2/26/10 I am off with the confirmation class, parents, and mentors for their retreat, some 35 of us in all. We are going out to the Laden's ranch. I will be leading them through an experience of catacomb worship tonight, to get a feel of what it was like in the early church with no hymnals, no Bibles, and a whole lot of fear. Tomorrow, we will work on writing our own worship service that they will lead on May 2. I will take them through a simulation game called "Crosses" where they will learn about missions and witnessing. Of course they will have free time to talk and play games and stay up too late and eat. I look forward to it. I do ask for your prayers that by retreating we may go forward with Christ.
Love,
Lynn
Friday, February 26, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
fruitfulness
from my sermon on 2/21/10 from John 15:1-8, beginning sermon series on the 5 practices of fruitful congregations.
Fruitfulness. At Perkins School of theology, I was a part of the seminary singers. Each of us was given a white piece of cloth upon which to put a symbol of our faith and wear as a stole. You see the one I chose....it it from this morning's scripture where Jesus says I am the vine and you are the branches. I root it in the first words of the Hebrew Bible, In beginning, God Created....and it has places where I am being pruned...and thankfully there is some fruit....we find here the fruit of the spirit from Gal. 5.
Fruitfulness is a significant metaphor in the Bible. Listen.
Scriptures to be read in this order on Feb. 21
LYNN--From the book of our beginnings…
READER 1 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it .
LYNN--From the wisdom literature from Psalm 1…
READER 2 Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season
LYNN—and from Proverbs 11…
READER 3 …the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life
LYNN—from Matthew’s gospel…
READER 4 Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.
LYNN—from Mark’s gospel…
READER 5 Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.” And he said, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!
LYNN—from the letter to the Galatians…
READER 6 the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.
LYNN—from the very last book of our bible, the Revelation to John…
READER 7 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
From the first book of the Bible to the last, we were made to be fruit. And not just any fruit, but good fruit. This next week I will be at the Bd. of ORdained Ministry where we will interview candidates for ministry, including our own Abby and Jim. Let's be in prayer for them. Sometimes a candidate will say something like "I am really passionate about evangelism." We might ask them to describe how they have led someone to follow Christ or be converted. Sometimes, they may stumble around and not come up with a single example of ever doing evangelism. They just failed the fruit test. Jesus said they you shall be known by the fruit that you bear.
What kind of fruit are you producing? Not just as individuals, but also as community. I think we bear some good fruit at times....like this last week when 8 of us from this community of faith went to New Orleans to do home repair. Long after Katrina has faded from the headlines, the UMC is still there bringing hope to families. We worked on 3 houses. The one I was on involved putting down laminate flooring, installing baseboards, hanging doors, lots of finish work. On Ash Wednesday, we got to worship with Aurora UMC in Algiers, LA. The pastor came down from the pulpit and said, Thank you for being here. How far did the group from Glen Falls, NY, come? We drove 24 hrs. How far for the group from Midland, MI? We drove 2 days. How far from Austin? Nine hours.
It was amazing. We were all connected. All part of the vine and branches. As I was marked with the ashes on the forehead with the words, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return," I was struck by the raspiness in my throat from all the saw dust. Later over supper I talked to the pastor, who is from Zimbabwe, by the way. He said, we have received so much from others, we need to give, so this summer we are going on a mission trip to South Carolina. We have plans to go to Haiti.
I am so proud to be part of this kind of church and fruitfulness.
I like it that Jesus says, Apart from my, you can do nothing. I need to hear this over and over again. I get exhausted when I try to do things in my own time, and power, and way. Jesus also says, that my Father is glorified in this that you bear much fruit, and so become my disciples. We can bear fruit because we are connected to the vine. We can bear fruit because God is fruitful.
I want to set up an analogy. I am probably only one of two people in the whole USA who doesn't have an iPhone. I am amazed at how profilic they are. Everywhere I go, I hear something like this: I wonder what the temperature is....there's an app for that....at Home Depot in New Orleans looking for sheet rock screws there was a sign, "Can't find the tool or part...there's an app for that"....what was the UT tennis team outcome...there's an app for that. I found out that app stands for application. With the iPhone has come an outpouring of creativity, of fruitfulness with all of the applications.
God is like that. You are having trouble in your marriage. The Lord God of the Universe says, "There an app for that." You suffer from depression; God says, "there's an app for that." You struggle with addiction issues; yep, God says, "There's an app for that." Big problems like Haiti; there's an app for that too.
Even when a sad person flies a plane into an IRS building here in Austin, God says, "there's an app for that." I was flying into Austin Thursday evening watching that on the airport monitors. The next day I read in the papers that there happened to be a window contractor who was driving by in his pickup with a 20' foot ladder right after the tragedy. He stopped, set up his ladder and got 5 people out of the building. The Travis Co. emergency responders were doing a training right across the street from the building at that exact time. All of a sudden, it was no longer a training but an actual rescue.
