merry Christmas

12/24/10 It is raining outside...a generous, soaking rain....after nearly 3 months without any moisture. It is Christmas eve. It is raining God's grace down on us. Merry Christmas.

Love,
Lynn

sing

12/23/10 My breath prayer for the day comes from Psalm 96:2, "Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day." It struck me this morning as I was walking and praying that the listener of our singing, the One to whom we sing, is the LORD God. We don't sing to ourselves or to the congregation, we sing to God. So as I walked this morning, I sang...out loud sometimes...inside my soul sometimes. I have often said this earthly life is simply a rehearsal for what we will be doing for all eternity, and that is singing praise to God. So on this day before Christmas eve whatever else you do.....sing!

Love,
Lynn

strong

12/22/10 I visited Lizzie Strong in the ICU in Brackenridge Hospital yesterday afternoon. I have seen a lot of Lizzie and her family over the 3 1/2 years I have been pastor at this church. You see, Lizzie had just come through her 31st surgery in last few years. Lizzie was intubated, which means she had a breathing tube inserted down her windpipe, so she couldn't talk. She can sign, but I can't read sign language. I asked her to type on her computer, which she did, so I could understand her. She had pneumonia and some fever, but overall was doing pretty well. Her birthday is Dec. 25th, so she has a special connection to Jesus. She must have a special connection to Jesus to keep her faith through all the surgeries and recoveries. She and her family have shown tremendous resilience. It is by no accident that their family name is Strong.

Love,
Lynn

smile

12/21/10 On Saturday afternoon, I attended a blessing service for 3 families who were receiving 3 houses from Habitat for Humanity. If you have never been to one of these events, they are quite moving. There is a prayer. We have recognition of the sponsors who put up the money to build the houses. The volunteers who worked on the houses are affirmed. The families are given a basket with bread, salt, and sparkling cider. Family members are invited to say a few words of thanks. Instead of cutting a ribbon, the families saw through a board. Each family is given the keys to their new home. When this happens, they smile. I would have come just for that, the smile.

Love,
Lynn

generosity to the extreme

12/20/10 The following came from Bob Batlan who is a regular at delivering meals to the homeless in Austin through Mobile Loaves and Fishes.

Well today’s Mobile Loaves run was truly fun. We had wonderful chaos with tons of kids helping with make ready. We had our annual Knitzvah run where we gave beautiful hand knit items to people we fed.
In return we also got that feeling of warmth that comes only from helping others in a significant way.

Today a man at our last stop outdid us all. We were at a place called the Tallows. It is one small step above being on the streets. We came in with very little food, but the residents appreciated every bit. They were thrilled with the Knitzvah items. As I was driving out, a man motioned for me to stop. I was feeling bad because we had nothing left to share. However, he just asked if I would accept a donation. When I told him I would, he handed me two $100 bills folded together.

I am still trying to process that act of generosity.

hallelujah

12/15/10 I usually don't do this....simple give you a link to a youtube video, but as I read through my emails this morning, I decided to go to this one sent by a friend. It is the singing of the "Hallelujah Chorus" in a mall food court. The claiming of that place as holy ground really moved me. My old cynical self was moved to tears. Here's the link.

http://www.youtube.com/user/AlphabetPhotography

Love,
Lynn

drained

12/14/10 This past Sunday left me emotionally and spiritually spent. In a word, I was drained. First, we had these four beautiful, talented young women who comprise the Southern Belles. All four played handbells. Two of them sang while the other two danced. It was marvelous. I was moved. Second, we had Jennifer Sample from our Methodist Mission Home in San Antonio give a testimony. Her words were clear and direct about all the good we do with unwed mothers, adoptive parents, those with hearing impairment, and those with other physical challenges. The video she showed of the students graduating from their program left me in tears. Third, at the 11:15 a.m. service during my sermon, a women in the congregation had a fainting spell or stroke episode. Fortunately, this congregation is blessed with many doctors. Within 30 feet of Jo were persons from almost every major medical discipline. My job was to lower anxiety, so after calling for the doctor's help, we paused and prayed. We continued in silence for a few moments until Jo was able to walk out of the service. By the way, tests have revealed no major issues. That afternoon, I had the pleasure to play my guitar and sing carols to residents of Lyons Gardens, a retirement facility. We had a great Disciple I Bible study class. Then the day finished with outstanding music and readings from our handbell choirs. It was all good. God showed up all day long. After a day like this though, I was drained.

Love,
Lynn

stay in love with God

from my sermon on 12/12/10 from Colossians 2:6-7, finishing up John Wesley's 3 Simple Rules

Kissing. I want to talk to you today about kissing. Now, you may be thinking that this is quite a leap as we finish up the 3 simple rules of John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement. But those 3 simple rules are: do no harm, do good, and stay in love with God. That’s not too big a stretch to go from kissing to staying in love with God.

When we think of God, we may have many images: Creator, Shepherd, Judge, Redeemer…but I wonder how often we think of God as Lover.

Rueben Job who wrote this book on Mr. Wesley’s 3 simple rules helps us in this regard. Mr. Wesley said to practice the “ordinances;” things like worship, scripture, prayer, fasting, and communion. Rueben Job says by following these spiritual disciplines we stay in love with God.

Worship for some may be drudgery. “I have to get up on Sunday morning, I have to put on dress clothes, I have to go to church.” There was a little girl who was just learning to attend worship. After going several times with her parents to church, she then went to her grandparents church, a big cathedral. It had marble floors and pillars. It also had plaques along the wall. The little girl asked her grandparents what the plaques meant. “Oh, they are memorials to those who died in the service.” The little girl hesitated before asking, “The contemporary service or the traditional service?”

What if going to worship meant dating God, getting to know God in an intimate way? At Sunday School this morning one young woman said that she grew up in the church in Texas. When she went away to college it was a long way off in California. She didn’t know anybody. She attended worship services at her new place of living. She said, “when I went to worship, it was like going home.”

Another woman I once knew was baptized in the church and confirmed in the church, but really stayed away from church for decades. Then she found the UMC and heard that we were about love and not laws, about relationships and not rules. She thrived in this environment. She loved attending worship. She grew in grace. She became a new person. She found a poet John O’Donahue who had the words for her, “May I have the courage today, to live the life that I would love, to postpone my dream no longer, but do at last what I came here for, and waste my heart on fear no more.”

In staying in love with God, worship is dating God.

Scripture is encountered in worship, and in Bible study, and in personal devotions. Several years ago, I went back to my seminary, Perkins, for Minister’s week. Many scholars presented many wonderful papers, but what I remember most is what Cecil Williams said. He was the pastor of Glide Memorial UMC in San Francisco which had a ministry to the homeless, those with HIV, etc. If you say the movie, the Pursuit of Happyness, you saw this pastor and church. On the same pew would sit a bank president and a prostitute. Cecil quoted a scripture that I had read many times, but I had never let get to me. It was Isaiah 43:4, “Because you are precious in my sight and honored, and I love you.” The people in his congregation needed to hear that. I need to hear that. Maybe you do too.

Every morning I go to a little book that directs me to a piece of scripture. I stay with that passage until I find something that resonates with me. I try to breathe that verse all day long. Today, it is from Matthew 11, “I am sending my messenger before your face to prepare the way of the Lord.” I think that I would be crazy if I didn’t practice this.

In staying in love with God, reading and hearing scripture is like getting a love letter from God.

In prayer, we may be good at asking God for things. The pastor was delivering the prayer in the worship service, when it was interrupted by a loud whistle. After the prayer, a mom leaned over to her son, “Gary, was that you?” “Yes.” “Why did you whistle right then?” “Well I was praying to God to teach me how to whistle, and right then He did!”

In praying we may not be as good when it comes to listening for God. Once I was trying to teach a man about how to listen for God by practicing my form of breath prayers. I was trying to help him clear out all of the clutter so he could hear God. As we went along he said, “You know that I am a recovering Catholic. I grew up learning rote prayers. I always thought of them as punishment! You would go the priest and say, “Father, I have sinned….” He would reply, “Say 3 Hail Mary’s and 5 Our Father’s.” Now I know that I could have used those as breath prayers to listen for God.”

In staying in love with God, prayer becomes pillow talk.

The discipline of fasting we may not practice so much these days….or do we? How many times have you waited dinner? “I know you are hungry kids, but daddy isn’t home yet. We’ll eat when he gets here.” How many times have I been in the surgery waiting room with the parents whose child is in operating theater? “Would you like to get something to eat?” I ask. “No, we’re not hungry,” they say. Fasting is waiting on the one you love.

Fasting may be literally going without eating food. I recently encountered a pastor who went on a Daniel fast. For 21 days, he did not eat meat or fat or sugar or milk; he mostly ate fruits and vegetables and grains. He did it with his wife, then with the church leadership, and then with the whole congregation. Amazing things happened in the church. Fasting is not a manipulation of God. It is waiting on God. It is done in conjunction with prayer.

Fasting may also may mean going without other things. I know a man who….listen up you guys…went through the football season without watching one football game on TV so he could devote more time to his family. Others might fast from spending so much time on the computer or from cursing.

In staying in love with God, fasting is waiting on the one you love.

We have the sacrament of communion here month after month at this table. I wonder if we take for granted the power of the risen Christ in this meal. I once helped with a spiritual retreat for young men. One of the young men was outstanding in every way: he was a scholar, he was an athlete, he was active in his church. He was also a perfectionist. He never felt good enough. He felt he never did enough good for God to love him. On the 3 day retreat we had communion once each day. At the closing communion after hearing about God’s grace, God’s unmerited love for him, he said, “Every time before when I took communion, it has always tasted bitter. Now for the first time, it tasted sweet.”

