is continually saving us, and will come again to bring salvation to the world. Yet, often we are blocked from sharing this good news, either by our own fear or our own desire to keep it to ourselves, afraid that if we share it, the meaning will be diminished. However, Jesus is not a thing - that when divided each person gets a smaller piece. And Jesus is not like us - only able to be authentically attentive and loving to a finite number of people. Jesus is the son of God, and the son of man! The light of the world, whose glory shines for all.

In the Gospel of John, we do not get the nativity story as we know it, but we get the statement that Jesus was the Word with God before the beginning of time, and “in him was life, and that life was the light of all of humanity. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Jesus, the light of the world, should shine through us in word and deed that proclaims joy. It should be like the old hymn, “Go Tell it on the Mountain”. For what we have to share is holy and timeless - God has given us the greatest gift imaginable in the birth of Jesus Christ.

In the 4th Century, the date of December 25th was chosen to be the day to celebrate the birth of Jesus. There is no way of knowing the exact date of Christ’s birth. Some feel that this date was first selected to counter act the Pagan celebration of the winter solstice. In the old Julian calendar - December 24th and 25th was the longest night of the year. After this night daylight began to shine longer. The winter solcite celebrate the end of the darkness and the victory of the sun and the light it shined over the darkness. Perhaps this was the reason December 24th and 25th were selected to celebrate the birth of Christ more then any other reason - for the heavens in and of themselves were declaring the truth of the Gospel - that Jesus was the the light of the world, for all people. And that through him God’s light would defeat the darkness of sin and death. Truly we have good news to share! Our God reigns over the darkness and bring us light.

Is this not news that is worthy of us proclaiming it through shouting? Does this news not bring hope to a world that is engulfed in so much darkness? We have spent the last four weeks during Advent preparing our hearts to welcome Christ into this world, but we have also been preparing our entire beings for the light that we are called to bear as followers of Christ. For some day, Christ will return in all of his glory, and will join us praising God. At that time all darkness will be gone from this earth. But as we eagerly await the second coming of Christ, we are called to be bearers of his glory now. We are called to shine light into the dark places, and to rebuild that which darkness has destroyed.

Even for those who truly believe that God has redeemed their life and will redeem this world, this message of joy can be hard to share at times. We can get so caught up in our own darkness and despair that we forget all that God has done for us, and all that God has gifted us with. We can begin to take the gift of Jesus Christ for granted. We no longer thank God for the comfort he Holy One extends to us or the salvation that has been offered to us through Jesus Christ.

But even when our light seems to flicker as we face the darkness, it can never go out. Even when times are difficult, we can never really loose the joy we found at the manger. Because Christ has defeated the darkness. Even when we do not feel up to the task or worthy of the message we have to share, we are still expected to run to bring others the good news of Jesus Christ. Because the gift that has been given to us is meant to be shared, in all times and circumstances. Like the Jewish people who returned from exile, we have a task before us, a story to share, and a joyful song to sing. For our God reigns! Amen! Amen! Amen!

Christmas Eve Homely - The Manager

2011-12-24T19:59:00.000-05:00

Christmas is a time where a lot of people give and receive gifts. While visiting with a friend this week, she informed me that her mother had placed a ban on candles coming into their home - not because she didn’t like them, but because she had received so many as gifts over the years at Christmas, that they needed to be used before others took their place. Some Christian parents teach their children that we receive gifts because the Wise Man first gave gifts to the Christ Child, and this is true, but above all Christmas celebrates the time when God gave us a gift in Jesus Christ - son of God and son of Man.

Jesus wasn’t born in a hospital, or even the home where many children were born during that time period. He was born in a stable, a cave often located underneath the home where the animals lived. Often this is referred to as humble circumstances - those not befitting him as King and Lord. This humility serves as a reminder to us, even today, that Christ is not compelled to be who we want him to be or to show up the ways that we want him to show up. He comes in his own time and in his own way.

Sometimes, when Christ shows up in our lives, we are lucky enough to be told about it so we notice in a profound way, like the Shepherds who were greeted by the Angel’s singing. The Shepherd’s were so moved, that they risked their very lively hood, leaving their job, to go and see for themselves this child who had come to save them. Perhaps the Shepherds thought that this meant that this child would grow up to lead an army against Rome. Perhaps they thought that he would become the next great ruler. But it is a safe guess that they did not expect that Christ had come to reconcile them to God, saving their very souls.

Christ not only came in humble circumstances, lying in a manger, but had his birth first announced to humble people - shepherds. Those who didn’t own their own land, and often had tense relationships with the neighbors they used land from to feed their sheep. People who were looked down upon by society, often looking and smelling as if they did not have a place themselves to lay their heads, from spending time under the elements caring for their sheep. These humble people, low ranked by their own society, the first to see hear of the birth of the Christ child, were who Jesus identified himself with as well. For Jesus is often referred to as the good shepherd, the one who cares for us, his flock.

Perhaps, like the sheep a shepherd cares after, we do not fully realize all that Christ’s birth means for us or all of the ways that Jesus looks after us as our shepherd. That is why we visit this story anew each year, to be reminded of the gift that we have received in the birth of Jesus Christ. And to remember the gift we received in his sacrificial death on the cross and his Resurrection. For the humble beginnings of his life foretold so much. Jesus, being born in Bethlehem, “The city of Bread” and being placed in a manger, the troughs that animals came to be fed at. We are people who cannot live by bread alone, so we come to Christ to meet our needs that are vital to our very being. When we hunger for hope, faith, and joy - Christ feeds us. When we are starving for love and something to fill our deepest longings, Christ provides. When we ache for forgiveness and reconciliation, Christ invites us to the table. For Christ is the bread of Life that gives us more then we can ever ask for.

The Shepherds had no idea who they were bringing adoration to when they met the Christ child in the manager. They simply knew that they were told great things about him and then sought him out themselves. Friends, who are the people in your life simply waiting to hear about the Christ child so they can be in relationship with him? Who are the people in your life who are in need of meeting the bread of life? Invite them to come. For the manger is for everyone. For it holds the greatest gift of all. Amen.

Christmas Worship

2011-12-24T14:46:00.002-05:00

Since August the Worship Committee at church has been batting around the question of what to do about Christmas being on a Sunday. Do we have both a Christmas Eve and Sunday service? Do we just have one? What times will they be? The list goes on and on. Their questions were accompanied by those in the congregation - do we really need two services? Will I be willing to go to two services? How will a service on Christmas disrupt my family's traditions. Amongst all of the questions and proposed answers, very little thought was given to my family's traditions, or what shifting services and times would mean for me as the pastor. Including any thought really by myself. I simply do what I need to do as the Pastor, which includes leading worship. My philosophy was even if we elected to not have a service on Sunday I still needed to be here, prepared, incase any visitors showed up, as our sign out front said that we would have service.

But today, on Christmas Eve, it really hit me what family traditions are being given up entirely or shifted around to accommodate me. This is the first Christmas Eve, ever, that I will not make it to my home church's Candle Light service. Last year, I wasn't able to be there for the whole thing, but I was there for sermon and the lighting of the candles - driving over after the service at the church I serve. This is the first Christmas Eve that my family - mom, dad, and brothers - will not be unwrapping gifts from one another following that service. I'm actually not entirely sure when that will take place now. Tomorrow will be the first Christmas my brothers and I do not watch A Charlie Brown's Christmas together prior to opening gifts. It will also be the first time we do not open gifts in the morning, followed by an early afternoon meal. Everything has changed. No tradition really has remained untouched.

As someone deeply rooted in tradition, that is upsetting. Some of these events are amongst my favorite child hood memories. But times have changed, and my vocation does not allow me to be present on some of the days that matter most as a family. Thankfully, my family has shifted what we are doing, and will continue to do so in the coming years as I prepare to move farther away. But that doesn't mean that I do not mourn what is changing.

Truly, a lot is changing. Christmas doesn't entirely feel like Christmas this year. The only decorations I have in the house are a stocking for Marty and a window cling Christmas tree on the front window. Instead of wrapping presents I have been packing boxes, leaving the house feeling empty. Instead of baking I have been eating out, as I am trying to limit the amount of grocery items I buy before the move. The themes of Advent - preparing and waiting - have taken on a whole new meaning in the midst of moving. But coupled with the loss of traditions and perhaps even the lack of snow on the ground, I just am not in the Christmas spirit.

I raed an article this week posted by another of my clergy friends, about this lack of spirit. This lack of tradition and re-rooting on one's life that comes with being a clergy. While I cognitively knew that going into this call, I did not feel it until this year, a year when many clergy are feeling the strain between tradition and expectation of the call. I would encourage you, next time you are thinking about all of the things that you have to give up to go to Church on Sunday (Christmas Day) or what you will need to shit around that you think about the clergy and what this means for them, as well. For accepting the call and loving the job, does not mean that at times, we do not struggle with the same questions as well.

Shifting Blame

2011-12-24T13:57:00.002-05:00

This week I had to go to the Post Office to mail some Christmas gifts. While there, I overheard one of the postal workers and a man discussing his lost package. Essentially the root of their discussion was the fact that a man had a package that was delivered to the post office, but when he came to pick it up with his slip and his id, they told him that someone had already picked up that particular package with the slip. However, that wasn't entirely possible since he had the slip with him.

Instead of admitting that they had made a mistake, or even saying that they were sorry, the postal employee just kept telling him how someone from that address or someone having that slip must have picked up the package. The man's response was that no one else lived at that address, as it was a home he lived in alone, and no one else could have had the slip since he had it in his possession now.

This went on for several minutes, and I could feel myself becoming more and more disappointed in the postal service, as it seemed that all this man wanted was clear direction as to what to do next and an apology. After he left, without either of these things or a package, two other postal workers applauded the first for the way she handled the situation - there were just too many things that could have went wrong - the package being misfiled, mishandled, mislabeled, misdelivered. And to say that they were sorry, without really knowing what happened, would make them liable, as an apology is an admission of guilt.

We live in a culture that is marked by two types of people - those that refuse to say that they are sorry and expect any blame, and those who except blame that is no theirs to bear. Seemingly gone are the people who say they are sorry when they are at fault and lead others to become better people by accepting their apologies and seeking reconciliation and forgiveness when others are at fault. We have been so consumed about protecting ourselves or protecting others that the art of apology is long gone.

As a pastor, I cannot help but wonder how this spills over into people's spiritual life. Has our culture of protecting one's self made it impossible for people to seek reconciliation with God? If we cannot say we are sorry to each other, cannot admit our own guilt, can we do so to God? My guess is probably not. We are so conditioned to be unapologetic or over apologetic that we probably display this same behavior with God. Which breaks my heart. Have we so forgotten who we are and whose we are that we taint our relationships with one another beyond repair? I pray that this is not the case, and that we begin to say we are sorry and truly mean it when we are to blame, instead of making excuses or blaming others. And I pray that when someone else is to blame that we allow them to say they are sorry instead of taking the blame away from them and onto ourselves, preventing them from growing in Christ.

Rules

2011-12-22T23:17:00.004-05:00

I like rules a lot. There is a rather popular saying that states that rules are meant to be broken, but I disagree. In my recent introduction to my new parish I stated something that I believe with my whole heart - I love the Untied Methodist Church, I love order, and I love rules. Because once I know what boundaries the rules set, we can creatively live into them and do amazing things. But if we don't know the rules, then we spend too much time guessing what they are and worried that we are doing something wrong.

There are a lot of rules in the United Methodist Church - a whole book of them in fact called the Discipline, which is reexamined every four years. I might not always agree with all of the rules, and I can actively work to change some of them, but until they change I need to abide by them. Because they mark who I am and how I can live into this vocation that I've been called into.

Today, I was struck by a comment that was made that no one ever follows the rules, and that is okay. This comment was made about the church. And I'm still trying to sort out how I feel about it. My initial thought was, why even have the rule if you intend for it to be broken - that in fact makes it not be a rule, but a mere suggestion. We would have been better off not calling something a standard or a rule, but simply giving people a list and say pick the five of these that appeal to you the most to follow. But the more I dwelt on this statement, the more I realized that it was a statement on the life of the church as a whole.

I once read somewhere that the church is loosing members, not because the requirements are too strict, but because they are too laxed. We are used to having rules and requirements in other areas of life. Serving in a college town, one of the first the come to mind is the Greek system. There are a lot of different things that people go through and abide by in order to pledge their allegiance to the Greek system - but when people emerge they are truly loyal to the system as a whole and specifically their fraternity or sorority. In other things that are important to us in life, we follow the rules and regulations. I knew how many credits I needed and what grades I needed to achieve in order to earn my degree. These were not suggestions. They meant something and had to be followed.

Yet, the church is afraid of being this strict, of making demands or setting rules. Perhaps this is because live in the tension of God's justice and mercy.These are all well and good things, but we still serve a God of order and rules. Lots of rules in fact. Some Christians like to mis-preach Paul and say that Jesus came so that none of the laws in the Hebrew Scriptures matter any more. But that isn't how I read Paul. Jesus came so we can be redeemed if and when we fall short from living up to God's standards and rules. However, this does not mean that we should purposely set out to break the rules or that they do not matter - for God gave them to us for a reason, to help us become the best creation bearing God's image that we could possibly be.

For some reason the church doesn't like to preach this message. Instead we preach grace and forgiveness which is only one attribute of the Godhead, albeit and important one. There is grace when we fall short, but we need to at least try. Rules are not meant to be purposely disobeyed or dismissed under the guise of never being able to live up to them. This is selling ourselves short as the beloved of God and sells the Church short as the bride of Christ. We are too timid at times with stating who we are, what we believe, and the rules that we need to live into as the people of God because we are afraid of blocking people from God or (more accurately at times) scaring people away so our numbers decrease. But this is like saying that we do not believe in our own rules because they do not matter. It is like saying that we can do better without the perimeters set by God and the Church, which often causes us to run amuck. What would happen if we tried to intentionally live into the rules with our entire being, instead of selling ourselves short by saying that they rules are unattainable and that everyone breaks them so we should be allowed to as well? What if we rethought what rules mean in our lives in order to see what we can get out of them instead of how they prohibit us? And what if we made the rules intentionally difficult to live into, so we couldn't do so without God? Could we possibly turn around the decline in the importance of organized religion in our country, if only we would see the Church as being worthy of having rules to be followed, like anything else that is important to us?

Non-Traditional Path

2011-12-22T22:14:00.003-05:00

As someone who loves tradition and rules (look for an upcoming post on this topic), I find it humorous that most of my life I have sought out the path that is non-traditional. Paths that were not traveled by many other people, and hence were rarely companioned by people with similar experiences. Some examples include:

- Leaving Sunday School in 9th Grade to Teach while all of my friends stayed in class.

- Leaving my home church while I was in high school to attend a church different from my parents, but that I loved and grew at.

- Transferring colleges after my first year.

- Graduating college a semester early, after working extremely hard to earn two majors and three minors associated with my degree.

- Serving a church four hours away from my seminary, by choice.

- And now, most recently, preparing for a mid-year, appointment change.

These are just a few examples. I raise them not to suggest that no one else has ever experienced these things, or other non-traditional paths, but simply to point out that they are not the road most commonly traveled. I often wonder why I go down the non-traditional path so often, and what I missed by going on the rocky path. Did I miss companionship by not staying at school for my last semester? What different experiences could I have gained if I wouldn't have spent my last year of seminary splitting time between a church and school, which were a considerable distant apart?

If I do not catch myself, I can end up spending too much time playing the "what if" game, instead of appreciating the paths I have been led have resulted in where I am today. Yes, at times I wish I would have done things a bit more conventionally, if for no other reason then to have more people who could identify with what I experienced, but that simply is not who I am. I am not a person who does things the easy or expected way. Something that I must honor instead of dwelling in what might have been. I also need to remember that while the non-traditional path has difficulties that accompany it, so does the traditional path. Neither is better, or less challenging, then the other. Both simply cause us to go on the journey to who we are today and who we will travel on to be in the future.

NAC

2011-12-22T21:34:00.003-05:00

In June the Annual Conference launched a campaign called NAC or "New Annual Conference". The crux of the campaign was to convince the members that as two annual conferences have merged, now is the time to rethink who we are and how we do ministry. In other words, now is the time to change.

However, it would seem that we simply refer to NAC and what it stands for when it is convent. When we want others to change their ways of thinking or being, not using it as a tool to reassess and change ourselves.

Change is a tricky thing. Often even those who are enticed by change, do not want to undertake the hard work of changing themselves. To paraphrase a thought that was once shared with me - no one really likes to change, they just like the thought of change.

Being new in ministry means that everything is constantly changing for me. Each day I experience something new, something that impacts my ministry now as much as it will impact it in the future. And that can be scary at times. I am in a time that is marked by transition. I can only imagine how much more frightening change is during times that are to marked by stability. So when we aren't living into being NAC as much as I would like us to be, when we only use the acronym to get others to change as we still stick to our old ways, I am reminded that changes is hard work, and requires much grace and patience. May we all be a little more patient, and show a little more grace in the midst of risking change.

Privilege and Perspective

2011-12-22T20:46:00.002-05:00

Privilege. As the occupy movement continues, with the slogan "We are the 99%", I cannot help but think about privilege. Occupy Wall Street and the movements that have followed has awakened America to the idea that 1% of the country uses its greed and privilege to harm the majority, either intentionally or unintentionally. I would like to preface what I am going to say next with this: I believe the Occupy movement is necessary for real change to happen within the economic and political structure within the United States and I fully support it. However...

... we often forget in America that even those of us who struggle are privileged in comparison to most of the world. We allow our own social location in comparison to our peers color how we see the world. And that disturbs me.

Recently, in the class I am taking, a classmate of mine made a very hurtful comment to me in the guise of speaking for God. A very dangerous thing. But what was perhaps more dangerous was the fact that she didn't recognize that the perspective she shared came from her social location, which is very different from mine. Not only are we quite a few years apart, but she is a stay at home mom in one of the richest counties in the United States. I am a pastor. We worship in different denominations, which have very different ideas about how God speaks to creation, including humans. She has lived in one place most of her life. I am itinerant by vocation. By not taking all of this into account, her comment came across as a judgment not only of me, but of my vocation as well.

If nothing else, the Occupy movement reminds those in the 99% of two things. First, we are privileged as well, even if we cannot always admit that when we compare ourselves to others. Secondly, the 99% is diverse, being composed of men and women, rich and poor, different races and ethnicity, people of different political backgrounds, people of all ages. People with different spiritual beliefs. People with different stories to tell and events that have made them who they are today. And that is why it is so hard to define the agenda of the Occupy Movement - out of respect for the diversity of what people bring with them as they identify themselves with the 99%. Perhaps spiritual leaders have something to learn from this as well. Before we make off the cuff remarks that have the potential to hurt people, we need to respect how we are both the same and different from other people, even those whom we consider to be like us. For God has created us to be vastly different, which colors our perspective.

The Journey to Bethlehem - Luke 2:1-7

2011-12-18T23:12:00.001-05:00

I have often remarked that I am in the season of my life that is brimming with babies and weddings. To put a figure behind that - I currently have seven friends that are pregnant and three have delivered in the past six months. One of my friends is finishing up her last year at seminary and was planning to go before the Board of Ordained Ministry later this year to pursue her dream of ordination. However, the date of the BOOM interviews was within a month of her due date - too close for the doctors comfort or hers, so she will put her dream on hold for one year so she does not have to risk traveling such a great distance from her doctors and those who will care for her, when her baby boy’s birth is imminent.

Through my friends’ pregnancies, I have learned many things. I have learned what happens each trimester and the risks that can accompany them. I learned how a community reacts and surrounds you with love when your baby is born pre-maturely. And that you are not supposed to travel more then two and a half hours away from your doctor during the last trimester of the pregnancy. And I still have so much that I am learning.

Mary did a lot of traveling during her pregnancy with the Christ-child. Each step on the journey being as unexpected and unpredictable as the last. The first trimester was filled with fears and companionship as she spent three months with her cousin Elizabeth, her mentor and possibly the only other person who could understand what she was feeling and going through at the time. During this time she also told Joseph, faced his rejection and anger, and then was embraced by his acceptance following a dream where the Lord told him that he should take her as his wife.

The second-trimester was filled with hurried preparations. Joseph’s room for his family with Mary, which was to be built on to his family’s home, was left unfinished as he accompanied Mary back to Nazareth for wedding preparations. Having the wedding where the bride had grown up was not unusual, but staying with her family after the wedding instead of moving into the room the husband had constructed during the engagement on his family’s home, certainly was. But Joseph and Mary stayed with her family, probably so she could have the support of her mother during the pregnancy and have the aid of a midwife she knew when it came to deliver.

Traditionally during the year long engagement, wedding preparations would be made, but during Mary’s second trimester the preparations for the wedding were rushed, and it was probably a quiet affair, in order to minimize she shame. By this point had she told her family that she was pregnant with God’s child? If so, did they believe her, or did they assume, that she and Joseph had gotten pregnant during the engagement period, like so many other young couples during the time. What did the neighbors say? Did they expect the wedding was rushed because Mary was pregnant? Was she starting to show? And what did Mary think about the unexpected pace of the wedding preparations and how did she feel about being pregnant on her wedding day?

During the third trimester, Joseph settled into life in Nazareth with his bride and the child growing inside of her. However, during the ninth month of Mary’s pregnancy, their lives were disturbed by the unexpected again. Roman soldiers entered into Nazareth and announced the emperor’s decree that every Jewish family must return to the husband’s hometown to be counted. More then likely this meant that every family must return to where the husband held property or would hold his family property one day for tax purposes. As the family was required to travel with the father or husband, Mary had to travel with Joseph to Bethlehem, it was required by law. Suddenly, all that they had worked to avoid - the strenuous travel for Mary back to Bethlehem, being away from her mother and being away from the midwives she knew, growing up in Nazareth - was pushed aside as they prepared for the ten day trip back to Bethlehem. For they had to do what the Romans told them to do, as people in an occupied country, even though Mary and Joseph were not Roman citizens themselves.

Imagine that you are Mary - nine month pregnant and very uncomfortable, facing a new fear, that she would be away from her family when she delivered. Since it was a ten day journey one-way, she had no idea who would be with her to help her deliver this baby, as women often aided women and men did not help with such matters, as it would make them ritualistically unclean. Would you still be declaring the prophetic words in the Magnificent? Or would you be crying out to God, trying to figure out why this was happening to you?

When was the last time that you were so angry with God that all you could do was weep? When was the last time your life’s journey did not go the way you planned, leaving you deeply uncomfortable and frustrated? When was the last time your journey was beyond your control?

The path that Mary and Joseph would have taken from Nazareth to Bethlehem was long and was marked by much Biblical history that they would have known. The well of Jacob where he wrestled with the angel. Where God appeared to Abraham and made a covenant with him and his descendants. Passing by the area where Joseph, the son or Jacob, was buried. Where Joshua set up the ark of the covenant. They walked where the prophets walked. And took the same steps as the Babylon army that took the people of Jerusalem and Judea into captivity as they destroyed the temple. The same path that the freed people returned to as they rebuilt the temple, years later. Was any of this on Mary and Joseph’s mind during their journey?

After a few days, the path Mary and Joseph followed would have become very taxing, as it curved back and forth, up and down. By day seven the journey would be the hardest and Mary had to be wondering how much longer she could go. Perhaps her soul cried out with that of the Psalmist, “O how long O Lord”

When Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem she went into labor at some point - it may have been right upon their arrival. It may have been several hours or days later. Tradition typically says that Mary and Joseph sought out room in an inn, which they were unable to find due to the amount of people in Bethlehem. This is very plausible. But remember that this was Joseph’s home town - the place where his family lived. Did his family not have room for them either? The Greek work the Gospel of Luke uses to describe the inn was kataluma, which also means guest room. Typically each home had a guest room that could accommodate six to eight adults, but during this time it would have been crowded. Beneath the typical home was a stable for the animals. Perhaps Joseph’s family offered them the stable for privacy that they would not have been able to have in the guest room, and to keep everyone else from becoming ritualistically unclean during the birth.

Friends, this was not the journey Mary would have chosen to take for her life. Impregnated by God. Facing shame and gossip. A rushed marriage after an engagement that almost fell apart until God intervened. And traveling when her due date was almost upon her ten days away from everything that she knew and loved, because the government demanded it of her. Mary’s journey was hard.

We like Mary face times in our lives where nothing goes like we planned and when life is hard. When life is nothing close to how we imagined it to be. From this point on, Mary’s life probably won’t be as she imagined it either - running from King Herod who wishes to kill her child, to watching her son do amazing things in his time of ministry, while also being ridiculed, to finally, standing inches away from her son as he died on the cross for a crime that he did not commit. Life is over-flowing, at times, with the unexpected and unwanted. During those times of intense disappointment and confusion, it is hard to remember that God is with us. God not only goes through these difficult times with us, but redeems the moments for the glory of the Kingdom of God.

