r & r

6/29/10 In about 8 hours, Cathy and I will be leaving for a month of renewal leave, traveling to Australia and New Zealand. I told my Staff Parish Relations Committee that I didn't want any more money, but I could sure use more time off. They graciously granted me this extended vacation. The older I get the more I need to rest it seems.

The best man in our wedding, Dr. Dennis Shanks, lives with his family in Brisbane. We fly from LAX directly there, arriving on Thursday morning ( due to the international time line). We will have a week with Dennis catching up with him and his life while recovering from the 9 time zone difference. We go then to Cairns to experience the Great Barrier Reef. Next we go to Darwin where we will visit 2 national parks that are known for their birds, aboriginal art, and waterfalls. Then we spend several days in Sydney. I hope to do a side trip to the Blue Mountains just west of the city. We then fly to New Zealand, landing on the south island in Christchurch. We will take 8 days to drive a rental car up to Aukland on the north island from whence we fly back to LAX and then Austin.

I will probably be fairly lax about blog postings for the next month. It is important for me to simply rest. I hope to catch you back when I return in late July.

Love,
Lynn

on the road again

From my sermon on 6/27/10 from Luke 9:51-62

With a sermon title like this and living in Austin, Texas, we have to sing Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again."

On the road again, just can't wait to get on the road again. The life I love is making music with my friends, and I can't wait to get on the road again.

On the road again, going places that I've never been. Seein' things that I may never see again, and I can't wait to get on the road again.

On the road again, like a band of gypsies we go down the highway. We're the best of friends, insisting that the world keep turning our way, and our way .....

I love to travel. I think it is some of the best education. By the way Cathy and I are about to leave on a month's tour of Australia and New Zealand. I may not deserve it, but I need the rest.

Luke in this passage has Jesus on the road again. He has set his face to go to Jerusalem. Two Greek words for journey and going are used total of 8 times in these brief verses. Jesus joins others from our Bible--Abraham and Sarah, who are told to leave their home, family, and country and go to a land that I will show you, and Moses, who sets out from Egypt with his people to go to a promised land. Jesus began this process from the very beginning. Remember the birth story from Luke where Mary and Joseph leave their native Nazereth for Bethlehem for the census, and Jesus is born there.

Jesus has set his face to go to Jerusalem. It takes him 10 chapters in Luke to get there. Only Luke has this travelogue. It is not a straight line. There seems to be no organizing principle. Jesus pause, prays, and plays along the way. He only seems to want to spend as much time with his disciples as possible. Why? Because what happens in Jerusalem. Jesus will be rejected, killed, and raised again from the dead. Jesus is tryig to prepare his followers for what is to come.

In this context, we can understand some of the language of this passage. He sends messengers ahead to a village of Samaritans. They reject him, because his face is set on going to Jerusalem. Jesus is reaching out to these half-breed heretics from the beginning, but they can't receive him because his focus is on road ahead. Please don't beat up on the Samaritans. On this Lukan Journey, they will become the heroes in 2 stories, the Good Samaritan, and the healed leper. Jesus does not call for retribution on them here.

The responses to the 3 would-be disciples seem harsh too. The first says he will follow wherever Jesus goes. Jesus' reply is that he though foxes have holes and birds have nests he has nowhere to rest his head. It is as if the census workers track him down, and ask "What is your address?" His response, "On the road again." Jesus is asking us walk along. It is not to a place but a person, not a destination, but a destiny.

The second is invited to follow but declines till he can bury his father. We don't like what Jesus says about leaving the dead to bury the dead. He is asking us to walk from death to life. We can get caught up on focusing on negative things. We can get caught up in trying to control things, even our families. These beautiful children we baptize today don't belong to the parents, but to God, who alone holds life and death in his hands. Our lives are caught up in what Jesus does in Jerusalem, in his life and death and resurrection.

The third says he will follow, but only after he goes back to his family to say good-bye. Jesus says no one who puts their hand to the plow and turns back is fit for the kingdom of God. Try this when you leave the parking lot today. Put the car in drive, but only look in the rear view mirror as you drive. I hope you don't really do this. I think sometimes on Loop 360 some peopel do. What happens? You get in a wreck. I once served a church where almost all of the conversations were about "we used to." We used to have 600 in worship. We used to have 250 in the youth group. We used to elect bishops. While the neighbor changed around them, and they dwindled, all they could talk about was the past. We are called to walk into Christ's future, on the road again.