I was reading in the fine print of the article that the wife of the man who flew the plan was named Sheryl Housh. Oh no! Sheryl was the first person I hired at St. John's to be our music director. We worked together 6 years. She has served as substitute organist here at this very organ. I read her statement the next day. It was so full of grace, of forgiveness, of healing, of faith. Yes, even here, God has an app for that. Even in the most barren of soils and siturations, God is able to produce fruit.
What fruit is God producing in you as an individual ...as a community? The good news I have to share is that you were made to produce good fruit. Amen.
Fruitfulness. At Perkins School of theology, I was a part of the seminary singers. Each of us was given a white piece of cloth upon which to put a symbol of our faith and wear as a stole. You see the one I chose....it it from this morning's scripture where Jesus says I am the vine and you are the branches. I root it in the first words of the Hebrew Bible, In beginning, God Created....and it has places where I am being pruned...and thankfully there is some fruit....we find here the fruit of the spirit from Gal. 5.
Fruitfulness is a significant metaphor in the Bible. Listen.
Scriptures to be read in this order on Feb. 21
LYNN--From the book of our beginnings…
READER 1 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it .
LYNN--From the wisdom literature from Psalm 1…
READER 2 Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season
LYNN—and from Proverbs 11…
READER 3 …the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life
LYNN—from Matthew’s gospel…
READER 4 Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.
LYNN—from Mark’s gospel…
READER 5 Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.” And he said, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!
LYNN—from the letter to the Galatians…
READER 6 the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.
LYNN—from the very last book of our bible, the Revelation to John…
READER 7 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
From the first book of the Bible to the last, we were made to be fruit. And not just any fruit, but good fruit. This next week I will be at the Bd. of ORdained Ministry where we will interview candidates for ministry, including our own Abby and Jim. Let's be in prayer for them. Sometimes a candidate will say something like "I am really passionate about evangelism." We might ask them to describe how they have led someone to follow Christ or be converted. Sometimes, they may stumble around and not come up with a single example of ever doing evangelism. They just failed the fruit test. Jesus said they you shall be known by the fruit that you bear.
What kind of fruit are you producing? Not just as individuals, but also as community. I think we bear some good fruit at times....like this last week when 8 of us from this community of faith went to New Orleans to do home repair. Long after Katrina has faded from the headlines, the UMC is still there bringing hope to families. We worked on 3 houses. The one I was on involved putting down laminate flooring, installing baseboards, hanging doors, lots of finish work. On Ash Wednesday, we got to worship with Aurora UMC in Algiers, LA. The pastor came down from the pulpit and said, Thank you for being here. How far did the group from Glen Falls, NY, come? We drove 24 hrs. How far for the group from Midland, MI? We drove 2 days. How far from Austin? Nine hours.
It was amazing. We were all connected. All part of the vine and branches. As I was marked with the ashes on the forehead with the words, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return," I was struck by the raspiness in my throat from all the saw dust. Later over supper I talked to the pastor, who is from Zimbabwe, by the way. He said, we have received so much from others, we need to give, so this summer we are going on a mission trip to South Carolina. We have plans to go to Haiti.
I am so proud to be part of this kind of church and fruitfulness.
I like it that Jesus says, Apart from my, you can do nothing. I need to hear this over and over again. I get exhausted when I try to do things in my own time, and power, and way. Jesus also says, that my Father is glorified in this that you bear much fruit, and so become my disciples. We can bear fruit because we are connected to the vine. We can bear fruit because God is fruitful.
I want to set up an analogy. I am probably only one of two people in the whole USA who doesn't have an iPhone. I am amazed at how profilic they are. Everywhere I go, I hear something like this: I wonder what the temperature is....there's an app for that....at Home Depot in New Orleans looking for sheet rock screws there was a sign, "Can't find the tool or part...there's an app for that"....what was the UT tennis team outcome...there's an app for that. I found out that app stands for application. With the iPhone has come an outpouring of creativity, of fruitfulness with all of the applications.
God is like that. You are having trouble in your marriage. The Lord God of the Universe says, "There an app for that." You suffer from depression; God says, "there's an app for that." You struggle with addiction issues; yep, God says, "There's an app for that." Big problems like Haiti; there's an app for that too.
Even when a sad person flies a plane into an IRS building here in Austin, God says, "there's an app for that." I was flying into Austin Thursday evening watching that on the airport monitors. The next day I read in the papers that there happened to be a window contractor who was driving by in his pickup with a 20' foot ladder right after the tragedy. He stopped, set up his ladder and got 5 people out of the building. The Travis Co. emergency responders were doing a training right across the street from the building at that exact time. All of a sudden, it was no longer a training but an actual rescue.
I was reading in the fine print of the article that the wife of the man who flew the plan was named Sheryl Housh. Oh no! Sheryl was the first person I hired at St. John's to be our music director. We worked together 6 years. She has served as substitute organist here at this very organ. I read her statement the next day. It was so full of grace, of forgiveness, of healing, of faith. Yes, even here, God has an app for that. Even in the most barren of soils and siturations, God is able to produce fruit.
