10/27/09 We got awful close last night. We (the church council) reviewed some 100 vision statements generated from our congregation. I challenged us to discover Christ's call upon us. Last night we kept refining those until we got a handful of phrases. The one I liked best was "Making Christ real for all." It is awful close. Keep praying for our discernment in this process.
Love,
Lynn
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
we have met the enemy and he is us
from my sermon on 10/25/09 from Genesis 3:1-13
I learned Hebrew the old-fashioned way. We picked up the Hebrew text and began reading from Genesis chapter 1, verse 1. In beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Hebrew was hard. You turn to the front of the book...it's the back! Hebrew reads from right to left. That really scrambles your brain. The syntax is different, the grammar is different, the letters are different. The pronunciation has lots of gutteral stops. I once say a Jewish commedian on TV, who said that on the day of his bar mitzvah, when he was supposed to stand up and read from the scroll, he had a terrible cold. He walked up, coughed, cleared his throat, awful sounds and the rabbi said, "That's close enough. YOu pass."
And the story begins with a wonderful poem. God says, Let there be. And it was. God speaks and it happens. Light. Land. Water. Sky. Animals. Humankind.
In the second chapter, there is another creation story. It is so good, it is not told just once but twice. This story is probably the older story. It is very earthy, with God getting down in the dirt (adamah) to create humankind (adam). We are only a bunch of chemicals until God blows the breath of life into us and we become living beings.
Then there is the third chapter that we read today. We all knew it was coming in class. It happened to be a Monday afternoon. It had to be on a Monday. We were taking turns reading the Hebrew out loud and then translating into English. I don't know about anyone else, but this is what was going on in me, "STOP! Can't you see what you are about to do? " But they don't stop. A cloud outside the window blocked the sun. It grew dark in our classroom and in our souls.
It is called the Fall in classic theology. Although the word Fall is not used n the passage, we know that we have lost something. We are less than what God intends. The word sin is not used in the passage, yet it tells us a lot about the nature of sin.
Can we see that this is a story about who we are? I know some of you say that we Methodists don't talk about sin much, but today we are going to. Maybe you can find yourself in the story as we slow it down.
There is a sssssnake. I hate ssssnakes. I have been bitten by a sssssnake. The ssssnake is crafty. It is ssssubtle, ssssneaky, sssseductive, sssslippery. Most appropriate for characteristics for sin. The sssssnake doesn't make humans do anything. I grew up with the commedian Flip Wilson, who used to say, The devil made me do it. That's not the case here.
The ssssnake ssssimply talks to woman, and places doubt in her mind. Did the LORD say you can't eat? And the woman in reply adds to the LORD's words by saying, "Nor touch it." It is a dangerous thing to talk to the ssssnake and start adding to God's words, to go beyond God's authority. Some commentators say that this is the beginning of sin.
There is only thing the LORD has asked humankind not to do. And what do they want to do more than anything else? That one thing! When you can't have it, you only want it more. We have two sons. They used to fight over a toy. So we would buy them identical toys. What would they do? Fight over the one the other had. But yours is exactly the same, we would say. But I want his, they would reply.
The ssssnake says that humankind want die. They will know good and evil. What's wrong with knowing good and evil. If you read the start of the 4th chapter of Genesis, you will find that Adam knows his wife Eve and they conceive and have a child. To know means to create. We want to create our own standards for good and evil, make our own rules.
Adam and Eve both eat. I am sorry guys but we cannot put it all on the women. The Hebrew is pretty clear that Adam is a willing, passive, and silent partner throughtout the whole drama. I understand that this passage has been wrongly used over centuries to put all the weight on women.
When they eat, their eyes are open. They realize that they are naked, vulnerable, exposed. And they try to cover up. Do we hear this phrase today? Oh, almost every day. Someone does something wrong, and there is a cover-up.
And now we find some Jewish humor. With shat do they use to make clothes? fig leaves. Have you touched a fig leaf lately? They are scratchy like sand paper. Imagine wearing fig leaf underwear! Our attempts at cover-up are often ill-advised and painful.
They hear God walking in the cool of the evening, and they hid. I know you have never hidden your sin from God, run away from the One who made you. God asks, "Where are you?" I used to hear this as an accusation. As I have gotten older, I know hear the loneliness of God. "Where are you? I miss you. I made you for relationship." I know that there is a lot of sin in the world because there is a lot of loneliness in the world. This is not what God intends. Can you see that sin is more than they breaking of law? It is also the breaking of relationship.
"Did you eat?" the LORD asks. And the man says, "The woman gave some to me." And the woman says, "The snake." Blame assignment runs rampant even today. We point the finger at someone else, at something else. Only problem is that when you point the index finger at someone else, how many are pointing back at you? Three! We cannot avoid our culpability.
There was an old comic strip called Pogo, whose lead character was a possum. In 1953, Walt Kelley, the cartoonist, in a panel that was actually about taking care of the environment has Pogo say, "We have met the enemy and he is us." This is the story of sin. There is no one else to blame.