In staying in love with God, communion becomes like dinner out…and God picks up the tab.

So John Wesley called such things ordinances. We don’t like that word. It sounds like laws. But what if we dug deeper and found that such ordinances are what bring order to our lives? What if they brought the harmony we desire in intimacy?

We have these 3 simple rules. We don’t like that word either. It also sounds like laws. But various Christian communities have had a “rule,” a code of conduct, a pattern of living. What if these rules helped us find the way of life?

And what does the Colossians passage have to do with this? It says that we are to continue to practice what we have been taught so we may thrive as Christians. We are to walk in the way that we learned, or in other words to stay in love with God.

And what does all of this have to do with kissing? I got this sage advice from Phoebe the Clown a long time ago at a clown workshop. She said, “Shaking hands is good. Hugging is better. But kissing….kissing is the best of all. Why not the best?”

Why not the best? Stay in love with God.

3 H

12/9/10 My breath prayer for the day is Psalm 146:5, "Happy are those whose help in the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD their God." I grew up with 4H programs in the schools. I believe the 4 h's are head, heart, hands, and health. I like this passage because it has 3 h's for us, Happy, Help, and Hope.

Love,
Lynn

great things

12/8/10 My breath prayer today comes from the Magnificat which Mary sings in Luke's Gospel, chapter 1;49, "The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name." We had a great church conference last night. Mary Lou thankfully thought about providing hospitality and had coffee and cookies for us. Helen had all of the papers in order. Jim had done a wonderful video of great things God has been doing in this congregation. Gordon had pulled together a powerpoint presentation of great things. Corey gave a succint finance report. Kim helped with the staff-parish items. Sarah handled the membership issues. Our District Superintendent invited testimonies from the 40 people gathered for our annual accountablity session. I would have come for these heartful stories alone. Christ is moving in our church and doing great things.

Love,
Lynn

highway

12/7/10 My breath prayer for the day comes from the prophet Isaiah 35:8 & 9c, "A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way....the redeemed shall walk there." My usual routine is to rise early, read a bit of scripture till something sticks with me as a breath prayer, and then to walk and pray. So as I walked this morning along the paths in the park behind our house I imagined that I was walking along God's highway. I imagined the street sign read, "Holy Way." I imagined that same path for the many people and situations that I carry in prayer.

Too many people think they live on a street whose name is "Wrong Way" or "Do Not Enter." I believe that God has another direction for us, a highway called "Holy Way."

Love,
Lynn

Do Good

from my sermon on 12/5/10 on Acts 10:38

A family visited us for the first time last Sunday. They had done considerable research on us through our website. In talking with the mom that afternoon, she said, "I really like your vision statement, 'Following One, Serving All.' It's so clear, so simple. That resonates with me."

This season of Advent we are trying to be clear with our church wide study on this little book, Three Simple Rules: Do no harm, do good, stay in love with God. This week we focus on doing good. I want to affirm you Westlake UMC: you really do well at doing good.

You have seen those pictures in the paper, on TV, and on the internet of a company presenting a huge check for $5,000 to some charity. Well, I am not going to spoil the environment with more paper, so I will project these huge checks on the screen. The first one is for $121,406 that this congregation is giving this year to apportionments. That is Methodistspeak for "a portion meant for others." You don't even see this out of our $1million dollar budget how much you are giving for the needy through our Methodist connections. The second check is for $48,486 that we have already given this year to other missions like Haiti relief, Imagine no malaria, etc. The third check is for $31,100 that we are spending this year on local service projects like Any Baby Can, Mobil Loaves and Fishes, etc. In addition, we are giving to Christmas in October some 12 mission projects and Alternative Gifts Market in November...and on and on. I want to thank you today for your doing good.

Mr. Wesley who founded the Methodist movement and wrote these 3 simple rules said that we were to do good by taking of people's bodies. He was very present to the here and now. We are called to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, visit those who are sick or in prison. We are further called to take care of people's souls. We are doing this. Women from this church go to the Gatesville prison to help inmates read stories to their children in the Storybook project. Person from this church take the altar flowers to the sick and homebound. We visit those who are in grief, not just once, but many times over a year. We listen to people, pray with them, and encourage them.

Here's the first point: most of the time nobody will ever see us doing good. It won't make the headlines; it won't even get reported. Most people won't know. But that's okay. We play to an audience of One. God sees. That's enough.

Secondly, we do good because it feels good. I try to work on Habitat for Humanity on Friday mornings. I get to work with my hands. I get to work with some other guys. Gerard our boss and church member calls me "Rev. Lynn" on the jobsite. You should hear how the language changes when I show up and am identified this way! Kevin, a Roman Catholic man, who works there recently gave me a book. It is called The Power of Kindness by Pierro Ferrucci. You remember last week when we talked about doing no harm and how we were fighting global warming. Well this author on kindness talks about how in relationships today we are facing and Ice Age of the Heart. We sometimes lead cold, hurried, impersonal, uncivil lives. We need to do good to melt hearts. The author says that when we do good, when we practice kindness we are at our best. We are more like our true self here than anywhere else in life. We are at our most efficient and most effective because we are not wasting energy in worry, resentment, suspicion, manipulation, and self-defense. It feels good to do good. We are our best selves.

Thirdly, we do good because Jesus did and the church continued this. That's what is happening in the passage from Acts. Peter has gone to Cornelius's house to preach the good news. A former Jewish man converted to Christianity is going to the house of a Roman soldier, a member of the occupying army and a gentile. Peter realizes that Jesus who went about doing good to all wants to put no barriers on his love. God shows no partiality. All are included in God's grace.

Which brings me to one of our latest Long Range Planning meetings. Our chair, Ron, asked us if we really meant it when we say in our vision statement about serving all. Can we do that? Serve All? I think we need it in our vision statement or else we become comfortable. We put up the limits, the barriers too soon. And think about how it would sound if we said, "Following One, Serving Some." Or "serving those whom we like" or "serving those who are like us."

My response was that we can't meet all of the needs, but we need to be challenged by the "all" so we don't quit too soon. The way we determine those whose needs we can meet is to focus on the first part of the vision statement, "Following One." It is only by staying close to Christ that we discover with those we are called to do good. We stay close to Christ by staying in love with God, but that is next week's message. It starts with coming to this table today, praying, reading the Bible, and holding each other accountable. We can't serve all of the needs, but Christ will lead us to serve some.

We called to do good, but more than that to do what is godly. The object is not to be busy but to be close to Christ and what He would have us do. Some of us overfunction. We need to keep it simple and cut back and do what is godly, not just what is good.

I want to affirm you this day of all that you do good that no one but God ever sees. I want you to know the best selves that come out when we do good. I want us to continue doing the good that Jesus did.

details

12/2/10 This is the time of year that takes me to parts of my job that I like the least--the details. Church Conference, an annual meeting with our District Superintendent, is in a few days time. I have been working on nominations for all the chruch leadership roles, getting compensation forms filled out, writing my pastor's report, checking the membership audit, getting financial info together, obtaining reports from other pastors related to this church, etc. It is necessary, it is important, but it is not fun for me.

People say that the devil is in the details. I pray that God is also in the details.

Love,
Lynn

yes

12/1/10 For several weeks now I have been working with our Lay Leadership Committee. This is the group that prays and discerns, hoping to be led to the right people to take leadership roles in our congregation. We make phone calls, emails, text messages, and personal visits asking people to consider serving in the various ministries. I must admit sometimes that it is frustrating and exhausting. We can't reach people ( we get answering machines and calls aren't returned). We get a negative response ( maybe we weren't listening well to the Spirit's leading).

But over the last 2 days, we have gotten the response "yes" many times. What an upper that is! People actually saying, "That sounds like fun! Count me in! When do I get started?" The last 2 nights I have had a hard time going to sleep because I have been high on faithful folks saying "yes."

Love,
Lynn

do no harm, part II

11/30/10 I am preaching a series of sermons from John Wesley's 3 simple rules: do no harm, do good, stay in love with God. This past Sunday I began with do no harm. I challenged the congregation and myself to pick one behavior that God might want us to change for this season of Advent. I want to guard my tongue. I so easily can attack, blame, and belittle others. I am finding this very hard to do. This behavior is so ingrained in me that before I even know it the words come flying out of my mouth. I realize it may take more than the season of Advent for God to work in me this simple rule of doing no harm.

Love,
Lynn

Do No Harm

from my sermon on Nov. 28 and Gal. 5:15

Let me be the first to say to you, "Happy New Year!" I know our culture today tells time more by Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but we church people tell time by the coming of Christ. Today is the first Sunday of Advent, the first day of the Christian year, so Happy New Year. Today we celebrate Christ who has come and is coming. I am not focusing so much on the baby Jesus in the manger, but Christ who challenges us to follow Him.

Today marks the start of a short term study on the Three Simple Rules: A Wesleyan Way of LIving. I picked up this little book months ago and thought, "What a great way to celebrate Christ's coming! Not filling up our calendars with more things to do or our closets with more stuff we will never use, but living in Christ's presence. The simple rules are do no harm, do good, and stay in love with God.

Today, we start with do no harm. When I reread the chapter this past week, I thought this first chapter was pretty touchy-feely even for me. It said that words can wound, and relationships can rip. That's why the author, UM Bishop Rueben Job, chose this strange verse from Galatians, "If however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another." Paul writes to churches in the region of modern day Turkey. The imagery that he uses is that of a dogfight, with fangs barred and teeth going for the throat, that ends up with us destroying one another. He uses this imagery to describe the church! I know that none of you have ever experienced this level of hateful speech and relationships in the church!