Sometimes our sight becomes so focused or blocked that we cannot see the bigger picture. As Mary sat on the birthing stool and the contractions became closer and more intense, she did not see the star above the barn, hear the voices of the angels singing, or hear the foot steps of the Shepherd’s running to see the Messiah. She could not know that men from far off lands were traveling for years to simply see her child. She just knew that it was hard and God was with her.

During those time along our journeys where everything seems to be going wrong, we need to trust in God even more. During those times when we cannot perceive what each step of the journey will look like or what is waiting for us at the end of the path, we must venture on with courage and hope. Trusting, in the words of a popular praise and worship song, “that though this sorrow may last through the night, the joy comes with the morning.” For our difficult journeys, will never be the totality of our journey, or the end of our story, for God can redeem anything for the glory of the Kingdom of God. Amen.

Mary and Elizabeth - Luke 1: 39-56

2011-12-11T23:40:00.000-05:00

Throughout our lives, there are of being mentored or being a mentor to someone else. When I think back on some of the people who mentored me over the years, I’m not sure if I can even begin to put words to why our relationships were special to me, why I still carry the lessons I learned through them with me to this day. Each of them was nothing short of a scared relationship, a holy space where God was present.

I have to believe that Mary had that type of sacred mentor relationship with Elizabeth. Mary was significantly younger then her cousin Elizabeth. Yet, shortly after being told by the angel Gabrielle that she was chosen to carry the incarnation of God, she set out to see the one other person who could possibly understand the complex nature of being impregnated by the Lord, her cousin Elizabeth.

Mary presumably didn’t even tell her parents that she was pregnant before heading off to see Elizabeth. Maybe she simply told them that she had head that Elizabeth was pregnant. Her family was probably close relationally to Elizabeth. They would have known her plight of years of heartache associated with not being able to conceive and probably having miscarriages. And Mary’s family would also know how old Elizabeth was, well past childbearing years, well past the years that many during that time even were expected to live. So they let Mary go, go to celebrate with Elizabeth, but also to look after this dear family members in a situation that no one really thought would ever be possible.

So Mary set out on the nine-day journey. She probably traveled with pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem, as it was beyond where she would be stopping to see Elizabeth, and it was unsafe for young women to travel this far alone. Nine days of walking dusty roads and not being able to think about anything other then the biggest secret that she had ever kept – that she was pregnant. She was pregnant and she never knew a man.

How desperately Mary must have needed someone to understand what she was going through. But even in her most desperate moment, God fulfilled Mary’s needs and blessed her with so much more. Before she could even tell Elizabeth that she was pregnant, Elizabeth had prophetic words burst from her mouth to shower over Mary, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” Mary wouldn’t have been showing her pregnancy yet, but Elizabeth knew for her own child, the child whom she had desperately wanted for so many years, leapt within her as Mary approached. At a time when Mary was in need of support and grace, she got something so much more – a word of prophecy spoken over her. A word of encouragement, which told her who she was in the eyes of God and what a blessing she would be to the nations as mother of the Lord. Elizabeth was the first person in the gospels to call Jesus the Lord. Elizabeth knew who Jesus would be before he ever was born, before Mary even revealed to her that she was with child. She knew. And the miracle child within her knew, too. Elizabeth’s words of prophesy freed Mary to set aside her worries associated with the secret she was carrying and sing her own prophecy, which we now call the Magnificent. Elizabeth’s words freed Mary to embrace who she was called to be by the Lord and feel joy about the pregnancy for the first time.

God also gave Mary and Elizabeth another gift that they could not have expected from their relationship, that of companionship. For who else outside of these two women could understand their anxieties and restlessness. Elizabeth had been in hiding from her community for the first two trimesters of her pregnancy, probably because she expected a miscarriage like so many times before. She didn’t want to go through that public disgrace again. In a culture that counted blessings by what happened to you in this present world, not having any offspring was seen as the ultimate curse from God. Elizabeth knew that people looked at her with those pitied looks for so many years; just wondering how she or her husband had sinned that God had not blessed them with offspring. But it wasn’t sin at all; it was God’s timing. God saved Elizabeth’s pregnancy for a time when she could share it with Mary. When she and her young cousin could come together and share all they were feeling about being part of circumstances beyond their control, and in the words of one author, “expecting the unexpected children”. It was during this time that they were able to reach out to each other and having compassion for each other along the journey marked by uncertainty.

Mary and Elizabeth are often portrayed in art pieces as passive. Elizabeth doesn’t even get mentioned in the standard nativity play, and yet Mary and Elizabeth, together, in relationship, play a huge part in our own Christian stories. They were prophets. Mary told the gospel story in her Magnificent before Jesus was even born, saying who Jesus would be as the incarnation of God on this earth and what he would stand for, what his ministry would be about. Elizabeth was the first person to identify Jesus as Lord. Mary and Elizabeth sang songs of joy that foretold what we believe today and who we are to be as we seek to live lives of discipleship. They risked their reputations and their very beings to carry two children that the world never could have expected – the Messiah and the one who would prepare his way. And they modeled what it looks like to sit with another person, waiting and preparing for the unexpected.

Advent gives us time to remember was we prepare. Last week Jennifer challenged us to give one dollar to the United Methodist Student Sunday offering for every person who has mentored us, who has made a difference in our lives. I hope that you truly took time to think of those people and to remember what they have done for you. To realize how many people have walked life’s journey with you – showing you compassion, modeling humility, teaching you lessons that have shaped who you are today. These people who were brought to your mind, brothers and sisters, are your Elizabeth’s. Those people who have made a difference in your life that you may not even be able to put into words.

Advent also reminds us that this season of waiting is never passive. We actively wait together. We are in relationship as we wait. For some of you, this is your time to be someone else’s Elizabeth - you may not know why you are in someone’s life or what you have to offer them, but waiting with someone requires trust – trust that God will give you the words to say and that the God that has brought you this far in life by giving you the gift of other people, will now give you the strength to extend yourself in love to someone else.

Who are your Elizabeth’s and whom are you called to be Elizabeth to? I challenge you over the coming week to take time to praise God for the people who have mentored you throughout your life. For those who have passed on from this world – do something to honor their memory. For those who are alive, tell them thank you and express what they have meant to you, tell them what they have taught you and what strength they modeled for you. I also challenge you to be in pray, asking God if you are called to be someone’s mentor – offering another the gift you have receive. You may not think that you have much to offer or that you are good enough, but set aside your doubts and truly listen to hear if God is calling you to be in a sacred relationship with someone else. Does someone’s face or name come to your mind? How can you companion them along their journey with compassion? Part of what makes mentor relationships so special, so holy, is that we do not know until we come together and start to share our stories, why God has placed us in each others lives. But when we follow God’s prompting, and come together for even a season, it will be a blessed time. May it be so in your life – as God blessed you with mentoring relationships, and uses you to bless others as a mentor. God might just be trying to bless you more then you ever could have desired or expected. Amen.

Companion for the Journey: Joseph of Bethlehem - Matthew 1: 18-24

2011-12-04T22:53:00.000-05:00

When I was little, my brothers and I were privileged to be cared for one day a week by an elderly couple who became like another set of grandparents for us. I have many fond memories of our time at their home, but one of the things I remember most was learning how to put together puzzles. Located instead of the toy room was the man’s table that he used to put together thousand piece jigsaw puzzles. After dinner, sometimes, he would let us gather around the table, lit by a desk lamp so we could see better, and we would try to find the pieces that would fit together, eventually revealing a beautiful picture.

When I think of some of the great narratives about Jesus’ life, I think back to those jigsaw puzzles. Especially with stories like that of Jesus’ birth and death, which have details scattered across the various gospels, I think the church has a tendency to be as impatient as I was as a young child with those puzzles. Instead of trying to find the pieces that fit together, sometimes I would simply shove two pieces together until the cardboard started to bend. While I felt a sense of accomplishment in that moment, for sure enough there were two pieces that were together, that did not mean that the pieces actually went together or would form the picture in its full beauty.

Last week we heard about the Angel of the Lord, Gabrielle, coming to announce to Mary that she was pregnant with the son of God, who was to be called Jesus. Today’s story takes place in the gospel of Matthew, in Bethlehem, some distance from Nazareth. This is important for several reasons. First, it reminds us that Mary’s engagement to Joseph was long distance. He did not reside in Nazareth with Mary, so the marriage was probably arranged by family members. Second, Joseph had to find out about Mary’s pregnancy by some oral means. More then likely, Mary told Joseph herself when she traveled to see her cousin Elizabeth, as she lived only four miles from Bethlehem.

Imagine that you are Joseph. Your marriage has been arranged to a girl from another town. Possibly someone whom you did not know very well. While she was visiting her elderly cousin four miles from you, you are summoned to come and meet her there. While visiting she gives you news that you never expected to hear – she is pregnant, and she is claiming she has still never known a man and the child is the Lord’s. This probably made no sense to you. Even though you grew up in a town known for David, the one whom God had helped do the impossible, the things that did not make sense, like slaying the giant Goliath with only a sling shot and a stone. Even though you had been told that the Messiah would come from one of their own, from the house of David. But these are probably not your first thoughts when you are told that the woman whom you are to spend the rest of your life with is pregnant, and it is not your child.

Imagine wrestling with this information. What will you do? Who will you tell? The scriptures say that Mary should be stoned to death for having a child by another man while engaged to you. But you don’t want her to die. If you tell your family, tell your friends, word will get around Bethlehem – its not that big of a town with only 500 -1,000 people living in it – and she will be executed. But you can’t marry her either. Not when she broke your trust, broke the promise you made to each other through your engagement. They were essentially married to each other by law – all that was left was the ceremony, consummation of the marriage, and starting a life together. Now what?

Scripture doesn’t tell us how long Joseph wrestled with the decision of what to do about his engagement to Mary – only that the angel of the Lord came to him in a dream after he resolved to dismiss her and their engagement quietly. The only logical explanation to Mary’s predicament was that she had been unfaithful to him – but as much as that angered and saddened him, as much as that cut him to his very core, he could not justify killing her. Joseph knew that if he ended the engagement quietly, and then people found out that she was pregnant, that they would assume that he had been the one to impregnate her while she was visiting Elizabeth. The shame of the pregnancy would then be his – for sleeping with someone, whom he was engaged to, then dismissing her, and not being a father to his own child – instead of Mary’s. The consequences were not as life threatening for him, but in an honor-share society, it would bring much disgrace upon him and his family. He would still owe Mary’s family the additional dowry to be paid before their wedding. He would be required by law to provide for the needs of her child, and if Mary really insisted then the law would require him to take her as his wife. Though he doubted that she would do that. This was the honorable thing to do, no matter how much shame it brought upon him and his house – to spare Mary’s life and to allow her to quietly return to her family and be consoled instead of shunned.

But God had other plans. We often think about God picking Mary to be the one to carry the Christ-child, but God just as clearly picked Joseph to be the earthly Father to Jesus, when he interrupted Joseph’s sleep one night with a dream confirming what Mary had told him – that she was carrying the Messiah. That he was still to marry her. That she did not break covenant with him. And Joseph awoke from that dream and did what God said.

I think a lot of us wish that God would intervene in our lives the way he did with Mary – sending an angel to make a direct announcement to us. Telling us what we are doing and how it will affect the world. But for most of us, I believe that God reaches out to us like Joseph. Because most of us are Joseph.

Let me explain what I mean by that. None of the words that Joseph ever said are recorded in scripture. He is barely mentioned at all. He is not mentioned again after Jesus is twelve. And yet, Joseph played a critical part in the upbringing of Jesus. He taught him his own skill – that of carpentry. Joseph was not the master carpenter, in charge of projects throughout the region. He simply worked with his hands, doing honest work, building structures such as doors and roofs fro stone houses. He would have lived by the motto – measure twice, cut once – knowing the importance of quality work that is done well the first time. A hardworking man who took pride in his trade. A humble man who was willing to risk his own personal disgrace in order to save Mary’s dignity and very life. Someone who was obedient to God even when God did not speak as clearly to him as God did to Mary, simply coming to him in a dream. He did not seek to be well known, only to serve the Lord, his God, through the work of his hands the choices he made.

When our lives end, many of us will not have the words we speak recorded in history books. But our lives, like Joseph, will have mattered. By the decisions we make about how to treat people, even when we feel that they have wronged us. By the way that we bring our children up in this world and the lessons that we teach them. By the pride we take in our work and striving to do our best in our area of skill in order to bring glory and honor to God. We may not be the people with the most power and authority in this world, but we do what we are called to do well. Not seeking the limelight. Simply seeking to serve, even if we never receive recognition or praise from others.

And God may never come and speak to us directly, as God did to Mary. But for many of us, God speaks to us through various means, if only we recognize them as a message from God. A dream, a word from a friend, a dark situation that God transformed to bring beauty, light, and clarity. In these less clear forms of communication from God we can see hope and possibilities, even if we know that it will require hard work and risk to bring to fulfillment. We are called to pray over these dreams, to sort out what is from God and what is not, and when required to act.

So most of us are like Joseph. Never going to be as well known as Mary. Never to have our words remembered throughout history. Not having God speak as directly to us. But still called. Still chosen. What is God calling you to do lately? Are you willing to risk whatever you need to in order to obey the call of the Lord or do you keep testing God, telling God that the message needs to be more clear. Are you praying for a Mary moment, while ignoring God’s speaking to you in other ways, like God did with Joseph?

I would challenge you over the coming week to write down those ways that God may be speaking to you – and the messages that God is trying to convey. Pray over them. Is there a theme developing? Is their clarity in God’s persistence that you just were not able to see before? Listen to the voice of God speaking to you in whatever way it comes, discern, and then act. Act boldly. Take risks. No matter what the cost. Live the life that Joseph did. For you life, and the decisions you make, the way you live, matter. You are called. Are you willing and able to listen? Amen.

Memorial Message for the Elk's Lodge

2011-12-04T22:52:00.000-05:00

Today we gather together to celebrate the lives of those who have went on before us into eternity. Over the past week I have been pondering what it truly means to remember someone – to re-member. To continue to live our lives in a different way in the absence of those we care about. When we remember those whom we have lost, we are reminded that while they have died, they are still part of us gathered here, the living. They are still part of our fellowship.

We have heard today many names of those who are no longer with us in physical presence. But our memories live on. We remember not only their names, but their mannerisms. Their laughter and jokes. Their families and their duty to serve them. We remember how they loved and served those of us gathered here. We remember the good that they have done, for the Elks, for this community, and beyond. For in the words of Jack Lemmon, death ends a life, not a relationship. We still hold the memory of our relationships with those who have passed.

Relationships are complex things, with a series of moments that are both good and not so good. As a result, not all of our memories are good, and that needs to be treasured as well. For if we only hold up a small piece of a person, a single aspect of who they were instead of remember them in totality, then we are not doing their memory justice.

This past year one of my seminary classmates died. She and I did not always get along. But in the end, as a reflect on her life and my time with her, I cannot help but celebrate the moments that we disagreed just as much as the things that I treasure about her. For if I can’t remember our disagreements then I have immortalized her into something that she is not, and have tainted our relationship with false memories. Instead, I remember the good and the not so good. Was a woman of great faith, who even in her short time on this earth worshipped God with her entire being. She made a laughter that echoed and a smile that was contagious. She sang in the gospel choir at school, ushering others into God’s presence through her voice and love for God. Esquire knew who she was and fully lived into her identity as a child of God. Even though we did not always see eye to eye, and could rub each other the wrong way from time to time, I miss her.

In order to honor the men (and women) who have died, we need to be able to do two things. First, we must let their good traits, those fond memories we have, so shine through us. For in the words of Clyde Campbell, to live in the hearts of those we leave behind is not to die. But, secondly, we must remember them in their totality in order to live our lives in such a way that does not repeat their short-comings. We are their ambassadors for life, in the here and now. As such, we need to live our lives the best that we can. We must let their stories become part of our stories, so they will not be forgotten. We must grieve, for we long for them to still be with us, but celebrate what they have left us with.

This is a tall order for any one person to do alone. Hence, why we have gathered together today. To support each other in the endeavor to honor the dead, by living our lives fully, to the best of our abilities now. To grieve together. To celebrate together. For this gathering is a fraternal order, a brotherhood, who live life together, and so re-member together. The apostle Paul once wrote in his letter to the Romans, None of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. When I read these words in Romans I cannot help but think that they are as much a statement about those who live as those who have died – none of us live to himself. We are all in this together. With the hope and promise of Jesus Christ.

That hope and promise is relayed to us time and time again in scriptures. Perhaps my favorite passage, the one that reminds me that death does not have the final victory, and life is not over once we are no longer breathing is from 1 Corinthians. It reads, Lo! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Gathering together at a memorial service is about remembering the dead, it is about assessing our lives through the lens of theirs, but more then anything it is about finding hope. Having hope does not mean that we will always be happy. It does not mean that grieving will be any easier. It simply gives us perspective, this is not the end. What gives you hope today and every day in this time of remembrance and beyond?

As I was reflecting on what to say to today, I could not help but think of what an appropriate this service comes at. The new year is coming. A time when hope is renewed and memories come like floods. It comes at a time in the life of the church where we celebrate waiting and mark our time more slowly as we reflect together. It is a reminder that love is stronger then death. More powerful then death. It reminds us that we cannot control time, including death, and demands that we ask ourselves how we will live our lives. Re-membering, living, and waiting. All simultaneously. And marked by candle light. Today we have once again lit candles, candles the celebrate time and the lives that marked it by living the fullest. And that gives me hope that life is never in vain or forgotten.

So as we strive to honor these men who have lived We know that no one and nothing can replace the lives of those who have died. But we also know that grace comes through gathering like this. To give thanks for how these men have embodied charity, justice, brotherly love, and fidelity. How they have helped to promote welfare and bring happiness to others in this room. They have, in the words of the apostle Paul, fought the good fight, finished the race of life, and kept the faith. And so much more. May our honoring of their lives not cease at the end of this ceremony, day, or year by the way we live. May it continue into eternity, until our hope is fulfilled and our waiting is over and we are united again. Love the living. Bring honor to the dead. Live life to the fullest.

Grace - A Meditation on the Attribute of God for the Wesley Foundation

2011-12-04T22:51:00.001-05:00

Grace is one of those things that I don’t think that I will ever fully understand in this life. Last time I preached at Wesley it was on the topic of justice, and I made the comment that we want justice for other people, but grace for ourselves. But as I reflect back on that comment, I’m not sure we even know what grace is even though we want it.

There are many stories told about grace. Karen Blixen in the mid 1900s wrote a story entitled “Babit’s Feast”. Its become a classic tale, even being made into a movie that you may have seen. The story goes something like this – Babette, a woman who had lost her husband and daughter to war, showed up on the front porch of two sisters who were well-off one evening, with a simple note reading, “Babette can cook.” The sisters didn’t have any money to pay the stranger, nor did they really want to try her cooking, for she was from a different country, but they decided to let Babette stay in exchange for doing chores around the house.

Time passed, and for 12 years Babette worked for the sisters. One day a letter came announcing that she had won 10,000 francs in the lottery of her home country. The sisters tried to be happy, but their hearts were heavy for they knew that Babette would be leaving soon.

This letter corresponded with the timing of the sisters planning a party to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of their Father’s birth. Babette came to them and said, that since she had never asked them for anything in all the years that she would like to ask them for one thing now – to cook them a French meal for the party. The sisters agreed.

Over the next few weeks lots of items arrived for the preparations. The day of the feast, the entire town arrive and all ate. After the dinner the sisters found Babette and thanked her for the meal, saying that they would miss her when she returned to France. Babette then told them that she would not be returning to France, for she had spent every part of her money on the feast.

It took me a long time to wrap my head around where the grace was in this story until I came to understand that grace comes from the Greek word “ charios” which means gift. Grace is a generous gift of goodness, kindness, salvation, or blessing, that we can never deserve. Babette spent every bit of her money on a feast for people who paid nothing for it. She gave everything for them.

God’s grace is even more lavish then the grace that Babette showered on the town’s people. God’s grace is infinite. Grace cannot be earned – it is free of charge and has no strings attached. The parable that shows that God’s grace is endless is the Parable of the Lost Son, also known as the Parable of God’s grace. Even if we turn our backs on God, God has still given us the ultimate gift – God’s very self in Jesus Christ. God also gives us other graces – the ability to know right from wrong, the ability to seek and receive forgiveness, the choice not to give us what we deserve, and the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives to name a few. But like the Father in the passage God always welcomes us back, no matter what we’ve done. In this particular parable, the son treats the father about as horribly as one can – by requesting his inheritance now, he is essentially telling his father that he wished that he was dead now. Yet even though the son said this, disgracing his father, and then spent his father’s wealth on thing that were not honorable, the Father still welcomed him back. Not only welcomed him back, but rejoiced with a party. The son could not earn the grace and love of his father – they were freely lavished upon him, just as God’s grace and love is freely lavished upon us.

Even though we cannot earn God’s grace, we must try to respect it. Another way to say this is that we want to love lives that reflect God’s grace to others.

Some of you may know the story of John Newton, the man who wrote “Amazing Grace”. Newton owned slave ships in the 1700s. One day while making a journey with the salves, he came across a great storm that lead to his conversion. Following that, and as he penned the song about his experience, he decided that he could not keep God’s grace to himself while denying others their freedom, so he got out of the slave trading industry.

How have you experienced God’s grace in your life? And how are you showing God’s grace to others? Remember that nothing you have done can block you from God’s grace, and none of the grace you’ve received is yours to keep and not share.

Strength for the Journey: Mary of Nazareth

2011-11-27T14:12:00.000-05:00

We are entering one of my favorite seasons of the year. When I was little, there were aspects of the holidays that captivated my attention – putting up the Christmas tree, unwrapping all of the decorations from the previous year and releasing their scent, being with family, the list goes on and on. But some of my most fond memories are within the church. Hanging ordainments on the Chrismon tree. Being asked as a family to light the Advent wreath. The Christmas pageant and brown bag dinner that preceded it. And holding my candle on Christmas eve.

But it wasn’t until much later that I actually understood what this season – the season of Advent was about. Advent is the season that calls us to wait and prepare for the coming of our Lord, Jesus. And on how my preparations reflected anything but a spirit of waiting. From wanting to get from one activity to the next, or attempting to fit Christmas preparations into my existing schedule, or wanting to play certain Advent and Christmas hymns on the hand bells as fast as I could, my actions reflected an attitude of haste – one of simply adding Advent on top of everything else – instead of one of waiting.

It wasn’t until a few years ago that I really started to think about how Advent calls us to slow down as we prepare. A good friend of mine started a tradition in his apartment at college. He and his roommates would not use any overhead lighting during the season of Advent. At night they would gather around the advent wreath or additional candlelight for devotions. This was a bit of a disruption to their schedules, which were so busy during the day that they would study at night. They quickly found that certain activities including studying and cooking, by limited candlelight do not tend to go well, so they had to shift their priorities and rearrange their schedules – preparing – so they could actively wait for the coming of the Lord each evening.

As much as I admire my friend for this celebration of Advent that he has carried with him into his new life with his wife, I haven’t quite got to this point of preparing and waiting in my own life. But his dedication to preparing and waiting started to get me to think about Mary. Mary may be one of the best Biblical examples there is for preparing and waiting. Mary was probably thirteen years old when a messenger of the Lord named Gabrielle came to her to announce that she was pregnant. Mary’s life up to this point had been one of waiting – waiting to become a mother and a wife. Preparing herself to bring honor to her family in these roles by practicing household duties for many years. Because this was quite an educational undertaking in and of itself, she probably never had any education outside of the home.

Mary was now actively preparing for marriage. As was Jewish custom she would be engaged to her soon to be husband, Joseph, for a year. This would give him time to make the proper arrangements as well; carving out another room in his family’s dwelling for them to live in. It needed to be big enough to accommodate them, and the one child they expected to create each year of their marriage together. Mary was preparing herself not only to be a good wife to Joseph, providing for his needs, but a good mother to as many children as she could bear successful. Mary hoped and prayer that she would be able to provide Joseph with a male offspring and survive the multiple births.

Mary was preparing for the day, gathering water at the local citrine, probably not her first trip of the day, when this messenger appeared to her. Mary was going about her ordinary tasks of preparing when she was interrupted and told that another period, a new period, of waiting would begin. This one would last nine month – the time it would take to give birth to a baby boy. Mary knew how babies came to be and questioned the angel how she – one who had never known a man – would give birth. But the angel told her that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and she would bear a son, to be named Jesus, who would be the Son of God. For nothing is impossible with God.

Mary had to be thinking, why me? Why a common girl from a town so small and insignificant that it wasn’t even counted as being part of Galilee by her neighbors. Why not someone older? Or someone from Seppohris, the next town over, with so many thousands of people to choose from? Why someone from Nazareth – where everyone knew everyone and the total population could not be more then 400? Why her? Why here? Why now?