What are we to do? We are sinners. What does God do? Yes, there are consequences for our actions, but there is also grace. God makes clothes for the human beings, not out of fig leaves. God demonstrates fierce love, coming to human kind in Abrahan and Sarah to start a covenant people, to Moses who liberates, to the judge Deborah, to the prienst Samuel, to Ruth and Naomi, to King David, to the prophets like Jeremiah, and finally in God's own Son, Jesus, the Word made flesh. It is as if God says, "I will keep at this until I find a way for them to come home to me. I will not give up. I want you back."
It may feel like this to us today. Every Monday morning at our house in south Austin, I roll a big garbage container to the curb. Every Monday morning someone comes and takes it away. It doesn't matter how much it is or who generated it, it is simply gone. All the trash is taken away, and I get to start clean again.
In this house, it is every Sunday. God doesn't ask how much you haveor whose at fault. God simply takes it away. God wants us to be clean. God wants us back. That is the good news I have to share with you today.
I learned Hebrew the old-fashioned way. We picked up the Hebrew text and began reading from Genesis chapter 1, verse 1. In beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Hebrew was hard. You turn to the front of the book...it's the back! Hebrew reads from right to left. That really scrambles your brain. The syntax is different, the grammar is different, the letters are different. The pronunciation has lots of gutteral stops. I once say a Jewish commedian on TV, who said that on the day of his bar mitzvah, when he was supposed to stand up and read from the scroll, he had a terrible cold. He walked up, coughed, cleared his throat, awful sounds and the rabbi said, "That's close enough. YOu pass."
And the story begins with a wonderful poem. God says, Let there be. And it was. God speaks and it happens. Light. Land. Water. Sky. Animals. Humankind.
In the second chapter, there is another creation story. It is so good, it is not told just once but twice. This story is probably the older story. It is very earthy, with God getting down in the dirt (adamah) to create humankind (adam). We are only a bunch of chemicals until God blows the breath of life into us and we become living beings.
Then there is the third chapter that we read today. We all knew it was coming in class. It happened to be a Monday afternoon. It had to be on a Monday. We were taking turns reading the Hebrew out loud and then translating into English. I don't know about anyone else, but this is what was going on in me, "STOP! Can't you see what you are about to do? " But they don't stop. A cloud outside the window blocked the sun. It grew dark in our classroom and in our souls.
It is called the Fall in classic theology. Although the word Fall is not used n the passage, we know that we have lost something. We are less than what God intends. The word sin is not used in the passage, yet it tells us a lot about the nature of sin.
Can we see that this is a story about who we are? I know some of you say that we Methodists don't talk about sin much, but today we are going to. Maybe you can find yourself in the story as we slow it down.
There is a sssssnake. I hate ssssnakes. I have been bitten by a sssssnake. The ssssnake is crafty. It is ssssubtle, ssssneaky, sssseductive, sssslippery. Most appropriate for characteristics for sin. The sssssnake doesn't make humans do anything. I grew up with the commedian Flip Wilson, who used to say, The devil made me do it. That's not the case here.
The ssssnake ssssimply talks to woman, and places doubt in her mind. Did the LORD say you can't eat? And the woman in reply adds to the LORD's words by saying, "Nor touch it." It is a dangerous thing to talk to the ssssnake and start adding to God's words, to go beyond God's authority. Some commentators say that this is the beginning of sin.
There is only thing the LORD has asked humankind not to do. And what do they want to do more than anything else? That one thing! When you can't have it, you only want it more. We have two sons. They used to fight over a toy. So we would buy them identical toys. What would they do? Fight over the one the other had. But yours is exactly the same, we would say. But I want his, they would reply.
The ssssnake says that humankind want die. They will know good and evil. What's wrong with knowing good and evil. If you read the start of the 4th chapter of Genesis, you will find that Adam knows his wife Eve and they conceive and have a child. To know means to create. We want to create our own standards for good and evil, make our own rules.
Adam and Eve both eat. I am sorry guys but we cannot put it all on the women. The Hebrew is pretty clear that Adam is a willing, passive, and silent partner throughtout the whole drama. I understand that this passage has been wrongly used over centuries to put all the weight on women.
When they eat, their eyes are open. They realize that they are naked, vulnerable, exposed. And they try to cover up. Do we hear this phrase today? Oh, almost every day. Someone does something wrong, and there is a cover-up.
And now we find some Jewish humor. With shat do they use to make clothes? fig leaves. Have you touched a fig leaf lately? They are scratchy like sand paper. Imagine wearing fig leaf underwear! Our attempts at cover-up are often ill-advised and painful.
They hear God walking in the cool of the evening, and they hid. I know you have never hidden your sin from God, run away from the One who made you. God asks, "Where are you?" I used to hear this as an accusation. As I have gotten older, I know hear the loneliness of God. "Where are you? I miss you. I made you for relationship." I know that there is a lot of sin in the world because there is a lot of loneliness in the world. This is not what God intends. Can you see that sin is more than they breaking of law? It is also the breaking of relationship.
