all things new

4/29/10 My breath prayer for the day comes from the Revelation to John 21:5, "And the one who was seated on the throne, said, 'See, I am making all things new.'" As I went walking this morning and was reflecting on this verse, I took heart that it was not I who makes all things new. The Lord Jesus has that job. I was encouraged that it was a process--making-- the passage says. All things means all things, not just the things I think can be changed, but there is nothing beyond Christ's touch. Even the most helpless, hopeless person or situation can be made new. New is often used in the promotion of products. "New and improved" the ads promise. Jesus fulfills His promise. He makes all things new.

Love,
Lynn

Joe

4/28/10 Two and and a third years ago, Joe nearly died. He had a massive stroke. In the interim, he has improved and fallen back, nearly dying several more times. Thanks to excellent care by a number of health providers and the sheer determination of his wife Ann, Joe continues to plug along. This past Sunday, when we were discovering what in means to Rethink Church by going out into the community to do service projects instead of gathering in our sanctuary for a worship service, Joe and Ann went to help with the Church under the Bridge. They brought some 500 pairs of socks with them to give to the homeless folks who came to worship there. Many of our church members said it was a powerful witness to see Joe and Ann handing out socks to others. Joe will keep on plugging along.

Love,
Lynn

the shirt off his back

4/26/10 Yesterday, we had a wonderful time when we were challenged to Rethink Church. We went out into the community to do local mission projects instead of gathering for worship and Sunday School. Then we gathered for lunch and a brief worship service at a nearby elementary school cafeteria. For the sermon, I invited person to share how they met Christ in those whom they served that morning. One story came from the group that went to be with the homeless persons who worship at something called Church Under the Bridge. Our congregation took clothes that they handed out to the mostly men who came to worship. When asked what kind of shirt he wanted, one man pointed to one of our church member's bright red t-shirt that had the Rethink Church logo on it. He said, "I want one like that." Our church member gave him the shirt off of his back!

Love,
Lynn

1600 Sundays

4/22/10 I have had some anxiety about this coming Sunday when we are calling off Sunday School and worship and are going out into the world to be the church, to Rething Church. There has been a little push-back to the idea, some confusion, some miscommunication, etc. I was afraid that the idea might be a total flop.

So the math major in me (B.S. degree from Texas A & M in 1976) invaded my prayer life. I got to thinking: I have been a pastor for 32 years at 52 Sundays per year that makes 1600 Sundays. So if things don't go well on just 1 Sunday out of 1600, that's not too bad.

Actually, I keep hearing great stories about how people are responding to the challenge of being the church in the world, in ways that I could not have engineered or predicted. I believe that God is in this Rethink Church project, and that God will be glorified, and that God's people will be blessed.

Love,
Lynn

ask and you shall receive

4/21/10 We are calling off worship and Sunday School at our usual church site this Sunday, and we are going out into the world to be the church. We are gathering for lunch and brief worship service at a nearby school cafeteria. All of this I have been doing on faith. I have had no idea how many people will be out in mission and coinge to lunch. Actually, we are getting some rough estimates of how many people are doing what projects, and we even have rough count of about 250 meals at this point. I didn't know how I would pay for the meals or rental of the school until last night. I was visiting with one of our church members who said that they gave to worthy causes and not just to the budget. I mentioned that I had this meal coming up. This person said how many lunches. I said 250 at $5/lunch. After a bit of reflection, this person said that they would pay for all of them!

I feel awkward asking people for help, especially financial help. I need to learn to get over this feeling, because people like to give. They just need to be asked.

Love,
Lynn

shepherd

4/20/10 We as Americans are not agrarian people as we used to be. Our context is freeways, not farmland, concrete and steel, not corn and soybeans. In other words, we don't have much to do with sheep or shepherds. Yet, nearly every funeral I have ever performed, we say the 23rd Psalm. One of the few scripture passages we may have memorized is the 23rd Psalm. The imagery endures. We need it, we long for it, as we say, "The LORD is my shepherd...."