What harm is done by our gossip, our envy, our backbiting in the church. Whoever said that "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me" ...lied! I appreciate the honesty of the Bible in not sugarcoating over our differences. Around this church we try to practice the HEART principles to minimize the hurtful effects of our communication: Hear me and understand me, Even if you disagree don't make me wrong, Acknowledge the greatness within me, Remember to look for my loving intentions, Tell me the truth with compassion.

I know the most powerful words we say are "I love you." But I learned that the second most powerful words are "you may be right." Do no harm starts with guard our tongue against words that wound.

There are many of you in the medical field, in the healing arts. I bet you have heard these words before, "DO no harm." It is part of an oath that you take. It means at the very least don't do anything that would cause more injury. Sometimes the best thing for us to do is to pause before rushing in. Sometimes the best thing for us to do is nothing. Do no harm means we don't want to make a situation worse than it already is.

So at this point in the sermon it is Friday, and I am full of turkey and dressing, but short on the message. I prayed, "Surely Lord there is more you have for your people." I was led to the original context for Mr. Wesley's 3 simple rules. I picked up our UM Discipline. Discipline has in it the word disciple. This book contains how we UM Christians try to follow Christ.

In the year 1739, some 8-12 persons came to John Wesley wanting to save their souls. They asked him for guidance. After prayer, he came up with these 3 simple rules. I am going to read them now and update them. I would for you to be listening for one thing you might be led to change this Advent.

First, by doing no harm, by avoiding evil of every kind, especially that which is most generally practiced, such as:

The taking of the name of God in vain. This is the third commandment. You might think that it is about cussing and it could be. But more, it is about dishonoring God, taking God for granted. What got me is that we could hurt God's heart. Do no harm can mean do no harm to God.

The profaning the day of the Lord, either by doing ordinary work therein or by buying or selling. This is the fourth commandment. We forget that Sabbath rest is God's gift to us. We are not machines; we are human beings. Do no harm may mean do no harm to ourselves. We can unhook from the culture around us that says, do more, get more, work more.

Drunkenness: buying or selling spirituous liquors, or drinking them, unless in cases of extreme necessity ( much laughter from the congregation). Ah, there must be many cases of extreme necessity. In Wesley's day, gin was the common working person's antidote to the harshness of life. It was cheap and effective. There was a phrase from that time: you can get drunk for a half penny, dead drunk for a penny. The Methodists were abstainers because they saw what alcoholism could do to destroy a life or a family. Now 62% of Methodists drink. 10 to 15% of those who drink have a problem with alcohol. Maybe do no harm might mean you could start attending a 12 step group and get out of the shame cycle. I have helped any number of people over the years get freedom from this drug of choice. It could be another drug, even work or pornography.

Slaveholding; buying or selling slaves. Methodists were some of the first abolitionists. This was a radical stance back in the 1730's when much of the business model was built around this labor. Today do no harm means to be aware that many still don't make a living wage. Human trafficking still happens along the I-35 corridor as people are bought and sold like objects.

The next one really gets to that verse in Galatians. Fighting, quarreling, brawlin, brother going to law against brother; returning evil for evil, or railing for railing; the using many words in buying or selling ( here I drop a stack of newspaper ads from the holiday period). Just a small fraction of ads that have come to our house in the last few days.

There are many clauses that have to do with economics. The buying of selling goods that have not paid the duty. It was the black market in those days. Today we still try to get around paying taxes. We have get rich schemes like Ponzi schemes. We have robo-signing of home loans. Do no harm involves our economic lives. The giving or taking things on usury--i.e., unlawful interest.

This next one I want you to pay special attention to. Uncharitable or unprofitable conversation; particularly speaking evil of magistrates or of ministers (much laughter). I know we never speak uncivilly of civil servants. I know that you always speak well of your ministers!

The next one is the golden rule in the negative. Doing unto others as we would not they should do unto us.

Doning what we know is not for the glory of God, as:
The putting on of gold and costly apparel.
The taking such diversions as cannot be used in the name of the Lord Jesus.
the singing those songs, or reading those books, which do not tend to the knowledge or love of God.
Softness and needless self-indulgence.
Laying up treasure upon earth.

This next one I want to put a little different spin on. Borrowing with a probability of paying; or taking up goods without a probability of paying for them. On this day when we have the Hanging of the Greens in our sanctuary, I wonder if we are not harming our environment. We are borrowing from our future without a probability of paying. I fear we may have gone too far and caused irreparable harm. Do no harm means to take care of the world over which we have been made stewards. In Australia this summer, I was impressed by my friends Dennis and Lulu. Their house had a huge tank to catch the rainwater from the roof. They used the grey water from the dishwasher and the clothes washer to water their lawn. In the shower, they had a little 4 minute timer. Under the category of too much information, you might know that I use hardly any water in showering. I do a pre-rinse, turn off the water and lather up, and then rinse off. Maybe I use 1 minute of water. I grew up on a farm in the Panhandle of Texas. I know the value of water.

I have asked you to consider doing one thing that would fulfill do no harm. I would have you embrace that not as a rule but as an adventure. Do you hear the word Advent in adventure? I understand from the behavioral sciences that you need to practice a new behaviour for at least 21 days before it becomes a part of you. What a great season to get started! There is good news in this first simple rule: do no harm. Happy New Year!

seminary

11/23/10 Yesterday, I went to Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary to teach the United Methodist Polity class for Dr. Paul Barton ( no immediate relation, but I did know his parents, Roy and Rosa from Perkins School of Theology). I serve on our Board of Ordained Ministry so I was to address the topic of ordination. I thought the class would be only an hour long, but it was to be an hour and a half. I didn't know if I had enough material, but the time flew by. Paul had to give me the signal to stop while I was still rolling. It was very energizing to dialogue with these who are just coming into the ordination process.

Today, I was back at APTS to talk to the loose group of UM students. They wanted to hear about the partnership we have formed with Parker Lane UMC on the east side of Austin. Again, I thoroughly enjoyed their questions and insights. In short, the last 2 days have reminded of why I attended seminary from 1976 to 1979.

Love,
Lynn

Jesus remember me

Jesus remember me from my sermon on 11/21/10 from Luke 23:33-43

(we sing the Taize chorus, "Jesus remember me, when you come into your kingdom," as ushers pass out nails to the congregation.)

Warning: this message may contain material that some listeners will find offensive. You think I am kidding, but I am not. I would rather talk about football and other light matters, but the text is not headed that way. If you have been reading Luke's Gospel, it is no surprise that we find ourselves here today. Three times Jesus has said that he is going to Jerusalem, and there be rejected, crucified, and die. We have been on a journey with Jesus for months now in our worship services. Way back in the 9th chapter, Luke said that when the time came for him to be lifted up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.

So we find ourselves today in this ominous place called the Skull. Is it a hill that is shaped like a skull? Is it because there have been so many crucifixions that there are many skulls lying around? We don't know. All we know is that we don't want to be here. It is ugly, gruesome, upsetting. We want to avoid this place, where Jesus is dying on a cross. Luke tells the story briefly, compactly, but compellingly.

Warning: you may find this material objectionable. I know my former congregation did. I was talking about Jesus dying on the cross. Rome had chosed this form of punishment because it brought public humiliation and maximum pain upon the criminal, and it discouraged others from similiar crimes. But we have santized the cross. Today, we wear the cross as jewelery--a bracelet, a necklace. We polish the cross and put it up in our sanctuaries. Our Roman Catholic friends still have Jesus on the cross in suffering and pain. We Protestants have Jesus resurrected, so our crosses are empty. It is a symbol of victory for us. But we may have lost the emotional impact , the shock value of the cross. Now here is the part that you won't like. In my former church, I said, "what if we put a modern day symbol of death in our sanctuaries? What if we put up front an electric chair? Or here in the state of Texas a gurney with leather straps and hoses with needles?"

After the service, a dear faithful woman came up to me with tears in her eyes and gripped me by my shoulders. Lana Kay said, "You can't do that without giving us some warning. Don't you remember what happened to my son?" Of course I had forgotten. Her son had worked as a clerk at a convenience store up over that big bridge in Corpus Christi. A robber had come in and demanded money. He was inept, scared, maybe high on drugs. He botched it. He got away with very little cash, but he murdered Lana Kay's son. The security camera caught it all on tape. The TV stations played it over and over again for days. The young man was caught, sentenced, sent to prison, and placed on death row. Lana Kay wrote him letters, formed a relationship with him, got on his visitors' list, and had even gone to see him in prison. His execution date had been scheduled. Lana Kay said to me, "You have to give us some warning before you tell us stuff like this." We will return to Lana Kay in a minute.

We don't like Jesus on a cross. We want a different kind of Messiah. Some people tell me that they follow Jesus because he is a good man; they want a moral example. Some say they like Jesus because he is sort of a guru full of wise teachings. But we don't get to pick what kind of Messiah Jesus is. God has chosen to show His love for us in Jesus on a cross.

This is Christ the King Sunday. We have a king. His throne is a cross. He wears a crown...of thorns. We don't get to choose this. God already has.

We shout "Save yourself!" Did you notice 3 times in the text people are shouting at Jesus to save himself? It sounds an awful lot like the opening scene of Jesus's ministry when he is out in the wilderness and the tempter comes to Him and says, "If you really are the Son of God....then change these stones into bread, .....worship me and all this world will be yours...., jump from the Temple pinnacle and you won't be hurt."

The religious leaders, the Roman soldiers, and one thief all yell at Jesus to save himself. One thief gives a minority report. He says, "Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom." He gets what no one else gets. The disciples don't get it. The crowds don't get it. The religious leaders don't get it. The Roman soldiers don't get it. The other thief doesn't get it. Only this one thief gets it while hanging on the cross beside Jesus. He sees Jesus as King, as Messiah, as Savior. He gets it because he is totally helpless. He has no other hope. It is before the resurrection. It is the first Christian sermon. He sees Jesus as Messiah because he is desperate.