What fruit is God producing in you as an individual ...as a community? The good news I have to share is that you were made to produce good fruit. Amen.
miss me?
2/25/10 Last week I was on a mission trip to New Orleans to do home repair. Imagine that? A church that helps people recover from their devasting losses long after it has faded from the headlines. I got to cut a lot of baseboards and hung some doors. I got to sleep on an uncomfortable bunk bed with a lot of stinky guys who snored a lot. I got to worship on Ash Wednesday with Aurora UMC in Algiers, LA, who hosted us. I would not trade my experience for anything even though I came back tired and hardly able to breath.
This week I have bee to 3 long days of meeting with the Bd. of Ordained Ministry. I led the opening worship service on Monday, barely able to speak. I found that people really listened because I didn't have much volume. We interview some 35 candidates for ministry over the 3 days. Our own youth minister and associate pastor, Abby and Jim respectively, were among those interviewed. They both passed with flying colors.
My breath prayer for the day has been Psalm 27:13, "I believe that I shall see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living."
Love,
Lynn
This week I have bee to 3 long days of meeting with the Bd. of Ordained Ministry. I led the opening worship service on Monday, barely able to speak. I found that people really listened because I didn't have much volume. We interview some 35 candidates for ministry over the 3 days. Our own youth minister and associate pastor, Abby and Jim respectively, were among those interviewed. They both passed with flying colors.
My breath prayer for the day has been Psalm 27:13, "I believe that I shall see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living."
Love,
Lynn
Thursday, February 11, 2010
I, Valentine
from my sermon on Valentine's day, 2/14/10 from John 15:12-12
I am Valentine. You have covered up my story with chocolate candy, flowers, hearts, cards, and the color red. I want to tell you my story so that you may get an idea of where all of this came from. I am a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. My story gets confusing because there are at least 3 different St. Valentines. Valens is Latin for "worthy." All 3 have worthy stories, but I am going to tell 2 of them that may actually be the same person.
I was a priest in Rome in the 3rd century. I had a ministry with children. Remember how Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me. Do not hinder them, for to such belong the kingdom of God." I welcomed children.
It was not easy to be a Christian. The government outlawed our faith. We were supposed to worship the Roman gods. This I could not do. The Emperor Claudius put me in jail for my rebellion. When the little children heard of this , they missed me and were sad. I was sad too. to encourage me, the children would come to the prison and toss notes and flowers to me through th bars.
The other story is that I am a priest in Rome, again while Claudius in emperor. He was called Claudius the cruel. He wanted to increase the size of the army. I know this ancient history must sound like today's news. We are always waging war and sending our best young men to battle. Claudius knew that young, unmarried men made the best soldiers because they were focused on the fight and not on the family. So he decreed that marriages and engagements were to cease. Just like that, there were to be no more marriages.
I would not stop my ministry with young couples, who wanted to get married. I continued to perform marriages....in secret. The government could not stop love.
I know that engaged couples today invite family and friends. Imagine a wedding where it was just the bride and groom and maybe a witness or two. I know couples today spend a lot of time and money preparing for their big day--contracting with caterers, florists, musicians, buying rings and special clothes. Imagine in my day, quietly exchanging vows in near darkness in a catacomb, fearful that at any moment you might be discovered and carted off to jail. Priests could even be executed for performing marriages. It was not some mere formality. It was life and death worship.
I was discovered. I was thrown into prison.
Here is where the two stories combine. In prison, I befriend the jailer's daughter. Tradition says that the jailer is named Asterius and his daughter is Julia. The tradition says that she was blind until a miracle was performed through me and she regained her sight. Before my execution, I wrote her a note and signed it, "From your Valentine."
I like it that I am associated with love---children--couples who want to get married. I like it that people show their affection in ways in the same ways we did, with cards and flowers and letters.
But I would not have you overlook this: I was executed, I died for my faith. It happened on Feb 14 about 269 or 270 A.D., this very day, some 1740 years ago. I laid down my life for my friends, just like Jesus did. I like it that you still show your love, but I would have you direct on this day, not just to those who are easy to love, but also to those who aren't. Especially, I would have you remember those who are in prison, maybe for doing wrong, but maybe for doing what's right like I did.
Your worship bulletin has some ways for you to get involved:
Amnesty International advocates for prisoners of conscience like I am.
The Innocence project does DNA testing among other things to overturn wrongful convictions. To date, they have freed over 250 prisoners in the USA.
Women's StoryBook Project helps incarcerated mothers record stories for their children at home, so that the children can go to sleep hearing their mothers' voices. I am told that the outside volunteers gather with the incarcerated mothers in a circle before and after the sessions to share something about parenting that has to do with a randomly chosen letter of the alphabet. Somehow the walls come down as they are all simply moms trying to cope with rearing children.