"Did you eat?" the LORD asks. And the man says, "The woman gave some to me." And the woman says, "The snake." Blame assignment runs rampant even today. We point the finger at someone else, at something else. Only problem is that when you point the index finger at someone else, how many are pointing back at you? Three! We cannot avoid our culpability.
There was an old comic strip called Pogo, whose lead character was a possum. In 1953, Walt Kelley, the cartoonist, in a panel that was actually about taking care of the environment has Pogo say, "We have met the enemy and he is us." This is the story of sin. There is no one else to blame.
What are we to do? We are sinners. What does God do? Yes, there are consequences for our actions, but there is also grace. God makes clothes for the human beings, not out of fig leaves. God demonstrates fierce love, coming to human kind in Abrahan and Sarah to start a covenant people, to Moses who liberates, to the judge Deborah, to the prienst Samuel, to Ruth and Naomi, to King David, to the prophets like Jeremiah, and finally in God's own Son, Jesus, the Word made flesh. It is as if God says, "I will keep at this until I find a way for them to come home to me. I will not give up. I want you back."
It may feel like this to us today. Every Monday morning at our house in south Austin, I roll a big garbage container to the curb. Every Monday morning someone comes and takes it away. It doesn't matter how much it is or who generated it, it is simply gone. All the trash is taken away, and I get to start clean again.
In this house, it is every Sunday. God doesn't ask how much you haveor whose at fault. God simply takes it away. God wants us to be clean. God wants us back. That is the good news I have to share with you today.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
rescue
10/22/09 My breath prayer today comes from Psalm 34:19, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD rescues them from them all." Being a believer doesn't mean that things will go easier, or that we will have fewer problems. In fact, we may encounter more resistance, more temptations, more trouble. We may feel more empathy with those in pain in the world. I am glad that our God stand with us. For me, that is enough. God's presence is enough rescue.
Love,
Lynn
Love,
Lynn
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
free time
10/21/09 I had a Board of Ordained Ministry meeting that began yesterday at 11 a.m. in Kerrville and was supposed to go until noon today. Thankfully, we got all of our business done by 7 last night. I drove on home and got to sleep in my own bed. I feel like I have been given the gift of an extra day....free time. I have really needed it as one of our charter members, EdithTombrello, died this morning. There have been some other issues that have popped up as well. My breath prayer for the day has come from Psalm 34:4, "I sought the LORD, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears."
Love,
Lynn
Love,
Lynn
Monday, October 19, 2009
role reversal
from my sermon on Children's Sabbath, 10/18/09, from Mark 9:30-37
I really enjoy doing the children's time in worship. I figure if little children understand that Jesus loves them, then that's a good thing. For my first 4 years in ministry, doing the children's time was my major responsibility in the worship service when I was associate pastor at St. John's here in Austin. Now there was a Dunkin Donuts on Burnet Road that was not too far from the church. They were my fall back position whenever I didn't have anything better to do with the kids. This is before Cathy and I had kids, and before I knew what sugar could do, so I often got donut holes to share. One Sunday this passage came up. I showed the children the donut holes. I asked them to line up and I would give them each a donut hole in order. Of course, after some scrambling and mild wrestling the 20 children lined up with one of the larger boys bullying his way to the front of the line. I opened the box. I went up to him and walked right past him. I went all the way to the end of the line where, I kid you not, his little sister was the last one. I gave her the first donut hole. Why? Because the first shall be last and the last first. The kids got it. Isn't that great? Jesus reverses all of our roles. He turns everything around. The last are most important.
What is not so great is what was happening with the disciples. Jesus is on the road to Jerusalem. We remember what that means in Mark's Gospel, as half of the book has Jesus moving through his passion, death, and resurrection. What are his closest friends doing? They are arguing who is the greatest. Who is number one. Who is first.
Jesus talks with them. You want to be the greatest? Then become last of all and servant of all. Then Jesus acts out a parable instead of speaking it. He takes a child--the Greek word doesn't indicate gender or age--it could be any child--it could be every child-- maybe that is the point. Jesus takes this child into his arms. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me and not just me but the one who sent me.
Here we want to go, Ah, isn't that sweet. We want to sing, Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world... I didn't know how radical it was for Jesus to do what he did until I read the commentaries this past week. Little children in that culture were non-persons, invisible, without power, considered examples of the least and lowliest.
This runs counter to our faith upbringing. Our Hebrew forbears circumcized little boys on the 8th day of life, claiming them as part of the faith community and precious to God. The Jews did not practice child sacrifice as some of the other religions did. If a couple was barren, it was a bitter thing. Children were considered a blessing. They provided economic security and passing on of the family name. In the early church, Christians rescued little babies that were thrown out to die. They took them in and raised them.
So when we hear that children were once counted as nothing, we say, Thank God, it's not that way today!
We love our children, want only the best for them, the best houses, clothes, food, education. We want them to go to the right pre-school so they can go to the right elementary school then middle school, high school, college, get the right job, and make a lot of money and be happy.
One of our ushers asked me if I was okay this morning. Why, I asked. You seem down. Ah, I said, I have some heavy comments to make in the sermon. People may not like them. A very perceptive usher we have.