There is no one beyond hope. Even a thief on a cross. There is always time till the very last breath to be forgiven. No one is beyond God's grace.

I wonder if we don't avoid the ugliness of the cross because we think we don't need it. Let me put it another way. I went to workshop recently where I heard a really great preacher. He asked his congregation this question: "Are you a sinner or just a mistaker?"

I ask you, do you just say as a mistaker, "Oops, my bad?" Or do you acknowledge that you are a sinner and have offended God? Are you a mistaker who just bends the rules? Or are you a sinner who has broken God's heart?

I wonder if we miss the power of the cross because we think we are just mistakers, not sinners. We don't like to be helpless.

Back to Lana Kay, I am not breaking any confidences here, on the day the young man was executed for killing her son, she went on the Today show on NBC, and she said, "I forgive him." When you are helpless, when you turn to Jesus in desperation, and are welcomed, that forgiveness can flow through you and into others.

Remember what Jesus says earlier in the passage, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." The Greek verb tense is one of continuing action. Jesus is literally saying over and over again, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

There is incredible good news in this passage. To the ones who are helpless, hopeless, and cry out, "Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom," Jesus says, "Today, you will be with me in paradise."

I want you to go to the ugly cross now, holding that nail in your hand. I know that nail is dirty and oily; it marks you. I want you to mediate on that nail as we sing once more. I want you to answer the question: "Are you a sinner or just a mistaker?"

(We sing, Jesus remember me, when you come into your kingdom.)

terry lord's testimony

here's what Terry Lord said for her testimony during 11/14/10 message:


Good morning. Excuse me I need some water.

Three years ago, Abby Parker, Kathy Langley, Kim Weidmann and I sat around my kitchen table and tried to brainstorm about a project to bring the Missions Committee and our Youth together. We were led to the idea of an Alternative Christmas Market where we could inspire others to think outside the Christmas box ... to have a paradigm shift ... to encourage all of us ... instead of giving more things, to give more meaning.

We were stunned by your response. That first year we raised over $11,000. Last year we raised over $13,000. We were shocked that our little mustard seed of an idea seemed to catch on. Pastor Lynn asked me to speak today about how lives might have been changed by our efforts through alternative holiday giving and that has led me to talk to you about water.

(Slides need to pop up here.)

There are two situations with children that are difficult for me to wrap my mind around. The first is that there are children living in Austin that don't know food security. The second is that there are children anywhere that do not have access to clean water. Can we really imagine that?

It is the responsibility of women and children in many parts of Africa to collect water for their families. This often means walking many miles to sites that are contaminated. With your help families in two communities (1 in Kenya; 1 in Uganda) are developing clean water resources through the use of shallow wells, tanks, and sub-surface sand dams. With clean water close at hand, young girls can attend school.

In Malawi, only 32% of the people have access to a safe water supply. Because of your efforts, people in one village are providing labor and locally available materials to drill one borehole well.

Now, I would like for you to meet Micah Lokorobee. He is from northern Uganda. He is 9 years old and he is blind. He had no clothes to wear, no place to bathe, and during raids he was often left behind when people ran away for safety and in search of water. Because of your donations, a sand dam has been constructed near Micah's village, which provides access to clean water even during the dry season. We helped provide the materials and Micah helped provide the stones and part of the labor.

In Michah's home culture a blind child is considered a curse to his family. But because of Micah's work on the dam, he was given the opportunity to go to a school for the blind in Kenya. As he put it, "The sand dam has made me to be recognized."
So, yes, our little Alternative Gifts market has changed lives. It has changed mine ... I don't take the gift of clean water for granted. And I am trying really hard to remind myself not to buy things my friends and family don't really want or need. (Hold up sweater and tell story). I am trying to give gifts in their honor that actually do have meaning to someone ... like good, clean water.

armadillo express

11/16/10 Usually I write about serious stuff--what is going on in my soul, a breath prayer that sparks deep reflection, justice issues, etc. Today's posting will be lighter fare.

I have been working hard, too hard the last few days. Church conference is coming up, which means I have lots of details to attend to, lots of meetings to get at some of those details. I found myself this morning out walking, as usual, but my face set in a frown, not usual. It means I was expressing bodily how I was under stress.

I took one of my favorite walks, leaving our house, walking across Searight park, crossing Slaughter Creek by way of the dam. In the greenbelt on the other side of the creek, I was on a path that parallels the water. I could hear a noise growing louder, coming closer. Now, there are many leaves on the ground so that even a tiny squirrel can make quite a racket. The noise was coming from behind me. I turned around and looked. There was an armadillo moving at maximum speed like a runaway armored army tank. It was coming right up the path I was on. I stepped off the path. It did too. I finally jumped at the last instant and it went into the brush. The only thing I could do was laugh. I was not frowning any more.

Love,
Lynn

opportunity to witness

from the message on 11/14/10 from Luke 21:5-19, 3 laypersons offer testimonies as part of the message

This message will be out of the ordinary. It begins with a song I heard when went to the Holy Land for the first time in 1987. We saw lots of ruins, including the place where the Temple used to be, before it was destroyed in AD 70 just like Jesus said. Our pilgrimmage included going to a huge Roman ampitheater at Caesarea, an ancient port on the Mediterrean. Imagine this: huge semicircles of stone benches in tiers rising up...the large stage down below with massive stone columns...and stretching out into infinity that particular blue that is the Mediterrean Sea.
A woman on our bus was the music director at her church. She was walking across the stage, getting a feel for the place. Several from our tour group shouted down to her, "Cynthia, sing something!" "No, I couldn't." "Yes, sing something." "Ok," she said. She was a black woman, steeped in the Gospel music tradition. When she began to sing, pilgrims from all over the world who had been speaking in French, Japanese, Spanish, and German, stopped and grew instantly silent.
She sang, "Who'll be a witness for my Lord?......I'll be a witness for my Lord." (I will sing, Terry can move to microphone as I finish)

We have our first witness today...Terry Lord

She talked about the Alternate Gift Market where we have helped supply clean drinking water to villages in Africa.



Luke writes this account many years after Jesus spoke the words. The Temple in Jerusalem has been destroyed. The emotional, spiritual impact of that event is hard to measure. Think back to 9/11.....a few radical terrorists fly airplanes into the Twin Towers in NYC...that can't possibly happen...it's unthinkable...that's what the people were feeling when Luke wrote. The words that Jesus spoke about all of the terrors...nation rising against nation, kingdom against kingdom....have seemed to fit every generation...including today. He talks about earthquakes, famines, and plagues...sounds a lot like what has happened in Haiti.

(I sing again)...who'll be a witness.....(Tom moves to microphone)

Our next witness is Tom Rioux



I was 1 of 10 Central Texans that went on a Southwest Texas Conference sponsored United Methodist Volunteers in Mission trip to Haiti on October 6-14, 2010, to help rebuild housing. Please see the insert in your bulletin for a more detailed discussion of my trip and the latest church newsletter for the full story.

It took all of the first and last day to fly to and from Austin and Port-au-Prince. We stayed at the Methodist Guest House in Petion-Ville (a suburb of Port-au-Prince about 5 miles east of the palace) and worked at Carrefour (a suburb of Port-au-Prince about 5 miles west of the palace). The daily commute took 1 hour. We worked 5 days removing debris using pick axe, shovels, 5 gallon buckets, and a wheelbarrow. We drank only bottled water the entire time.

One day our Haitian interpreter Joseph said
You really don’t understand why I am so thankful to God for your team… for all the teams. I am grateful because it is hard to live in Haiti, even before the earthquake. It is hard to walk the streets and see the people hungry and searching for something to eat; to see children playing in trash, and water running down the road from the houses. It is hard to live in a place that you love, but that breaks your heart and makes your spirit sink. Since we won our freedom, each election we vote hoping that the new leaders will help the people, but it has not happened. It gets harder and harder to convince friends and family members to vote because nothing ever changes. The powerful take the money and do not improve the lives of the people. I vote because I am a Haitian, but then I feel bad when someone I voted for disappoints the people again. And then there was the earthquake, and everything became much worse. When we watch television, we see pictures of other places in the world, and it is easy to believe that Haiti is forgotten. Or that maybe God has made Haiti the world’s trashcan and its people don’t matter. I know that isn’t true, but sometimes it is easy to think that. I know that Jesus came for all people, for me and for you; that God loves all people, me and you, and everybody in the world. But it is easy to be discouraged by what you see around you. Sometimes you have to work hard to hold on to hope and to live what your faith tells you. I am thankful for your team and others because by coming you remind us that we matter. When you work with us and talk with us and worship with us, you are saying that it is true – Christ’s love is for EVERYONE.

A very close friend of mine asked “Why didn’t you just write a check for $2,000 and send it?”. As Joseph expressed, money could not have done what our presence in Haiti accomplished.

On February 7-16, 2011, I will lead a Westlake United Methodist Church Haiti Mission Trip. The trip is limited to 10 people. Next Sunday at the Alternate Christmas Market, I will have a booth where you can express your interest in going on this mission trip, your financial support (American Airlines Frequent Flyer Miles and/or money), and your spiritual support (the Prayer Team).

Thanks.



As I read Luke's gospel, I thought about how every age represents the last days. The signs of evil and destruction and fear are evident. Jesus words still ring true. Whatever the hardship, we as believers have the opportunity to witness. Even when there are wars and insurrections.