In this vein, I need to tell you that starting my 4th year with you, I am growing uncomfortable with our being comfortable. We have been at a plateau for at least 10 years now. I am going to be challenging us to live into our new vision statement, Following One, Serving All. I think we are good about going out and serving. We have 2 youth mission teams going out right now. I think we are less good about following Jesus, about going with him.

I had my "wellness conversation" this past week with my therapist. Each year we pastors can visit with a health professional to check in and see how crazy we are. I was sharing about this vision statement with her. She reflected that there was a parallel going on in me. The depth I wanted for the congregation was the some depth that I wanted for myself. I wanted to grow closer to Jesus and I wanted that for the congregation. I still have some good years left. I would love to go this journey with you.

We say life is a journey. John Wesley whose birthday we celebrate said, "We are going onto perfection." We have 12 steps groups that take us toward healing. The early Christians were called "the Way."

This church is called to be "Following One, Serving All." To that end Pastor Jim and I are working on steps to help people along a pathway to discipleship. I apologize for not making this more clear in the past. At each stage we will be giving you limited choices about what to do next. This comes from my new favorite book, entitled Nudge, which says don't overwhelm people with too many options. Lay out a few and nudge them in the right direction. So you can start with my Methodist 101 class, go to a Bible survey or a prayer class, then onto a deeper Bible class like Disciple and so forth.

Jesus was on the road again for 10 chapters in Luke to spend as much time as he could preparing the disciples. He wants us to spend as much time as we can with him to get to know him and to become like him.

The strange good news is that Jesus is homeless. The other part of the good news is that Jesus himself is the home. We get to know him on the road again.

wellness

6/24/10 For the past several days, I have been about as sick as I ever get. It was mostly an upset stomach, nausea, achiness, and lack of sleep. Most people would never know I was sick. For me getting sick meant that I would walk 2 1/2 miles instead of 3 to 4 miles and maybe cut back on swimming. I wasn't very hungry for a couple of days there and so didn't eat very much. It's funny, but at the exact same time, I was getting back my results from my blood test. My levels are all good, especially my cholesterol, for which I take medicine. I also filled out my health survey online, where I rank in the 98 percentile for people my age. I further had my "wellness conversation" with my therapist who gave me clean bill of mental health. Today I am feeling much better. The nausea has passed. I slept well last night. My appetite has returned. I am grateful for my good health.

Love,
Lynn

another good book

6//23/10 I have started another book, which I highly recommend. This book was referenced at a workshop I attended this spring where I learned about a pathway to discipleship. The book is called Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein. What this particular church did was to put people on a pathway to follow Christ, and at each step of the journey to offer limited choices, a "nudge" in the right direction to take the next step. The point of the book is that far too often we offer person too many choices which only paralyzes them. A "nudge" while offering fewer choices actually gives more freedom to choose.

Love,
Lynn

good book

6/22/10 I just yesterday finished reading a good book which I recommend to you. It is called An Altar in the World, and it is written by an Episcopalian priest named Barbara Brown Taylor. Basically, it is about being aware of the presence of God in the everydayness of life. There is holiness all around us if we but pay attention is another way of saying it. It is the kind of book that you don't have to read straight through. You can pick it up and put it down and not lose the flow. I know it helped me this morning to be more aware of God in my morning walk.

Love,
Lynn

my name is legion

from my sermon on 6/20/10 from Luke 8:26-39

My first response to this passage is "Ah, how quaint these ancient ones in their understanding of the world." They have Jesus crossing over to the "other side." You can tell how they divide people into "us" and "them." It is Gentile country. There are pigs which the Jews have nothing to with with. There are tombs which the Jews avoid. There is a crazy person.

We never get into us and them thinking. As if we divide Austin into east of I-35 and west of I-35. As if we divide states into red states and blue states. As if we have issues with border security and those people over there. As if we have troubles with other races. As if we warehoused the mentally ill. Oops...maybe this passage has some traction, some relevance in our lives today.

But at least we don't have the primitive view of demon possession. We don't believe in this. As if we were possessed by our possessions. I heard a man say, "The more you own, the more you groan." As if we had addictions--to alcohol and other drugs, to work, to pornography, to controlling other people, to gambling. As if we had compulsions to greater success, to security with gated communities and alarms. As if we were obsessed with "bueaty," checking out of HEB and seeing all of the magazines for tighter abs and sexier eyes. As if we had to stay in constant contact, tethered to our electronic devices. Who came up with the term "Smart phone?" What is so smart about always being available? I know some of us have to instantly pickup whenever we hear the "ding" of our phone or computer. I have created a new game; it is called email lotto. Whenever I hit send/recieve, I try to guess how many new emails will be in my inbox. This morning I guessed 21, and there were 21! Although 4 of them were spam and didn't really count. As if we were overcommitted. Used to, we would establish priorities...1, 2, 3, 4...but now it looks like this 1, 1, 1, 1. Oops, perhaps this passage has more relevance than we would like to think. If Jesus were to ask us our name, today in this house of God, we might truthfully have to say, "My name is legion."