But despite all of Mary’s questions and her fear, she responded, yes, here I am a servant of the Lord. Let it be for me as you have described. Mary knew the consequences. She knew that if she was discovered to be pregnant while being engaged, but not married, to Joseph that the law said she was to be stoned to death. She knew that if she could not wrap her mind around being a pregnant virgin, then her family, Joseph, the town, would not understand it either. But something that this angel had said had caught her attention. The child she was carrying would be the son of God. Not a son of God, the son of God. Wasn’t this what her people had been waiting for? Isn’t this what her very town had been named for. Netzer – a branch or shoot. A new tree would grown from the stump of where another tree had died. Isn’t this what the prophets had predicted? That a shoot shall come up from the stump of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of its roots? She would be carrying the promise of hope within her womb, and that hope was greater then any of the consequences.

Friends, if Mary could say yes to such a great risk at the age of thirteen what are we willing to risk for Christ today? Is there room in our hurried schedules to actually prepare the way of the Lord, or is Advent and this holiday season more about preparing our homes for the holidays then preparing our hearts for the Lord?

When I was little and it came to be Christmas pageant time, there was never a shortage of little girls who wanted to be Mary. But Adam Hamilton, author of the book The Journey: Walking the Road to Bethlehem, on which this sermon series is based, asks a thought-provoking question, would Mary want to be Mary? She had to give up so much and take on a burden that many cannot fathom, but she still clearly answered, “Here I am. A servant of the Lord’s.”

I firmly believe that waiting and preparing are paired with giving of ourselves, as Mary gave everything to give birth to baby for a world in need. I also believe that part of preparing and waiting is sacrificing. One of the most celebrated times of waiting in the life of a family is waiting for the birth of a baby. Yet, like Mary, there are many women living right here in Centre County, for whom this time of waiting is filled with great risk, uncertainty, and fear. I graduated college a semester early and had to decide how to best use my time for Spring semester and summer before I entered seminary. I found myself working for my church, and as part of that job, working for the local women’s shelter that the church wished to partner with. While working there, a woman, we will call her Mary, came into my life. Mary was having a child outside of wedlock. She had no idea how to care for a child, though the shelter was teaching her new skills each day for childcare. But Mary had nothing for her child, not a single blanket or bottle – she simply could not afford one. And without a supportive family, Mary had no one to help her prepare during this period of waiting for the baby to be born. I approached the Sister who ran the shelter and asked if I could throw a surprise baby shower for Mary. The Sister was astonished that I wanted to help her prepare for this child – a woman whom I did not know, and a baby whom I may never meet. What happened next was only through the grace of God. I took the list of supplies that Mary would need for her baby and gave it to my church. I explained what we were doing and how we only had about a month for collecting the items. The church not only collected enough items to get Mary and her child through the first year of their life together, but enough to help seven more women throughout the county who were in need of help preparing. Who are you willing to help prepare this season? Would you be willing to drop your spare change into these bottles for the Women’s Resource Center to help women prepare for their coming child? And as you put your change in, can you be reminded that Mary did not have the support that many of us experience today when she agreed to carry the Lord?

What are we willing to risk as we prepare and wait for the Lord this holiday season? Our preparations may not be as drastic as my friend spending four weeks in evenings by candlelight, but can we give something, anything, to women in our community who are in need? Can we make Advent not something that we simply add, but that which we focus our time on the birth of Christ and what that actually means to our lives? Are you in a place in your life where the Lord could speak to you? Where a messenger of the Lord could meet with you, or are you so busy that you wouldn’t even notice or have the opportunity to respond as Mary did? Can we offer ourselves to God this season, risking everything for an unrealized and unknown hope? And can we sing Mary’s song even in the midst of the risks that we are taking as we prepare and wait. May this season of waiting be filled with blessings for you as you place yourself in the position of Mary to listen and respond to the invitation of the Lord.

Rev 7: 9-17 - All Saints Day!

2011-11-14T21:25:00.000-05:00

I may have been 20 years ago, but I still remember that robe. The white robes with the high collars that were assigned to the younger choir. It didn’t have a fancy name back then – it was simply the children in elementary school who attended the church and wanted to sing. You had to be at least five years old to join. Oh how my friends and I anticipated joining choir. Our chance to just sing – or at least make a joyful noise considering it was more screaming then singing at that age. My robe was too big. Since I was young I tended to be shorter then the rest of my classmates. For the longest time, my white robe dragged on the floor when I went up to the front steps of the sanctuary to sing. The hem would continue to drag until I graduated to the green robe, and then the gold robe, as I got older. But of course those hems dragged as well. We also had these gold painted crosses, with long chains, that sparkled against the clean color of the robe.

I can still remember the first song we ever learned. A curly haired, elderly woman, named Mrs. Webster gathered us each week to learn a song. She had a patience that passes all understanding in my mind, since we were the largest group of kindergartners to go through the church is quite some time. Yet, she ushered us all into a classroom with a piano and taught us a song with hand motions. It went something like this, “The church is not a building, the church is not a steeple. The church is not a resting place. The church is the people. I am the church. You are the church. We are the church together. All who follow Jesus, all around the world, yes, were the church together.” It took us several weeks to learn the song and to get our little hands coordinated with the motions. But when we did, we dawned on the white robes, fresh from the dry cleaners, and sang. What a beautiful moment.

As I consider today’s scripture passage, this early memory from my life came to mind as an example of the beauty of what it will be like to worship the Lord in Heaven. As I’ve grown older, I’ve attended many different churches, and have had many different people tell me that this passage scares them, because they believe that it will be boring to stand before the throne, in white robes, waving palm branches and singing to God. For many of the people making such comments, their ideas of what such worship would look like is directly related to their experience of worship on Sundays. Perhaps they were told to be quiet as a small child. Or don’t find worship stimulating as an adult. Maybe they disagree with the formal nature of robes or really don’t enjoy singing. But I think the chief reason there is resistance to the idea of worshiping God through all eternity is because when approach worship on Sunday morning with a “what about me” attitude. In other words, I have come to get something or needing to feel a certain way before I can truly be in worship. And the laundry list of things that people need for worship to be meaningful goes on and on: the right music, the right tempo, a person to pray a certain way, the pastor to give a message that engages them, but doesn’t challenge them. When we approach worship is such a manner it becomes about being entertained, so it is no wonder that there is hesitancy about worshiping God throughout eternity – because it might not be entertaining to you.

But when we shift our viewpoint and realize that we come to worship to gather together and worship God, our attitude can change. When we see worship as the opportunity to be fully present to the Almighty, even for one hour each week, we can become excited about the idea of being in God’s presence all the time when our life on this earth ends.

What makes this passage even more beautiful is the realization that the worship that John is describing in the book of Revelations is revolutionary. He is writing at a time of severe persecution, where the very act of worshiping the Divine and pledging allegiance to Jesus could get one killed by the Roman Empire. Yet, people worshiped zealously anyway, even to the point of being killed. Because worship mattered to them. Gathering together was with other Believers was central to the very being. Declaring praises to the God who deserved everything that they had. And they were truly put through a “great ordeal” to the point of being martyrs for the faith. But they believed that God would take care of them, and was worthy of their praises. And because they believed in the God whom they yearned to be in the presence of, “they will hunger no more and thirst no more. The sun with not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be there shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of water of life, and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”

Those whom John pictures before the throne of grace, gave up their very lives to worship God, not because it was entertaining or it was their religious duty to worship the Holy One, but because they believe that the God whom they worshiped was the God of all, and they were simply lucky enough to realize who this God, even if it was only a glimpse, while they were still alive.

Today we are celebrating All Saints Day. This is generally celebrated the last Sunday of October or first Sunday in November, but due to our guest speaker last week, we are celebrating it today. This is the time to honor those saints, both whom we know and those whom we don’t, who have left this life of great ordeal and have joined those who are in God’s presence, worshipping daily. As Methodists we believe that all Christians are “saints”, not simply martyrs or forefathers and mothers of the faith. So today we celebrate all those who are deceased, and honor their memory. We honor those whom we know. We grieve our loses. We celebrate the lives they lived. We strive to embrace what they have taught us, so we can pass on the lessons of the faith.

Today we speak aloud the names of those who have impacted our lives as well as pray for those whom we never met, but are still part of the beautiful gathering worshiping at God’s throne. Today I want to honor the memory of one of my classmates from seminary, Esquire Holland. Esquire was a woman of great faith, who even in her short time on this earth worshipped God with her entire being. She made a laughter that echoed and a smile that was contagious. She sang in the gospel choir at school, ushering others into God’s presence through her voice and love for God. Esquire knew who she was and fully lived into her identity as a child of God. Even though we did not always see eye to eye, and could rub each other the wrong way from time to time, I miss her.

Brothers and sisters, who do you miss this day? Whose memory do you want to uphold and recognize as being a blessing in your life and the lives of others? They do not have to be someone who has passed this year, for often our grief cannot be contained by human time frames. Who do you both want to mourn and celebrate?

Last week we had an All Saints Service for the students at the Wesley Foundation at Penn State, many of whom had never celebrated this day in the church before. One of the young men got up, with tears glistening, and lit a candle for a loved one whom was still alive, but who had died to his old habits that separated him from the love of Christ. Friends, do you have anyone whom you want to lift up in prayer today, celebrating that they have come one step closer to recognizing the grace and love of Christ? Lit a candle for them as well.

As we prepare to celebrate the lives of those whom we love, a few final thoughts. First, everyone is a child of God, some people just have the blessing of recognizing that in this life. We do not just celebrate Christians today, we celebrate all of God’s children who have passed on. Second, this is but one hour during one week of the year. There are 176 other hours that we have lived this week, many of which I believe have been hard on us in the Penn State community. This is also our time to grieve. I truly believe that not all of our worship in heaven will be happy all the time, because God grieves some of the things his children on this earth go through. And surely if we are fully in the presence of God, even in heaven, we will lament in our worship as well. During this time of great ordeal for our community, may we turn to Christ in worship, the one who Shepherds us and promises to wipe every tear from our eye. Do not let this moment pass if you need to lament together, while being assured that we are still in the presence of God, no matter what the situation.

Brothers and sisters may we now prepare to honor those whom we love, knowing that whatever the circumstances are, this, the first day of the week, and particularly this day, as we celebrate All Saints Day, we have gathered to worship a God who has conquered the grave and has had victory over death. Though we may have come to worship today with weary and heavy hearts, we have a hope in Jesus that cannot be contained. A hope that has lead those whom have went before to sing to the one whom the love and the one whom calls them beloved, “Salvation belongs to our God and to the Lamb!” May we join in their song of praise in this act of worship to our great and mighty God. Amen.

Disciples Love - Matt 22: 34-46

2011-10-23T20:16:00.000-04:00

Jesus is in the midst of being diss-ed in this passage. In a heated theological debate with the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the main two groups of religious leaders during this period, Jesus has already been asked the question about taxation and is now being grilled about what the greatest of all of the 613 commandments found in the Hebrew Scriptures is the most important. All of these questions are for one purpose – to discredit Jesus’ teaching and growing status in the Jewish community.

But the attempts failed. For all they really proved was that Jesus was a devout, orthodox Jew. This public trial was an act of desperation that backfired. For Jesus’ vast and intimate knowledge of the scriptures was nothing short of moving. When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus quoted two laws. One came from the Schema, also known as the Schema Israel, the crux of what the Israelites believe. It was, and still is, recited two times a day, as the centerpiece of morning and evening prayer, “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the lord is one. And you shall love the lord your God, with all of your heart, and with all of your soul, and with all of your strength.

But Jesus didn’t stop there. He adds a second piece of scripture, “You shall love your neighbor, as yourself.” Or as one of my professors translated this verse, “you shall love your neighbor who is like you.” While others, including some religious leaders used this law to limit whom they interacted with and showed love towards, Jesus blew this law wide open, saying that we are to love all. Even our enemies. That everyone is like us, even those whom we think are radically different. For they are God’s.

These were the critical commandments in the Hebrew Scriptures, but they are also the driving force behind Jesus’ life and ministry. This is why all of the other laws exist, to give us perimeters to better love God and love our neighbor. For we cannot love God without loving God’s children, and we cannot love God’s children, without realizing that they are first and foremost, God’s.

Of course Jesus’ knowledge and application of scripture didn’t silence his critics, as they went on to ask him about David’s linage and relationship to the Messiah. But this is true of our own critics even today, isn’t it? That when someone is seeking to trip you up, they will keep asking difficult, or seemingly impossible, questions not for the sake of wanting a genuine answer, but to see you fail. What Jesus is being faced with is different then apologetics, different from making a case about what he believes; he knows that those questioning him are trying to set a trap, not only for him, but also for each other. The Pharisee asking Jesus which law is the greatest was trying to outwit Jesus, while simultaneously showing that he was smarter then those who are overhearing the question and answer, mainly the Sadducees.

This was antithetical to what Jesus had been teaching about loving God and loving your neighbor. It was not so much about what you knew or how well you knew it, but living a life that was marked by love towards others and God. This passage comes within a week’s time frame when Jesus would choose to love others to the point of giving his life on the cross, and yet those whom he interacted with still didn’t get it. But Jesus was able to take this moment of one-up-manship and insincere questions and transform it into a moment of grace and critical teaching. He was able to remind those questioning him about the nature of what love is – even to the point of answering cynical questions.

But this still leaves us with two questions – what does it look like to love God with the totality of your being, and what does it look like to love our neighbors. For while we can hypothesize about what these two commandments mean, perhaps even more important for us as disciples is what they look like in action. Two of the most disturbing comments I’ve heard about American Christians over the past few years were 1.) Christians do not know what they believe which results in 2.) Christians not being able to put their beliefs into action.

If we too take these two commandments to not only be the greatest commandments upon which Jesus commissions us, but also the marks of our faith, then what does it look like to live them out in a way that others can recognize and use to identify us as Christians. This is not to say that we should not be able to tell others in an intelligible way what we believe, but we should be able to live it out in a way that does not need a lengthy explanation.

Because God is so vast and mysterious, our human nature wants to qualify God into our own terms. As a result we try to identify with God based on certain relationships that we have or understand – God as parent, God as ruler, God as creator, the list goes on and on. One of the common bumper sticker slogans is that God is love. But how do we show love to love? Throughout history, Christians from mystics, to scholars, and even modern day worship signers have explained loving God with erotic terms – but do we really know this vast and sometimes elusive God with the same intimacy that we know a human lover with? And further, can we love God with more passion then erotic love? How do we love God?

Recently in Bible Study we looked at trusting God through three different books, one of which was The Five Love Languages of God. The author, Gary Chapman, poses the following thought – that God is big enough to love each of us in different ways and God is diverse enough to receive the love we extend to the Holy in our own unique ways. What a simple yet radical thought – the love that we show to God does not need to look the same for each of us because God created us to be different. Some of us speak of God’s goodness and give praise unto God, some sing, others dance. Still others bring all of their gifts to God in dedication or spend quality time with God in prayer and devotion. Part of knowing how we as individuals can best love God is to identify how we experience God’s love to us best. When do you feel that God is closest to you and how can you use that experience to show reciprocate love to God?

Because God has created each of us, we belong to God, regardless of whether we recognize that or not. So how do we love our neighbor, especially when by this definition everyone we meet and even those we don’t meet are our neighbors. Does it mean doing good things for others? Acts of charity or justice? More and more I have been convicted that loving our neighbor means paying attention to them. How often do we walk down the street and ignore people, or ask people how they are, only to really wish for a senescent answer? What if loving our neighbor means giving them the attention they deserve simply because they are a child of God? And after we pay attention to them, and are in relationship with them, then we can ask them the more intimate question of what they need and how we can best love them. For just as God is diverse enough to be loved in different ways, so are people. But because people are more then one united being, they often cannot receive all of the different types of love we show them equally, as God does, even if they come from an authentic place. This is to say, how we best love people is not necessarily what they need or how they interpret or receive love best. But everyone wants to be respected enough to not be ignored or pushed aside, so this can be a common starting place.

Jesus did not say that the commands that he lived by were easy to follow, but as his disciples we have picked up his yoke and carry it. And part of carrying that yoke is knowing what Jesus taught but also knowing ourselves well enough o be able to identify how we can best live out these teachings – how do we best love God and love our neighbor. These are not questions with easy answers, for they require time of deep introspection. But when we can live out of our most authentic understanding of these verses for ourselves, we will be people who put our beliefs into actions in meaningful ways.

Disciples Rejoice! Phil 4: 1-9

2011-10-09T20:48:00.000-04:00

Humans have forgotten how to rejoice. We have become so caught up in our own expectations of what something is supposed to be like that we block our ability to celebrate those times that truly need to be marked. We manufacture holidays to give us an opportunity to try to celebrate, but even in those times we see rejoicing as a task to be accomplished instead of an opportunity to embrace. In our business we set aside time to rejoice instead of letting it spontaneously bubble up within us as a response. We become jealous of when others rejoice without us. It has reached the point, where as a society we are better at fighting then rejoicing.

As Christians we are even more guilty of not rejoicing in all circumstances. Some see corporate gatherings, a time to come together and rejoice in the Risen Christ, as just another thing to do, a hurdle to get through before Sunday can really start. As a community we really only focus on rejoicing over Jesus’ birth and Christ’s resurrection, two occasions, two weeks out of the fifty two in a year. If someone came into our gathering today, would they see us as a people who rejoice or even a people that have something to rejoice about?

I think people’s hesitancy towards rejoicing comes from confusion between joy and happiness. You can rejoice whether you have joy or happiness, but one is temporary. Happiness is simply a fleeting emotion, like any other. But joy, well that is something that comes from deep within our being, no matter what the circumstances. We seek out happiness; joy is something that is given to us as a gift. Yet all too often, when our expectation is that something will make us happy, and then it doesn’t, we do not rejoice in the joy we can still experience from the situation or circumstances.

We all face this confusion between joy and happiness from time to time, and my guess is that there have been times when you have not rejoiced when it was warranted as well. And for times like those, Paul has something to teach us from today’s scripture lesson.

Paul is entering a time of great reflection in his life – he is facing his impending death. As he examines his life and pens this letter for the church in Philip, his favorite gathering of people whom he has ministered to. He urges the community to come alongside two women in conflict to help them remember their struggles for the work of the gospel. Paul is not seemingly upset with the women for their disagreement or any tension that it may have caused in the community; he simply names it and asks that the community support them.

Perhaps Paul has had a change in heart and tone since his earlier years in places of ministry much as Corinth, where he took a much harsher stance with a church that had feuds within it, or maybe Paul just reassessed what was important in this, his potentially last message to this church. As he nears the end of his own metaphorical race for the Gospel, Paul tells his brothers and sisters in Philip that they are his joy and his crown, the ones whom he loves and longs for.

Paul and his audience would have been very accustomed with crowns – as they were often the sign of victory for Roman athletic events. As early as the 5^th century BCE, crowns were placed on the heads of those who won to show elevated status or honor. But the victor is not the only one who is credited with the victory. No athlete was celebrating apart from their city, knowing that there are many behind an athlete that make both completion and winning a possibility. When an athlete achieved the honor of a crown, it was handed to him by the king or the priest of the area where the event took place, who wore it during the competition, which upheld the honor even more.

Paul considers this group of people to be his crown from God, a visible sign accepted on behalf of the people and all who came before him who made his witness to the gospel possible. In Paul’s passing, he wants the people to continue striving for the crown of God, by coming together as a community, inspire of how others may view or treat them. The mission is difficult, but the glory for the entire do comes from God, in whom all things are possible.

Paul goes on to tell the people to rejoice in the Lord, always! Do not worry about anything along the journey, but turn everything over to God in prayer, both asking God for what they need and bringing their praises of thanksgiving before the throne of grace. If they do become discouraged, Paul urges those gathered in Philippi to concentrate on the things that come from Christ – those things which are honorable, pure, true, pleasing, commendable, and excellent. Those things that are worthy of praise. For when focused on these things who can help but live in Jesus and rejoice, no matter what the circumstances? And if you should become discouraged as an individual, the rest of your community is there to support you, and help you strive after your communal mission, for the work for the kingdom of God is at hand.

Brothers and sisters, times will come when we get weary. When we will become drained by the heaviness of the world and seem unable to rejoice, because those around us have not taught us how. But that is the task of the church! To teach others how to rejoice! What a beautiful mission! We have good news that should change people’s lives – we have the mission of Jesus Christ who changed the world! We worship a Lord who is not just to be rejoiced in during Christmas and Easter but throughout the entire year, and in the seemingly mundane. Each day is a gift to us, a chance to experience and live out Christ’s resurrection in our own lives – and I can think of nothing more worthy of being rejoiced in then this truth.

This is not to say that there will not be times when we need to lament, but brothers and sisters I tell you that there can still be joy in the midst of lamenting, even when we are deeply grieved or saddened, for Christ never leaves or forsakes us. We should also not become discouraged if we cannot rejoice in all circumstances, because that is truly a mark of maturing in the faith, a mark that we may never reach in this lifetime. But that is why we gather together each Sunday, to ask each other, is it well with your soul? How can I be praying for you? How can we rejoice together?

If we truly believe that our faith means something, that God is near, the Spirit is moving, and Christ is the Risen Lord, then we should be people whose lives radiate something to those around us. For joy is incomplete unless it is shared with others. And our rejoicing, dear friends, and our joy is subversive but necessary and beautiful to a culture with so much pain and hostility. We live to show others that we are not put on this earth to strive for happiness or those things that we think will make us happy; even those of us who rejoice know that we are not the source of our own joy. The God who is alive and is at work in our lives and the lives of those around us, for the kingdom of God is one of celebration.

We live in a culture that is struggling and is moaning for the rebirth that comes in the freedom of rejoicing. This past week we have heard the cries across the nation with the Overtake Wall Street movements. These were not the first protests of their kind, nor will they probably be the last, but they reminded me of a story of how a small community took something that causes pain and anxiety, and used it to rejoice in God and spread joy. A group of Christians in Philadelphia, called the Simple Way, were awarded $10,000 a few years ago in a lawsuit against police for misconduct. Shortly after this settlement was passed they were given another $10,000 as an anonymous gift. The group came together and prayed about how to use this money in a culture where money controls so many, to rejoice in God. They changed the money into bills and coins and headed to Wall Street. At 8:20am one morning, during the peak of rush hour, the group assembled and declared that as a nation we were a community of struggle, who needed each other and God to heal our brokenness. They went on to declare another world was possible, another world has already come to be and it is here. And coins and bills were thrown across the streets around Wall Street. Bubbles were blown and sidewalk chalk was used to create murals.

And do you know what happened? The rejoicing that a few started was caught by many, for joy is contagious. People started bringing food for each other. Started to share their winter clothing We may think that this was crazy, but often rejoicing will be viewed by those around us as crazy. It is not the norm. But it is what we are called to as ones who have been given such a gift.

So may we rejoice together. May we uphold each other. May our gatherings be ones of celebration in the Risen Lord, who is here amongst us! And may we creatively rejoice in this truth in our neighborhoods and workplaces, where we shop and where we eat, where we play and where we relax, so that those around us will catch a glimpse of the contagious joy of Christ. For we rejoice always, not because of ourselves, but because of the One who has given us every reason to celebrate, every day.

Lost

2011-10-08T22:45:00.001-04:00

I spent several hours this weekend being lost, or perhaps in the words of c.s.lewis via Brooke Fraser "just less found". I went on the hunt for a dairy queen today in order to satisfy a craving and avoid a traffic jam, going about an hour out of my way only to find that the dairy queen had shut down in that particular area. Actual, so much in that particular area were closed, just like areas that I have seen time after time the past few weeks that are devastated. They are the areas you have to leave the beaten path to see, but hold the lives of so many people.
I also got lost in the city this week, on the way to a show. Which gave me a chance to hear so many interesting stories. Stories of destruction, stories of protest, stories of privilege that is blind to itself and others. Then I went to a play that was all about stories - stories of women through different phases of life's journey. And I started to think about how there is a difference between being a person of privilege and being privileged as a person (more on this on a different day in a different post)
I would miss so much in life if I wouldn't have been lost, if I wouldn't allow myself to get lost. What do you miss when you just go from point A to B and miss all of life's lessons along the way?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Family

2011-10-08T22:34:00.001-04:00

This past week I've been thinking a lot about family - both biological and the family that transcends biological bonds. Drew had been that type of family for me. And our family had had a rough year - classmates passing, trusted elders retiring and moving, classmates having accidents, marriages, babies being born, babies being born too early, babies not being born. We've been through so much together that we have to be family just to survive. We love each other through good times and bad and uphold each other in every possible way. May the bonds of this family never break.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Commands for the Disciples - Exodus 20: 1-4, 7-9

2011-10-02T21:52:00.001-04:00

I like rules. A lot. I actually find them to be freeing. When I know the perimeters that I can work in, then I feel that my creativity can soar. It is for me, as one of my professors in seminary wrote on her syllabus, “If it is not expressly prohibited, consider it to be a possibility.