(I sing again)..who'll be a witness...(Dugie moves to microphone)

Our next witness is Dugie Graham




May I tell you a story? About one year ago, a faithful and humble servant who loves the Lord with all she has and is, started on a project for a group of soldiers preparing for deployment to Afghanistan. As the soldiers were preparing for their work for the US Army, this servant who is a dear friend of mine, was preparing a little bit of comfort for these men who will live out the winter in a very cold area of Afghanistan. She started knitting 85 helmet caps for the 85 soldiers in a company led by my son-in-law and she prayed for them as she knitted. Well, we all know that our God has a sense of humor. The Captain, my son-in-law, was promoted to a new job within his battalion and with just a few months before their deployment, this servant was told that his new company had 245 men in it. Her commitment to this Captain and his soldiers didn’t change. So she started to knit faster and for many more hours each day and then felt God’s nudge to ask for help with her project. She needed other knitters. So in a loaves and fishes sort of way, her project of helmet caps, prayers, and concern for a group of soldiers grew. Earlier this week, 245 helmet caps were shipped to Afghanistan to warm the heads and hearts of some of our soldiers.

But there’s more to this story. I was one of her blessed helpers and on a recent international flight, I knitted my last cap with the yarn I had for this project. When I was finished, I put it away. A little while later, I guess I got a nudge too, and I asked the young man sitting next to me if he was a soldier. He introduced himself as Adrian and told me he is serving his 4th deployment in Iraq. He was traveling home on sympathy leave to attend his dad’s funeral. We chatted then about his service and his family and then I dug into my bag and pulled out that last cap. I gave Adrian that cap. He thanked me warmly and then after a few moments he, being a gentleman, asked me if he could give me a hug. With that one small gesture, Adrian hugged all the knitters everywhere for all the soldiers everywhere. God used my friend to teach many that His Love can be shown in countless ways and that it GROWS! Even in the midst of war, we can show God’s love through warm heads and hearts. “My God, How Great Thou Art!”

Who'll be a witness? I think it may be harder to witness today than it ever has been. We are not persecuted; we are counted as irrelevant; We are not thrown in jail; we are faced with apathy and cynicism. The evils we face may be consumerism and comfortablity. I read a great quote this past week, "We live in classy suburbs with too much freedom and too few limits."
God, Jesus, Spirit, Bible, Church....what difference do they make?

Who'll be a witness? Now is the time. We are the people. It makes all the difference in the world...as you have heard these three testify. It made a difference to the Petreski family. We have shown Christ’s love to Igor after his accident. His mom, Sonja has been after me for weeks to be baptized. She grew up in communist Yugoslavia; her father was in the military. God, Jesus, Spirit, Bible, Church...they were not done. Why today I asked her? Why do you want to be baptized now? She said, "I want to say thank you to God."

(I sing again) Who'll be a witness.....(Petreski's come forward as I sing) I'll be a witness for my Lord..

hair

11/11/10 My breath prayer comes from Luke 21:18-19, "But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls." I had a full head of hair until my 40's. By age 50, the hair was thinning pretty fast. A few years ago, the church I was serving had a lot of people undergoing cancer treatments which meant that they lost their hair through chemotherapy. So to identify with them, I trimmed what little hair I had very short. Really, it wasn't that big a sacrifice. My nearly bald head is a good reminder though of all who are living with cancer every time I look in the mirror.

In this passage, Jesus says that not a hair of your head will perish. It reminds us of a similiar passage in Matthew where he says all the hairs of your head are numbered by God. In doing some research this past week, I found other hair references in the OT. They all seem to be imagery of God's intimate care for us. God knows us even down to our hair. God knows me even down to the little hair I have left.

Love,
Lynn

thank you

11/10/10 This coming Sunday I get to perform a baptism of an adult. Her name is Sonja. She grew up in the former Yugoslavia where Tito ruled as dictator. Her father was a military man, and in that communist regime, his family could not be associated with the church or the Christian faith. So Sonja was never baptized.

Sonja's son Igor is the young man from Macedonia (one of the seven countries carved out of the former Yugoslavia), who was injured in a diving accident. Our congregation has adopted the whole Petreski family as Igor has gone through surgeries, ICU, rehab, and now outpatient care.

For months, Sonja has been asking me about baptism. Last Sunday she attended our baptism workshop. On Monday, I got to do a follow-up visit with her. I asked her why, now, at this point, did she want to be baptized. She said, with tears in her eyes, that she wanted to say thank you to God.

Love,
Lynn

anticipation

11/09/10 This is not the kind of anticipation that you usually think about...about a child looking forward to opening presents on Christmas morning or Carly Simon singing about a lover in her song, "Anticipation." What I am talking about comes from my breath prayer for the day from Isaiah 65;24, "Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear." God anticipates our prayers, our deepest longings, our hopes, our cries, etc. before we can even put them into words.

Love,
Lynn

good

11/08/10 My breath prayer today comes from Psalm 118, "O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever." In my early morning walk/prayer time, I was impressed that God is good. I know that some people have other images of God--that God is vindictive, angry, petty, mean, unforgiving, etc. But I choose to believe that God is good. I choose to believe that God loves us in spite of what we do sometimes. I believe that because God is good, we who are created in God's own image have the possibility of being good also.

Love,
Lynn

an extra hour

11/7/10 Today is the first day of the annual time from daylight savings to standard time, which means that we got an extra hour over the last day. What to do with an extra hour? I know lots of people, myself included, who wish we had an extra hour every day. Would we use to sleep, to work more, to make love, to make peace, to make trouble? An extra hour....what a gift...what a responsibility!

Love,
Lynn

all saints

11/04/10 This coming Sunday, we celebrate as All Saints' Sunday, a time when we realize that we are a part of the communion of saints, all those who have lived and died and now are a part of the Church Victorious. My breath prayer today talks about the God who gathers all the saints, Luke 20:38, "Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive."

Love,
Lynn

chesed

11/3/10 My breath prayer today comes from Psalm 145:8, a line that is repeated several times in our Bible, "The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love." My perfectionism can really get me down. I see how far short I fall to be loving toward God and toward others. Thank God, literally, thank God, that God loves us with a love that will not let us go, that will not give up, a covenant love, a steadfast love. The word in Hebrew for this kind of love is chesed.

Love,
Lynn

work

11/2/10 My breath prayer for the day comes from a minor OT prophet called Haggai, who has in the 2nd chapter, verse 4, "Take courage, all you people of the lnad, says the LORD; work, for I am with you, says the LORD of hosts." I admit that the older I get, the quicker I tire and the more I consider retirement. But today, I am grateful that I have meaningful work to do. I am well compensated financially for being a senior pastor of a suburban church. Even more I am gratified that I get to make a difference in peoples' lives. The best pay I get is when someone "gets it", when someone understands that they are loved because of what God has done in Jesus Christ. The best pay I get is when Christ shows up in a worship service and He does something that changes folks' hearts, something that was written in the order of worship. I enjoy what I do, and I think I am pretty good at it. Today I am thankful that I get to do holy work.

Love,
Lynn

teamwork

11/1/10 Yesterday, our Stewardship Committee met. We started with lunch and started coming together. We are planning a different kind of stewardship emphasis for 2011. We will be using the resource, "Enough: discovering joy through simplicity and generosity." So as you can see it is not about the budget; it is about helping people get out of the addictive cycle of wanting too much, spending too much, and getting into too much debt. Our committee gave me valuable counsel. It wasn't me telling them what we were going to do. It was me presenting some options and them presenting their opinions. As we talked, we also were placing stick-on messages to the back of the members' name tags that had our church vision statement and our vows as United Methodists--prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness. We met for almost 2 hours, but the time flew by. We were a team working together.

Love,
Lynn

little man, big change

from my sermon on 10/31/10 from Luke 19:1-10

Happy Halloween! I would love to know what you are going as tonight. I know we have gotten away from acknowleging saints as we used to do, and we have tended toward scary costumes. Always popular are witches and ghosts. I think trending upward this year are vampires and zombies. If you haven't chosen a scary outfit this year, I have one for you. Are you ready? Go as an IRS agent!

Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector. It is the only time in all of the Greek literature that this term is used. We have examples of tax collectors, but only this example of a chief tax collector. If a tax collector is scary, then a chief tax collector is scary squared!

Jesus encounters Zacchaeus in Jericho. In Luke's Gospel, Jesus has been on a long journey toward Jerusalem. We have been going along trying to learn what it means to be a disciple, a follower of Jesus. Jesus is almost to Jerusalem. This is one of his last encounters before entering.

I have been to Jericho. The first time I went to the Holy Land, we landed in Amman, Jordan. We spent the night before crossing the Jordan River at the Allenby Bridge and enterine Israel. Just inside was Jericho, one of the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. I remember there be fruit orchards and a spring of water. I bought a grapefruit which I ate by the springs. Jericho is today as it was then on major trade routes. It was a great place for a chief tax collector to squeeze as much out of travelers as he could.

Zacchaeus was rich, but that didn't seem to satisfy him. He wanted to see Jesus, not just His physical appearance, but as the text says, "to see who Jesus was." He wanted to see His character. Was it true what people were saying about Him? Zacchaeus was a seeker.

He couldn't get to see Jesus because of the crowd. Was it because he was short? Be kind here, because I resemble this remark. He runs ahead and climbs a tree. Maybe he is being clever and creative? But grown men don't run and climb trees; it is undignified. Do you know why I think he is in the tree? Because he is desperate. He could have bought a front row seat on the parade route and had his body guards secure it. He is in a tree, because we put him there. We hate him and fear him. He is up a tree, out on a limb, because we put him there, and he doesn't know what else to do to see who Jesus is.