Legions would be well known in that time in the middle east. There were at least 3 stationed there. A legion consisted of about 6,000 soldiers. So the possessed man was saying a great number inhabited his being. Legions were also the occupying army and were not well liked. So the man would be saying that he had been taken over by opposing forces, and was in conflict, at war with himself. Today we might say, My name is mob.

What has all this to do with Father's Day? Pastor Jim recentl had about 12 of us men go through a study called Letters from Dad. We had a book to read, we have DVD's to watch, we had weekly meetings, and we had a plan to follow. Over a month we were to write letters to our wives, our children, our parents, and then a legacy letter that contained our core values and treasured beliefs that we wanted to pass on to future generations. What many of the men said was, "My dad never told me he loved me. I never got a hug from my dady. I don't remember getting a blessing from my father. I don't have a letter of affirmation from my dad." I know that this is not unique to men, but what I am trying to say is that it is more complicated for men today. We have more roles to play. We are gettting into feelings and relationships. Our name is legion.

Well at least we don't get caught up in the power of the name. The ancient ones believed that if you knew someone's name, you had power and authority over them. And yet, when we go to the hospital with some mysterious ailment, we are petrified of the unknown cause. But when the doctor "names" the dis-ease, we feel more at east. Once it has been diagnosed, named, we feel that we can fight it. Naming it is the first step to a cure.

But we don't believe in exorcisms. The man with the demons begged for them to be sent into the herd of pigs. They didn't want to be sent into the abyss. But ironically, once they demons went into the pigs, the pigs rushed into the lake and drowned, taking the demons into the abyss. In one of the commentaries I read, it said that this is the first record of "deviled ham."

The ancient ones didn't have the therapies we do today of medications and counseling, which I firmly believe in, and often send people who see me off to their physician to get a complete workup. Yet I have seen people who were baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit become different people, whole people because of that sacrment. I have seen people come forward and be changed because they heard, "Doug, the body of Christ for you." I have seen people on the Walk to Emmaus leave something horrible behind at dying moments communion, and it never has power over them again. I have seen you kneel here, and be anointed with oil in the name of Jesus Christ, our Great Physician, and be healed. Where else in life are we going to get sin and evil dealt with? Where else where we feel cleansed and holy? Jesus still has power over evil.

The man whose name was legion is in his right mind. I love that wording. He sits at the feet of Jesus. It is the proper posture of a disciple. The community is scared. They want Jesus to leave. Why if Jesus can do this for this man, what will he do in our lives? We can no longer project all of our issues onto this "problem child," we will have to deal with our own stuff.

I read a book by an Episcopalian priest who talks about visiting a sick person in the hospital. He read one of the standard prayers from the wonderful Book of Common Prayer. The person was instantly healed! The priest left the hospital and out on the street, this was his next prayer, "Don't you ever do that again!" It is scary to think that this God revealed in Jesus has that kind of power and might want to go places in our lives that we would rather he wouldn't go.

The man whose name was legion wants to go with Jesus. The Greek literally says, "be with you." Usually Jesus says, "Come, follow me." This one time he says, "return, go back to the very ones who cast you out and declare to them all that God has done for you."

We are trying to live into our new vision statement of Following One, Serving All. We don't always have to go to Africa or China. Sometimes our mission field is our very neighborhood.

Did the man whose name was legion actually witness to those Gentile neighbors on the other side? I think he did.....for down through the ages and even today there are legions of believers.

children

6/17/10 My breath prayer for today comes from that great text of inclusion, Galatians 3:23-29, especially verse 26, " for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith." Cathy and I watched a terrific film last night, Invictus, about Nelson Mandela's rising above revenge and racism, to bring his country together around rugby. He could see beyond black and white, poor and rich, to the fact that we were all created to be children of God.

Love,
Lynn

hope

6/16/10 My breath prayer today comes from Psalms 42 & 43 where the following phrase is used as a refrain 3 times: "Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God." My hope is not in my retirement account, or in my health insurance, or in the government, or in the military, or in my competence, or in my hard work. My hope is in God, the God who created all things, redeems all things, and sustains all things. Because of this God I find revealed in Jesus Christ, I have hope.