What I need to say to you on this children's sabbath it that it seems to me we place a lot of pressure on our children to perform. Make good grades. Excel in athletics, band, etc. Grow up so fast, a book is called So Sexy, So Soon. There is no room for play, for creatity, for wonder, for failure.
In psychological terms, our children become projections of us. They are "mini-me's". In theological terms, children become idols. They become objects not persons. They become products, not persons.
I wonder if we are not closer to the culture of Bible times than we care to admit. We can make children into objects by expecting too much as well as ignoring them.
Is there any good news here? I give thanks for Jesus' patience with his followers. How many times do his closest friends not get it. How stupid, how clueless they seem. And yet he continues to teach them. Only here in Mark do we find Jesus "in the house" with them. He sits down to teach them, taking the traditional posture of a rabbi who is giving instruction. He welcomes a child into his arms and their midst. Maybe that's what we need to do also.
I am proud to be a Texan. I was born and raised in Texas. Spent most of my life here. But I am not proud about this next part, again a heaviness descends upon me. Texas is last when it comes to children who do not have health insurance. More than 1.4 million children, more than a in 5 don't have health insurance. I read an article from the James A Baker III Institute on Public Policy at Rice University on the economic impact of uninsured children. Economic....how about the emotional, or relational, or spiritual impact? They resurrect an old line, An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Another great quote from Frederick Douglass, It is easier to raise a healthy child than to repair a broken man. When we talk about health care reform, we need to welcome child into our midst, maybe one who finds it hard to qualify for insurance.
I have a fantasy of childen sitting at the board room table. As we try to make business decisions, we could have children playing rock/paper/ scissors like they are doing here on the front pew. We need new bottom lines that welcome children.
When it comes to the environment, we need to welcome children. What do the native Americans say? Don't make any decision without thinking about how it might affect the next 7 generations. It not just about clean air, water, or soil, it is about the children.
When it comes to church, I would love to have children at the church council meetings, coloring pictures, reading stories, while we try to decide the vision that Christ has for this congregation.
I want to praise this congregation. You welcome children. You help at Any Baby Can. You host Interfaith Hospitality Network where homeless families with children live in our building. You make meals for Mobile Loaves and Fishes, where many of the people on the street are not just single men, but families with children.
I am glad that our worship services welcome children. Don't you like the children's time in worship about the best? I am glad that welcome children at this table. I love to serve children the sacrament of communion. I get right down on their level, and hand them a piece of bread, and say, This means that Jesus loves you very much. So many times, the response comes back, Thank you. May it ever be so. Amen.
I really enjoy doing the children's time in worship. I figure if little children understand that Jesus loves them, then that's a good thing. For my first 4 years in ministry, doing the children's time was my major responsibility in the worship service when I was associate pastor at St. John's here in Austin. Now there was a Dunkin Donuts on Burnet Road that was not too far from the church. They were my fall back position whenever I didn't have anything better to do with the kids. This is before Cathy and I had kids, and before I knew what sugar could do, so I often got donut holes to share. One Sunday this passage came up. I showed the children the donut holes. I asked them to line up and I would give them each a donut hole in order. Of course, after some scrambling and mild wrestling the 20 children lined up with one of the larger boys bullying his way to the front of the line. I opened the box. I went up to him and walked right past him. I went all the way to the end of the line where, I kid you not, his little sister was the last one. I gave her the first donut hole. Why? Because the first shall be last and the last first. The kids got it. Isn't that great? Jesus reverses all of our roles. He turns everything around. The last are most important.
What is not so great is what was happening with the disciples. Jesus is on the road to Jerusalem. We remember what that means in Mark's Gospel, as half of the book has Jesus moving through his passion, death, and resurrection. What are his closest friends doing? They are arguing who is the greatest. Who is number one. Who is first.
Jesus talks with them. You want to be the greatest? Then become last of all and servant of all. Then Jesus acts out a parable instead of speaking it. He takes a child--the Greek word doesn't indicate gender or age--it could be any child--it could be every child-- maybe that is the point. Jesus takes this child into his arms. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me and not just me but the one who sent me.
Here we want to go, Ah, isn't that sweet. We want to sing, Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world... I didn't know how radical it was for Jesus to do what he did until I read the commentaries this past week. Little children in that culture were non-persons, invisible, without power, considered examples of the least and lowliest.
This runs counter to our faith upbringing. Our Hebrew forbears circumcized little boys on the 8th day of life, claiming them as part of the faith community and precious to God. The Jews did not practice child sacrifice as some of the other religions did. If a couple was barren, it was a bitter thing. Children were considered a blessing. They provided economic security and passing on of the family name. In the early church, Christians rescued little babies that were thrown out to die. They took them in and raised them.
So when we hear that children were once counted as nothing, we say, Thank God, it's not that way today!
We love our children, want only the best for them, the best houses, clothes, food, education. We want them to go to the right pre-school so they can go to the right elementary school then middle school, high school, college, get the right job, and make a lot of money and be happy.
One of our ushers asked me if I was okay this morning. Why, I asked. You seem down. Ah, I said, I have some heavy comments to make in the sermon. People may not like them. A very perceptive usher we have.