I truly believe that the God we worship is one of both, order and creativity, both of which are expressed in the commandments that we find before us in today’s scripture lesson. God crafted commands, which he handed down to Moses, as a response to God’s saving act and resulting covenant.

Often we may find ourselves asking why we need rules in life. As children we may try to test our boundaries or resist authority over us, by bucking the rules. But our parents have set the rules in place to help us grow into our greatest potential. They created boundaries out of the response of loving us enough to want us to thrive. Thus the rules. Even if we do not realize the purpose or intent behind them as such, at the time.

Like, children we can sometimes push back against God’s commands, sometimes as going far as deliberately breaking them. It is as if something inside of us tempts us to test God – as if we need to make sure that God’s grace and love will be extended to us, even if we do not follow God’s commands. Brothers and sisters, I am here to tell you today that God’s grace can wash away any of our stumbling and sins, but above all God has given us commandments not because God could, or as a way for God to exert power over us, but because they are for our best interest. They are crafted to help us be the best disciples that we can be.

Like the Israelites, God has brought us out of the house of salivary as well. We may not have been oppressed by the Egyptians, but we were salves to sin and evil. So God sent Jesus Christ, fully divine and yet fully human, this great mystery of a person, to do something even more mysterious to us today – Jesus choose to love us to the point where he handed himself over to death on a cross, so we could be freed. And so, God has delivered us through the grace and power of Jesus the Christ. If the Israelites were given these rules because God loved them enough to save them and give them commands to help them fully grasp their choosiness, then how much more should we yearn to follow God’s commands because of God’s love that came to us in the form of Jesus, so that we could be called God’s beloved ones.

What I find moving about the commands that we are looking at today is that they are all about our relationship with God. Because if we do not have our relationship with God right then we won’t be able to be the best neighbor that we can be either. So God gives these commands to help shape those who follow the Holy One so they can be witnesses for what God has done in their lives. So the God that delivers, starts by giving the following commands to the Israelites, and to us as modern day disciples:

You shall have no other God’s before me: This first commandment and all that follow, do not stand as simply good advice, friends, they emerge from the history of a saving God. And yet, even though God has saved us time and time again, we often look to other gods, other things, to place our trust and hope in. God’s first command is a reminder to us to be loyal to the only God worth having allegiance to.

Whose are we? The easy answer to give is God’s, but as disciples do we live in such a way that reflects this statement. Or does it look like we worship the gods of status, power, money, and security. Do we put our trust in other people, presidents, nations, or kingdoms, or do we look to the God who has delivered us? When times get hard, who or what is the first thing that you turn to. God’ s first command today and every day is not rooted in unfairness or God’s assertion of power. No. This command exists to help us get it straight – through good times and bad – that we are God’s and nothing else should come before this, or block us from exuding this truth to others by the way we live each day.

You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or one he earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. If we are truly loyal to our God who saves, then we should not be crafting other things that lead us to worship or give glory to another. This can be so hard today, brothers and sisters, in a culture that cries out for us to be narcissistic – we see people around us making themselves into idols – who we can be seduced into worshiping before we even realize what we are doing. When we make something or someone into an idol, we forget that they are God’s too – that God calls them beloved. Instead, we think of them as self-sufficient and worthy to be followed or modeled, when this is not the case.

You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. For the people of Israel, God’s name was to be revered. It was so holy that it was not even written or spoken in its most Holy form. If people began to call on the name of the Lord in improper way, or did not show God reverence, then they were not being witnesses to what God has done in their lives, or the blessings of God extended to humanity. If they did not respect the name of the God who has done so much for them, then they were showing their neighbors that their God did not need to be taken seriously, even if this was not their intent. I do not think any of us set out trying to disrespect the name of God; we have simply forgotten how much God is to be revered, which can lead us to not showing God the respect due.

Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but on the seventh day give your Sabbath to the Lord. Friends, I have attended several trainings and meeting over the past two weeks where I have been convicted time and time again by this commandment. This is the only commandment of the ten that we brag about breaking. I’m sure you know colleagues who brag about how much they work, or perhaps bemoan how much they extend themselves to the cause of their work, never taking a break. But Sabbath is God’s gift to us, given because we cannot constantly work. When we do so, we find ourselves forgetting that we are beloved – thinking that we need to prove ourselves or earn God’s love. We start to replace God with worship of work. Therefore, we must take one day to worship God.

Further, this worship of God is not simply an hour or two on the Sabbath, rushed through in order to get to our “rest”. Our worship of God should bring us true rest, peace, because we know that we are in the presence of the Risen Lord! Sabbath is not the same as a day off, or a time to do the errands that we did not get to the rest of the week. Sabbath is for us and God alone. When we cease from our work and just be, we are reminded that the world goes on without our toil.

What an amazing gift to the Israelites, who were slaves without ceasing. And what an amazing gifts for us as disciples in such a fast paced world. How we worship God the rest of the day each Sabbath may look different for each of us as we leave this place, but it is a reminder to put God is God’s due place – as master of the universe.

Brothers and sisters, commands are not just meant to be followed. They are meant to be revered so we can see them in all of their goodness and beauty. They are to be embraced so we can live our lives with a true freedom that comes from knowing our perimeters. And they are to be examined, so we can see how we are doing as disciples. Are we living into these commands in their fullest? Are there ones that we struggle with more then others? Why? How can these commands help us be the best witnesses to God’s grace, mercy, love, and salvation that we can be? May these questions and others stay with us this week, as we seek to grow closer to the God who created, redeemed, and sustains us. Amen.

Thoughts on Ministry

2011-09-26T18:38:00.001-04:00

I've been thinking a lot about ministry this past week - and what a blessing it is to have colleagues who have your back and understand what you are going though, even when others do not.

There are certain people along your ministry path who you solidify with well, or a certain group that you fit in with. For me this is both older clergy, who treat me like their granddaughter in the faith and apostolic line and and young clergy. Another young clergy who is having a tough year pulled me aside around the middle of last week and spoke such words of encouragement to my heart - telling me that I matter and my ministry matter. That seems so basic, but sometimes I seem to forget. He went on to say that my ministry is important because it is so different from my prior colleagues at this parish - they were high energy and go go go all the time. I'm more of a calming presence with a focus on spiritual formation and Christian education the programs. For this colleague of mine to notice this across such a distance was profound to me - even though we don't see each other very often he understands me in a very real way.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

But How Do We Know What to Obey? - Phil 2: 1-13

2011-09-25T13:25:00.000-04:00

Obedience is one of those words that seems to instantly make people think negative thoughts. Perhaps this is because obedience is most commonly used with the word not, as in “you have not obeyed me” or “why weren’t you obedient?” Other times, the thought of obedience makes us uncomfortable – we want to be our own person and follow our own rules and anything less feels like conformity. The result, when relationship is considered in obedience to God, is that we can seem to be in a perpetual state of trying to define ourselves apart from God by rebelling against God’s wishes – in other words we seem to be perpetually disobedient.

But in contrast to the negativity that can surround the context of obedience, we have Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi today – where he has words of encouragement and joy for them and an excitement about their obedience to this teachings. He is overjoyed that this group of followers are living out the realities of Christ’s glory in their present lives! They got it! They understood that what they were striving to become was something so much bigger then their own pride issues over being obedient – it wasn’t about them solely – it was about God’s kingdom!

Paul is like a parent in this passage – feeling a surge of joy and pride in the people he helped grow in the faith. Usually, Paul’s letters go out to churches who struggle to be obedient when he is absent. Like children who say one thing to a parent, and then do the opposite when they leave, many of the group of believers he taught back slid as he traveled on. But not Philippi – they got it! And they were thriving!

What hope this must have brought Paul as he was imprisoned, facing a pending execution. His legacy would live on and all of his work was not in vain – this one group of people was bringing other encouragement in Christ, sharing their love with all the met, having compassion and sympathy for those they interacted with – and constantly sought the spirit’s guidance. While other churches along Paul’s journey struggled, this community sought to live for Christ and not selfish ambition. This fellowship looked to the interest of others over themselves, and in doing so they magnified the love of Christ and modeled his obedience, even to death on the cross. Jesus sat aside all of the power that he could have had, and abandoned his equality with God, because above all God is love – and Jesus loved others.

For the church in Philippi this love was crucial. They took it on as a spiritual exercise – a spiritual experience. Obedience for them was not linked with mindlessness, or a lack of will – it flowed from their will to follow God, which was their daily choice. They knew that God’s love came before them, was with them, and would go beyond them once they left this world. And they yearned to be part of sharing this love with others.

What amazes me is that this fellowship of believers made the choice to be obedient knowing that the consequences could be dire. They choose to be obedient even though the one, who had taught them, their Spiritual Father, sat in a prison facing death for living out his beliefs. They may loose their status in society, their wealth, and their very livelihood and become outcasts, but they made that choice anyway, because in their lives, God’s love was worth following more then anything else.

So what about us? Ghandi once said, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Our Christians are so unlike your Christ.” Currently I am reading the book They Like Jesus But Not the Church: Insights Into the Emerging Generation for a retreat that I am leaving for this afternoon. The author, Dan Kimball, uses this quote from Ghandi to draw a parallel to how many people outside the church, and some people inside the church, feel about Christians – that we sometimes fail to live into the message of love that Jesus gave. We took Jesus’ teachings and want to teach them to others, but sometimes we don’t want to do the hard work of examining our own lives to see if we are really being obedient to Christ, really living the way God has called us to, marked by love. Ghandi made his now famous quote about Christians while struggling for justice for the oppressed in India, which he did out of love. He saw Jesus as one who modeled such radical love, but was not joined in his struggle by many of Christ’s contemporary followers. He didn’t see people like those in the fellowship in Philippi, those who put obedience and modeling Christ’s teaching above their own comfort and needs.

When reading one of the commentators on today’s scripture passage, I was struck by the statement that we are called to be imitators of Christ, not impersonator. An imitator wants to live in such a way that reflects the one that they imitate and they do this not for themselves, but to bring glory and honor to the one they respect enough to want to be like. However, an impersonator struggles hard to make people see them a certain way, a way that they are not really. They fake being something they are not in order to get their own acclaim.

Perhaps this is what makes the church at Philippi so different from some of the other places Paul traveled – they understood that it was not about them. Following Christ was not about making their lives better or being lifted up to a particular status in society or being part of the in crowd. It was about adopting a Christ like attitude daily.

I am sure that the people in Philippi stumbled a lot. But in their striving to imitate Christ, to be a reflection of Christ’s love, they had to be honest about the times they screwed up. An impersonator often acts as if everything is okay, even when it is not. An imitator uses their failures as an opportunity for growth, and try again. Because they understood that this was a daily choice, a process of living obediently.

If we want to be like the church in Philippi, we need to ask ourselves some very hard questions as individuals and as this gathering at Albright-Bethune. Can the world see Christ in us? Are people sensing the love of Christ through us? Are we striving to be more like Christ daily, imitating him, or are we simply trying to impersonate him for our own glory? Are we making the daily choice to be obedient to Christ? And when we struggle with obedience are we honest about this so we can learn from it in the future?

Brothers and sisters, Christ has chosen us to be his imitators in order to accomplish God’s mission on this earth. Sometimes we do this well and other times things seem to go very wrong. But like Philippians we have a daily choice – to choose to be obedient to what Christ has taught us through scriptures, what he modeled by dying on the cross, and following where the Holy Spirit is leading us daily. This is hard work, especially in the face of a culture that tells us to do things our own way and to think about ourselves first. Obedience is not childish nor is it something to be viewed with a negative connotation – it is a high calling to bring glory to a wonderful God. God has not called us to do something alone; for the Holy Spirit is always with us, and God has not asked us do anything that Christ has not done before us. We need to make the daily choice to set ourselves aside for the good of the body of Christ. We are called to practice what we recognize, so that people no longer look at the Church and do not see us as imitators of the one whom we love and follow. Amen.

Ageism

2011-09-19T18:28:00.001-04:00

Generally when people refer to ageism - or prejudices against a certain age group - they are referring to the elderly. Especially in American culture, the elderly are not revered as they should be as beacons of wisdom, but rather as drains on society. But the last few days I've been thinking about ageism against the young. Young in this sense does not necessarily have to mean child, because the ageism I've been experiencing in the professional world has to do with me being in my mid-twenties.

Perhaps it is because I look younger then I am (which I'm told that someday will be a benefit, but right how it just feels like a burden) or the assumptions that accompany how I look (that I am uneducated, neieve, or lack life experience) but I've received just as many unnecessary comments from fellow clergy as I have from my congregation. The only place where i seemed to be appreciated for me, age and all, is with college students. I even had one of them tell me yesterday that he definitely got the "pastor vibe" from me. And the parents of college students are gracious as well, one telling me to make sure that I take care of myself and do not become discouraged. While clergy have the one of the highest. Burn out rates nationally, he could see that I am called to this profession to be a blessing.

But clergy, well that's another story. In the complex age where the denomination (along with others) is crying out for young clergy, I am constantly met with slight of the hand comments about my age, especially by second career pastors who don't know me. Alas, this does not come with the territory friends in other professions. But how to even begin to address this issue with congregations with so much resistance from fellow professionals?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Unconventional

2011-09-16T00:54:00.001-04:00

Over the past few weeks, so comments have been made to me that have given me pause, and have led me to some great memories. The first comment was that I'm like a little old lady. I know in the context of that comment, the person meant that I do not engage in activities that are common for my age. I would rather read then talk on the phone. I like to write longhand letters as opposed to emails. I love to knit (which I have been doing for 9 years) and cross stitch (which I started learning while in Brownies for Girl Scouts). It was as if the person who made the comment said that I was told old for my age. A similar comment was made this past week when someone told me that I have lived too much life for my age.

Such comments made me think about how we try to define what is the appropriate behavior for certain age groups. The psychological models that I studied in school, are no longer seen as guiding marks or a model, rather as absolutes. But we live in a world where absolutes are a rarity. But the thought of having absolutes give us comfort - we want clear boundaries that help us to define and then size up other people.

That creates a problem for me, because I've never really been conventional or engaging in the same activities as most people my age. Perhaps in was my introverted nature, but more likely it was just being encouraged to live into my passions - I was a children's program teacher by 7th grade, a Sunday School teacher by 10th. Some of the books we read for advanced English my senior year of high school I had read in 8th, books from the same class my sophomore year I had read in 4th grade. While others did projects to get by, I refused to hand in anything that I wasn't proud of or excited about. While other kids my age went to the movies, I would rather read a book at home. Currently, while other people may have a dog or a cat, I have a pet chinchilla.

My struggle recently is to embrace this unconventional part of myself - to be proud of and live into the reality that I don't act my age, because I firmly believe that there aren't real criteria of what someone should be doing at my age - there may be some guide posts (which is another post entirely) but I have lived the life I have been blessed with up to this point in the fullest, doing the things that I am passionate about. And if this means that I no longer fit into others assumptions or expectations, I'm okay with that. We need to embrace people for who they are, not who some psychological theorist tells us they should be. Otherwise, we are saying the creative God who made each of us unique, really just made each of us out of a conventional template.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Memories and New Beginnings

2011-09-11T14:26:00.001-04:00

Friends, we are standing on holy ground! A place in time that is defined not only by the presence of our Holy God, but of a turning point - a time when we have been given a choice to either stay where we are in or to move forward.

What is this holy ground, this holy decision that we have been given responsibility over? Let us explore the story of Moses before we seek to find its parallels in our lives today: Moses had been through a lot in his early years. He had been born in a time when he should have been slaughtered simply for being a Hebrew, male child. Yet his mother risked her life to save his. She wove a basket out of reeds and placed Moses in it, hoping and knowing that someone would rescue him and raise him. She gave up her most precious piece of herself in this world, her newborn baby, in order to save him and to give him the life that she wished for him. She had her daughter, watch over the basket to make sure no harm came to her son, until the daughter of the Pharaoh came and drew him out of the water. She named him, Moses, and cared for him as if he was her very own.

Moses knew that he was different, that he was a Hebrew who was revered as an Egyptian. But he still considered the Hebrews who worked around him to be his brothers. One day he saw one of Pharaoh’s men who was set to supervise the Hebrews work as salves, strike one of his Hebrew brothers. And Moses killed him and buried him in the sand.

Later Moses saw two Hebrew men scuffling, and one hit another. When Moses asked them why they were quarreling with one another, the one who struck the other verbally lashed out at Moses, asking if he was going to kill him as a Hebrew, the same way that he had killed the Egyptian. Moses’ murderous secret was out. It had even reached the ears of Pharaoh who sought to kill Moses, thinking that true blood ran deeper and thicker then those who were raised as family. So Moses fled to the land of Midian, where he married one of the priest of the area’s daughters and formed a life for his family there as a shepherd. While Moses started his life as a sojourner, the Pharaoh who sought to kill him died, and the hardships of the children of Israel increased under the new régime.

Which brings us to our point in the story today. Moses was tending to the flock of sheep owned by his father in law. He was alone in the wilderness, when a messenger from the Lord sent a flame onto a bush that burst out of the bush, but did not consume it. A sight never before experienced. Moses, realized that he was standing on holy ground, because of this unnatural occurrence. He turned his face away from the holy sight, and the voice of God called to him from the midst of this burning, but unconsumed bush, calling him by name. Moses responded by taking off his sandals, for his was standing on holy ground.

God laid it all out for him, saying, “I am the God of your father, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I have seen the affection of my children, my very people, in Egypt and I have heard their cries in the face of the salve drivers. I have known their suffering. So I came down here, into this moment in time, into this bush, to you, to rescue them and bring them up to a land beyond their wildest imaginations. So go! I am choosing you, I am sending you to Pharaoh, to bring my people out of Egypt.”

But Moses did not exactly go at first. He recognized that he was hearing God. He turned away from the bush because he was afraid to see the face of God. He took off his sandals because he knew he was standing on holy ground. But he was afraid. He was afraid of the past, of what he had left behind in Egypt. He had worked so hard to shed the shell of who he once was, how he had defined himself, as a murder. And here this Holy being, had come to him and commanded him to strike out on the path of new beings. God had commanded him to leave behind the memories of his past that had consumed and defined him, and to leave behind his present safety for his family and himself, and move forward. God knew of Moses fear, even when all Moses could ask was “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? Who am I?”

Friends, we are standing on holy ground today – this is a defining moment for our country and for us as Christians. Today is September 11^th, 2011. Ten years ago on this day lives were lost as the world trade center collapsed and another plane went down in Pennsylvania. Today, we are standing on holy ground because God has given us a choice about how we are going to proceed. Are we going to get so caught up in memories of pain, rage, and sadness that we become stuck? Are we going to keep seeking to label and blame others simply because of their religion or color of skin? Are we going to live in fear of the past and let that define us, or are we going to move forward, with God, into new beginnings?

New beginnings are hard for us to understand sometimes, because we think that we need to forget whom we are or where we came from in order to start over. We think that we need to give up on the memories that have formed us – both the good and the bad – in order to choose the way of a new beginning, but this simply is not true. God’s name is defined in this passage of scripture to Moses, as “I will be there however I will be there.” Or in our English translations, “I am who I am.” Believe, brothers and sisters, that which is impossible for us to truly understand. God is not confined by our sense of time – of the past, present, and future. God simply is. Because of this incomprehensible truth, God simply asks us to sojourner the direction laid before us. And because God has given us free will, when we reach a fork in the road of our journey, we have a choice to make, will we continue to move forward into the unknown, or will we stay stuck?

I truly believe that God can redeem all moments for the glory of the Holy Three in One! Sometimes we need the memories of the past to propel us into a new direction in the future. But other times those memories become toxic – the type of memories that help us define ourselves and our mission in human terms instead of God’s terms. And brothers and sisters, human terms and definitions lead to messes. Moses realized this - can you imagine the guilt and fear that consumed him for years because he saw himself as one thing and one thing only – a murder. He saw himself, not as a kin of the holy, chosen people, but as one who was self-banished from them. Set apart from his family for his own self-flagellation. Inherent in Moses asking God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?” is the bigger question, “Who am I that I am good enough to deserve to be spoken to by God? To be given a mission from God? To be allowed a new beginning?”

But what could this new beginning with God on this anniversary look like? I think it involves claiming some of the powerful images that came out of a horrible day – that when we see those around us in need, we step up and do the impossible. There is no better example of this then the first responders, firefighters, and police men and women who risked and sacrificed their own lives to save those whom they did not even know on that day. And surly we are never to forget the memories of those who lost their lives, needlessly, on this day ten years ago. But what are those memories calling us to do? Are we living in a way that honors those who died or are we living out a human agenda propelled by our emotions of rage and unspeakable sadness?

Friends, as a nation we’ve tried living out the human responses for ten years. What if God’s new way was one of radical peace? A peace that others do not understand, but that we live into any way? What if God’s new beginning for us, in this moment in time, was a chance for us to share an unbounded love for our neighbors right around the corner and down the street? What if this was our time to be creative about how to express our faith in this God whose name is “I will be there” our great “I am”. Can we truly let go and let God redeem this moment this tragic moment in history for good? Can we choose to venture down the road of new beginnings, even if we fear that we do not know fully where it will lead, but knowing that God goes with us? Can we forge new friendships across boundaries, that are authentic and life changing? Can we lay ourselves down in order to walk down the road of peace that others have forged before us.

May today be the day that we choose to let God our memories transform us memories into new beginnings.

The Hard Lessons of Forgiveness for the Disciples - Matthew 18: 15-20

2011-09-06T19:29:00.000-04:00

For some reason, Christians do not seem to fight well. Or perhaps most humans, despite their religious affiliation, don’t know how to fight well. But, as Christians, we should know how to deal with our disagreements with brothers and sisters in the faith, because Christ gave us clear instructions. And yet…

I have two friends. Both are Godly men. The first has been taught from the time he was little that the best way to deal with conflict is to ignore it. As a result, every time we had some sort of disagreement or he was upset at me for something, he would ignore me. Sometimes for weeks on end. And at one point in college, for an entire year. It was perhaps one of the most painful times in my life. Having someone so dear to me, ignore me, and refuse to tell me what I had done or said to prompt such a reaction. Ignoring conflict, actually only generated more suffering for both of us.

My other friend and I found that we both had the opposite approach to conflict. We wanted to lay it all out on the table and then sift through the verbal wreckage. This was equally as unhealthy as ignoring each other. But through time, we learned how to fight well. We would pull each other aside, if something was said or done that would hurt us. We would ask to speak privately later. At that point in time we would explain in an even tone, what happened and how it had affected us. The other person just listened. Sometimes they would respond, explaining their side of the event, but we always left covenanting to try harder next time.

I think Jesus’ advice to the disciples about how to deal with conflict say a lot without the need for words. For some deep truths lie in the assumptions behind what is being said. First, we have not learned how to fight well as a people. We have been raised in ways that impact how we interact with other people, especially when we become upset about something. For most of us, dealing with conflict has become our personal baggage. We have been abused, verbally, psychologically, or physically (sometimes without even really being able to identify it as such) and sometimes in our attempts to not replicate those patterns we do more harm then good. In order to avoid fighting with a person, out of fear of what may come of it, we ignore conflict completely and label it to be something bad.

Which leads us to the second assumption, conflict in and of itself is not a sin. And even those times when someone sins against you in such a way that leads to arguments or fighting, God can redeem both the sin and its results. Conflict is a time when we can truly learn from each other. It is also one of the most revealing ways to learn about someone’s beliefs and character. For example, the reason my second friend and I decided to learn to fight better was because of a realization we stumbled upon – we fight over what is precious to us. Often we assume that the other person we are engaged in conflict with knows deep truths about us that they often do not or that they understand the true meaning behind what matters to us and handle it with the same care that we do. When we realized that we fight over what is precious to each of us, we began to treat it as such. We also saw it as a holy moment – a time when someone who truly cares about our walk with God, can come along side us and speak truth into the dark places in our lives. When we stumbled into sin against another human being we were in relationship with, we needed that to be pointed out to us with love and grace.

Brothers and sisters, we are the church of Jesus Christ here on earth, today. Our relationships with each other should reflect this very truth. I think Jesus realized that as imperfect people there are going to be times when we screw up – when we don’t treat each other, as we should. When we gossip or lie about one another. When we share secretes that we shouldn’t. When we become angry about something that is said to us, by a person who may not understand the full impact their words have on our lives. But Jesus’ knows that we are called to be better then this – that he has given us the opportunity and the instructions on how to resolve conflict in such a way that brings honor and glory to the kingdom of God!

To Christ, each and every one of us matters. Each person who has ever walked this earth and who will come after us have value that is boundless. We need to be in the types of relationship with each other that show this to the world. We need to have relationships with our colleagues and the people that we meet on the street that reflects this. To Christ, none of us has the right to claim superiority over another.