Kairos is an ecumenical ministry to prisoners. Kairos is the Greek word for the right time or the fullness of time. I heard a story from a man, a member of another church, who was part of the inside team, who went in to minister with the men in white. During a presentation at night, there was a power failure in the prison. It was terrifying....this inside team surrounded by murderers, rapists, robbers, and the like. When the lights came back on, a few moments later, the inside team found that they had been herded into the center of the room, and surrounded by the prisoners they were working with . The prisoners were all facing out, standing shoulder to shoulder, protecting the inside team.
May we never forget what Jesus said, "I was in prison and you visited me. As you did it to one of the least of these, you did it unto me." I hope that you can be willing to lay down your life for your friends, for Jesus' friends, who may be in prison.
Amen.
I am Valentine. You have covered up my story with chocolate candy, flowers, hearts, cards, and the color red. I want to tell you my story so that you may get an idea of where all of this came from. I am a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. My story gets confusing because there are at least 3 different St. Valentines. Valens is Latin for "worthy." All 3 have worthy stories, but I am going to tell 2 of them that may actually be the same person.
I was a priest in Rome in the 3rd century. I had a ministry with children. Remember how Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me. Do not hinder them, for to such belong the kingdom of God." I welcomed children.
It was not easy to be a Christian. The government outlawed our faith. We were supposed to worship the Roman gods. This I could not do. The Emperor Claudius put me in jail for my rebellion. When the little children heard of this , they missed me and were sad. I was sad too. to encourage me, the children would come to the prison and toss notes and flowers to me through th bars.
The other story is that I am a priest in Rome, again while Claudius in emperor. He was called Claudius the cruel. He wanted to increase the size of the army. I know this ancient history must sound like today's news. We are always waging war and sending our best young men to battle. Claudius knew that young, unmarried men made the best soldiers because they were focused on the fight and not on the family. So he decreed that marriages and engagements were to cease. Just like that, there were to be no more marriages.
I would not stop my ministry with young couples, who wanted to get married. I continued to perform marriages....in secret. The government could not stop love.
I know that engaged couples today invite family and friends. Imagine a wedding where it was just the bride and groom and maybe a witness or two. I know couples today spend a lot of time and money preparing for their big day--contracting with caterers, florists, musicians, buying rings and special clothes. Imagine in my day, quietly exchanging vows in near darkness in a catacomb, fearful that at any moment you might be discovered and carted off to jail. Priests could even be executed for performing marriages. It was not some mere formality. It was life and death worship.
I was discovered. I was thrown into prison.
Here is where the two stories combine. In prison, I befriend the jailer's daughter. Tradition says that the jailer is named Asterius and his daughter is Julia. The tradition says that she was blind until a miracle was performed through me and she regained her sight. Before my execution, I wrote her a note and signed it, "From your Valentine."
I like it that I am associated with love---children--couples who want to get married. I like it that people show their affection in ways in the same ways we did, with cards and flowers and letters.
But I would not have you overlook this: I was executed, I died for my faith. It happened on Feb 14 about 269 or 270 A.D., this very day, some 1740 years ago. I laid down my life for my friends, just like Jesus did. I like it that you still show your love, but I would have you direct on this day, not just to those who are easy to love, but also to those who aren't. Especially, I would have you remember those who are in prison, maybe for doing wrong, but maybe for doing what's right like I did.
Your worship bulletin has some ways for you to get involved:
Amnesty International advocates for prisoners of conscience like I am.
The Innocence project does DNA testing among other things to overturn wrongful convictions. To date, they have freed over 250 prisoners in the USA.
Women's StoryBook Project helps incarcerated mothers record stories for their children at home, so that the children can go to sleep hearing their mothers' voices. I am told that the outside volunteers gather with the incarcerated mothers in a circle before and after the sessions to share something about parenting that has to do with a randomly chosen letter of the alphabet. Somehow the walls come down as they are all simply moms trying to cope with rearing children.
Kairos is an ecumenical ministry to prisoners. Kairos is the Greek word for the right time or the fullness of time. I heard a story from a man, a member of another church, who was part of the inside team, who went in to minister with the men in white. During a presentation at night, there was a power failure in the prison. It was terrifying....this inside team surrounded by murderers, rapists, robbers, and the like. When the lights came back on, a few moments later, the inside team found that they had been herded into the center of the room, and surrounded by the prisoners they were working with . The prisoners were all facing out, standing shoulder to shoulder, protecting the inside team.
May we never forget what Jesus said, "I was in prison and you visited me. As you did it to one of the least of these, you did it unto me." I hope that you can be willing to lay down your life for your friends, for Jesus' friends, who may be in prison.
Amen.
the Lord reigns
2/11/10 My breath prayer for today comes from Psalm 99:1, "The LORD reigns; let the peoples tremble!" As I walked in the cold rain this morning, I tried to remember that whatever situation I was praying about was within God's reign. I didn't have to have all the answers or know the outcome. I could trust the matter, the person, the country, the illness, the joy, or whatever to God. We often forget this: that we are not in charge. Our Lord reigns!