What I need to say to you on this children's sabbath it that it seems to me we place a lot of pressure on our children to perform. Make good grades. Excel in athletics, band, etc. Grow up so fast, a book is called So Sexy, So Soon. There is no room for play, for creatity, for wonder, for failure.
In psychological terms, our children become projections of us. They are "mini-me's". In theological terms, children become idols. They become objects not persons. They become products, not persons.
I wonder if we are not closer to the culture of Bible times than we care to admit. We can make children into objects by expecting too much as well as ignoring them.
Is there any good news here? I give thanks for Jesus' patience with his followers. How many times do his closest friends not get it. How stupid, how clueless they seem. And yet he continues to teach them. Only here in Mark do we find Jesus "in the house" with them. He sits down to teach them, taking the traditional posture of a rabbi who is giving instruction. He welcomes a child into his arms and their midst. Maybe that's what we need to do also.
I am proud to be a Texan. I was born and raised in Texas. Spent most of my life here. But I am not proud about this next part, again a heaviness descends upon me. Texas is last when it comes to children who do not have health insurance. More than 1.4 million children, more than a in 5 don't have health insurance. I read an article from the James A Baker III Institute on Public Policy at Rice University on the economic impact of uninsured children. Economic....how about the emotional, or relational, or spiritual impact? They resurrect an old line, An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Another great quote from Frederick Douglass, It is easier to raise a healthy child than to repair a broken man. When we talk about health care reform, we need to welcome child into our midst, maybe one who finds it hard to qualify for insurance.
I have a fantasy of childen sitting at the board room table. As we try to make business decisions, we could have children playing rock/paper/ scissors like they are doing here on the front pew. We need new bottom lines that welcome children.
When it comes to the environment, we need to welcome children. What do the native Americans say? Don't make any decision without thinking about how it might affect the next 7 generations. It not just about clean air, water, or soil, it is about the children.
When it comes to church, I would love to have children at the church council meetings, coloring pictures, reading stories, while we try to decide the vision that Christ has for this congregation.
I want to praise this congregation. You welcome children. You help at Any Baby Can. You host Interfaith Hospitality Network where homeless families with children live in our building. You make meals for Mobile Loaves and Fishes, where many of the people on the street are not just single men, but families with children.
I am glad that our worship services welcome children. Don't you like the children's time in worship about the best? I am glad that welcome children at this table. I love to serve children the sacrament of communion. I get right down on their level, and hand them a piece of bread, and say, This means that Jesus loves you very much. So many times, the response comes back, Thank you. May it ever be so. Amen.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
great
10/15/09 My breath prayer for the day comes from Psalm 104:1, "Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD, my God, you are very great." I walked in the quiet beauty of the early morning, reveling in how Great Thou Art. It is good for me to feel small in the presence of God's greatness. In my preaching from Mark's Gospel, the disciples are bickering over who is the greatest, who's first, who's most important. All of that pettiness falls away in the face of God's greatness.
Love,
Lynn
Love,
Lynn
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
questions
10/13/09 My prayer verses today center around Job 38:1-7, where God asks Job, Who? Where? Who? What? When? God answers Job's questions with deeper questions. I know that we question God. Today I wonder what questions God has for us.
Love,
Lynn
Love,
Lynn
Monday, October 12, 2009
service
from my sermon on 10/11/09 from Mark 10:35-45
What do you want? What would you ask Jesus for? I know it seems brash, but it is exactly what James and John do. We are uncomfortable with this. Margaret who read the scripture for us today in worship traded e-mails with me during the week. "Isn't there another translation?" We want to tone it down, edit it...this jockeying for position, this ill-conceived request.
The Gospel writers are equally uncomfortable. Matthew has the mother of James and John make the request. Luke and John omit the story entirely.
We don't like this story, but we are familiar with it. Don't we all come to Jesus with our lists? Our wants? It may be for ourselves ....to be healthy, wealthy, and wise. But it is also for others. We pray for Jacob, the 19 year-old, who was injured in a car accident in Italy, as he is barely hanging onto life. We pray for Edith, a charter member of this church who is actively dying, and just wants to be released. We pray for peace in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine. What would you ask Jesus for?
And here is amazing grace...Jesus accepts their request...without a rebuke. But more than that, he reframes their request. "You don't know what you are asking." I was reading my journal from many years ago about a UM church asking for a younger pastor. You have never heard something like this before I know....but this was an older, dying church, and they asked the bishop for a younger pastor to attract younger families back to the downtown Cincinnati church. They got their younger pastor. Then they asked for funds for advertising, to try to get people back to the old cathedral-type church. They got those funds as well, and people started coming back. But what they didnt' ask for was an awareness of the community around them. They started to notice the folks right outside their door. "Where do these people sleep at night? It seems that there are a lot of people who have just been turned out of institutions who have no place to go. It looks like there are a lot of people who have drug and alcohol problems."