So what does such a relationship that shines Christ’s love look like – when we have a problem with someone else in the church? If someone has done something to hurt you, you are to humbly pull them aside after praying about the situation. You are to talk to this person alone, and explain what the fault was as you understood or experienced it. If the person responds asking for forgiveness, you reconcile and move on. But if the person you sought to reconcile with refuses to listen, you bring another person into the conversation. A wise, neutral member of the body of Christ, so they can confirm what is being said and listen and respond with fresh insight. If your brother or sister still refuses to listen, then you bring the matter before the entire gathering.

Let us pause and take a moment to examine what Jesus is not telling us to do: Jesus is not telling us to approach the one who has sinned against us in such a way that alienates them. We are not to approach them yelling or cursing. We are not to discuss the matter with others before we approach them. We are not to enter into this time of reconciliation and healing in order to prove that we are right. We are simply entering into a space to be heard in such a way that may prompt future understanding.

And here is something that is hard for us to understand in our Western mindsets, if you are sinned against and not heard or if you are the sinner and refuse to listen, it does not give you an excuse to leave the church and seek another. This is hard for us to deal with, became in America, church is a voluntary fellowship that we join, and if things aren’t going our way, then we leave and find another church or swearing off Christian fellowship. Jesus instructs us to continue to interact with one another as we would a Gentile and a tax collector. These were people whom Jesus deeply loved and interacted with daily. He broke bread with them. He treated them with endless grace and dignity.

Why would Jesus take time to talk about conflict within the church, a concept that did not even exist yet in terms of our modern understanding? Because Jesus recognized the reality that we screw up, and that conflict between any members of the church doesn’t just affect them, but involves all of us. We are to reconcile not only for our own relationship with that person, but for the good of the entire body of Christ because we are bound together through Christ! And when we gather with each other, even if we are in conflict, Christ is in the midst of that as well, if only we call on his name.

Friends, we are the body of Christ on this earth to bring glory to the Kingdom of God by the grace of the Holy Spirit! Sometimes we let the pettiness of conflict consume us in such a way that fighting becomes what we identify church with, instead of this Triune reality. May we strive to be in better relationship with each other and with the world. May we take Jesus’ words to heart and make them our credo to live by in times of conflict. And in all circumstances, may we look to Christ, the one who has brought us together, to lead us to become the people we are intended to be – the people he sees us as, people of worth beyond measure.

Anger

2011-08-24T03:13:00.001-04:00

For the past few days I've been reflecting on the emotion of anger. And the more I ponder it, the less I understand it.

I think being angry is a perfectly acceptable reaction, and sometimes it is even warranted. However, we need to have some true thought go into how we express our anger.

When I was in elementary school, the girls who got angry with each other, gossiped about one another behind their backs. As I grew older, friend who were angry with each other ignored one another. And we are not much better as adults. We have not learned how to deal with our anger well. It is as if we strive to hurt one another, just so someone else can feel a fraction of how we do.

When I was in high school and through most of college, I dealt with my anger by ignoring the person I had an issue with. I wanted them to know, through my absence, that they had hurt me. When I reflect on why I acted this way, it occurred to me that I learned it from a close friend who taught me, through his own actions, that ignoring people was a way to painfully punish them.

In graduate school and beyond, I've found myself shifting how I deal with my own anger. It has become impossible for me to be mad for more than 24 hours. If I'm mad, I ask to be excused from the situation to collect my thoughts. Sometimes I have a private outburst of crying or expression, but by the next day the issue can be discussed clearly. When I asked to be excused, I clearly state that I need to gather my thoughts so I don't speak with too much haste.

Recently a friend revealed to me that he deals with anger the same way. Neither of us can pin point who modeled this behavior for us, so perhaps we matured into it. However, it can also be clearly seen as avoidance, which neither of us believe that it is, but others who do not understand want something more from us - a verbal outlast in the moment or a prolonged seething attitude.

But what we've both realized is that life is too short to spend it angry. We discuss what makes us upset in our relationships so they can grow, not so we can yell at or punish another. And a lot of times, 24 hours is more then enough time to see our fault in the situation and to pray and have self-reflection so a more complete conversation can take place.

However, when the way you deal with anger doesn't match how another deals, friction can arise. Perhaps there are stages of dealing with anger that are like the stages of development. Perhaps they are learned or perhaps they are part of the temperament of our personalities, but whatever the case when people deal with conflict differently it is an uncomfortable situation.

Example: someone became angry with me recently because of an intrpertstion of what I said. I sincerely apologized. I did not make excuses for my behavior, but I did strive to put myself in her shoes to understand where she was coming from. But all she could do was repeat over and over again that she was angry and this is why. It was as if she wanted to argue or she thought I didn't respect the intensity of her anger. We weren't in conflict well because we didn't deal with it the same way.

When someone is angry with me I try my best to just listen. I do not make excuses for my behavior, because often when someone is yelling at me, I find that explanations cannot be heard. Plus by listening, I can fully take in another's perspective and learn something about them, and often something about myself as well. I can strive to examine how their criticism reflects an area of my life that needs growth. Often I am just quietly absorbing until I apologize, sincerely, and honestly promise to try better in the future. Then if an act of recompense is warranted I will act upon it.

But that's just me. I want to make sure not to transfer how I deal with conflict onto another in such a way that they cannot express themselves or they feel that their emotions are being diminished. Emotions are as uniquely expressed as the people who feel them. So the question becomes, how do we help each other express anger in a constructive way that benefits relationships and keeps us healthy? Do we need to change the way we deal with anger to appease another person? How can we, as a culture, learn how to make conflict constructive and express emotions for a specific purpose instead of simply to express them? And for my friend and I who try to deal with anger towards us and anger we feel with gentle hands, how can we help people understand that our calmness comes form a sincere place, not one that is ignoring the severity of the situation the other person feels?

Emotions are such a tricky thing, yet we have them and have to learn how to be in relationship with ourselves and others around them. Further, our emotions are so tied into our stories, what we have dealt with in life before, how we perceive the world, and what we view as important. So how can we be in authentic, grace filled conflict, without knowing each other well enough to know our stories that undergird what lead to this place?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Disciples Proclaim the Word! - Matt 16: 13-20

2011-08-22T00:55:00.001-04:00

When I look at today’s scripture lesson, I think it can be best be broken up into two parts who is Christ and how does our identification of who Christ is impact our daily lives.

On the surface it looks pretty simple doesn’t it. Christ asks his disciples who he is and through our 21^st century eyes, and ears that I have heard about who Jesus is and what he has done, we just want to cry out “Of course, Peter, Christ is the Messiah.” But really it wasn’t that simple of a conclusion to draw. Each of Christ’s activities could be traced back to another person, in other words, what he has been doing up until this point in the gospels wasn’t unique. Of course, we know that Jesus would did on the cross, sacrificing himself for the absolute and vital unique act of saving us. But up to this point his actions and words reflected those of other prophets. Like John the Baptist, Christ has followers meeting the needs of those who have been forgotten and ignored. John also preached a similar gospel of repentance, or turning from their old way of life in order to fully experience the reality of what God made earth to be. Recall that Elijah preformed miracles and it was passed down orally from generation to generation that Elijah would return before the coming of the Messiah. Jesus could have also been identified with a prophet because of the radical things that he was saying, like Jeremiah people rebelled and tried to kill him over his message.

So here in the midst of all of their travels the disciples have been hearing who Christ is and maybe they even share the same opinions as those listed for some of the similarities just mentioned. But then Peter, always the bold one, puts words to his own opinion. “You are the Messiah, the son of the living God.” Remember that up to this point in the gospels, Jesus hasn’t been forth coming with the fact that he is the Messiah. In fact if we look at this gospel story in Mark we would find Jesus’ response to be a tad different, essentially, yes you are correct but I don’t want you to tell anyone. It is not time. A command similar to what we find at the end of this lesson, but without the blessing in between.

What exactly was Peter saying when he proclaimed one of the greatest Christological affirmations found withing the gospels., that Jesus is the Messiah. Essentially you are the one that we have been waiting for! Finally, the people of Israel who had been in captivity for so long would be redeemed. The Christmas hymn, O Come O Come Emmanuel coveys the spirit of longing and desperation for a savior when it says “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. And ransom captive Israel. That mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appears.” The people of Israel are getting desperate. They want someone to come and free them from their current imprisonment by Rome. But that isn’t what Jesus came to be. He came not to save people from an earthly prison, but to free them from the captivity of Satan. He is freeing them from the bondage that Satan brought about in the Garden of Eden so that people could fully become who they were intended to be.

And for this affirmation and realization Jesus rewards Peter by saying, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in Heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church..” Peter was speaking the utterance of God because there is no way that he even understood all of the implications of calling Jesus the Messiah. Or how far being a Messiah extended past his Jewish expectations.

So who is Christ? Do we even know today? Are we like the other disciples spitting off second hand accounts of knowledge of who Chris could be? Or are we standing with Peter beaming with excitement as we proclaim, “You are the Son of the Living God!” In order to answer this question like Peter, we cannot rely on secondhand knowledge. We can only say this if Christ dwells in us, if we have a relationship with him. There is a difference between knowing something about someone and knowing someone. When I know something about a person I know a random fact that may or may not reflect who they are. But if I know someone, I have a relationship with him or her. I know their character, beliefs, values, and life experiences. I know them well enough to say not I recognize this person, but that this person and I are intimate. And I don’t know about you, but I want to say that I intimately know Christ and not just recognize him, because if I only recognize a person, there is no guarantee that they will be able to equally recognize me.

For example: I once was at a wedding where I had a women pull me aside after the service and address me by name saying something to the effect of “I was wondering who was singing in front of me so beautifully, and then I saw that it was Michelle Bodle.” I literally had no idea who this woman was or how she knew me. I in fact was a tad freaked out that she knew my name and I didn’t even recognize her face. It later turned out that she is the mother of one of the kids I graduated high school with. She recognized me from the yearbook, I had never met her.

But at that same wedding, I knew the bride. She has been one of the people I have been close to since high school, keeping in contact the whole way through college. She is one of the only people whom I made sure to see every time I was home on break. I could tell you her story, and why this wedding was so special to me as she had battled cancer just a few years prior. Because I knew her and she is so dear to me, her dad ushered me into where she was getting into her gown, as soon as I arrived. He knew that his daughter and I were close friends and he wanted me to share with her all of the excitement of her special day, because our stories and lives were so intricately connected.

Which story better describes your relationship with Christ? Would he know you deeply enough, because of your relationship, to share in all of the joy of your wedding day, or would he just stare at you blankly saying that he didn’t know you, if you pulled him aside to chat. May we know who Christ is intimately and personally.

After Christ blessed Peter for this deep knowledge of who he is, he went on to saying, “You are Peter and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in Heaven.” Here is Peter, the same Peter who has screwed up and will still screw up in the future, and Jesus is giving him a huge responsibility, to bind and loose things in Heaven. Here’s the scary part, as Christ’s disciples, and part of the Church, we have the same command today. When we exclaim with Peter “You are the MESSIAH!” we have a task before us. But what does this binding and loosing look like in daily life? Essentially this means that we decide how the teachings of Christ apply to our every day lives and giving those teachings in such a way that we don’t judge people.

Being given keys is a very scary thing. As we grow older I think we forget how thrilling and nerve-wracking it was to be given the keys to the car for the first time when we were learning to drive. At least not until we live long enough to become parents and have the same feelings on the opposite side of the transaction. But some memories about being handed keys become so embded into our memories that we can understand the weight of the responsibility that Jesus is giving Peter and us. I celebrated my 21^st birthday one of my first weekends abroad in Melbourne, Australia. It was my first weekend at a church that would eventually become my home away from home. When the congregation found out it was my birthday they immediately celebrated, singing happy birthday and promising to be my family in their absence across continents and oceans, but it was what happened next that stays with me as vividly as the day it first happened. The pastor then explained that in Australian culture that the age of 21 was when people truly become adults and they are given the keys to their own life. At this time I was given total responsibility for my own life, know that I would have to live into the greatness my family had prepared me for and accept the consequences the times I stumbled. What a gift and what a daunting reality! Brothers and sisters, we have been given the keys to Christ’s kingdom and we are called to live into the greatness Christ has formed us for as the church, while accepting responsibility when we stumble along the way. We are the ones who are the face of Christ’s kingdom currently.

The fact that we are the tangiable hands and feet of Christ today that bind and loose for the kingdom of God is daunting and hard to understand at times. Perhaps the best example Biblically of binding and loosing can be found in Christ’s teaching from the Sermon on the Mount in the phrases that say, “You have heard it said… but I say unto you.” For example in Matthew 5 verse 21 says “You have heard that it was said to those on ancient times, you shall not murder and whoever murders will be in judgment, but I say unto you if you are angry with a brother or a sister you will be liable to judgment and if you insult a brother or sister you will be liable to the council and if you say ‘You fool’ you will be liable to the fires of Hell.” This is an example of binding, or making something tighter, an example of loosing would be when he allowed healing to take place on the Sabbath, something the rulers of the law looked down upon because he was redefining the restraints in order to make them less stringent.

So what does all of this binding and loosing mean for us? Well as the church it means that we need to apply scripture to people’s daily lives starting with our own. Let’s go back to the text for a moment: “I give you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven.” In the Greek the word bind actually means “whatever I have already bound you will bind on earth.” So how are we going to know what Christ has bound or loosened? By reading the scriptures through the eyes of the Spirit. But be forewarned, the Bible is not meant to be bent to reach our agenda or feelings. It is not meant to be interpreted in a way that keeps people from knowing Christ. It is meant to be preached with grace and love. And we cannot decide on our own how the Bible should be applied. That is meant for the Body of Christ, the collective church, to decide. I for one, don’t want to be falsely binding and loosing things on earth, that result in people being judged or looked down upon, when God is inviting them to be part of the kingdom!

We, as the church need to get our priorities straight. We are meant to bind and loose in order to bring glory to Christ and not to just make rules to make ourselves into an elitist organization that looks better. We don’t exist to make it harder for people to get into Heaven. We exist to shine Christ into the lives of people. And, no, this won’t be done by ignoring the sins of others, but it will also not be done by bringing needless guilt upon them time and time again after Christ has forgiven their sins. Do you catch the drift here? We should exist to help people find answers and grace to the questions that plague them, about how to apply the Bible to daily life, because sometimes the teachings a vague. And this helping and leading people is best done through discipleship, or collectively coming along side one another to discuss how the Bible intersects with our lives. The Bible is not just meant for Sundays, brothers and sisters. It is meant to be our guiding tool lived out every day.

When John Wesley was alive and in the many years following his death people following the Methodist tradition would gather several times a week for different celebrations and small groups. At least once a week, in these small group settings, people would be asked tough question to assess if it was well with their soul. And people honestly answered. And when they had questions about living out the faith others would surround them and lead them on. This is discipleship. We need to get back to asking the hard question, is it well with my soul, and then guide others as they answer this same question, giving them encouragement and rebuke.

I have a friend who knows me very well and I know him. Because we are so close, we are able to see points of sin or places that need to be improved in each others lives. More then once we have told each other “you are not living very biblically” and have explained why. More often then rebuke we are there for each other when we question what something in the Bible looks like practically. We shine light and bring about understanding when we miss God’s movement of grace in our individual lives. We are binding and loosing the scripture for each other, but it is always done in love. And we never say anything to each other without praying for the Spirit’s guidance. Because we care so much about one another we want to lead each other to blossom into our full beauty that God intended.

Brothers and sisters, may we be like Peter in this passage, proclaiming the word that Christ is Lord, out of our own authentic and deep relationship with Jesus. And may we seek to lovingly disciple each other, making the scriptures be lived out first in our own lives and then the lives of those close to us, as a response to proclaiming Christ to the Messiah, the liberator of our lives. For truly we are given the responsibility of binding and loosing that comes with the keys of heaven. May we bless other through this gift and our proclamation, with God’s help. Amen.

Last Post

2011-08-15T21:19:00.001-04:00

So the last sermon I preached (see the previous post) created a bit of controversy in the church. Some of the congregation members didn't like how I presented Jesus in the sermon - but it's the post. They tried to present alternative ways that I could have preached the text including:

-> Jesus said what he said to teach the disciples a lesson.
Okay this is a possibility, but at what cost? Is it okay for Jesus to speak to the woman seeking mercy from him in that way in order to teach the disciples? What lesson would that give them and us - that we can humiliate people or speak to them in way that denies their humanity in order to teach a lesson?
-> TD Jakes preached a sermon based on this text that Jesus's point was that "the kingdom is going to the dogs".
In a way I can agree with this statement, but once again at what cost to the woman who I'm sure didn't appreciate being compared to a dog, which was not and still is not a term of endearment.

The problem with this text is that Jesus isn't the way that we want Jesus to be. Jesus doesn't fit into the image of the son of God that we have constructed in our heads. So when we preach that truth or read this text we feel the need to defend Jesus. But we are still left with the question of what this text means to us (and in a way that honors the text).

And at the end of the day - we aren't going to like or agree with every sermon we hear, especially ones that challenge us. I'm okay with that - are you?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Disciples Don't Judge/ Watch Your Mouth and Examine Your Heart - Matthew 15: 10-28

2011-08-14T21:18:00.001-04:00

The passage that we are presented with today is hard to read and difficult to hear because it doesn’t present the Jesus most of us like. Jesus is not gently hold a lamb or ushering children onto his lap. He speaks words that cut like a knife into the hearts of those around him. His tongue is sharp and he seems to lack compassion. And yet, this is the Jesus in today’s passage.

What are we to make of this Jesus? What does he have to teach us about who we are called to be as his disciples?

Sometimes I think that we have made the Bible a much harder book to understand then perhaps it needs to be. We’ve complicated it because we’ve taken what is essentially a book of stories and have dissected it. We take pieces out of context and try to make them applicable to our lives. And this is not to say that they don’t have meaning for us today – but we can’t just lift a passage out of scripture before looking at what precedes it in the story.

Last week we heard of Jesus walking on the water to the disciples in the midst of a storm after retreating to be by himself to grieve the death of his cousin, John. The story continues that the disciples and Jesus made it across the lake and made it to their destination, Geennesart. Here they were greeted by people from all over the region who begged to just touch a piece of Jesus garments and be healed. In the midst of all of these people believing and being healed, a group of Pharisees from Jerusalem approached Jesus and asked why the disciples disobeyed the laws that Moses had clearly laid out for them and that generations of their ancestors have followed. They cited specifically that the disciples did not properly wash their hands. But Jesus flipped the tables on these teachers of the law and accused them of not holding other people accountable to some of the most vital laws about human relationships, further he accused the Pharisees of not following these laws themselves. Rather they flaunted their own knowledge of the law instead of responding to the law out of love for the Lord.

And in this context our story today is placed. What Jesus is teaching those he called and gathered around him is directly related to his encounter with the Pharisees. They had accused his disciples of not washing their hands, thus defiling everything they touch, including the food that enters their body. But Jesus teaches that those words that exit our mouth make us unclean, and unfit to worship God. Those who are teaching about this like uncleanliness of the body, instead of the state of the heart and soul, are nothing more then the blind leading the blind until they fall into a ditch they cannot perceive or weeds that will be plucked by God.

What is Jesus really saying here? What are those things that truly make people unclean? I think Jesus is telling us to guard our human relationships. What are the things that you and I say that hurt others the most? Lies. Gossip. Speaking before thinking. Unfounded accusations. Our tongue can be the biggest enemy to our relationship with others and our relationship with God. For we cannot have one in order and not the other. We cannot have a good relationship with God while speaking ill of our neighbor, and we cannot be in good relationship with our neighbor if we do not know God. The heart and the soul and the mouth are linked. Jesus is asking us to examine what is exiting our mouths and to look even deeper into where it is coming from in our hearts – greed, envy, jealously, lust, pride, and wrath have a way of creeping into our hearts and damaging our relationships with others. And those words that we speak from the overflow of our hearts, linger with their sting far longer then any unclean thing we place into our body will.

See, the Pharisees were so concerned with following the letter of the law, that they forgot why it existed – to lead to deeper relationship with God and neighbor. We become unclean when we forget who is at the center of all of our relationships. Would we speak of God the way that we speak about others? Would we judge God the way that we judge other – labeling them as being unfit or unclean, when God calls them primarily, “my child!” The Pharisees quick judgments that passed their lips spoke of a much deeper heart issue – one that Jesus was calling them, and us, to address.

But what makes this passage so difficult is what happens in the story right after Jesus taught so sharply about watching our mouths – Jesus is approached by a woman from Canaan as he was traveling through cities bear Tyre and Sidon. This woman came up to Jesus frantically begging that Jesus have mercy on her and her daughter, who is plagued by demons. And Jesus ignored her. But she was persistent to the point where she was bothering the disciples and they wanted to send her away. The words that came out of Jesus’ mouth next were hurtful – “I was not sent to you. I was only sent to Israel”. He was effectively saying, you are not mine. Go away. But the woman inched closer and said, help me, have mercy on me. And Jesus replied, “It isn’t right to take food away from children and feed it to the dogs.” Jesus was effectively calling her a dog, an unclean one. A name the Jews used for Gentile pagans.

Can you imagine being told by Jesus to go away. That you weren’t his. That you weren’t worthy of what he had to offer and that you were no better then a dog? This was not one of Jesus’ finer moments. Yet, the woman did not give up. Her reply was one of dignity, grace, and respect as she replied, “Yes, but even the dogs get the scraps that fall from their owners table.”

Jesus spoke to the Pharisees not so long ago about how their words come from their judging hearts, and yet, here Jesus seems to be judging this woman. At first, he does not even show enough mercy towards her to acknowledge her humanity and speak to her. He ignored her. Then Jesus had to seemingly face his own prejudices towards Canaanites. He was forced by her to examine his own heart in this matter.

This woman understood something that Jesus had previously spoke to the Pharisees about – it wasn’t so much about following the law as it was about seeking mercy. And this woman understood that with an unshakable clarity. She believed that Jesus was the one who could have mercy on her, even if he just needed to be persuaded to remember. She wasn’t judging what Jesus had given to others or trying to say that he should take away from others in order to give to her. She wasn’t filled with greed or jealously. She simply believed in her heart that this was the one who could have mercy on her and her daughter. And that sentiment was echoed by the cry that crossed her lips.

Why do we need such a portrayal of Jesus in our scriptures? Because when we seek to follow Jesus we need someone who can hold us to lofty ideals but also someone we can relate to, and this is something the author of today’s gospel lesson understood well. Matthew was writing to an audience that was increasingly both Jew and Gentile coming together to be something new, a group of Christ followers. There were arguments about what was the right way to do things and who was better at following Christ – people were staking their claims and lines were being drawn. But when we look at today’s passage in its entirety, no matter how painful it may seem, it reminds us, and Matthew’s audience, that at the root of these claims and lines was a matter of the heart – a matter that needed to be examined because it can keep us from being the church, the ones who are to see the humanity of others and respond with compassion. When we get so caught up in people’s past labels and our quick judgments, we cannot extended the hand of mercy that is required to be relationship with others – the mercy that is a mark of our relationship with the God who has shown mercy to us.

Friends, at the end of the day this passage is difficult, but it reminds us that life, and the relationships in it, are messy. We aren’t always as careful with examining our hearts and our words, as we should be. We do not always extend mercy and grace. And more difficult, Jesus does not always give us the example to follow that we hope for and have come to expect. At least not in his words, which in this particular passage are harsh and have a tone of judgment. How are we going to respond to these difficulties?

I think a lot of our uncomfortableness with how Jesus responds to her is because we know that it isn’t right. We know that it isn’t right for us to treat other people that ways – ignoring them, judging them, and creating excuses for our lack of mercy – and it certainly isn’t right for the Son of God. Yet, in that uncomfortableness, can’t we see a bit of ourselves? How we’ve responded to others in the past. The deep heart issues that we still wrestle with. Our lack of control over the words we speak that overflow from and unchecked heart.

I have to wonder what the disciples learned at the end of the day from these two times of teaching – the words that Jesus spoke to the Pharisees about unclean hearts and then Jesus’ action and words towards this mother begging for mercy. Did they feel uncomfortable as well? They must of, because they begged him to send her away, so their situation could be comfortable again. The same disciples who had stood by and told Jesus that he was offending the Pharisees did not defend the honor of the woman before them. Yet, they had to have learned something. Maybe it took them years to understand, or maybe it was only moments before clarity struck, but I believe out of their uncomfortablness dawned an understanding of what ministry is really about – its about relationships. Not just the relationships that society says deserve our respect, but those relationships that make us feel the most uncomfortable. Because those are the ones that are going to speak the most about what’s in our heart and how our relationship with God is at that moment in time.