We forget sometimes what it is like to be a seeker. We put up all kinds of barriers and inside language. At another church I served, we did a building project. At its conclusion we sent out mailers and put up door hangers inviting our neighbors to an open house. The amazing thing is some people actually responded and came. You know me; I am out there greeting people, saying my classic line, "Help me with your name." She said, "I am Jo" (not her real name). She gave her first name. She started coming to worship. When the registration pad was passed, she just wrote her first name, Jo. Finally, she wrote her family name as well. Weeks later, her address and telephone number. Do you get a sense of her caution? She was a seeker, but careful. There was some story there, but I didn't know it. Can we pause with Jo for a moment, as she is out on a limb?

Jesus was passing by, and he looked up at Zacchaeus. This may be the only time that anyone had looked up at him in his life, in all the meanings of that phrase. And he has been called a lot of names in Jericho you can be sure, but Jesus calls him by his given name, "Zacchaeus." You remember your Hebrew. Jesus calls him, "righteous one", "pure one." How long had it been since anyone had ever called him that?

Jesus said, 'hurry, come down, for I must stay at your house today." Here, we need to pause and sing that song, some of us learned as children: Zacchaeus was a wee little man and a wee little man was he, he climbed up in a sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see, and as the Lord was walking by, he looked up in the tree, and he said, Zacchaeus, you come down, for I am going to your house today, for I am going to your house today.

What does it mean for Jesus to come home with you? We had company last weekend, my mom and youngest brother and children. Did they just pop in? No, we had clean sheets and towels' we had dusted and vacuumed; we had bought food. Can you imagine Zacchaeus walking in the backdoor and saying, "Honey, guess who's coming for dinner? It's Jesus." And how about invited Jesus home to our insides today. "Jesus, you may not want to go there in the basement. It awful ugly. Don't go in that closet of shame and guilt." And here's the thing: Jesus accepts Zacchaeus and us just as we are.

Back to Jo, she grew to trust us. She revealed that her husband was abusive toward her, physically, emotionally, and verbally. Her way of dealing with that was to put on a lot of weight and to work long hours to avoid going home. She was belittled. One ican be small on the inside, not just short in height. She had believed what her husband had said about her. But at church she heard good news, that Jesus loved, that she was a person of worth. She began to believe that. She got a counselor. She lost weight. I don't recommend this in every case, but she got a divorce. She joined the church. She had her children baptized. What was wonderful was that she became our best greeter. She didn't wear a greeter badge. No, at the passing of the peace, it was much more than a mere formality. She would look around for the stranger, the newcomer, the guest, the seeker. She had recently been there and been changed. She knew what it was like to be out on a limb and then be welcomed in.

Zacchaeus welcomed Jesus to his home. The crowd grumbled. Only 3 times in Luke's Gospel do the people grumble. All 3 times it is when Jesus welcomes someone they can't stand. "HE eats with tax collectors and sinners!" Who is it that we grumble about? Who have we put up a tree. Surely Jesus can't love these, we say. Election day is Tuesday: is it Republicans, or Democrats. It is those who live in E. Austin, or W. Austin? Is it muslims? or persons of different sexual orientation? Who do we think is beyond Christ's love? Our vision statement is really challenging us: Following One, Serving All. All means all.

I have a confession to make at this point. I am addicted to "Glee." Thank goodness of Netflix. Cathy got all of season one which we missed last year on DVD. It is simply a soap opera in a high school with great music and dancing. I know this doesn't in real life, but there are strata of persons who are accepted or not. Top of the pecking order are the jocks, the football players, etc. Right up there are the pep squad members, who are called, I am not making this up, the "Cheerios." But at the bottom are the members of the glee club, the misfits, the ones who get slushies thrown in their face. We do this. We put people up in a tree. Jesus can't possibly love them.

Zacchaeus stood there. Sometimes it is good to make a stand. He says, "Half of my goods I give to the poor." How much is a tithe? Ten percent. Here he is giving 50%. Let's make it real. How many TV's do you have? Two? Then one is gone. How many cars? Two, then one is gone. He says, if I have defrauded anyone, I will repay 400%."

I think he had a change of heart. It is a miracle story. Jesus said earlier, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to get into heaven." Zacchaeus this little man has a big change. He gives. People don't give to budgets. They give because their lives have been touched by Jesus. They give so others can know that too.

Jesus says, "Today, salvation has come to this house." When is a good time for salvation? Right now! You don't wait until you die. Salvation begins today.

Jesus says that Zacchaeus is also a son of Abraham. He always had been, he just didn't realize it until he saw who Jesus was, and until Jesus saw who he was.

And here's the good news, the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost. Amen.

habitat

10/28/10 Last night I attended the 25th anniversary gala for Habitat for Humanity in Austin. In the last 25 years Habitat has built 275 new homes and refurbished 50 older homes. Seventy-five thousand volunteers have helped out. One of those volunteers is a member of the church I serve. Gerard Van De Werken has been the lead guy on 25 homes! I am honored to be a part of his Friday crew. Some dozen guys and a couple of gals will work on Friday mornings to get things set up for the larger crews that come out on Saturdays.

I love Habitat because we work side by side--volunteers and homeowners. The new owners pay no interest on their loans. Dignity, respect, and yes hope are all present in Habitat.

Love,
Lynn

leadership

10/27/10 I took part in the Board of Ordained Ministry meeting yesterday. Our bishop, Jim Dorff, had asked for an hour of our time, which we obviously granted. He had one point: as pastors, we are called to be leaders, not just preachers, teachers, administrators, spiritual directors, etc. He said that we can no longer make appointments as if we are filling in the slots, but we must send leaders to ministry settings. We can no longer expect the seminaries to send us leaders if we don't as a board or conference send them leader material. So as a board we can no longer just see if someone meets the minimum theological standards, but we must see if they have the potential to be leaders. Our bishop wants to develop a framework where leaders are developed. Our bishop got confirmation yesterday that his vision was on track. I for one am thankful for his leadership.

Love,
Lynn

how long O LORD?

10/25/10 I was reading today from the first verses of Habakkuk where he asks, "O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen?" I was crying out in my prayer/walking time this morning: How long will the prodigals stay gone? How long will there be fighting in the Holy Land? How long will there be suffering with cancer, AIDS, etc.? How long will injustice, greed, hatred, prejudice, etc. seem to dominate? How long will we avoid facing evil? How long will we medicate our feelings, give in to distracting entertainment, etc.?

And then I thought about how long the LORD has put up with us and our sins. I gave thanks for God's long-suffering love.

Love,
Lynn

the Jesus Prayer

from my sermon on 10/24/10 from Luke 18:9-14

Breathe....very slowly in and out. Keep breathing. In Luke's Gospel we find Jesus teaching more about prayer and spending more time in prayer than we do in any of the other gospels, so I think it would be appropriate for us to pray during this time together. So breathe and get into the rhythm of praying.

As you breathe, I have a gift for you....the Jesus prayer. As you breathe in, "Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God," and as you breathe out, "Have mercy on me a sinner."

Say it inside your soul....say it out loud with me...write it down to remember it....say it to Jesus. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.

I first encountered the Jesus Prayer when I was in my first year as pastor in San Saba in 1983 or 84. A group of us pastors had gotten together to form a study group. We got from Perkins School of Theology a list of readings and audio tapes. We would come together once a week to study and pray. One of the lessons was on the Jesus prayer. You recognize the words of the tax collector as the basis of the prayer. Now the tax collector was voted in his senior class as "least likely to be saved." How do you feel about tax collectors today? Well, they were even less liked back then. They were independent contractors who tried to squeeze as much money as they could from their fellow citizens. Their neighbors looked at them as traitors because they worked for the oppressing government of Rome. They were considered as ritually unclean. In short, nobody liked them. So we find the tax collector standing far off from the Holy of Holies, not lifting up his eyes, beating his breast and saying, "God, be merciful to me a sinner."

Now over the centuries the prayer has been expanded. Have you ever thought of this? The Bible can not only be read and studied but also prayed. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, they substituted the word God with teh words Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God. It became the Jesus Prayer, and it became very important to their spirituality. One Russion monk is said to have recited this prayer with every breath and then with every beat of his heart. He became the Jesus Prayer.

Are you still breathing and saying, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have mercy on me?"

A year or two later, I did the Workbook of Living Prayer by Maxie Dunnam. There on page 105 was the Jesus Prayer. The exercize asked us to reflect on the terms used in the prayer. Here were some of my reflections:
Lord--Who or what is #1 in my life? Who is my master? Is it security...or money...or reputation?
Jesus--did God really become human? Take on our flesh? Did Jesus put his elbows on the table? Did he cuss? Did he worry like I do?
Christ--God's chosen one, not the expected, exalted military or political ruler, but a crucified Savior. One who is broken, so we might be whole.
Son of God--the revelation of who God is, God self-revealed, God with us
Have mercy--my need for forgiveness. This does away with all of my attempts to earn salvation on my own.
Me, a sinner--this fact is ever before me. I try to cover it up with bravado, with being a know-it-all, churchiness and religiousity. I am always looking for the faults of others, so I don't have to deal with my own.

I know that I am the Pharisee. I am very religious. I am a professional pray-er. I go to meetings, and people say, "here's Lynn, Preacher, would you say a little prayer to get us started?" Go to a dinner or other setting, and it happens all over again. You're the professional; say a little prayer. I fast...I literally go without eating as a spiritual discipline. I tithe....I literally give 10% to the church....and beyond that to many other causes. I am holy....but how easily that can become holier than thou. I am righteous....but how easily that can become self-righteous. I am the Pharisee. I look down on others. Thank God I am not like them--the greedy, dishonest, impure, especially that tax collector. It is so easy to not see others as persons of worth, to put others down and to lose one's soul.