The church said, "We have the location. We have the space. We have the money. We see the need. We need to do something." And that church took off developing missions to the community where they were. The pastor said, "I can't imagine our congregation being any other way than it is today. We wanted to pay the light bill. What we needed was to witness to the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. What we wanted was to survive. What we needed was to serve."
We really don't know what we are asking. We don't get what we ask for. We get what we need.
Jesus gives a sacramental answer. "Can you drink this cup?" What does that remind us of? "Can you be baptized with this baptism?" What does that remind us of? So these are not sweet, sentimental acts, but are cross-shaped answers.
Jesus also gives an example for us to follow. The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many." We want Jesus to be a powerful military leader, politically astute, successful in business, and accepted as a religious leader, but what we get is a Savior who is a servant. Because Jesus is this way, the church, his church is a servant church. Fifty times in 18 different writings in the NT, Christians are referred to as servants.
Today, I am finishing up this series on our vows as United Methodist Christians. If you haven't guessed it so far, it's about service. Now we know that we have to serve, right? NO! We get to. We need to practice saying this word when it comes to all the requests that come our way. Say it with me, NO.
We can say no because we have been set free. Jesus says that he is a ransom. Now we use this word in a limited context....in kidnapping, we pay a ransom. But originally a ransom was paid to release a prisoner of war. You have heard of a king's ransom? Or it was paid to release a slave or a criminal. A ransom is paid to set someone free. We have been set free. We can say no. We don't always do want people want us to do for them; we do what they need. We do what pleases God, not other people. Ultimately, the one we serve is Jesus.
I once had a young man come into the office, inebriated. The front office staff tried to deal with him, but he said, "I want to talk to him "(me, the senior pastor). We sat and talked. He had scars on his leg and scars on his soul. What he asked for, money, I could not do. I tried to send him to Caritas and Salvation Army and a dry out center, but he wanted no part of these. He cussed me out, the church out, and Austin out. We let him use the phone to determine his future.
I am upset by encounters like this, but I understand that I need to let people make their own mistakes and that the body of Christ is a lot larger than just me or this congregation. I like that prayer that says, "Lord, help me to remember that I am not personally, totally, irrevocably responsible for everything that happens today."
I our freedom, we realize that others have gifts to serve too. This past week Minnie invited me to her house. We had a pleasant conversation. She had baked me a cake. I was wary though, I asked Minnie if there was some agenda, something she needed to talk about. You see, people ask me to do a lot of things for them. "No," she said, "I wanted to give you the cake and I wanted to thank you for letting me write the care notes." Please understand, that last week, we took communion elements from this table to Minnie, because she doesn't get around so well. She was thanking me for letting her write notes to people exactly like her.
It feels good to serve. In fact, that's why we serve, because God only wants our deepest happiness. If you would take out the orange sheet on "Christmas in October" you will find 14 different ways you get to serve in the next two months. Here's Terrie, the chair of our Service Committee, to tell you more about it.
What do you want? What would you ask Jesus for? I know it seems brash, but it is exactly what James and John do. We are uncomfortable with this. Margaret who read the scripture for us today in worship traded e-mails with me during the week. "Isn't there another translation?" We want to tone it down, edit it...this jockeying for position, this ill-conceived request.
The Gospel writers are equally uncomfortable. Matthew has the mother of James and John make the request. Luke and John omit the story entirely.
We don't like this story, but we are familiar with it. Don't we all come to Jesus with our lists? Our wants? It may be for ourselves ....to be healthy, wealthy, and wise. But it is also for others. We pray for Jacob, the 19 year-old, who was injured in a car accident in Italy, as he is barely hanging onto life. We pray for Edith, a charter member of this church who is actively dying, and just wants to be released. We pray for peace in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine. What would you ask Jesus for?
And here is amazing grace...Jesus accepts their request...without a rebuke. But more than that, he reframes their request. "You don't know what you are asking." I was reading my journal from many years ago about a UM church asking for a younger pastor. You have never heard something like this before I know....but this was an older, dying church, and they asked the bishop for a younger pastor to attract younger families back to the downtown Cincinnati church. They got their younger pastor. Then they asked for funds for advertising, to try to get people back to the old cathedral-type church. They got those funds as well, and people started coming back. But what they didnt' ask for was an awareness of the community around them. They started to notice the folks right outside their door. "Where do these people sleep at night? It seems that there are a lot of people who have just been turned out of institutions who have no place to go. It looks like there are a lot of people who have drug and alcohol problems."
The church said, "We have the location. We have the space. We have the money. We see the need. We need to do something." And that church took off developing missions to the community where they were. The pastor said, "I can't imagine our congregation being any other way than it is today. We wanted to pay the light bill. What we needed was to witness to the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. What we wanted was to survive. What we needed was to serve."
We really don't know what we are asking. We don't get what we ask for. We get what we need.
Jesus gives a sacramental answer. "Can you drink this cup?" What does that remind us of? "Can you be baptized with this baptism?" What does that remind us of? So these are not sweet, sentimental acts, but are cross-shaped answers.