Brothers and Sisters, words come as quickly as passing moments. Do you think that Jesus wished that this story was never recorded? Did he see his words as a mistake that he could not take back? How often to we say things that we wish we could take back, especially in the uncomfortable moments. I don’t know about you, but the words that linger with me the most are the ones that others have spoken over me that were damaging and untrue. And the memories that bother me the most are the ones when I have done the same to others. Jesus may not be our perfect example in this passage of scripture, but he reminds us why we need to watch our words and make sure our heart is clean of judgments. What are your words saying about the state of your heart today and every day? Amen.

How Will You Be Remembered?

2011-08-11T21:22:00.001-04:00

When your time on this earth has ended, how will you be remembered?

Contagious smile, laughter, boundless energy, passion, words of encouragement, concern for others. And so much more.

Your life ended too soon. Rest in Peace, Esquire Holland.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Missions

2011-08-11T20:54:00.002-04:00

Missions have been on my mind lately. Particularly thinking how you can create a culture of missions when it doesn't exist. I never really thought about it before, but I grew up in a church that had an emphasis on missions - we gave money to the heifer project, food the food bank, collected Campbell's labels, and a host of other things.

If I wouldn't have grown up in that culture I may not have been lead to create a mission drive for one of my residence at the local women's shelter in need of baby supplies. If I wouldn't have grown up in that culture I may not have been inspired to lead mission trips.

So how do you create that culture in a church that has no interest or understanding of missions?

Disciples Have Faith…Even When They Don’t - Matt. 14: 22-33

2011-08-07T13:29:00.001-04:00

A popular song by the artist Jonah 33 has the following lyrics, “I want a faith like that. To see the dead rise. Or to see you pass by. I want a faith like that.” But what is faith really? And whom do you place your faith in today?

A lot of us were raised to immediately say that we put our faith in Jesus and faith is believing in what you cannot see, but know is true. This is all well and good, but it is not the example or the teaching that the disciples have for us in today’s scripture passage. We are told that Jesus insisted that the disciples get a head start to their next location. So they loaded into a boat to head to the opposite shore across the sea. They had just witnessed a miracle, Jesus, their teacher, friend, and master, had just taken five loaves of bread and two fishes and head over five-thousand families who had gathered to hear him. He had originally went their way, not with the intent on feeding these souls and stomachs, but to retreat away after the heart-breaking news that his cousin, John, had been beheaded. Jesus was still seeking solitude to mourn and pray. So he ushered the crowds away, after seeing to their needs and well-being, and sent the disciples off. Night fell and Jesus had not caught up with the disciples. The wind was picking up and the boat was caught too far from either shore to be safe in the midst of a rising storm.

As three am approached, the disciples saw a figment coming towards them on the lake and they were terrified. They cried out that it was a ghost. They did not recognize the one whom they had been following for quite some time now. They did not recognize the one who had just fed so many families and taught on the hillside. They did not recognize their teacher, friend, and master, the one whom they had been with day in and day out. Here, brothers and sisters, are men who saw Jesus in the flesh, yet they could not recognize him when they saw him. They had faith in Jesus, yet could not believe what was right in front of their eyes. Even as Jesus spoke to them words of greeting and peace, in “Don’t worry, its me! Don’t be afraid” only one of them stepped out in faith towards Jesus. Only one of the twelve.

I think we loose a bit of the intensity of what Jesus was saying to the disciples when we say, “it is me” in English. In Greek, Jesus simply states, “It is I”. But there is so much in that statement. For in it there is an inherent question: don’t you know who I am? Don’t you recognize the one whom you have lived and moved with for all this time? Yet, only one disciple recognized Jesus. And Peter’s response of standing up and speaking back to Jesus, asking Jesus to command him, was an act of faith.

Peter tends to get a pretty bad reputation in this passage of scripture. Just like Thomas in the passage about yearning to see and touch Jesus’ wounds from the cross, Peter is labeled a doubter in this passage. But really Peter was the only one who had the faith to get out of the boat. He was the only one who had faith that this one that everyone else was referring to as a ghost, was truly the Jesus he knew. So he made a bold statement, “If it is really you, tell me to come to you across the water.” And when Jesus said come, he got out of the boat and started to walk towards Jesus. It wasn’t until he took his eyes off the Lord and started to focus on the things that scared him, his own inadequacies, the audacity of him walking in water, and the growing intensity of the wind and the waves, that he began to sink. But brothers and sisters, he still had faith in Jesus for he cried out. “Save me!” and Jesus immediately stretched out his hand and he caught Peter.

Here is the part of the scripture that has lead to the miss-creation of the Christian mantra about what faith is. Jesus said to Peter as he caught him, “You have so little faith. Why did you doubt?” A history of Christian interpretation has led us to believe that Jesus is chastising Peter for not having enough faith in him as God’s son. As if he doubted Jesus. But Peter believed in Jesus, friends. He believed even in the midst of not having faith in anything else, because when he started to sink he still cried out to Jesus, the one whom he trusted enough to get out of the boat, to save him, knowing that he would. No, Jesus was not asking Peter why he doubted him, as the Lord, this one whom Peter was so close to. Jesus was asking Peter why he doubted himself. Why he became so caught up in his circumstances, that he didn’t have enough faith to continue his journey to Jesus. He got caught up with the water and the wind and forgot to believe in himself in such a bold way that he could walk across water.

And let’s be honest. Peter had ever right to be afraid. In his culture it was taught that water was the very source that not only gave life, but that which could take it away. When God became angry with the people around Noah, he sent floodwaters to destroy the entire world, all of creation, except what was in the ark. When Pharaoh’s army tried to catch the Israelites as they escaped captivity in Egypt, the waters swallowed them whole. Water had the ability to nurture and sustain life, but it also has the ability to choke away life. Peter started to doubt the authority that Jesus had bestowed in him. The power and freedom to not tame, but move with, the force of nature found in the waters. That was just too much for Peter to trust himself with.

Friends, if we would be honest with ourselves for a moment, I imagine that we would see a lot of Peter inside of ourselves, but even more so we may see those other eleven disciples. Jesus had sent the disciples on ahead of him. They had a mission – to get to the other side, presumably to set up for Jesus to arrive later and join them. But when the storm came, they quickly forgot their mission about preparing for Jesus’ coming and simply went into survival mode, and they were so intensely focused on their present circumstances that they could not even recognize Jesus when he came to be with them and could not hear his words of comfort, to not be afraid.

From the eleven disciples who stayed in the boat we can learn an important lesson about discipleship. Faith is not always as simple as believing what we cannot see or trusting Jesus. It is having faith that God will deliver us to the place God has called us to. Where is God calling us to go, Albright-Bethune? What is our mission? Where are we to be examples of the hope and life Jesus has to offer? Where are we making spaces for people to hear and experience Christ in their lives? And are we truly focused on this mission God has given us? Or are we more worried about the day-to-day nature of surviving. Because Church, if we are more focused on surviving then the mission, then we are going to be just as confused as the disciples, unable to see Jesus coming towards us to be our comfort and strength. When we take our eyes off the shoreline of where we are going and who we are called to be, then we are simply stuck in the middle of the lake, with no where to go. But know this. Even if the other eleven disciples lacked faith, they were still able to recognize the immensity of what they saw Peter doing.

They may not had been able to have faith in Jesus as he walked towards them on the water, but they knew who he was after he saved Peter, as they worshipped him and cried, “Truly You are the son of God.” These disciples remind us that to worship is an act of faith, it is an opportunity to remember all the times God has brought us through in the past, so maybe, just maybe, we can recognize Jesus coming towards us in the future, calling to us, and ushering us on in our mission for the kingdom of God. This, my friends, is why we gather here week after week. Not to be entertained, to do the same thing, or even to hear a good word. We gather together to remind each other that we have a mission that is greater then any present circumstances we may find ourselves being distracted by and that even when we loose sight of our faith, God is faithful to us.

But what about those times that we recognize Peter inside of ourselves? The times when we leap forward in faith, only to doubt ourselves or our decisions later. Peter recognized the Lord and wanted to answer the call to discipleship so he crossed the raging waters, he had faith to do what no one else in that boat did. When we have the boldness of Peter in this passage to move outside of our comfort zones, we often start to doubt ourselves. We think that something is too difficult or dangerous. We wonder what others will think of us. We fear for our safety. We wonder if we even heard Christ’s call correctly. We think that we are not strong enough or good enough. That we don’t have enough time or faith. That doubt my friends, is not from the Christ that called to Peter from the waters. Those are the mocking cackles of our own personal demons. And nothing will make us sink faster then to doubt that we are good enough to be the children of God and to be called forth on a mission. For to doubt that fundamental piece of our identity is to simultaneously doubt Christ’s presence along our journeys.

Our faith may waiver my friends, but do not let it be because we doubt ourselves. Do not let it be our lack of certainty about getting out of the boat. And do not let anyone tell you that you did no have enough faith in Christ to succeed. Because at the end of the day, Peter still knew who to turn to when the waves of his own doubt started to pull him under, and Jesus was faithful to catch him, while gently asking why Peter doubted himself.

Brothers and sisters, Jesus asks Peter why he had so little faith. But this is nothing short of an affirmation that Peter did have faith. He had enough faith to start the journey, just not enough to reach his perceived destination. Do we have a faith like that? A faith to get out of the boat. It may not be the faith of seeing the dead rise or seeing Jesus pass by, but it is still faith, friends. It is his act of faith that lead to the others proclaiming that Jesus was Lord. Today as we come to celebrate communion, I would invite you to think about your own faith journeys. Think about if what you proclaim with your lips is true in your hearts. And think about a time when God has been faithful to you. We will conclude today’s service with this act of worship: to share with each other those times of God’s faithfulness, maybe even when we lacked faith, and to remind each other of that. For there may be times when we have a little faith, like Peter, and there may be times when we seemingly don’t have faith at all, like the disciples at the beginning of the passage, or times when we have an abundance of faith that it leads us to step out on the waters like Peter or proclaim Jesus is Lord, like the disciples at the end of the story. But through it all, God is God, the one whom is always faithful, and the one whom has faith in us, as the children of God. Amen.

"Hear Me" (Take These Tears)

2011-07-27T11:35:00.002-04:00

Take these tears, put ‘em in a bottle.

Don’t let these tears I cry be in vain.

Take these tears, keep them up in heaven.

Water my life with tears like rain

The past few weeks have been rough. A lot has been happening that has made me reflect on my purpose and call in life. In reflecting upon my past year in ministry, I cannot help but wonder if all of the opposition I’ve been facing is because I’m not where I am supposed to be.

Hear me, hear my words unspoken,

Restore my faith in hopin’

Hear me, I am feeling broken I am broken open.

Pain has never had a universal meaning in my life. Sometimes its to try me and show me my own strength. And other times it’s a sign to move on. But I rarely can identify purpose of the pain in the moment. It is only in retrospect that I can see God’s leading and presence.

Take this life, turn it into something,

I’m afraid it’s just wasting time

Recently, I’ve been feeling like what I’m doing isn’t bearing fruit. When I start to reflect on times in my life when I have felt like my life has been used for something the most, it is not in this setting. That does not mean that God isn’t using this time – it just means that I’m not seeing or feeling it. Which could be blocked by my own exhaustion.

Turn this life the sun has ripened, grow it slowly on the vine.

Turn my tears into wine

Turn my tears into wine, turn these tears into wine

My prayer recently has been for clarity and direction. I don’t want my life to simply just be marking time. I want to make a difference. And if that means moving outside of my training and comfort zone I need some confirmation beyond my dis-ease.

All that’s left of me are traces.

Make me stronger in my broken places

I am feeling moved towards another unit of CPE. I’m feeling moved towards non-profits. But I’m also feeling moved to stay. To keep trying. To not run away. But I’m not sure if I’m blocking myself in by the expectations of myself and others. I don’t want to stay out of fear, but I don’t want to flee in fear either. So direction. And making all of my ministry fruitful, even when I cannot perceive it.

So may this song be my prayer.

Lyrics from: Jim Brickman – "Hear Me" (Take These Tears

Rent

2011-07-26T11:20:00.000-04:00

Last week I went to see the musical “Rent” off-Broadway with Cat. Normally I tweet from the shows that we go see that are primarily quotes. This time I tweeted questions for the church that arose from what I saw.

When Rent came out as feature film a few years ago there was some notable resistance from the church. Of course the people who were pushing back apparently never saw the show because what they made it out to be was very different from how I perceived it.

Rent tells the story of a group of friends in NYC struggling with issues of surviving with HIV and AIDS in the early 1990s. My mind could not cease from going back to some of the comments that were flung around after Hurricane Katrina where religious leaders said the natural disaster was God’s wrath upon “the gays”.

Rent reminds us that we can’t really group people into categories because we miss the beauty and uniqueness of each person. In my theological language its about seeing the God piece in everyone.

Not surprising, I cried at the show. A lot. The tears started when one of the main characters, Angel, died from AIDS. Angel was the drag queen that taught everyone in the show how to authentically love those around them. And the tears did not stop when one of the straight characters was asked what he was running away from – and he replied that he was running from all of his friends who are dying because he is going to be the only one left.

What does it mean to the church that the person who taught everyone to love was a drag queen – someone who most churches would marginalize if not turned away. A clergy friend told me recently that she learned how to love most from a reconciling congregation, but she still would not embrace “them” to be clergy. She missed the picture – the beauty of God that was trying to be shown to her.

The show brought up some of the following questions that I ask you to reflect on:

Who taught you to love well?

Do you truly accept people as they are?

How would you live if you knew that this was your last year on earth?

How would you live if you really had no day but today?

Rent told real stories. Fictional accounts of the reality of so many – impending death, fear of losing loved ones, poverty, living life as best as you can in the moment. And for too many churches there isn’t a safe space to tell these stories without judgement. To learn to love from those whom we encounter.

In addition to the questions the show renewed in me the desire to work for hospice – to simply be those who are losing those ones dear to them and their very life, their source of love. There is something beautiful and true about being in community in the messiness of life. What are you called to do with your life?

Who Is God for You?

2011-07-25T10:00:00.001-04:00

When I started seminary the things that frightened me the most was the inclusive language policy. This policy, held by the school, stated that we would intentionally try to use neutral language for God in order to allow all people to express and experience God for themselves. Now what once frightened me the most has been transformed into one of the things that I found to be most sacred about my seminary experience. I was given space and permission to fully experience God as God revealed the Holy to me. And this was transformative.

This past week and in the upcoming week I’m taking a class that is very different from the rest of my seminary classes in that the inclusive language policy is not being emphasized, and I’m finding it to be so limiting. God is being defined by so many people in the same way that when my definition doesn’t seem to fit, which makes me doubt myself. By not being neutral we are imposing something on to others.

One of the reasons I’m so protective of this concept, this space, is realizing that it was abused before. One of my earliest memories of God is from a pockets magazine/ devotional book for children. The story was about Tommy, a little boy who was going to church with his parent. It was a white chapel with a steeple and they were walking into it while the sun was rising. But in the upper right hand corner there was what I thought was a picture of God. It was a white man with whispy brown hair, a long sleeve white shirt, and a red tie. I was sure that it was God. (I now realize it was the boy thinking about his dad, in a thought bubble. But as a result I always thought that was God – that was what God looked like.

Part of what is so hard about Christian education is that we all come with different images of God that we assume to be the truth. We also come with different levels of faith development. So how do we start having conversations about who God is while excepting that this we are each different in our development and each have a different view of God. So who is God for you? And can you accept that this is only a limited view? Are you willing to let others influence your view of God?

Reliving High School

2011-07-18T21:31:00.002-04:00

Looking at my DVR Scheduler recently I realized how many shows I like that are set in or around high school life: One Tree Hill, Switched at Birth, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Gilmore Girls, Beverly Hills 90210, Glee, etc.

I think that I watch these shows with religious zeal because my high school experience was so horrible. Some of the things that they pose on the tv shows as outlandish actually happened to me. Don't even ask about prom. Or teasing. So I relive these times, hoping that they will end better for the characters on the show. And when they don't, I cry. And perhaps I cry for myself in that as well, mourning a time I never want to go back to.

What Matters Most

2011-07-18T16:50:00.002-04:00

I recently took a trip to FL. While there one of the students I went with told me that I am non-opinionated. It made me laugh. I think what he meant to say is that I do not have opinions about certain things - I like lots of TV shows, music, and books. At the end of the day, I have strong opinions about things like peace, justice, and love. What do you have strong opinions about? Does it all truly matter?

What are You Sowing - Matthew 13: 1-9, 18-23

2011-07-18T16:44:00.001-04:00

Last week I was at The Wesley Foundation in Gainesville, FL where I heard this passage preached. Prior to leaving, I adjusted my preaching schedule because I knew that I also wanted to preach on this passage, but Pastor Dave, whom I heard this past Sunday made a great point before beginning his sermon – is there really anything new to say about this passage?

This is one of the only parables where Jesus breaks it down for the disciples step by step. Usually the parables were left as mysteries, something for the disciples to uncover with their own insight and experience over time. But here Jesus tells them, and us, what the parable means. Which sort of takes all of the fun out. However, just because Jesus interprets this parable for us, it does not mean that it does not have something to share with us today. In fact, that is one of the amazing things about scripture, that perhaps makes it so controversial. God speaks through scripture to people in a variety of ways and can use the same piece over and over again to meet us at different points of our lives in the different ways. This is why the lectionary is in a three year cycle – because it is believed that the same scripture can be preached time and time again and both the pastor will have different insights from their own experiences and the congregation will be able to relate to it in a new way. Its also why, as Methodists, we believe in approaching scripture with our reason, experience, and tradition – because each of these elements vary for different people and God can use that to speak to them in new and bold ways. So I would invite you to put aside what you already know about this passage and listen to it with new years, and allow God to move in you afresh.

A woman went out to plant. While she had planted flowers in her flower bed and fruits and veggies in her garden many times before, she decided to do something new. So she went out and instead of carefully placing each seed into a particular place in the ground, she threw them into the wind. As the wind carried them, some landed on the beaten path. Because there wasn’t any covering for the seeds they were quickly snatched up by birds seeking food. Some of the seeds fell on rocky ground – shallow soil displaced by rocks. While the seeds could be covered they sprang up too quickly – because there wasn’t any place to set their roots and seek the nutrition they needed. As a result they could not pull moisture from the ground, and the sun killed them instead of helping them grow stronger. Still other seeds drifted among thorns, and because there was no way to cut the thorns away, the seeds were in constant competition for what they needed. They ultimately were choked by the thorns and did not bloom into the fullness of life. But then some seeds settled on good, furtile soil, and bloomed in an unexpected and unpredictable way. While the best crop that could be hoped for was possibly seven-times that of the seed, they grew thirty, sixty, and a hundred times more abundantly. This would feed a village for a year and let the farmer retire, respectively. They were able to feed so many and continue the cycle of life.

I am not much of a gardener. Our one attempt as a family had a pitiful yield. The carrots were no bigger then the size of my finger and many of the other crops never bloomed. But even if I can’t garden well, I do understand one of the main pieces to a good garden – rich soil. For the past few years I have been fascinated by composting. The ability to take things that we normally discard – like vegetable scraps, and mix them with wood chips or leaves to form something life giving. Or taking the manure of animals and spreading it on the ground to bring about something bountiful in yield. One of the chief things that I struck me about this passage is that in order to be sown in good soil, to hear the word of God and understand it, and to bear fruit beyond our wildest imagination, we need a little manure in our lives. That is to say sometimes life seems to pile crappy things upon us, things that we wound rather avoid. But in these things, my friends, we find the fertile ground for fruitful discipleship. How are we going to respond when we seem to be buried in things that are unpleasant and beyond our control? Are we going to give up? If this is the case, we are just like the seeds that were scattered in places that could not bring life. No. We are called to bear those things that we find ourselves in. To take the things that most people avoid or throw away and find the life giving parts of them.

Do not misunderstand me. I am not attempting to make light of our trials and suffering. However, sometimes we need the messiness of life to cover us, so we can grow in our relationship with God and bring about fruit for the Kingdom. Something that I have realized lately is that my prayer life is never better then when I am in times of trial. When life seems the most suffocating, I am at my closest to God. Perhaps this is human nature. We more readily turn to the Holy One when we are at our wits end and know that we need to relinquish all control because we cannot make it through a situation on our own. So maybe, just maybe, we need those trying times in life because they draw us closer to God. We need a reminder that we are not the center of the universe. That we need someone more powerful then us to redeem our situation and bring about something amazing. What if we began to look at trials as a source of grace? As something that could be used for something bigger then us instead of simply writing them off as unnecessary?

While the original title of this sermon was “What are you Sowing?” these thoughts about soil lead us to ask a different question – how are you responding to the circumstances in which you find yourself? How are you responding to being sown? For surly the good news of God’s grace is taking root in you if you are growing in discipleship. In order to take root and blossom we need to work towards understanding, taking care of our spiritual journey, and preserve through the painful times. Growing, beloved, is hard work no matter what soil you find yourself in.

The truth is that we are not seeds scattered into the wind, because we have agency. We may have found ourselves on any of these soils at some point in our lives. Know this, the soil in and of itself is not bad, for we cannot always be in rich yielding soil. When we came to know Christ, perhaps we were amongst the thorns or on the rocky path. We have the ability to move from one soil to another – we can move from the rocky soil or from amongst the thorns into the good soil with intentionality. Far too often I think Christians have used this passage to condemn those who are not in the good soil, but to do so is not being honest. For we have all had times in our lives when we have not yielded for God as much times as we could have. Times when we have just attended Sunday services and not sought to grow deeper in our relationship with Christ outside of the sanctuary. Times when didn’t want to do the hard work of telling others about God’s grace and mercy. Times when we thought of ourselves instead of the body of Christ. These are the times when we may have found ourselves choosing not to be in the good soil, because it was too risky.

But there have been other times when we have chosen to move from our present circumstances into the rich soil. Times when we hungrily dug into the Bible beyond one hour a week on Sunday and practiced spiritual disciplines to grow in our faith. Times when we trusted God enough to tithe. Times when our prayer life was bigger then ourselves and when we invited others to come and know the grace that we have experienced. It’s times like this that we understood that anything worth having is worth taking a risk for and the bigger the risk, the bigger the yield.

As seeds, or those being sown, we need to consider what soil we will risk ourselves to be in. But there is another way to think about this parable today and that is from the vantage point of the sower. In this parable, the person sowing the seeds throws them into the wind trusting a force beyond their control to plant them. What a beautiful picture of the reckless abandon of the love of God and the trust that we put into God as the person sowing the seeds of the gospel.

For a while I attended a church that was amazingly methodical about the way they went about evangelism. The researched the area they lived in, pulling up demographics. And they told people to pick one or two people whom they would invest in for the kingdom of God. There efforts paid off for a while, as the church began to grow. However, I think today’s passage of scripture asks us to do something so much more. It seems to call us to love all, spreading the word of God wherever we can, and not be worried about where the seed may land or what it may yield, for that is in the hands of God. The parable challenges us to change our thinking – from being overly methodical in how we share the love of God and whom we offer it to (because we don’t want our efforts to be wasted on the three-fourths of soil that don’t yield fruit) to sharing the love of God everywhere, knowing that the yield and the timing are beyond our control. This, brothers and sisters, is faith. For really there is no way of predicting what will come of our desire to share God’s grace with others – its all about trusting God. And that is a huge risk.

At the end of the day, as the sower, we cannot prepare the soil of other people’s hearts and lives for the love of God. Some people are simply going to reject the message of Christ, and we cannot control that nor does it mean that we did anything wrong or that those whom we are witnessing to are bad people. We are simply called to love as broadly and boldly as possible., which is never a waste of our time or resources. However, as the seed, those in whom the word of God is sown, we do have a choice – a choice of what soil we find ourselves in at any given time as dictated by how we respond to our circumstances. In this duel calling of being the sower and the seed planted in soils we find our story today. But both have the same message for our lives – to risk ourselves for God so something amazingly abundant can take root. For nothing is too difficult for God and there is no place where God’s love cannot reach and transform lives. May we be faithful disciples, in whatever our circumstances, and with whoever we meet.

Creation Vs. Wild Goose

2011-07-13T11:32:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago I took a week of vacation to go camping in NC for the Wild Goose Festival. Wild Goose, or The Goose, sadly got a lot of poor press before I went down from different people and groups that didn't understand its purpose. The festival started off as a dream that took 25 years to become a reality. It is the US version of Greenbelt, a festival of art, music, and justice, that has been active in the UK for over 40 years.

So where did the controversy come from? Well, a little bit of everywhere. Some of the most dynamic and controversial Christian speakers were brought alongside artists, musicians, spiritual leaders, and justice ministries. Any time you get a group together like that someone is going to talk. But it also had to do with a different type of conversation that was happening - a conversation about reconciliation as we move into the next awakening in Christianity. The next reformation. And that is scary. We are not a people who like change, so we resist those who speak openly about it.

While I was camping, I could not help but compare the event to Creation Fest, which is held in PA each year. Perhaps it was unfair to compare the two events, because they have different purposes. But even in the way that they were run, I was amazed.