Love,
Lynn

overwhelmed

4/19/10 I was at a cont. ed. event last week where I was learning more about social media like blogging, tweeting, facebook, etc. However, I was so overwhelmed with all of the new information and possibilities that I didn't take the time to actually blog or tweet or update my facebook page.

When I go to such events, I am also overwhelmed by how much more other churches and pastors are doing, and how much this church and I could be doing. I feel inadequate.

The good news to my feeling of being overwhelmed comes in my breath prayer for the day, Psalm 23:1, "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want." In other words, I shall not be overwhelmed.

Love,
Lynn

2 things on my heart

4/12/10 Most of us like to pretend that we are in control, that we are competent, and can pull things off. There are 2 things that I know are beyond my control, where I don't feel competent, and where I am not sure they will come off. One is the finishing up of our stewardship emphasis. I went out on faith, and we didn't do the usual end of the year, what do we need for the budget approach. We have been setting a vision, trying to emphasize year round stewardship, and our need to give rather than the church's need to receive. To that end, we moved our stewardship emphasis to a Lenten time. We still don't have 2010 abudget, and it is the middle of April. I am trusting that God will bless this process. The initial results are encouraging with many new commitments and many increased commitments. We still have a long way to go, and that is where I need to have faith.

The second is a Rethink Church Day, where we are calling off Sunday School and worship at local church site, and we go out to "be" the church in the world by doing service projects. Then we gather for lunch and worship at a nearby school cafeteria to share how we experienced Christ in the neighbor we served. The registrations have come in very slowly, which raised my anxiety. Months ago, I was led to this idea, and I recruited leadership for it. I know that this is church is a last minute sign-up kind of church. It is a matter for faith again, to trust that this is what Christ is calling us to do.

I hope that you would join me in prayer about these 2 things. If you haven't submitted your commitment card or signed up for Rethink Church, please do so quickly.

Love,
Lynn

the Almighty

4/8/10 My breath prayer for today comes from the Revelation to John 1:8, "'I am the Alpha and the Omega' says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." I am feeling a bit overwhelmed as we try to finish up extravagant generosity and get the rest of our commitment cards in, plus trying to get people to register their involvement in risk-taking mission and reserve a meal on April 25, when we rethink church. So I am remembering today that there is One who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. I realize I am not all mighty; I own my weakness. In my incompleteness, I am driven to trust the Almighty.

Love,
Lynn

breath

4/7/10 Every morning I spend some time with the scripture suggested for the day by a devotional book. I stay with the scripture until there is a verse that speaks to me, that I can make into a breath prayer for the day. Today's is especially appropriate, Psalm 150:6, "Let everything that breathes praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!" So, as I walked this morning and lifted weights, I was very aware of every breath that I took. I was also aware of all nature around me breathing and praising God, birds singing and rabbits hopping. Even in the extremely slow traffic this morning, I kept breathing. I kept praising. So may you. It is very important to keep breathing.

Love,
Lynn

run for your life

from my Easter sermon on 4/4/10 from John 20:1-18

Austin is a running town. We just hosted the Texas Relays, one of the premier running events in the world. Next Sunday is the Cap 10K, and many of you will be out there pounding the pavement. In fact, could we do a quick poll now? How many of you are runners? Yes, Austin is a running town. In that we are the state capital, some of you are running for office. And since we are the world capital for allergies, today some of your noses are running.

I was impressed as I read John's gospel this time by all of the running that was going on that first Easter morning. Mary goes to the tomb, finds it empty, and runs away. When she tells Peter and the other disciple (I think as many scholars do, that this other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved is John), they start running back to the tomb. On this Easter, some of us are running from the tomb and some are running toward it.

If you are not running from the tomb, you probably know someone who is. Mary was confused, couldn't make sense of the experience, maybe didn't understand. And she runs from it. WE may have lots of questions about the resurrection too.