Jesus also gives an example for us to follow. The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many." We want Jesus to be a powerful military leader, politically astute, successful in business, and accepted as a religious leader, but what we get is a Savior who is a servant. Because Jesus is this way, the church, his church is a servant church. Fifty times in 18 different writings in the NT, Christians are referred to as servants.
Today, I am finishing up this series on our vows as United Methodist Christians. If you haven't guessed it so far, it's about service. Now we know that we have to serve, right? NO! We get to. We need to practice saying this word when it comes to all the requests that come our way. Say it with me, NO.
We can say no because we have been set free. Jesus says that he is a ransom. Now we use this word in a limited context....in kidnapping, we pay a ransom. But originally a ransom was paid to release a prisoner of war. You have heard of a king's ransom? Or it was paid to release a slave or a criminal. A ransom is paid to set someone free. We have been set free. We can say no. We don't always do want people want us to do for them; we do what they need. We do what pleases God, not other people. Ultimately, the one we serve is Jesus.
I once had a young man come into the office, inebriated. The front office staff tried to deal with him, but he said, "I want to talk to him "(me, the senior pastor). We sat and talked. He had scars on his leg and scars on his soul. What he asked for, money, I could not do. I tried to send him to Caritas and Salvation Army and a dry out center, but he wanted no part of these. He cussed me out, the church out, and Austin out. We let him use the phone to determine his future.
I am upset by encounters like this, but I understand that I need to let people make their own mistakes and that the body of Christ is a lot larger than just me or this congregation. I like that prayer that says, "Lord, help me to remember that I am not personally, totally, irrevocably responsible for everything that happens today."
I our freedom, we realize that others have gifts to serve too. This past week Minnie invited me to her house. We had a pleasant conversation. She had baked me a cake. I was wary though, I asked Minnie if there was some agenda, something she needed to talk about. You see, people ask me to do a lot of things for them. "No," she said, "I wanted to give you the cake and I wanted to thank you for letting me write the care notes." Please understand, that last week, we took communion elements from this table to Minnie, because she doesn't get around so well. She was thanking me for letting her write notes to people exactly like her.
It feels good to serve. In fact, that's why we serve, because God only wants our deepest happiness. If you would take out the orange sheet on "Christmas in October" you will find 14 different ways you get to serve in the next two months. Here's Terrie, the chair of our Service Committee, to tell you more about it.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
word of God
10/8/09 I have been using Heb. 4;12-13 for my centering prayer today, "Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account." What I like and dislike about this passage is how the word of God reveals us as we are. Nothing can be hidden. May I accept this as a gift and not a threat.
Love,
Lynn
Love,
Lynn
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
yet
10/07/09 Still reflecting on Psalm 22, I am impressed by the number of times, the conjunction "yet" is used. There will be a litany of abandonements, distresses, pains, etc., interrupted by "yet" followed by an affirmation of faith. May that is what we believers are called to do: in the midst of much evidence to the contrary, "yet" we make sense of our exitence through God's saving actions in the past and we pray, in the future.
Love,
Lynn
Love,
Lynn
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
forsaken
10/06/09 My prayer verse for the day comes from the opening words of Psalm 22, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest."
You may recognize these words as some of the last words that Jesus said from the cross. Jesus certainly identifies with our feelings of abandonement. I am glad that our Bible contains the whole gamut of human emotions and experiences. Is there anyone who has not felt this sense of being deserted and alone?
In my prayer time walking this morning, I gave up to God some of those experiences in my life past and present. I also remembered that this Psalm ends with a strong affirmation of faith in God, in God's providence, and in God's promised future. May it be so.
Love,
Lynn
You may recognize these words as some of the last words that Jesus said from the cross. Jesus certainly identifies with our feelings of abandonement. I am glad that our Bible contains the whole gamut of human emotions and experiences. Is there anyone who has not felt this sense of being deserted and alone?
In my prayer time walking this morning, I gave up to God some of those experiences in my life past and present. I also remembered that this Psalm ends with a strong affirmation of faith in God, in God's providence, and in God's promised future. May it be so.
Love,
Lynn
Monday, October 5, 2009
the welcome table
on 10/4/09, World Communion Sunday, I told the story by Alice Walker, entitled "the Welcome Table," from her book of short stories, In Love and Trouble
I had a woman enact the part of the old black woman. Some men for the usher and husbands who finally threw her out. Here is a brief synopsis of the story:
This story is about an old, rundown black woman who staggers the necessary distance in the freezing cold to attend an all-white church. The white people are at a loss when they see her near the entrance of the church and do not know what to do. Some people take her in as she is, an old black woman with a mildewed dress that is missing buttons. She is lean and wrinkled with blue-brown eyes. Her appearance makes some of the white people think of black workers, maids, cooks; others think of black mistresses or jungle orgies. Still others think that she is a foreshadow of what is to come - black people invading the one place that it still considered the white person's sanctuary, their church. They see her and transfer their fear of blacks onto her.
The old woman makes her way inside the church. The reverend says something to the old woman, but no one knows what and the old woman does not respond. Inside the church, the old woman sits at the first bench in the back; she is shivering. Outside it is freezing and inside the church it is cold. The rest of the white people sit at the front of the church away from her.