Creation: Has a set schedule.

Wild Goose: Was more free flowing.

Creation: Invites people to volunteer to help the festival run, but to the best of my knowledge this is truly volunteer service.

Wild Goose: Took care of its volunteers. For working 12 hours during the festival, I received a free ticket, free camping pass, free showers, and one free meal per day.

Creation: For speaking about "Creation" is very wasteful.

Wild Goose: Had a "Not a trace" philosophy - where campers were to not leave a trace that they were there by recycling and composting as much as possible.

Creation: Has artists performing.

Wild Goose: Has "contributors", but everyone is equal. All camp together. All eat alongside each other.

Creation: As much as I love it, doesn't always have the best atmosphere. I remember one year, a group of us got yelled at because our blanket was encroaching on someone elses.

Wild Goose: It was hard to find someone who did not seek to serve their neighbor. Either through sharing communal meals, which was encouraged, to holding a strangers child while they took a shower, hospitality abounded.

Creation: Seeks to be a place where Christians can gather to experience God.

Wild Goose: Seeks the same thing, it just looks differently.

Creation: Can sometimes be perceived as being about entertaining

Wild Goose: Is about having open spaces for difficult conversations.

In closing, what spoke the most to me about the difference was the port-a-potty. Funny right? But someone once told me that how clean and accessible your bathroom is speaks volumes about your church. At creation, the port-a-pottys were often dirty and at night you could not see. Each port-a-potty at Wild Goose had a light installed so you could see at night. They were clean, never ran out of toilet paper, and had a hand washing station set up outside. Hospitality at its best, my friends.

This post is not to say that Wild Goose is better then Creation - for each has its purpose. Wild Goose is just aimed at a different part of the Christian movement. We really need both, and any other places, where Christians can go and grow their faith. Wild Goose just happens to be the right place for that transformation in me, at this time.

"It's OKay Discipleship Can Be Confusing" - Matthew 11: 16-19, 25-30

2011-07-04T19:23:00.000-04:00

When most of us pick our major in college or career path, I would venture to guess that we do not choose something that utterly confuses. Perhaps we may pursue something that we find intriguing, but not something that we don’t understand. And yet, that seems to be what the disciples have done. Jesus called them and without any knowledge of what they would be doing or if they would understand what they were going to do, they went. Along the way they saw and experienced things that could not have been predicted – including the death of John the Baptist, something that shook their Rabbi, Jesus, to his very core. And they had witnessed Jesus perform miracles and teach powerful lessons about God, the kingdom, and the nature of humanity, only to then see his message be rejected. This is not what they expected.

They had seen other Rabbi’s, prophets, and sages throughout their lives – they had received predicted responses. Their teachings elicited what was expected – like music leading to dancing and waling leading to communal mourning, these other prophets spokes messages that lead people to be disciples. But this Jesus – he had a different more radical message about him being the very Son of God – a message that seemed to only elicit hate and rejection. All of this confused the disciples.

And what does Jesus do – he praises God for all of this confusion! He thanks God for hiding wisdom and truth from those whom the world reveres as intelligent and revealed the glory of God to those whom are considered the most unwise – infants. This reversal of wisdom and truth and reflection on who can claim ownership over it, is by God’s grace. Jesus goes on to praise God that he and God are the only ones who know each other truly and intimately. For in the chaos and confusion wrapped in his rejection on this earth, Jesus knew that there was one Heavenly Parent who knew him better then he could ever know himself. This was his hope to cling to in the times that the disciples were confused – knowing that God could be revealed to them in this intimate way as well – for Jesus could choose to reveal God to anyone.

But it is what Jesus says next that really strikes me. His disciples aren’t completely getting what he has been teaching or doing. They still don’t understand the connection that he has to God even though he is showing them time and time again. They are utterly confused. But Jesus says, come to me all of you who are weary from the world or carrying something that is not bearable. Come to me and I will give you rest. You may think that my yoke is heavy, but it is easy and my burden is light.

A few weeks ago we kicked off our discussion about discipleship by watching a video by Rob Bell called Dust. One of the things that Bell pointed out was that a yoke in terms of a Rabbi is not what we immediately think of. It is his teaching. Jesus is essentially saying this: come to me all of you who are weighed down by your own intellect and worldly wisdom and I will give you rest. Come all of you who are weary from things that you do not understand and seeking for that which you cannot find. I will give you rest. Take my teachings upon you, and learn from me. I am gentle and humble and in my presence you will find rest for your souls. My teachings are easy and the burden they place upon you is light. Come.

Jesus is essentially beckoning those listening to him to come and surrender all that is blocking them from truly knowing God’s grace. He wants them to respond to his invitation to discipleship fully by taking his teachings upon them and letting them dictate their lives.

So if Jesus teachings, his yoke, was so easy and being in his presence made burdens light, why were the disciples still so confused? Because they had not yet surrendered all. They were trying to reconcile Jesus’ teachings with the wisdom of the world and it just wasn’t working. The more they trued to make these two opposite entities fit together, the more confused they became. Instead of surrendering themselves to the countercultural and radical message of Jesus they just tried to keep moving forward as is, with the small addition of what Jesus was teaching them. And it was not working.

Before we jump to chastising the disciples, I think we need to take a look at our own walks with Christ – our own discipleship journeys. How many of us are also caught up in the wisdom of the world – seeking only to further our knowledge in what we already understand? How many of us try to make our faith in Christ fit with everything else we know and do, instead of letting Christ’s yoke overcome us and completely change our way of being and living?

Perhaps we can sympathize with the disciples’ confusion and tension, because it is similar to what we are experiencing in our own lives. It is hard to think of concrete ways to live out our faith when we are so caught up in trying to reconcile it with the way we live our lives currently. We want Jesus to be a convenient addition, not a radical reoncfigurement.

What if we responded to all of the ambiguities and unknowns of Jesus’ message with a radical Yes, instead of trying to think through all of the what ifs? What if we found our identity in what Jesus was teaching instead of who the world says that we are?

We’ve spent our lives seeking wisdom and intellect and pursuing success by the world’s standards – all of which Jesus seems to dismiss in today’s scripture passage. The road to unlearning who the world says that we are can be confusing and painful if we try to make it fit with who Jesus says we are. We are forced to choose brothers and sisters – will we be marked as disciples of the world or Christ? For rest and a light yoke are not offered to those who only partially follow Christ, but continue to rely on the strength of the world which they have built. Jesus is not offering us freedom for working in the world, but freedom from labor without meaning. He does not promise that the walk of discipleship will always be easy, but he does promise to be present with us. What will you choose today? Amen.

Why Mission Trips Fail

2011-06-29T23:15:00.002-04:00

The American Church has a very particular approach to mission work. We go to places, sometimes national, sometimes internationally, and hardly ever locally, and try to fix other people's problems. We really want to fix other people's problems, but the subtext is that we are going in to transform other people - that we have what they need and therefore, they need us. But this is not a sustainable model for missions. It leads us to have a superiority complex and to keep traveling and giving money to go above and beyond the high we got helping others last time. Such a model also holds limited relationships - we may remember the people we were with, those who we went to serve, but where does that leave them after we leave? Can the relationship continue authentically? When we come and go so quickly, and give one large sum of money or build a few necessary things, we miss the point that the system is still broken.

What would it look like if we rethought missions? If we went to learn instead of to teach? If we went to hear stories so we could share them? If we maybe didn't even go, but trusted that with our financial background and covenant relationships we could encourage those we want to serve to do what we were going to do for themselves, so they can have pride in what was accomplished? What if we started to think locally, instead of going somewhere exotic in order to get a high? What if?

And if we do go places, how can we make what we do sustainable? How can we make sure that the local people are proud of themselves and find their own abilities? How can we partner with instead of simply giving to?

Not Family Friendly

2011-06-28T21:24:00.002-04:00

Marty is my chinchilla. He is more or less my baby boy. I have other pets as well, but Marty demands the most attention. Chinchillas cannot be left alone for too many days in a row because they need to be let out of their cage to be able to exercise in a larger area in order to be able to digest food properly. When I'm going out of town for more than 2-3 days, I pack up Marty is his little carrier and we head off to my parents house so they can watch him.

I try to call every night in order to check in on how he is doing when he is away, and sometimes even to talk with him while he plays. But last night my parents had to call me because Marty got a little too excited and started to ejaculate. He's never done this before so I immediately start searching the web to see if this is normal or if I should be concerned. (It ends up that he is just entering into adolescence). During all of this searching one person commented on the chinchilla forum in the feed that I was reading about chinchilla ejaculation commented that the topic was "not very family friendly" which really got me thinking... does everything have to be family friendly? Is it even possible to have all topics be family friendly? And what does this phrase even mean?

The two immediate thoughts that come to mind are that it involves not swearing (which the feed didn't) and not talking about sex. While we may be able to control our language, I don't know if it is possible, or even good, to not talk about sex. Especially in this case. The animals we care for have very basic needs, including sex. It is built into their nature in order to be able to survive as a species. Yet, we as humans should not talk about it. We seem to be fine about discussing, or at least arguing about, sexuality, but when it comes to talking about sex it is taboo.

One of my favorite teachers in high school was my health teacher (who was also my gym teacher for three summers). He was a lovely man and he found great joy in talking about sex. On our first day of health class he wrote in large letters across the black board "Sex is good". But he went on to say that it is only this way if you are informed and in love. I believe that we live in a culture that knows little about sex and possibly even less about love, because of the silence the taboo has caused. I'm not sure if we are afraid of talking openly about the intimate, or if we are afraid that open and honest discussion will spur people to desire sex (especially youth), but I feel that our silence makes the thought more tempting then open conversations. And it also makes it less safe. In our attempts to censor ourselves under the banner of being family friendly, we are doing a dis-service to the young people in our care.

If we continue to try to use the abstract nature of being "family friendly" to censor ourselves, I fear for the future of our youth, who will only know about sex from the images they see on tv and in the movies. They will not know about different types of contraception or how to protect themselves from STIs. And as for me, as a celibate young woman with a chinchilla, I would not know how to care for Marty as he transitions into chinchilla adolescence. Perhaps we need to rethink what it means to be family friendly and what the costs could be.

Reflection on NOOMA Dust and Matt 28: 16-20

2011-06-20T11:32:00.000-04:00

Friends, we have shared in this devotional video together today because its creator and author can say some of the most important tenets of the Christian faith around discipleship better then I could ever say. While this video did not directly address today’s scripture passage

What I have gleaned from Rob Bell’s message about discipleship is as follows:

First, 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.

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.

The Church is Born - Acts 2: 1-21

2011-06-12T19:55:00.001-04:00

One of the first songs that I remember singing in children’s choir went something like this, “I am the church, you are the church, we are the church together. All who follow Jesus all around the world, yes, we’re the church together. The church is not a building. The church is not a steeple. The church is not a resting place, the church is the people.” For a child, this was pretty succinct. I understood what the church was not – the building we gathered in, a mark on the landscape, or a place to sleep. And I understood what the church was – the people.

But as we grow up, the simple answers of what the church is and what it is not, seem to raise more questions then anything else. Chiefly, what people? Only those who look like me? Talk like me? Have my same education level? Those people that I am comfortable around? Only the people that believe what I believe religiously and politically? Those who have the same type of family that I do or make a similar income?

Further, we seem to stop believing in the simple things that the song states that the church is not. We really have come to like our church buildings and steeples. Our bells and banners. And some of us really find church to be a resting place – a place to sit with our family or gather and talk with our friends. A place to rest our eyes or a safe place of respite from the concerns and responsibilities of the rest of the week.

So we are left struggling with not one but two big questions. The first, what is the church and the second, why does the church even matter? Perhaps today’s scripture passage can give us some insight to help answer these two questions.

What is the church? We are told that on the day of Pentecost, the day that church was created, all of the people were together in one place. While we aren’t expressly told what this place is, we can assume it is a house, a common gathering for people throughout Jesus’ ministry and following. Houses in Ancient Israel were not like our houses today with many rooms. They were essentially one room that became expanded as the male family members married and brought their spouses into the dwelling place. While the room expanded, the number of rooms did not necessarily. So we have a group of people, all together, in this one room. Perhaps it was crowded and sticky; maybe they were discussing the teachings of Jesus. Whatever they were doing, they were together. In one sanctuary. There is something about physical togetherness that makes the church what it is. There is something about being in this room with the people around us on Sundays that defines us. Scientists have done research on the atomic level that suggests that when one atom comes into contact with another atom, no matter for how short a time, it is permanent changed. If down to our atomic level this is true, then surely it is true on our physical level. We know when someone is sitting next to us. Sometimes we can even feel what they are feeling – as our breath begins to match theirs in pace or we feel someone’s radiating joy or tension. Our spirit needs to be connected to other human beings in a meaningful way, and when we are in such authentic relationship, even when we are not talking directly to each other, but worshiping together, we are changed. This is why it is vital that each of us is present every Sunday – because we matter to each other in a profound way. This is also why we all gather into one room, not one building, so that we can hear each other affirm the same things we believe, we can see each other worship God in different ways and with different spirits, we can sense God moving amongst this body of believers. And we can embrace each other, as we are the hands and feet of Christ.

The Holy Spirit also marks the church. The Holy Spirit is the often discounted member of the Trinity – this relationship that is internal to God’s very being. It is hard to picture the Holy Spirit, even though there are numerous different images for the Spirit – the most common being a dove. But in this passage the Holy Spirit is described as a violent wind and tongues of fire. But maybe our very difficultly in defining the Holy Spirit, even symbolically, is to the church’s benefit. The Holy Spirit grants different people different gifts, we are told in the 12^th chapter of Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth. I also believe that there are different manifestations of the Spirit in different churches – this is why we have so many different denominations. So people can find the place to worship that best touches their spirit in a way that moves them to be Christ’s embodiment in the world. But in order for people to be moved in this way, they Spirit must be present. We must individually invite the Spirit to be present in our hearts each and every day. We must corporately ask the Spirit to move in a mighty way when we gather together, and above all we must trust that the Spirit moves when we ask.

Third, the church is diverse. We are told in our passage that there were Jews from every nation gathered in Jerusalem, and that each was bale to hear the message being spoken in their own language. Revelations 7:9 describes the Kingdom of Heaven as a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the Lamb. Brothers and sisters, the church is the image of the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth. The church is filled with people speaking different languages, and people understanding those languages. With peoples of different nationalities, sexualities, races, and gender. And this diversity is celebrated! It is not about making people fit into our way of doing things or those who look and sound like us. It is about letting each person celebrate God and everyone knowing that they are rejoicing in the same Holy and Risen Christ! While some would argue that this is really what the global church looks like on Sunday, I would challenge us to make this be Albright-Bethune, on the local level, on Sundays.

In the second half of today’s scripture lesson, Peter and the eleven disciples stand amongst these people who mock them because they do not understand what is happening, those who are saying that their diverse gifts are marks of intoxication instead of worship and started to preach. He tells the people that God will pour out the Holy Spirit upon the people of God, and that those children will prophesy, see visions, and dream dreams. And why do these things happen? So that people will see God, call upon the name of the Lord, and be saved. So why does the church exist? Because the life and teachings of Jesus Christ matter. We believe that it not only matters to us as individuals, but to the world. We believe that Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection changed history and give us hope both in this life present and in the life to come, eternally. Do you really believe that? Or do we gather together just to fill ourselves without a purpose? We are filled by the Spirit as the church, so that we can preach good news to the captives and free the poor. We are filled so that we can serve the world in a way that was modeled by Christ – marked with compassion and grace. We are filled so we can make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Do you believe that? If not, why do we even gather together for such a short time on Sunday mornings?

We are the body of Christ, brothers and sisters! We are the church! Let’s celebrate that! We need not be ashamed of our message or our presence. Over the next couple of months, starting in July, we are going to be talking about the church and discipleship. As we prepare to start this series, I would challenge each of you to write down the three things you think church is. You don’t have to put your name on this, but I would encourage you to place it under my office door. Before we can start to have a conversation about passionate and meaningful discipleship we need to dig deeper into what we believe the church to be. Then on the other side of the same paper that you write your three things, I want you to complete the following sentence. If Albright-Bethune didn’t exist tomorrow it would matter because… What makes us a church? Who are we touching in the community? What are we offering the Kingdom of God? And how are we marked by the Holy Spirit?

The Ascension - Acts 1:1-11

2011-06-07T22:51:00.000-04:00

One of my close friends from undergrad is a wiz at languages. Her skills have landed her several different internships in China and Germany, among other countries. She is currently working in Germany, and in one of her emails to me this week she explained that she had a long holiday because of the celebration of a holiday – The Feast of Ascension, which commemorates the forty-day after Easter – the day that Christ ascended into Heaven. My friend’s holiday caused me to start to ponder why the ascension was so important as to prompt such a celebration. Perhaps we can struggle with that question together today.

The Book of Acts is composed by the same author as the Gospel of Luke, starting another letter to Theophilus, lover of God. The general premise is that the gospel told chiefly of the works of Christ and his life, while the book of Acts speaks about the formation of the church, the body of Christ. But notice what the author starts this account of the church by telling – the ascension of Jesus.

We have been speaking on and off through this Eastertide season about the disciples paralysis. Their seemingly inability to get it together. Now that they have Jesus back, physically, in their lives they once again seemed to be paralyzed, not necessarily by fear but by adoration without action. The author states that for forty days after Christ’s resurrection he spoke to the disciples about God’s Kingdom and gave them detailed instructions to stay in Jerusalem until God tells them otherwise.

But as Jesus is teaching about the divine kingdom of God, the disciples keep asking about present, earthly matters. Specifically about leadership as they posed to Jesus the question of kingship over Israel. They are still searching for a king. The messiah is standing in front of them, and telling them about a kingdom far greater then what they could ever imagine, yet they are concerned with only what they can see, only about what they have been told about over the years. They want a new David.

I love Jesus’ response to their questions. “You don’t need to know the time of those events that only the Father controls.” God is going to send someone far greater into their lives to be ruler, the Holy Spirit. God is going to give them detailed instructions about when to leave Jerusalem, and presumably what the next step is. But maybe those instructions weren’t enough for the disciples because they wanted someone in front of them to tell them what to do. Someone to command them. For years Jesus had been their teacher and leader. As he continued to speak about leaving them, you can only imagine how they were feeing – the emotions they were experiencing and the images of the rugged cross searing into their minds. They didn’t want instructions that would put the onsis of leadership onto them – they wanted someone to tell them what to do and guide them through their every move. But this was not the plan.

After Jesus gave them their final teachings concerning the Holy Spirit and their mission as his disciples he was taken up into a cloud. Even though the disciples could not see him after he was taken up they kept looking up into the sky. Like a child watching a balloon disappear into the vastness of the blue above them, the disciples kept looking up, hands over their eyes, hoping to catch one more glimpse of Jesus. Hoping that he would come back like last time. But instead they got two angels coming down and telling them to get their head out of the clouds and to get their legs moving – for they had a mission directly from the Lord. Jesus had been taken into heaven, Now is their time to tell everyone, yes everyone, in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria about the good news of Jesus Christ. The message wasn’t always going to be easy to tell, and not everyone would necessarily receive it. They would be called to go to places outside of their comfort zones, but it was now time for them to go out and raise up new disciples of Jesus Christ for the sake of the kingdom of God.

I can just imagine the disciples thinking that this new task was hard, It was not what they signed up for all those years ago when Jesus called out to them. They were tapped to be followers, not leaders. Yet everyone who follows Christ is also called to be a leader. Let me say that again – everyone who follows Christ is also called to be a leader. Being the body of Christ is about this tension between following Christ and leading others to Christ through your gifts and graces, through the story you have to tell. For no one can tell your story like you can, because you lived it. The disciples had to tell others about Christ because all of these years they had these wonderful experiences with Christ and soul-changing teachings. And now that their spirit had been nurtured they were sent out.

I’m sure the disciples didn’t think that they were ready. For sometimes it’s easier to look up in the sky for a sign or in hopes of Jesus returning then to listen to the voice that is calling us to go. To make disciples. A tasks that doesn’t come with a set of instructions or a leader who we can physically see. I fear that these reasons lead to many Christians deciding that it is easier to be a follower then a leader. To be a person in the pews instead of a person of action for the Lord. We want someone to hold our hand and lead us through evangelism instead of taking our message to the streets. Because we are paralyzed by fear. We are afraid that people won’t understand us. We are afraid that we will have to go to places that we ought not go. Believe me, the disciples knew our fears all too well – so they tried to keep their vision gazed upward instead of outward. We don’t trust ourselves or believe that we are spiritually fit enough to be leaders, and neither did they. But if the disciples would not have gotten it together and into gear, we would not be here today – we would not be the church. What would we lose out on if we give into our fears? What will not exist in the future because we don’t want the hardships the come with being leaders today?

There is a song that states, “God who began a good work in you, will be faithful to complete it.” Do we really believe this? Do we really believe that the Ascension was important because it was bringing to completion the life of Jesus here on this earth while propelling forward the creation of the church? Do we really believe that we celebrate this event today because God is still moving the church forward? For God has started the work in us to be leaders for the kingdom of God. Are we willing to let God complete our formation, even if this happens as we are a people of action. We do not learn passively, we learn by doing. We learn how to be by telling people about who we are and what we believe. You have been called by a God who has started something amazing, powerful, and beautiful in you. Are you willing to risk yourself for completion for the sake of the kingdom of God? Amen.

How Do We Know the Way? - John 14: 1-14

2011-05-23T21:18:00.001-04:00

For the past week two things have occupied my mind – graduations and the end of the world. For some the two seem to be intricately connected. For others, as far apart as you could possibly place two events. But in my mind they were linked by this passage in the 14^th chapter of John. Let me explain a little further.

I graduated last Saturday from Drew University with my Masters Degree while my brothers graduated yesterday with their bachelor of science degrees from Westminster College. Such large events tend to cause me to pause and reflect on similar events in the past. One graduation spurs me to think of others that my friends and family have experienced. I was brought back to my undergraduate college graduation from a very conservative Christian school, one that required a profession of faith in the application. I started to think back to the events surrounding graduation, but more specifically the bacholarette service, a traditional time of the celebration of God’s goodness and provision for the graduates and their families. At that particular service we were given a towel and told to go and tell people about Jesus.

Our most recent graduations stood in stark contrast. My brothers attended a school that is sponsored by a particular denomination, but does not require applicants to be Christians however almost all are. At this service, God was celebrated, but only a very particular Christian God. Drew is also associated with a particular denomination, it opens it doors wide to all who come to seek higher education. As such, all that come seeking God were welcomed at the baccholarete service. Muslims, Jews, and Christians gathered in one place to celebrate the God of Goodness in each of our traditions. With no one dimension or portrayal of God being held above another.

I started to ponder how each of these different services could be seen as a response to today’s scripture passage. Jesus gathers his disciples together for a time of teaching and tells them not to worry, that he would provide for all of their needs.

But of course, they did worry. And they became fixated on knowing both where Jesus was going and how they could get there to,. Jesus responded by saying, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. Without me, no one can go to the father… You know God because you see me.”

For my undergraduate institution this statement from Jesus was taken as a literal declaration. Jesus is the only way to have life. Therefore, people must be told about Jesus. While my evangelical school would not ascribe to the same belief system as those declaring that the world would end yesterday, in essence, weren’t they asserting the same idea? People need to be told the exact day the world would end so that they could get to know Jesus before hand – because if they didn’t they would never make it to the place Jesus was speaking of. Jesus is the only way to God.

My brother’s college took a slightly different view, but not too far off, when they declared that we give a very particular, albeit broader, picture of God praise. The God who was the parent of Christ Jesus, who is our holy example for living and eternal savior. We need to act in a way that helps other people see the Jesus in us and want to grab a hold of it. While not expressly stated, it can be assumed that we want people to see Christ in us for a purpose, that they will also come to know this one who is so important to us.

But Drew would respond to verse 6 in today’s scripture from a whole new perspective I believe. We cannot truly ever know all of Jesus, because Jesus was both human and divine. If we look at Jesus and see God, we must ask ourselves two very important questions: 1.) When we look at Jesus, who do we see God as? And 2.) Because we can never see all of Jesus, can we ever see all of God? As the Drew religious community came together they were stating with their actions and very presence that we can never truly see or know all of God and that God is big enough for all of our differences in opinion and diversity. For when we look to the actions and words of any who believe in God, they show us something profoundly new and exciting about the Divine. We need each other, in all of this diversity, in order to even catch a glimpse of this way and truth and life that Jesus was speaking about.

But who do we really see God as when we look at Jesus? Is it consistent for you each day? Or does God reach out to you, through the risen Christ, and reveal new pieces of the very nature of the divine when you need it the most or expecting it the least? Do you see God as the provider? The sustainer? The refresher? The rock? The gentle? The firm? The parent? The shepherd? The companion? Even when we have paradoxes within our own view of God, they all seem to fit together, because God’s truth transcends our limited capacity to understand. So can we ever really see all of God?