Love,
Lynn
Love,
Lynn
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
celebrating with Lisa
2/10/10 Lisa is our intern pastor. She has been a member of this congregation for years. More recently she has been a student at Austin Seminary. Last week she went reluctantly to a banquet at the seminary. To tell you how reluctant she was, she tried to give me her ticket. She was glad that she attended, because at the banquet she received a $10,000 fellowship that she can use for continuing education. Then yesterday, she heard from Boston University where she had applied for doctoral program. She had been accepted. I cannot tell you how many people apply for the very few positions. This morning in my emails, Lisa said that she listened to the voice mail from BU more closely, and it said that BU was also offering tuition help and that she was in the running for another scholarship. I am celebrating with Lisa today.
Love,
Lynn
Love,
Lynn
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
appreciation
2/9/10 Several of our staff members have been sick lately, which means those that remain pick up responsibilities. I have a new appreciation for my colleagues as I see what they have been doing. I can answer the phone and do computer work, but there is a lot I don't know about how the systems work here. People ask me questions I can't answer. I try to transfer a call, and it gets dropped. I am glad that I don't have to mop floors or enter data on a daily basis. I hope you will join me in showing appreciation for our wonderful staff, especially those who are not up front leading worship.
Love,
Lynn
Love,
Lynn
Monday, February 8, 2010
fisherman
from my sermon on 2/7/10 from Luke 5;1-11
I like to go fishing. You know what I like even better than going fishing? Catching fish! I like results!
There were some fisherman by the Sea of Galilee who hadn't caught any fish. They were frustrated. I can just imagine the conversation when Jesus comes by and offers some advice about how to fish. "We are fifth generation fisherman on this lake, and now this itinerant preacher who used to be a carpenter comes by and tells us how to fish! We just love unsolicited advice from 'experts'. 'Put out your nets into the deep water.' Thanks a lot."
And the fishermen say the mantra of all of us who have tried to do things in our own way, by our own power, according to our own schedule: "Master, we worked all night and have caught nothing."
You may have said it in the church this way:
When I call a meeting, I am the only one who shows up. I have to do all the work myself.
They asked me to be a substitute Sunday School teacher 12 years ago, and I am still here.
We formed committees and sub-committees, and we drew up the by-laws, but nothing ever seems to get down.
Maybe if we got up earlier or worked harder, then something would happen.
Master, we worked all night and have caught nothing.
As a church, we are busy. Look at the church calendar. We have lots of events and meetings and activities. Sometimes in the church we say a prayer at the beginning of the meeting and at the end of the meeting. I call them book end prayers. Then we say that everything that happens in between is "holy." I have begun to ask at the close of church meetings this question, "How has Christ shown up here?" Sometimes, we have a hard time anwering. Because if Christ hasn't shown up, then we have just been busy. It is no wonder that we can get so frustrated. Master, we have worked all night and have caught nothing.
Yet, on account of your word, I will let down the nets. Sometimes, we get so tired, we just surrender. It is sad that it becomes a matter of last resort, instead of the first thing we do. It is so crazy it just might work...this doing what Jesus wants, when he wants, how he wants, where he wants. We have tried everything else...why not turn to Jesus and follow his words?
What happens when we do? There is net full of fish, full to the point of overflowing, of breaking the nets. God is not stingy with grace. The God revealed in Jesus Christ has an abundance of love for us.
Note what happened in the one of the worst parts of Houston. There was a pastor, who was given his first assignment out of seminary to be the "senior pastor" of Windsor Village UMC. Senior Pastor indeed....of a church with 25 members, struggling to survive. But this pastor preached good news to the poor, and they believed the word. His name is Kirbyjohn Caldwell. He is black, but people of all races and all classes were drawn to the good news. And the church grew. They had a vision of reaching out to their neighbors. The church grew so much, they bought a Super K-Mart that had gone under. They established a day care center, a branch of the community college, an AIDS clinic, a job center, and a bank where no bank had dared to go before. And the church grew. Do you know how many members are at this church today? Over 14,000! God is not stingy. The nets will be full. There will be results.
Simon Peter bows down before Jesus, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man." I have been humbled this past week. First by my overfunctioning. I am a helpaholic. I never met a need I didn't like. I try to do too much. This past Monday, I was talking to our youth director, who said, "Remember we have our confirmation class retreat on the last weekend of February." Oh, rats....I double-booked. I have another major event I am supposed to lead that weekend. I know I am the only one who has done this! I had to make some phone calls and ask for forgiveness. I got out of the other event, and felt grace flowing over me. I am overwhelmed by how good God is to me and all of us sinners who try to do things by our competence and hard work.
Then Jesus says to Simon and us, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people." We will have results with God's help. And apparently it works, or we wouldn't be here today.
They left everything and followed him. Let me sing it for you, in a song some friends and I wrote one summer in our college years.
Fisherman
I am a fisherman, have been all my days.
Toiling long hours in the sun's rays.
But I woke up this morning, cast my net out on the sea.
Then this man came walking by, said, "Follow me."