I was working in my local park yesterday, picking up trash and moving brush to block off some trails where we didn't want people to go. One of my fellow workers said, "Aren't you a pastor?" "Yes I am. I serve Westlake UMC." "Don't you have big day tomorrow?" "Yes, it is our Final Four." When people give me this kind of opening, I feel I can ask, "Do you have a place of worship?" "Oh, no," she said, "What with all of the clergy abuse, and I believe everybody has their own god. There are as many gods as there are people."

Abby and I visited 20 confirmands this past week who may be making their profession of faith next week in worship. They have questions. One of them asked me, "Why did my grandmother have to die?"

You questions may come from different places. The economic recovery hasn't caught up with you yet, and you are about to lose your house. Your marriage is teetering on the brink of collapse. You may wonder where is the presence of Christ, where is the good news, where is the resurrection?

I firmly believe that no matter how hard our questions are, how far and fast we are running from the empty tomb, we cannot outrun grace. The risen Christ will meet us on the path, even as He met Mary in the garden later.

You may be medicating your feeling with distilled spirits, but you will never be satisfied until you take in the Holy Spirit. You may be running after the Almighty Dollar, but you will never be feel safe, or secure, or happy until you encounter the Almighty God. All of our running after other things only leads us back to the One who can satisfy. The good news is that you will never be satisfied with anything less. All of our running away only leads us back into Christ's embrace.

Peter and John are running toward the tomb, and it is almost funny. It is like a footrace. Who will win. John gets there first (some commentaries say that he is younger!). But he doesn't go in; he lets Peter goes in first (some commentaries say this is to show respect to the first bishop of Rome, the first Pope). John goes in second, but is the first to believe. Does it really matter who is first?

You are not going to believe this, but there is still competition in the church today! I was baptized at 13. Well, I was baptized at 11! I went on the Walk to Emmaus. I went on Walk 331. I went on Walk 72! Does it really matter who comes in first when it comes to the resurrection?

Right now I am readying a book on Reverse Mentoring. It is all about how wisdom flows both ways. Not just from the older and more experienced to the younger and less experienced but also the other way. Now Jim, our associate pastor is older than I am, but where I have 32 years as an ordained pastor, Jim is about to be ordained in June. But Jim is the one who has taught me how to blog and to tweet. Then Lisa, our intern pastor, caught me last week with a remark about a situation where she said, "I think that is unjust." And she was right. Here I am the one who is supervising getting taught by my student. Does it really matter who comes in first?

I've told this whole sermon just so I could tell you the following story. When I first started in ministry here in Austin, I had a clown troupe. These high school youth would go out with me to bring cheer to people in the hospitals and in nursing homes. But one of our favorite things to do was to attend the Texas Special Olympics. I will never forget that year, in May, when it was so hot and humid. Four thousand special athletes gathered at Memorial Stadium on the UT campus. The mile run had 8 males. The starting gun went off. Already from the beginning, there was a pack of 7 lead runners and 1 who was far behind. First lap, way behind. Second lap, even more, third lap, they are nearly passing him. The pack finishes by lapping this one lone runner. He starts his 4th lap all by himself out on the track. People in the stands start yelling, "Go, go, go, go." His tongue is hanging out. We are yelling, "Run, run, run, run." His head is bobbing from side to side. We are screaming, "Win, win, win, win!" He crosses the finish line, breaking the imaginary tape, looking like he just set a new world record, and falls into the arms of waiting volunteers who hug him. Did he win? Oh, yes, he did! Does it really matter who comes in first when it comes to believing in the resurrection?

Running is a metaphor for the life of faith. In the prophet Isaiah, we find, "But those who wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint." In letter to the Hebrews in the NT, we find, "Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perserverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God."

Now in this church, we are not just running around, running without purpose. We are coming up with a new vision statement, "Following One, Serving All." The good news is we were made to run with Jesus.

love one another

4/1/10 My breath prayer for the day is from John 13:35 where Jesus says, "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." Today is Maunday Thursday, a day in the church year, when we remember that Jesus washes His disciples' feet. The master acts as a servant. He models what love for one another is. May we follow His example.

Love,
Lynn