Perhaps the reason some rely so heavily on this verse for evangelistic purposes is because we have the desire to be right. We want to know the truth and own it. And if God is a little too big to be labeled and claimed for ownership, God may just be a little too radical and unpredictable. We would really like a God who is predictable and thinks like we do. I read a quote recently that said something to the effect of “If you find God hating the same people you do, its not God.” I would alter this quote but keep the same sentiment to say If you find God thinking like you do, its not God. This is not say that we should not authentically hope for people to come to know Christ, but we do not need to strive to convert those who already know their God, even if the Divine looks a bit different then we know it to be. We are called to speak life and truth to those who have lost their way, not to those who are on the same journey.

I also think we rely on this verse because some days, we really doubt that we know the way. We get so caught up in living in the business of life that we cannot even recognize the God piece in ourselves and others that is the reflection of Jesus’s goodness and direction.

When I was little my Uncle taught my cousins and I a game. He gave us each a heart sticker and as he placed it on our shirts he would say, “Jesus loves you.” Our task was to go up to someone whom we did not know and give them our sticker with the same kind words. For all people really need sometimes is a gentle reminder that they are cradled in the love of God.

Perhaps what we really need is the voice and courage to tell those around us how we see the light of God shining through them. And be open to hearing how God is working through us to bring life to others. We are each others reminders of the path that God has pointed us to. When we take time to affirm this, we have little need or desire to fight with others about what is the correct way to know God, because we see God’s very reflection in them.

So I ask you, are you willing to let people find there pathway to God through you? Are you willing to respond to what people see in you? And are you willing to look for your path to God through others? Amen.

Engagements

2011-05-18T15:48:00.001-04:00

I've been thinking a lot about how I may not be called to be married. I feel at peace at this time with being single. But I am not going to predict what's gods plan is for me. However, in the meantime a lot of my friends are becoming engaged.
I had a really odd dream a few nights ago about a friend of mine who recently broke up with his long term girlfriend. In my dream he became engaged quickly to someone whom he did not really love or like. In my dream we tried to have a conversation about this dreamland engagement.
While my dream was fictional on most accounts it got me thinking about the time in our lives heading towards marriage that we call engagement. It is not simply a time to get us from point a to point b. It's a sesaon in your life, unlike and like any other in your life.
One of my firm teachings that I feel compelled to pass on to others is this: we need not rush from one phase of our life to another. The example I give is ironically, for this post, always about marriage. When you are in a romantic relationship with a person you rarely go from being single to married over night, at least not in American culture. You go through stages, each with a goal and should be respected. Sadly we are so focused on the goal to get to the next stage as quickly as possible that we do not relish the stages.
But especially with engagement. The goal in most people's minds is to plan the wedding. Right? Not so much. The stage exists to see if you fit together as you continue to work on towards s growing relationship. It is only a commitment to work towards this with an open mind. An open mind means excepting that you may not be the right person for one another. Contradictory to the way we do things.
We live in a day and age when 50 percent of couples become divorced. I wonder if this is because we don't honor that time of engagement. We don't learn how to fight well. We don't know how to live with a person who will change through time.
Another statistic: women who reach the age of 50 and have been single, that is to say never married, divorced, or widowed, are the most emotionally and mentally stable in comparison to their counterparts. Perhaps this is because single people learn how to accept stages of life in a different way.
Most of my friends who are married, have been married for less than 5 years. But they almost all say the same thing. It's not what they thought it would be. It's not just sex and living together. It's not simplistic happy love all the time. And I have friends who have already considered divorce because of this misnomer.
Can we learn to reframe the time of engagement? Can it be less about planning the wedding and premarital counseling and be more about getting to know each other and ask the had questions? More about learning how to fight well? More about thinking if we can really be with this person forever even if we don't do anything else forever in our generation? Can we learn to accept extending the time in this stage instead of rushing through? Can we learn to accept all of the stages in our lives. May it be so.

Graduation

2011-05-15T21:57:00.002-04:00

Drew's graduation gave me a period to reflect upon my graduation from Houghton and their stark contrast. I made the comment to a friend who is also seeking an MDiv at a different institution after graduating from Houghton that perhaps they were different because I walked with my class at Drew (at Houghton I walked with the class before me as I graduated in December), perhaps I am less frustrated with Drew, and I was at Drew longer - for three years instead of my mere two at Houghton due to graduating early.

All of that being stated, the biggest difference for me in the actual graduation was we were allowed to celebrate! What a difference when you are allowed to clap and cheer and just shout. What a difference when one of the speakers is someone who you love and admire. What a difference when you love the people graduating with you across school lines. What a difference when the school president makes you laugh. What a difference when you are allowed to express your individuality through the regalia dress.

And all of those differences make me love Drew graduation, and be jealous of the undergrads who walked - I hope you realize that not every school is like Drew, friends. Your achievements were celebrated to the upmost degree in a unique way! Be blessed!

Glee Prom

2011-05-15T21:49:00.002-04:00

Glee's Prom Episode was a bit too close to my own prom experience. Like to a T when the fight broke out. I think we tend to forget how dramatic and traumatizing large events in the lives of teens can be. Too often people brush off the emotional web of these heightened experiences by telling them to get over it or that things will get better with age. But perhaps they don't - especially if we cannot forget the scars of the past. Thoughts?

Food and Faith

2011-05-15T21:01:00.002-04:00

I was blessed to celebrate my graduation with my supervisor from my ministry setting last year by visiting Blue Hills at Stone Barns. For more information about their philosophy around food, please visit their website at http://bluehillfarm.com/food/blue-hill-stone-barns/

Lise and I opted for the 8 course meal, a three and a half hour experience. And it truly was an experience. The courses change each month based off of the fresh produce at the farm. Our courses included: fresh veggies from the farm displayed on different size woods in order to have each person dining eat as if they are picking up own veggies to eat from the ground, fresh salad displayed on a large board with yoguart (which keeps the different veggies from wilting), a pan seered scallop with lemon zest, pea stew with fresh veggies and an egg, bread with local butter and carrot and asparagus salt, premature chicken egg pasta, hallobit, cheese with rubarb sorbee, coffee and tea, and a chocolate covered hazlenet, a milkshake, and a chocolate covered pralene. Please note that this is still forgetting a course!

While we were eating, my chief thought was how much the church has to learn from Blue Hills! The servers were wonderful and attentive. Shortly after we sat down one of the wait staff came over and talked with Lise about her past experience at the restaurant. While Lise is in fact, Lise, and found her way into the kitchen to work one night after her dining experience! Just the fact that they remembered her shocked us both. It also gave us a wonderful opportunity to speak with them about our ministries and passions for food.

In addition to the attentiveness, everyone was so kind. From the valet, to the greeter at the door, and the conceriage.

Of course all was not smooth - when the immature chicken egg was explained and displayed we both sort of lost it. Lise then made the comment to me that sometimes we need to be careful about our words and explanations, because what is so familiar to us, is new to someone else.

With all of this at hand, I started to think about what the church could learn from such an experience. First, we need to think about what we are saying and who we are saying it to. Are our words approachable? And is our experience overall one that is full of attentiveness to all those gathered, where grace is communicated in a gentle way? Our we kind to those in our midst? Do we remember people beyond their names? And does their experience with those gathered change them?

Food has a lot to teach us about of faith!

Who is the Church For? - Sister Act

2011-05-11T13:35:00.002-04:00

Catherine and I went to see our last official show together as Drew students last night - Sister Act on Broadway. What a riot! And what a time for reflection for us as future religious leaders. The premise was similar to the movies but set in a different context as far as setting it within the decade of the 70s with all of the glitz and the glam. Which I thought made more sense. All of the songs were different, but fantastic.

It was also interesting to contemplate pastoral skills and the place of the gospel and the Kin(g)dom of God is secular society as well as the church, when the woman next to me literally snapped about me tweeting during one of the numbers. She was not very polite, demanding a behavior from me instead of requesting it, which stifled the rest of my time during the first act. It was also interesting in my mind to see how my personality was able to show again in the second act without her presence. Catherine and I even danced a bit near the end! Woohoo!

The chief questions that arose for me were 'what are you doing to spread the gospel?' and 'what does the Kin(g)dom of God look like? (in terms of being open or desiring rigid purity)' What fantastic questions to have near the end of my seminary career as I enter the world of full time ministry!

"Let me See!" - John 20: 19-31

2011-05-09T09:47:00.000-04:00

When we left off with our Easter narrative, Mary had just had an encounter with the risen Christ. In fact, she was the first person to be greeted by Christ after his resurrection. After calling her tenderly by name and telling her not to cling to his risen form, he instructed her to go to the disciples, including Peter and the beloved disciple who came looking for his dead body and did not see his risen figure, and tell them “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” Of course Mary started off her rendition of this announcement by proclaiming “I have seen the Lord!”

Dusk has now descended and the disciples were gathered together in a room behind a locked door. Even after hearing Mary’s announcement, they were plagued by their own fears surrounding Jesus’ death – worried that the same fate would fall on them. Notice what the disciples did not do after the grandeur of Mary’s announcement – they did not go out looking for Christ. Instead Christ had to come to them – which is exactly what he did. Even though they were standing guard behind locked doors, Jesus entered the room and said, “Peace be with you.”

What a strange greeting from Jesus! Of all the things he could tell them about his experience over the last few days, of all that he could say about them abandoning him at the foot of the cross and not coming to seek him out in spite of Mary’s announcement, he greets them with reassurance, “Peace be with you.”

And as strange as his greeting may have been even stranger was what he did next – he showed them his hands with wounds from the nails still engraved in them and his side where the sword had pierced his flesh and muscle.

The shock wore off and the disciples forgot about the fact that they were hiding for their very lives. They began to rejoice. But I wondering how long their rejoicing lasted, or if their joy blocked them from hearing what Jesus said next. “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Here are men, crippled by fear to the point of locking themselves in the room, and Jesus expects them to leave and go on a mission. The threat to their lives is still very real – and perhaps more real then they even realize considering the fate that each of them meets. What exactly is Jesus sending them into? But Jesus continued on with his blessings, breathing on them and telling them to receive the Holy Spirit and forgive the sins of others.

But one disciple was missing during Jesus’ appearance – Thomas. We are not told where Thomas was, but it would be safe to say that perhaps he was the bravest of all of the disciples, considering he was the only one not locked in the room with the rest. But the other disciples were quick to tell them what they saw and experienced. And Thomas’s response was to tell them that he too wanted, no needed, to see the marks form the nails and the swords. He needed to put his hands in them in order to believe. Imagine the disciples dismay – they had experienced something beyond words that they wanted to share with Thomas, but he wouldn’t believe them … perhaps like they wouldn’t believe Mary when she came and told them what she had experienced and saw?

A week later the disciples were gathered and Thomas was with them. The door was shut this time, but not locked, and Jesus came and stood among them, blessing them with the same greeting, “Peace be with you.” Jesus then turned to Thomas and beckoned his to his side. “Come and see. Touch and believe.” Just a week earlier, Jesus was telling Mary not to cling to him, not to touch him, and now he is asking Thomas to come and put his fingers in the holes left by the cold nails and to stick his hand in the wound in his side. He is giving Thomas permission to come and do what he needed to do to believe.

Historically, Christianity has given Thomas a lot of grief. He has been labeled as Doubting Thomas, based on this piece of scripture alone. Which seems unfair when you consider the fact that Thomas is really a lot like us. In fact, we may even consider Thomas to be brave. In the face of hearing the news of the risen Lord twice, he still was able to state what he needed in order to believe in front of his friends, despite the reaction and ridicule that he may have faced. But, alas, he has not bore the name “Honest Thomas” throughout history.

Thomas was able to say what we cannot even bring ourselves to admit to our friends and Christian colleges sometimes – there are just simply some times when we don’t believe. Some times when we want to turn to Jesus and say, “Let me see!”. Let me experience something. Or maybe it’s a bit less dramatic for you then that. Maybe your unbelief comes in the form of making bargains with God – if God will do this then you will do that. If Jesus would appear to you in this form or do this particular thing, then you will commit your life to Christ. We all have doubts – we just need to be honest about them.

Maybe that’s why I struggle so much with Jesus’ response to Thomas, saying, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe. You’ve probably heard the message of this passage preached as “walk by faith and not by sight” before, which is all well and good. But can anyone walk by faith all the time? Or does such a message just teach us to feel ashamed of ourselves those times when we do doubt, those times when we do struggle?

Let us not be ashamed when we need to see, need to experience something in order to believe. For God understands our unbelief, and is big enough to meet us in our moment of needs. Jesus gave Thomas exactly what he needed in order to believe – do we think that God will not reach out and do the same for us, as long as our request is honest and sincere? For the risen Christ was kind enough to come and meet Thomas in order for him to believe. What do you need to believe? And are you willing to be honest about your moments of disbelief surrounding the mysteries of the faith? Amen.

Royal Wedding

2011-04-30T22:25:00.003-04:00

It seems like everything causes controversy today.... including weddings - and especially royal ones. The chief issues I've heard expressed with the Royal Wedding of William and Kate this past week included the expense of the day, its extravogent nature, and improper timing in the face of tragedies around the world. But is there ever a time when people do not make these complaints? Somethings I think people just like to complain for the sake of bringing attention to themselves.

Was the wedding expensive? Of course. It qualified as a national holiday. However, Americans have no right to say that the royal couple should have given money to this cause or that in order to draw attention to it if they do not do so themselves. Let's be honest, we are the #1 most wasteful country in the world and are really good at ignoring the needs of our brothers and sisters. Why do we only bring up the plights of others when we want to deter attention from our own mis-deeds?

And maybe, just maybe, its okay for the ceremony to be extravagent in the face of international crises. Because sometimes we need to see something happy, something life giving, on the news and in our world in order to remind us that things are not quite so bleak.

The Journey to the Empty Tomb - John 20: 1-18

2011-04-29T14:59:00.001-04:00

A cloud of sadness hung over the disciples of Jesus. Few had watched his death on the cross, but all knew of its graphic nature. Their teacher was gone. And they knew that if they were not careful they could suffer the same fate. A full day had passed, the Sabbath, but there was no resting for their grief stricken hearts. Before dawn came the next morning, Mary Magdalene set out to prepare Jesus’ body with spices. It was the least she could do for this one who had meant so much to her. So she gathered her supplies and headed to the tomb. But when she arrived the heavy stone sealing the tomb betheqethed to Jesus by Joseph of Arimathea had been removed. Mary couldn’t take time to look inside. Or maybe her heart feared what she would see if she would stoop down and look into the tomb. She took off sprinting, leaving what she had brought with her behind, until she found Simon Peter. She almost collapsed from grief and exhaustion into his arms, “The have taken the Lord, our Lord, out of the tomb. We do not know where they have laid him.”

Another disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, did not even look at each other to confirm their actions. They knew what they had to do. They took off running in the direction from which Mary came, leaving her behind. The disciple whom Jesus loved arrived first, and bent over, taking one step closer then Mary could bring herself to. He saw the neatly folded and rolled burial linens, but he could not bear to enter the small cave. Then Simon Peter arrived, and went one step further then the others – he entered the tomb.

The scriptures then has a paradoxical line for us today, “Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.” And the disciples went home, leaving Mary behind. Even the one whom Jesus loved, the one who was so close to him through his years of ministry, did not recall or understand the words of Jesus. He did not believe what Jesus had said, he believed that Mary was right – that someone had come and taken Jesus’ body away. It is as if he got a small glimpse of the picture, the tomb was empty, Jesus was gone, and jumped into his own rational conclusion. He saw what was before him with blinders that blocked the past teachings connection to the present reality. He was still asleep to the reality of what was taking place.

Mary also was asleep spiritually. She stood weeping outside of the tomb, by now catching up with the men who had ran in front of her. She still couldn’t bring herself to go into the tomb – what was the point? She knew what was facing her there and it was not what she was prepared to see. She wanted to do the only thing she could for her slayed Lord, and someone had denied her that opportunity. Not only had she faced his death, but now his fallen body wasn’t even present. So she wept. Finally, with tears still blocking her sight, she bent over and saw two angels in the tomb, sitting where Jesus once was. They looked at her with tender respect in their eyes and asked, “Woman, why are you weeping?”. She sputtered out that the Lord, the one whom she was looking for, had been taken away. As she turned around, she saw another man looking at her with this seemingly familiar compassion in his eyes. He too addressed her in terms of respect, care, and admiration, “Women, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” Mary once again gave her answer that caused her so much pain, her eyes unable to see who truly stood before her.

But then Jesus said but one word, “Mary!” and her eyes were opened. She exclaimed, “Teacher!” and ran to cling to Jesus. He then gave her the command to tell the disciples that Jesus had not yet ascended to God, but of course Mary could not explain this to the disciples without first proclaiming, “I have seen the Lord!”

Sight and hearing are two of the most commonly used human senses throughout scripture to explain the richness of the faith. People may be able to see with their physical eyes, but can they perceive with their hearts? People may be able to hear the scriptures, but do they hear and understand the voice of God? There seems to be a disconnect at times between sensually experiencing the physical world and its deep spiritual meaning.

Perhaps what brings about this chasm between the spiritual and the physically is our reliance on logic. We want things to make sense to us and often use our desire for neat answers to full our overall understanding. Take for instance the disciple whom Jesus loved. He was told that someone had taken Jesus’ body. He went to the tomb and saw the covering rolled away and the empty grave clothes where the body once was, so he logically settled on what he had been told. Jesus body had been taken. He believed someone else’s word. And he left thinking there were no other possible answers, and no need to stay.

Mary also believed that Jesus’ body had been taken, but she was persistent in her searching for it. She would not let go of the idea that she was not ready to just allow the body to be gone. So she asked everyone she saw if they had seen the body or taken the body. Her overarching persistence and reliance on the logic that someone had taken the body so whoever took it could return it, also made her blind. So blind in fact that she did not seemed phased at all by her encounter with the two angels. Did she recognize who they were? So blind that she didn’t recognize Jesus! – the very one whom she had come to pay respect to. It wasn’t until Jesus said her name, in that way that only Jesus could say it, that she recognized him.

Mary had to hear her own name in order to be able to see properly. In the words of Chris Tomlin, she rose when Christ called her name – no more sorrow, no more pain. And when she did hear and see all logic flew out the window. Logically, Jesus was dead, not only dead but mangled, and those who die that painfully do not come back to life. Further, Jesus didn’t bring himself down off the cross, didn’t save himself, so why would he be alive now? All rational thoughts about how or why escaped her as she gasped, “Rabbouni” and went to him. She didn’t need reason in order to believe what was right in front of her.

At the heart of Christianity is the peculiar and illogical belief that Jesus rose from the dead. It doesn’t make sense. We can understand cross dying on the cross, but our faith does not hinge on that fact alone. No, Christ is risen, which means Jesus is alive! We are the only religion to make the claim that one we stake our faith on, our very lives on, lived, died, and lived again. And because Jesus lives again, so can we – death does not have the final word over our lives because it did not have the final word of Christ’s. And this doesn’t make sense. Over the past centuries, Christians have turned to apologetics, or the art of making the seemingly irrational rational, to help people have their eyes opened to the truth in the resurrection. But I wonder if this is really how we will bring people to see the risen Lord? Because the chief tenant of our faith is also one of the greatest mysteries – it is not logical. But when Christ calls our name, our eyes are opened like those of Mary. Not by arguments or persuasion, but by hearing our name.

Have you heard Christ call your name today? Have you been awakened by it. As artist Matt Maher proclaims, “Christ is risen from the dead, we are one with him again, come awake, come awake, come arise up from the grave.” For many of us, the Easter story is simply that, a story. But when it is connected with the reality of the risen Christ calling our name, we are able to see and place our faith in the empty tomb. Jesus, the risen one, knows each of our names. He knows that sometimes we let our rational sides block us from hearing him. And he knows that sometimes, in the face of the great mystery of his risen body and the empty tomb, we really want to defend him with logical explanations. But what Jesus really wants are not our explanations, but our ears and hearts listening to the sweet call as Jesus says our names so we can see, even when our world is clouded with darkness. Listen. Can you hear him?

The Journey to Holy Week - Matthew 21: 1-11

2011-04-18T00:01:00.001-04:00

Think back to a time in your past when you felt the stir of celebration coming. Perhaps it was on your birthday as a child, eagerly waiting for a party to celebrate your very existence. Or maybe it was an early Christmas morning, when you couldn’t sleep out as your mind raced about what you would find underneath the Christmas tree. Or when you were entering the sanctuary to be married or witnessed the birth of your first child. Milestones in our lives are a cause for celebration.

There are also times in our lives when being with the people we love, those whom we adore, is just as much of a cause of celebration. There is something almost magical about driving to see those whom have a special place in your heart or waiting at the airline arrival gate. When I was in college I often volunteered to shuttle people for airport runs – even with the nearest airport being close to an hour and a half from the small college town. The hardest trips for me were always the ones when I would have to say goodbye to my best friend, however, I would have uncontainable excitement each semester as I went to pick him up from the airport – to be reunited from our breaks for another period of adventure. Of course this is not to say that our entire friendship has been caught between extreme sadness or excitement – we are just two people traveling through life together, and probably have spent more time laughing and arguing then anything else. But there is something that is marked in our memories around hellos and goodbyes.

And is that not what Jesus is doing in our passage of scripture today? As he enters the gates of Jerusalem he is simultaneously saying hello and goodbye. He is greeted with shouts of acclaim and praise as he rode the donkey with her colt in trail. He was just given something so precious as the animals simply because he was the Rabbi and he needed them – no other questions asked. He was not even allowed to ride the donkey barebacked, as his disciples piled on their cloaks for him.

While this passage is chiefly thought of with Jesus as the subject, and rightly so, I wonder what has to be going through the disciples heads during this journey. Over the past three years it has never been mentioned that Jesus was treated like royalty in his presence. It was not noted that he rode any animals or traveled in any way that was distinct from the rest of them. His feet bore the same calluses and dust. But now, he is entering the gates of Jerusalem, a place he has been some time before, but is being treated like someone more than a Rabbi – he on his donkey is caught between the paradox of a pregnant woman and emerging King.

I also have to wonder about the crowds – if Jesus was not on the donkey would they have been so excited to see him? Would they still have gathered even if he simply walked through the city gates with his disciples? Or was the donkey necessary, for his own protection, as if the crowds would have crushed him if he was on his feet alone. Whatever the crowds motives they did come in hoards. They laid down their cloaks, for some all they had, so the donkey Jesus was riding on would not step hoof on average ground. They cut down tree branches and waved them before throwing them on the ground as well to be traipsed over. All the while shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna!”

Not everyone was as eager to be in the presence of Jesus, however, as he rode through the city gates. Our passages said, “The whole cit was stirred to its depths, demanding, ‘who is this?’” But the crowds are not counted as part of the whole city, for they are set apart in such a way that they can answer the question being posed. No the whole city, the wealthy, the leadership, the Roman Empire, and Jewish religious leaders were different from the crowd. Surely they had also heard of this Jesus and all that was being done through him in the name of God. But now something was different. Now he was riding through their town and receiving a hero’s welcome, which frightened them to their core. Like King Herod so many years ago they were more caught up with the idea of protecting what they had, their throne and power, instead of worshipping this one who the others were calling blessed.

So with all of these characters gathered around him – the disciples, the worshipping crowds, and the skeptical leaders, Jesus entered the gates. He was greeting the crowds with his very presence, but in his heart he knew that he was also saying goodbye – for by the end of the week he would die a criminal’s death.

We are entering the most Holy Week of the Christian Calendar today. For the next eight days we will walk the familiar road with Jesus. For many of us the road has become almost too familiar. We rush from the fanfare of Palm Sunday to the empty grave on Easter, never realizing what happens between these two bookmark celebrations, we never have a chance to mourn for Jesus and for ourselves or to listen to his agonizing goodbyes. For others of us, we are perpetually caught in the mood of Good Friday, refusing to celebrate what is to come. But Jesus is beckoning us to travel the entirety of this week, from Psalm Sunday through each of the days of his final week, calling us to be ever present to our emotions and self-examination.

For just as my friend and I could not live constantly between being reunited and saying goodbye – we, too, with Jesus must be in the mundane of ordinarily every day relationship. This week reminds us that we cannot only be in celebratory mode or in a perpetually state of sorrowful mourning. We cannot simply cry “Hosanna!” today and “Christ is Risen!” next week. Each day during this holy season of lent and especially this coming week, we are invited on a journey to the paradoxical familiar and yet unknown. We may know the stories, but have we internalized them, have we walked with them? We may know the right phrases to say, but have they become part of our every day lives? This is the week when we are reminded of why we are who we are and why we gather together to be the church. May we not take that task lightly. Otherwise we are simply living on the edges of what our faith could become. Amen.