(chorus) Foxes have holes to hide in. Birds have nests as their bed.
But a follower of the Christ has nowhere to rest his head.
No staff, no tunic, no sandals do I take.
Sacrificing everything for my master's sake.
chorus
Ready to reap the harvest. I've put my hand to the plow.
Trusting only in God's grace. No turning back now.
chorus
I am a fisherman, just a fisherman, I am a fisherman.
The good news is that you are one too. Amen.
I like to go fishing. You know what I like even better than going fishing? Catching fish! I like results!
There were some fisherman by the Sea of Galilee who hadn't caught any fish. They were frustrated. I can just imagine the conversation when Jesus comes by and offers some advice about how to fish. "We are fifth generation fisherman on this lake, and now this itinerant preacher who used to be a carpenter comes by and tells us how to fish! We just love unsolicited advice from 'experts'. 'Put out your nets into the deep water.' Thanks a lot."
And the fishermen say the mantra of all of us who have tried to do things in our own way, by our own power, according to our own schedule: "Master, we worked all night and have caught nothing."
You may have said it in the church this way:
When I call a meeting, I am the only one who shows up. I have to do all the work myself.
They asked me to be a substitute Sunday School teacher 12 years ago, and I am still here.
We formed committees and sub-committees, and we drew up the by-laws, but nothing ever seems to get down.
Maybe if we got up earlier or worked harder, then something would happen.
Master, we worked all night and have caught nothing.
As a church, we are busy. Look at the church calendar. We have lots of events and meetings and activities. Sometimes in the church we say a prayer at the beginning of the meeting and at the end of the meeting. I call them book end prayers. Then we say that everything that happens in between is "holy." I have begun to ask at the close of church meetings this question, "How has Christ shown up here?" Sometimes, we have a hard time anwering. Because if Christ hasn't shown up, then we have just been busy. It is no wonder that we can get so frustrated. Master, we have worked all night and have caught nothing.
Yet, on account of your word, I will let down the nets. Sometimes, we get so tired, we just surrender. It is sad that it becomes a matter of last resort, instead of the first thing we do. It is so crazy it just might work...this doing what Jesus wants, when he wants, how he wants, where he wants. We have tried everything else...why not turn to Jesus and follow his words?
What happens when we do? There is net full of fish, full to the point of overflowing, of breaking the nets. God is not stingy with grace. The God revealed in Jesus Christ has an abundance of love for us.
Note what happened in the one of the worst parts of Houston. There was a pastor, who was given his first assignment out of seminary to be the "senior pastor" of Windsor Village UMC. Senior Pastor indeed....of a church with 25 members, struggling to survive. But this pastor preached good news to the poor, and they believed the word. His name is Kirbyjohn Caldwell. He is black, but people of all races and all classes were drawn to the good news. And the church grew. They had a vision of reaching out to their neighbors. The church grew so much, they bought a Super K-Mart that had gone under. They established a day care center, a branch of the community college, an AIDS clinic, a job center, and a bank where no bank had dared to go before. And the church grew. Do you know how many members are at this church today? Over 14,000! God is not stingy. The nets will be full. There will be results.
Simon Peter bows down before Jesus, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man." I have been humbled this past week. First by my overfunctioning. I am a helpaholic. I never met a need I didn't like. I try to do too much. This past Monday, I was talking to our youth director, who said, "Remember we have our confirmation class retreat on the last weekend of February." Oh, rats....I double-booked. I have another major event I am supposed to lead that weekend. I know I am the only one who has done this! I had to make some phone calls and ask for forgiveness. I got out of the other event, and felt grace flowing over me. I am overwhelmed by how good God is to me and all of us sinners who try to do things by our competence and hard work.
Then Jesus says to Simon and us, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people." We will have results with God's help. And apparently it works, or we wouldn't be here today.
They left everything and followed him. Let me sing it for you, in a song some friends and I wrote one summer in our college years.
Fisherman
I am a fisherman, have been all my days.
Toiling long hours in the sun's rays.
But I woke up this morning, cast my net out on the sea.
Then this man came walking by, said, "Follow me."
(chorus) Foxes have holes to hide in. Birds have nests as their bed.
But a follower of the Christ has nowhere to rest his head.
No staff, no tunic, no sandals do I take.
Sacrificing everything for my master's sake.
chorus
Ready to reap the harvest. I've put my hand to the plow.
Trusting only in God's grace. No turning back now.
chorus
I am a fisherman, just a fisherman, I am a fisherman.
The good news is that you are one too. Amen.
Friday, February 5, 2010
sabbath
2/5/10 I feel a lot better today. I took yesterday off. I had a day of sabbath rest. I work just about every Sunday, so that day usually is not my sabbath. Most weeks I can take off Saturday and spend that day with my wife, but I have been teaching some events on Saturday here lately. I got really tired. When I get this way, I get snappish, out of sorts, not my best self. But today, I am better, because I am rested. We forget that sabbath time is a legalism, that is, something we ought to do. Sabbath time is a gift.