Last week, the theme was the promise of persistent prayer. This week the theme is peril of presumptive prayer. Are you still breathing? Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

I know you never do this, but I will be standing in line at HEB. It is the express checkout line. It very clearly says, "12 items or less." But the person in front of me as 14 items. I know because I have counted them. Then go to pay with a check....from out of town....and then they have coupons. And I am so important and my time is so valuable that I am just about to explode. That's when I breathe and say, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner."

I am so good with words. At times I have taken my words and aimed them like a laser guided missile with exact precision right into the hearts of those I love the best like my wife or 2 sons and struck where I could cause the most damage. I have killed with my words. Sometimes there has been collateral damage. I didn't even intend to, but caused harm anyway. Then I breathe and say, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner."

The Jesus Prayer is not some magic incantation, not some secret formula. In fact the Orthodox Church even has issued cautions about only doing the Jesus Prayer and nothing else. But there is a real gift for us if we pray it. It expresses our deep need for a Savior. It is our cry for help.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.

telling our story

10/21/10 I know this...I know this...I know this....sometimes I remember to practice this: people don't give to budgets; they give to visions. So when I get it right, I tell stories of how Christ is changing lives. Our bottom line is changed lives, not dollars and cents.

So this week in staff meeting, I heard the story of one life changed from Susan, our handbell choirs director. There is a young man named Tim who is fascinated with the handbells. He has been after Susan to let him play. Tim is brilliant and passionate, but he has some motor skill problems. He can do American Sign Language and use the computer, but he has a hard time speaking.

Susan had him come to practice. She gave him one chime to ring. He cannot use his left hand as well as his right one, so he will play one note with his right hand. This Sunday at the 11:15 a.m. service, Tim will join with others in playing "Jesus Loves Me." And Jesus does love Tim, and Susan who lets Tim play, and all of God's children.

That's why people give. It is because of stories like that. Lives are changed in the church because Jesus loves us.

Love,
Lynn

fed

10/20/10 Today we had the Austin District Professionals meeting at Manor UMC. We preachers love to talk and to talk to each other and to talk about each other, so the first 45 minutes was spent in eating and drinking and visiting in the fellowship hall. Then we went to the sanctuary where the business agenda and the worship service were combined in an order that went together pretty. We were challenged by statistics of level attendance numbers in a metropolitan area that has been rapidly growing. We were encourgaged by the start of Servant Church, for 20-30 year olds. We were uplifted by a connection with Dieke clinic in Sierra Leone. We sang and we prayed. We heard the word of God preached. We celebrated the sacrament of communion. I left this morning well-fed.

Love,
Lynn

Joel

10/19/10 My breath prayer for the day comes from the prophet Joel 2:28, "I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions." Old older son is named Joel. The name means the LORD is God. May this passage be true for our son and all God's children: that they know that they have the Spirit pouring over them and that they are all a part of God's purposes.

Love,
Lynn

always pray

from my sermon on Children's Sabbath, Oct. 17, 2010, from Luke 18:1-8

Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem. Along the way, he tells a story about how we need to always pray and not lose heart. The hero in the story is a widow, who has no power, no standing in the community, much like a child. The bad guy in the story is a judge who doesn't care what God or others think, yet he grants the woman's request. The point is that God is not like this judge, but rather grants our prayers graciously. The women is a model for persistent prayer. Today, I want to give you some practical ways of praying with and for children. Even if your children have long gone, or you don't have any children, you still might get a nugget that leads you to more constant prayer.

1. Meal times---how many of you say a grace over a meal at least sometimes? A bunch of you, terrific. Our meals can become more than just the intake of calories; they can become like the meal we have at this table, the sacrament of communion, where we sense the nearness of Christ. You may have some standard prayers: Bless this food to the nourishment of our bodies and our bodies to thy service, or God is great, God is good, now we thank him for our food.

2. Thank you God for---At meal times and other times, you can complete this sentence. We are going to try it right now, starting on this side of the sanctuary and going over here. You may be able to say it out loud. We will do a popcorn prayer. Just go off like popcorn kernels when I point to you. It doesn't matter if others hear what you say; God has big ears and wil receive all of these prayers.

3. Help me God---Let's try this one out loud too......I heard from adults help with patience....I heard from children help with tests.

4. I am sorry for--This one goes deeper. It is like a prayer of confession. You may not be able to say it out loud. You may pray it so deep that only God can hear it.

5. Singing--A great old saint of the church (Augustine) said, "the one who sings pray twice." We can sing our grace. The Johnny Appleseed song: Oh the Lord's been good to me, and so I thank the Lord, for giving me the things I need, the sun, the rain and the appleseed, oh the Lord's been good to me. Or the doxology: Praise God from whom all blessings flow, praise God all creature here below, praise God above ye heavenly hosts, praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Or John Wesley's grace to the same tune: Be present at our table Lord, be here and everywhere adored, these favors bless and grant that we, may feast in fellowship with thee.

6. Humor--we could sing Wesley's grace to a different tune, like Fernando's Hideaway. It is okay to laugh and smile as part of our praying. A mom was about to give birth to her 3rd child. She had a 7 yr old daughter and a 4 yr old son. The 3rd child was another boy. The girl said, "Oh, I prayed for a little sister." The boy said, "I must have prayed harder." (laughter) Of course God doesn't work this way, but it is good to have humor in our praying.

7. Icon---An icon is a symbol that calls us into an awareness of God. It can be something as simple as a candle. Our boys when they were little used to run through the house, sometimes clothed, sometimes not. At dinner they might run by and grab some food off the table. We learned to turn off the lights, and light a single candle. That got their attention. We slowed down, we sat down, and it became a different atmosphere. You might try flowers, or a picture, or a rock, or anything that calls you into the presence of Christ.

8. Bed time--my hunch is that you children have a routine for going to bed. You might have supper and brush your teeth and take a bath and read stories and say prayers. In church language you have ritual, an order of worship. You know what is coming next and that brings comfort to you. Our children's minister has some wonderful resources of Bible stories if you want to contact her at the email address I will provide in a section below. Another way of praying is to read the blessings that this congregation wrote for you at your baptism. You can take the new picture directory and match the face of the family praying for you. Sometimes people tell me that they fall asleep while saying their bedtime prayers. They tell me they feel guilty when they do that. I want to relieve you of that guilt. What better way to go to sleep that praying with God and resting in God's arms.

9. Repeat after me---sometimes at meal times or bed times or other times, we can do a repeat after me prayer. You can say God bless mommy and daddy and .... You can say Dear God, thank you for this day, thank you for your children, thank you for Jesus who loves all the children. In his name. Amen. The Lord's prayer can be learned as a repeat after me prayer.

10. Seasons of the church year--we Christians tell time differently and it is a good way to remember what God is doing in our lives. Advent, the season of preparation before Christmas is fast approaching. You can have a creche scene and add characters ( a sheep, a donkey, an angel, etc.) each day or week. The wise men can draw closer. You can have an advent calendar with the little windows that open each day. Hilary would be happy to share with resources for praying through the year if you would contact her at HMartin@westlake-umc.org or www.candlepress.com.

11. Praying with others at worship and Sunday School--it is a good thing for us to gather and pray together, but our prayers don't have to end here. The worship bulletin will have a call to worship, a prayer of confession, a unison prayer, etc. These can be taken home and used throughout the week. Parents can ask of children: what did you learn today? Where did you experience Christ today?

12. Situations--you can use anything as a call to pray. Hasn't the fall been glorious? Thank you God for this beautiful sunrise. When I hear a siren, I pray for the fire, or police, or EMS, and I pray for the situation they are handling. In times of crisis, we might say, "Help us God." I once had a man who had cancer. When I asked how I could pray for him he said, "Every time you open your can door, pray for me." I prayed for that man a lot. It is amazing how many times I got in and out of my car.

13. Breath prayers--you moms and dads when you get pregnant, what do you learn to do? To breathe. When you are in conflict, what is a good thing to do? To breathe. The Jesuits taught me a new definition of sin: it is the failure to pause. Breathing is a great way to slow down, to center, to call upon God, to pause. When you children hear the dreaded words, pop quiz, it is a good thing to breathe. I know we have said no prayer in school, but that is a lie. There is a lot of praying going on when there is a pop quiz.

This breath prayer concept is something I actually practice.

14. Praying with scripture--one of the things I do is to combine the breath prayer with a short piece of scripture. So for instance this past week, I breathed in and out II Tim. 4:5, "fulfill your ministry." I get tired sometimes, not physically tired, but tired of pettiness. The word came to me, "Fulfill your ministry." Sometimes, I can't sleep at night. I know I am the only one who has this problem. I breathe in and out some of my favorite scriptures: Cast all your anxiety upon him for he cares about you. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. One of my most used breath prayers is "Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy upon me a sinner." I will say more about this prayer next week, so this is your teaser to come back.

By breathing and centering on scripture, you may find that you are praying a lot. Prayer becomes not a last resort, but a way of life. For me, it is a way of keeping sane. Prayer becomes a way to not lose heart.

15. Silence--so ofter we go to God with our list of demands or our mind made up about how God is going to answer. Silence allows God the opportunity to speak. We close in silence. Listen for what God is praying for us....and don't lose heart.

stretched

10/14/10 I am going home this afternoon, after 4 days of cont. ed. Even after 32 plus years of ministry, I have still much to learn. I am still being stretched by this pesky God who will not leave me alone or let me go. After walking all of these hills at Mt. Sequoia, I also need my leg muscles to be stretched.