The usher approaches the old woman and tells her to leave, but the old black woman shoos him with her hand and tells him to go away. The women of the church finally take the matter into their hands and dare or demand their hesitant husbands to throw the old colored woman out of the church. The white women look with contempt at the old woman in her bedraggled state and are insulted that their husbands expect them to sit in the same church as her. This sufficiently motivates the husbands to grab the old woman and physically throw her out of the church into the freezing cold. The white women feel vindicated and hateful toward the old black woman. No one at the church speaks of the incident afterward, and the church service begins.
The old lady is surprised to find herself outside, for she had been singing a song in her head. The old lady looks down the highway and sees something that makes her smile, laugh, sing, and jump up and down in joy and excitement: the old lady sees Jesus himself walking down the highway toward her. He looks exactly like a picture she stole out of a white woman's Bible.
When Jesus approaches her, he instructs that she follow him. The old woman happily obliges. They walk in silence for a while, and then the old woman tells Jesus the story of her life, how she has worked for, cleaned for, and nursed the white people. Jesus listens and looks at her with kindness. The old lady indignantly recounts to Jesus how she was just thrown out of the white people's church. Jesus smiles at her and she instantly feels better. She tells Jesus of how she has his picture hanging over her bed. She alternately sings for Jesus, talks to him, and walks in silence beside him. They pass her house and the old woman doesn't even notice. She doesn't know where they are going but knows it will be wonderful. She feels as if she can walk forever by His side.
The white people from the church never finds out what happened to the old black woman who tried to attend their church. The white people do hear of a black woman who died on the highway after having apparently walked herself to death. They think this woman is silly and do not connect the two black women as one and the same. Black families witnessed the old lady walking by herself down the highway, sometimes singing, talking, and walking in silence, smiling. No one knows where she was going all by herself; they just assume she was on her way to visit some relatives.
I had a woman enact the part of the old black woman. Some men for the usher and husbands who finally threw her out. Here is a brief synopsis of the story:
This story is about an old, rundown black woman who staggers the necessary distance in the freezing cold to attend an all-white church. The white people are at a loss when they see her near the entrance of the church and do not know what to do. Some people take her in as she is, an old black woman with a mildewed dress that is missing buttons. She is lean and wrinkled with blue-brown eyes. Her appearance makes some of the white people think of black workers, maids, cooks; others think of black mistresses or jungle orgies. Still others think that she is a foreshadow of what is to come - black people invading the one place that it still considered the white person's sanctuary, their church. They see her and transfer their fear of blacks onto her.
The old woman makes her way inside the church. The reverend says something to the old woman, but no one knows what and the old woman does not respond. Inside the church, the old woman sits at the first bench in the back; she is shivering. Outside it is freezing and inside the church it is cold. The rest of the white people sit at the front of the church away from her.
The usher approaches the old woman and tells her to leave, but the old black woman shoos him with her hand and tells him to go away. The women of the church finally take the matter into their hands and dare or demand their hesitant husbands to throw the old colored woman out of the church. The white women look with contempt at the old woman in her bedraggled state and are insulted that their husbands expect them to sit in the same church as her. This sufficiently motivates the husbands to grab the old woman and physically throw her out of the church into the freezing cold. The white women feel vindicated and hateful toward the old black woman. No one at the church speaks of the incident afterward, and the church service begins.
The old lady is surprised to find herself outside, for she had been singing a song in her head. The old lady looks down the highway and sees something that makes her smile, laugh, sing, and jump up and down in joy and excitement: the old lady sees Jesus himself walking down the highway toward her. He looks exactly like a picture she stole out of a white woman's Bible.
When Jesus approaches her, he instructs that she follow him. The old woman happily obliges. They walk in silence for a while, and then the old woman tells Jesus the story of her life, how she has worked for, cleaned for, and nursed the white people. Jesus listens and looks at her with kindness. The old lady indignantly recounts to Jesus how she was just thrown out of the white people's church. Jesus smiles at her and she instantly feels better. She tells Jesus of how she has his picture hanging over her bed. She alternately sings for Jesus, talks to him, and walks in silence beside him. They pass her house and the old woman doesn't even notice. She doesn't know where they are going but knows it will be wonderful. She feels as if she can walk forever by His side.
The white people from the church never finds out what happened to the old black woman who tried to attend their church. The white people do hear of a black woman who died on the highway after having apparently walked herself to death. They think this woman is silly and do not connect the two black women as one and the same. Black families witnessed the old lady walking by herself down the highway, sometimes singing, talking, and walking in silence, smiling. No one knows where she was going all by herself; they just assume she was on her way to visit some relatives.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
two shall become one
10/01/09 My breath prayer today has been from Jesus teaching about marriage and divorce as recorded in Mark 10:2-10, especially verse 8, "the two shall become one flesh." In my walk this morning and throughout the day, I have been praying for marriages. I have also been praying for those who are going through the pain of divorce. From the beginning God made us for each other. The intimacy between husband and wife is so great that two become one.
Love,
Lynn
Love,
Lynn
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