Love,
Lynn
Love,
Lynn
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
chesed
2/3/10 What really lasts? Good looks, money, fame? Bodies, memories, careers? No, they all pass away. I don't mean this meditation to be a downer (although it is cold and rainy outside, and somewhat depressing inside as well).
My breath prayer comes from Psalm 138:8 which has some good news for me today, and hopefully for you. "The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever." Steadfast love in Hebrew is "chesed." It can mean loving-kindness, covenant love, God's love. This is what lasts forever.
Love (chesed),
Lynn
My breath prayer comes from Psalm 138:8 which has some good news for me today, and hopefully for you. "The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever." Steadfast love in Hebrew is "chesed." It can mean loving-kindness, covenant love, God's love. This is what lasts forever.
Love (chesed),
Lynn
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
forgiven
2/2/10 I did it again. I double booked. I had 2 things down for the same weekend. I can do many things, but I cannot be in 2 places at the same time. I was really angry with myself. It is a classic move on my part, overfunctioning and trying to do everything. I went in yesterday to apologize to my youth director for the conflict I was causing.
This morning, the word from Isaiah was exactly for me, from chapter 6, verse 7, "Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out." I needed that release. I pretend that I am not a sinner, and then something like double booking will snap me out of my illusion.
Good news from just a few minutes ago. One event I had penciled in for that weekend is not going to make, so I have been released from it and my guilt.
Love,
Lynn
This morning, the word from Isaiah was exactly for me, from chapter 6, verse 7, "Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out." I needed that release. I pretend that I am not a sinner, and then something like double booking will snap me out of my illusion.
Good news from just a few minutes ago. One event I had penciled in for that weekend is not going to make, so I have been released from it and my guilt.
Love,
Lynn
Monday, February 1, 2010
response to the word
from my sermon on 1/31/10 from Luke 4:21-30
Little towns want to be proud of our native sons and dughters. If you travel on HWy 84 around Littlefield, Tx, where I grew up, you will see a big billboard that says, "Home of Waylon Jennings." I remember the 4th of July when he and Willie Nelson played a free outdoor concert at the fair grounds. People would say, "He's from here, you know."
Can you see a billboard outside of Nazareth? "Home of Jesus: Preacher, Teacher, Healer." When he got up to read in the synagogue, "the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to see the oppressed free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord," can you hear the people say, "He reads well." When he says, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing," they say, "He preaches mighty fine too." They probably go on to say, "He did some healings among those fishermen in Capernahum. I bet he does something really special here among his hometown folks."
What did Jesus say? He is not going to do any miracles here? How dare he! I remember him as a 12 year old little boy, staying behind in the Temple. He always was a smarty-pants! And his parents, Mary and Joseph, were they even married when he was born?
You see how quickly the crowd can turn against one like Jesus. It didn't help that he pointed out their faults to them. Don't you just love it when your children come home and show you how far you have fallen from the straight and narrow? "Daddy, you told us to obey the law, so how come you have a radar detectory on the dashboard? Mommy, you said you want us to be religious, so how come we don't go to church like my friends do?"
It doesn't help if you use scripture to back up our barbs. I can hear Jesus say, "Look it up in your Bibles, I Kings 17 where Elijah stayed with a foreign widow and her son during the famine, not one from the Hebrew faith. And look it up in II Kings 5 where Elisha healed the foreign military leader Naaman from his leprosy and not one of the Jews." The hometown crowd really doesn't like this. "Is he saying that God loves outsiders as much as insiders, Gentiles as much as Jews?" "Don't quote the Bible at us Jesus; we already know what we believe!"
In today's terms we might sing with the Austin Lounge Lizards:
I know you smoke, I know you drink that brew,
I just can't abide a sinner like you.
You know God can't either, I know it's true,
That Jesus loves me, but he can't stand you.
But Jesus is totally free of his family's demands or his little town's expectations. He doesn't try to please them. He lives to please his heavenly Father. I wonder if we do.
MMPI stands for the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. It is the gold standard of diagnostics in psychology. In laymen's terms there are scales like nurturing, need for approval, conflict avoidance. On a scale of 1-100, where do you think pastors fall? We are in the high 90's in all of these categories. We are infected with terminal niceness. How hard it is for us to preach the hard truth.
One of my faith heroes is Thomas Merton, a contemplative monk who lived most of his life in silence and prayer. He did preach some out of his deep relationship with Christ. Once during the Civil Rights days he was preaching in the deep South, on one of these passages like that before today, about preaching good news to the poor and release to the captives. A man got up in the Catholic service and shouted, "I didn't come here to listen to this s..." You will have to supply the final word. No one has ever done that to me.