Love,
Lynn

sweet words

10/13/10 My breath prayer for the day comes from Psalm 119:102, "How sweet are thy words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" I like words. I write and deliver sermons. I write newsletter articles, blogs, and tweets. I teach. I listen and offer spiritual direction. Here I am at this cont. ed. event, and it is a torrrent of words. But there is underneath all of this a Word from God that is sweeter than honey. I desire this Word more than any others.

Love,
Lynn

continuing ed

10/12/10 I am on the mountaintop. I am at Mt. Sequoia Conference and Retreat Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas. This campgroup is literally on the top of a hill with a circle road (.9 mile) that looks off and down 360 degrees around its loop. It is fall, and the leaves are just beginning to turn their reds, oranges, yellows, golds, rusts, etc. I have enjoyed walking in the mornings and in our brief breaks.

I wish I could tell you that it is a relaxing time, but the course work is challenging. I am taking the New Church Leadership Initiative, Path 1. We started at 11:30 a.m. yesterday with lunch, and didn't quit until 9 p.m. last night. We have speakers presenting, survey instruments to complete, small group sessions, powerpoint presentations, and books to buy. It is the proverbial "drinking from the fire hydrant" (too much in too short a time). I am glad that I can be here and still be stretched in my ministry.

Love,
Lynn

the thankful Samaritan

from my sermon on 10/10/10 from Luke 17;11-19

Have you written your thank you notes? My mom is a dear, sweet woman, but in one area she is dictatorial--thank you notes. Come Christmas, or birthdays, or graduations, after 24 hours the clock starts ticking. Have you written your thank you notes?

Something much deeper than thank you notes is going on in this passage. Luke has Jesus going on an extended journey in his Gospel. It is not a sentimental journey, but a sacramental one. We know what happens in Jerusalem. Jesus' passion, death, and resurrection forms one salvific event. This trip is preparing all who follow Him for this act. In this lesson today, Jesus is going along the border between Galilee and Samaria. Now, good Jews would take great pains to avoid Samaria. More about that later.

Jesus is approached by 10 lepers. Here is a fun topic: leprosy! There is a disease we know today as Hansen's disease where a person loses sensations in the extremities and skin may turn splotchy white. In the Bible, there is a much broader definition than just this one ailment. IN the Holiness Code in Leviticus 13 & 14 you can find out more than you ever wanted to know about leprosy. It could include having mildew in your house walls, or fungus in your clothing, as well as a host of skin diseases including eczema, the heartbreak of psoriasis, ringworm, and rashes. What do we do when there is a disease we can't explain? We get scared! What do we do with such people? We cast them out! We are threatened so we ostracize them. Hear is what it sounds like....(a person rings a bell from the back and shouts "Unclean, unclean!").

But here, the 10 lepers go off script. They shout, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"

Jesus sees them. The English translations don't do justice to the Greek. It literally says that Jesus sees 10 persons with leprosy. Do you get the significance? Not 10 lepers, but 10 men with leprosy. You are not the disease. You are not the diagnosis. You are not AIDS, or bulimia, or cancer, or diabetes....You are a person with this disease.

Jesus follows the Old Testament Holiness Code. He sends the 10 to the priest, who acts as the public health officer, who can certify that they are clean, and can reenter the community. As they go, they are cleansed. Are there any Catherines in the congregation? That is the Greek word for cleansed.

One of the sees that he is healed. He returns to Jesus, praising God loudly. There are times to pray quietly, even in silence, but there are times when it is most appropriate to pray loudly. If you are a miner in Chile who has been trapped underground for more than 60 days, and shaft B reaches you, it is a time to ring bells, and blow sirens, and shout, "Hallelujah!"

This one kneels at Jesus' feet and says, "Thank you." As you can tell, there is much more going on here than just writing a thank you note.

Then there is a short phrase; we would likely pass right over it except Luke drops a bomb with just one word. The one who says thanks is a Samaritan. Samaritans were looked down on for 2 reasons. They had been the Jewish people left behind when other Jews were taken into captivity in Babylon. They had intermarried with foreigners, so that good Jews would say about them, "Half-breeds!" They didn't worship the same way. They read the Bible differently and they looked not to Jerusalem but Mt. Gerizim. So the good Jews would say about them, "Heretics!"

So this one who says thank you is a triple outsider. He is a leper, a Samaritan half breed, and heretic. He becomes the model for giving thanks.

The math major in me loves this. Ten are healed, 9 do what is lawful, 1 does what is loving, 9 do what is right, 1 does what is righteous (in right relationship), 10 are made clean, and 1 is made whole. This is the story of the thankful Samaritan.

We have heard of Samaritans before in Luke's Gospel. You may remember how a lawyer asked Jesus what it took to inherit eternal life. Jesus turns the question back to him. The lawyer quotes the two great commandments to love God with all one's heart and soul and mind and strength and to love one neighbor as oneself. Jesus says he answered correctly. But the lawyer wanting to justify himself asks, "Who is my neighbor?" So Jesus tells a story about a man being attacked by robbers on the Jericho road and being left for dead. A priest walks by. A Levite walks by. Another man sees the beaten man, binds up his wounds, put him on his donkey, takes him to an inn, pays the innkeeper to take care of him, and says he will come back. And who is the hero in this story? A Samaritan, the Good Samaritan.

In our passage, we have the thankful Samaritan. He is the model of gratitude. He is the model of disipleship. This foreigner is not welcome in the Temple in Jerusalem, but he is welcome at Jesus' feet. Jesus welcomes all.

Jesus is on a journey. We are too. Our vision statement is "Following ONe, Serving All." It is challenging us to welcome all. Our Journeys Sunday School class is struggling with the idea of becoming a REconciling Ministries class, which means they would be welcoming gays, lesbians, transgender folks. Some 20 people met last Sunday night to begin this prayerful, careful process. They are afraid of the unknown. They are afraid that in taking this stance they might alienate some of their own class members. They are afraid that they might split this congregation. They are afraid that some might see this as only a political stance. There is one more thing that they are afraid of, and that is, not doing what is righteous. You are welcome to join the process of discerning as we meet again on Sunday, October 17, at 6 p.m. in the Fellowship classroom.

Then last Wednesday afternoon, I joined the prayer group as I usually do. I think it is a good thing for me to be in prayer for this congregation. Nancy usually has us read a passage of scripture 3 times and receive a word or phrase that resonates with us, but this time she had us read Gal. 3 where it talks about how our baptism in Christ has washed away the old distinctions and that we are all one in Him. There is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female. Then she asked us to name who are the insiders and outsiders today. Straight or gay, able or disabled, sober or addicted, rich or homeless, we said. It is challenging to welcome all.

It reminded me a pastor I knew when I did my D. Min. work at Austin Seminary in the early 1990's. This pastor led a congregation of the Metropolitan Community Church, a denomination that is radically welcoming, especially to the gay and lesbian community. He said this: In our church we have communion every week. People kneel to receive a piece of bread and the cup. But we do something else every week. We lay hands on the people (lots of gay men, HIV positive), and pronounce a blessing on them. Many times they are in tears. They often say, "This is only touch I receive all week long." They are so grateful.

A true sign of discipleship is gratitude to Jesus who welcomes all.

workman

10/07/10 My breath prayer for the day comes from II Timothy 2:15, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth." A lot of Friday mornings one will find me out at the jobsite where we are building our next Habitat for Humanity house. I like to work with my hands. I like to make an accurate cut on a piece of lumber. I like to see what I have done after a few hours of work.

Most of my work as a pastor involves relationships, Holy Spirit, and vision. This work is hard to measure sometimes. I hope that I am a good workman in my day job as a pastor, rightly explaining the word of truth.

Love,
Lynn

come and see

10/06/10 My breath prayer for the day comes from Psalm 66:5, "Come and see what God has done; he is awesome in his deeds among mortals." As I was walking and praying this morning, I tried to keep my eyes open, my spirit aware of how God was moving in our midst. I was giving thanks for God's presence in my family--both my biological family and my theological family. I was lifting up the mission team that was flying out early this morning headed for Haiti. I was giving thanks to God for the beauty of creation; these fall days in Austin are spectacular with ideal temperatures and low humidity. I was giving thanks for the many healings God is working in people's lives--in their bodies, in their memories, in their relationships, and in their minds. My prayer for you today is that you also come and see what God is doing.

Love,
Lynn

on my heart

10/05/10 Early this morning, around 4 a.m., a couple that I had been praying for, I don't know how else to say it, were on my heart. I could not stop them from coming into my awareness. I have been missing them in worship; that is, to say, they have not been attending recently. Their giving pattern and participation in small groups has dropped off. All of these are warning signs to me. Therefore, I have called them, and gotten only their answering machine. I have also sent emails to which I have gotten no reply. Yet because they are on my heart in such a powerful way, I will try again...probably today. I have learned not to ignore these prompts from God, when God places such people on my heart.

Love,
Lynn

welfare

10/04/10 My breath prayer for the day comes from Jeremiah 29:7, where the LORD tells the prophet to " seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare." So by welfare, I am not talking about what the government does to meet the needs of the poorest in the population. And I certainly don't feel like I am living in exile as the Israelites did when they were carried into captivity in Babylon. My prayer has been to acknowledge that I am called to be the very best citizen in Austin, Texas, where I live, because my well-being is tied to its well-being. So this morning, like most mornings, I am picking up trash along the trails. This is trash I didn't create, and I am not responsible for, yet it is my park and my city, so I pick it up because I want my park and my city to be clean. I said a prayer for the beauty of creation I got to enjoy as the sun rose on this cool morning. I went through my list of praying for other people--biological family and church family. All of our welfares are tied together.

Love,
Lynn