Have you had a response to the Word that strong? One of my ladies in San Saba said that from time to time she needed to have her toes stepped on. Do you remember a sermon like that? I don't remember many sermons, but I do one from seminary chapel. It didn't come from one of the professors of preaching, one of those with thundering theology and oratory gifts. It came from one of the history professors. It was pretty dry and in a monotone. The passage was one of those challenging ones where Jesus asks us to count the cost as we go out to spread the gospel, not to take extra food or clothes and to depend upon God. This professor said, "We really don't practice this. We fall short of what Jesus asks." You could have heard a pin drop. The truth had been spoken in our midst.
We didn't take him outside and throw him off a cliff. You know you can have death by stoning by throwing stones at someone or by throwing someone onto stones. How did Jesus get out of the angry crowd? He had more work to do. He wanted to keep spreading the word that God's love was for everybody, especially the one we think is most unlikely. He is still walking into our midst with the same challenge.
I really don't wake up on Sunday mornings with the intent of alienating a lot of people. You like it when I close the sermon, "this is the good news I have to share with you today." The good news may at first be bad news of confrontation to us before it is good news again. The good news is that Jesus won't stop until we understand all are loved by Him. Who might we be excluding? What will be our response? This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Little towns want to be proud of our native sons and dughters. If you travel on HWy 84 around Littlefield, Tx, where I grew up, you will see a big billboard that says, "Home of Waylon Jennings." I remember the 4th of July when he and Willie Nelson played a free outdoor concert at the fair grounds. People would say, "He's from here, you know."
Can you see a billboard outside of Nazareth? "Home of Jesus: Preacher, Teacher, Healer." When he got up to read in the synagogue, "the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to see the oppressed free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord," can you hear the people say, "He reads well." When he says, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing," they say, "He preaches mighty fine too." They probably go on to say, "He did some healings among those fishermen in Capernahum. I bet he does something really special here among his hometown folks."
What did Jesus say? He is not going to do any miracles here? How dare he! I remember him as a 12 year old little boy, staying behind in the Temple. He always was a smarty-pants! And his parents, Mary and Joseph, were they even married when he was born?
You see how quickly the crowd can turn against one like Jesus. It didn't help that he pointed out their faults to them. Don't you just love it when your children come home and show you how far you have fallen from the straight and narrow? "Daddy, you told us to obey the law, so how come you have a radar detectory on the dashboard? Mommy, you said you want us to be religious, so how come we don't go to church like my friends do?"
It doesn't help if you use scripture to back up our barbs. I can hear Jesus say, "Look it up in your Bibles, I Kings 17 where Elijah stayed with a foreign widow and her son during the famine, not one from the Hebrew faith. And look it up in II Kings 5 where Elisha healed the foreign military leader Naaman from his leprosy and not one of the Jews." The hometown crowd really doesn't like this. "Is he saying that God loves outsiders as much as insiders, Gentiles as much as Jews?" "Don't quote the Bible at us Jesus; we already know what we believe!"
In today's terms we might sing with the Austin Lounge Lizards:
I know you smoke, I know you drink that brew,
I just can't abide a sinner like you.
You know God can't either, I know it's true,
That Jesus loves me, but he can't stand you.
But Jesus is totally free of his family's demands or his little town's expectations. He doesn't try to please them. He lives to please his heavenly Father. I wonder if we do.
MMPI stands for the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. It is the gold standard of diagnostics in psychology. In laymen's terms there are scales like nurturing, need for approval, conflict avoidance. On a scale of 1-100, where do you think pastors fall? We are in the high 90's in all of these categories. We are infected with terminal niceness. How hard it is for us to preach the hard truth.
One of my faith heroes is Thomas Merton, a contemplative monk who lived most of his life in silence and prayer. He did preach some out of his deep relationship with Christ. Once during the Civil Rights days he was preaching in the deep South, on one of these passages like that before today, about preaching good news to the poor and release to the captives. A man got up in the Catholic service and shouted, "I didn't come here to listen to this s..." You will have to supply the final word. No one has ever done that to me.
Have you had a response to the Word that strong? One of my ladies in San Saba said that from time to time she needed to have her toes stepped on. Do you remember a sermon like that? I don't remember many sermons, but I do one from seminary chapel. It didn't come from one of the professors of preaching, one of those with thundering theology and oratory gifts. It came from one of the history professors. It was pretty dry and in a monotone. The passage was one of those challenging ones where Jesus asks us to count the cost as we go out to spread the gospel, not to take extra food or clothes and to depend upon God. This professor said, "We really don't practice this. We fall short of what Jesus asks." You could have heard a pin drop. The truth had been spoken in our midst.
We didn't take him outside and throw him off a cliff. You know you can have death by stoning by throwing stones at someone or by throwing someone onto stones. How did Jesus get out of the angry crowd? He had more work to do. He wanted to keep spreading the word that God's love was for everybody, especially the one we think is most unlikely. He is still walking into our midst with the same challenge.
I really don't wake up on Sunday mornings with the intent of alienating a lot of people. You like it when I close the sermon, "this is the good news I have to share with you today." The good news may at first be bad news of confrontation to us before it is good news again. The good news is that Jesus won't stop until we understand all are loved by Him. Who might we be excluding? What will be our response? This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
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