Love,
Lynn

get up and eat

6/15/10 My breath prayer for the day comes from I kings 19:7 where an angel of the Lord is ministering to the scared Elijah and says, "Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you." My reading in the Daily Disciplines helped amplify this thought by reinforcing the need to take care of oneself by eating and resting well and to accept the care of others by receiving their attention. So this Christian life is not just sacrificing oneself but receiving good gifts from God and others for the long journey.

Love,
Lynn

what are you doing here

6/14/10 My breath prayer for the day comes from I kings 19:9 where Elijah is scared and depressed and on the run....I am changing the scripture slightly to fit all of us..."then the word of the LORD came to (me), saying, 'What are you doing here, (Lynn)?'" That is the existential question....why am I here? What is the meaning of my life? What is my purpose? Interestingly, it is very similiar to the question that Jesus posed to Judas in the garden according to one of the gospel accounts, "Friend, why are you here?"

As I go through this day...as you go through this day...we might continue to ask...What am I doing here?


Love,
Lynn

Bible in my heart

6/11/10 When I was going to college, I started a process of memorizing verses of scripture. I think it was through the Navigators Bible Study. I made up little cards with the verses on them and would review from time to time. Today my breath prayer is from Galatians 2:20, which is one of those scriptures that I learned a long time ago, "I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, and the life I live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave his life for me." For nearly 40 years now this verse has been a part of the Bible in my heart.

Love,
Lynn

God sightings

6/10/10 Each day in Vacation Bible School, the children are asked to name God sightings, places where they have seen God's grace at work. I have witnessed many God sightings at VBS as the children learn of Joseph's rise from prison to the palace in Egypt. But I have also seen many outside of VBS, especially as we prepare to upgrade Bldg M that we bought 2 years ago. In the last 2 days, the office condo association board voted to approve our project ( a huge step toward getting it down), plans have been submitted to the City of Westlake Hills in order to get a building permit, the plans have been put out for contractors to bid upon them, and the Texas Methodist Foundation has given us financial backing. For me, these were God sightings.

Love,
Lynn

a "holey" holy ceiling

6/9/10 On Monday when I came to the office our wonderful janitor was all in a dither. "Oh, your office!" she said. Upon entering my space I found a bulge of water in my ceiling that was dripping down into a trash can. The catch pan for an A/C unit in the attic had clogged up and overflowed, causing my sheet rock to sag. Later the workmen came in and popped the bubble releasing a torrent of water. Now I have a hole in my ceiling as we wait for the sheet rock and insulation to dry out.

I pray to God that it is also a holy hole, and that my prayers are not bound to my small space but ascend to heaven and to the bounteous mercy of God.

Love,
Lynn

Vacation Bible School

6/8/10 We don't try to have the biggest VBS, just the best. We are not about quantity, so much as quality. This year, we have about 100 children broken down into family groups of about 8 each, with an adult and a youth helper for each group. The theme this year is about Joseph in Egypt from the prison to the palace. The kids yesterday got a beard drawn on their faces or their eyes highlighted with eyeliner to look Egyptian. They have a marketplace where they do crafts, hear stories, and get snacks. I am along this year again for the music. I really enjoy this time I get to have with God's children as I sing and play guitar.

Love,
Lynn

death interrupted

from my sermon on June 6, 2010 from Luke 7:11-17

It was over. There was nothing more anyone could do. She was alone. Her son had died. Your children are not supposed to precede you in death. Some of you know this pain. Her son, the words are literally like John 3:16, her "only begotten son" had died. Is there anything worse?

It gets worse with the next phrase. There were 3 groups of people the faithful Hebrews were supposed to show special attention to: the widow, the orphan, the stranger in the land. She is number one on the list; she is a widow. Can it get any worse?

It does. There is a crowd around her. There is a crowd around Jesus. But is there anyone for her? This is the deepest loneliness, surrounded by people, none knowing what you are going through. Some of you know this loneliness.

Then Jesus saw her. He had compassion for her. I want you to hold this phrase for just a moment, because it doesn't seem to jibe with what happens next.

Jesus says to the woman, "Do not weep." In basis pastoral care and counseling, you learn never to do this--to tell someone who is grieving what to feel and what to do. You learn that everyone grieves differently. There is no orderly progression of stages, no timeline to follow. You don't day to people, "Don't be sad, don't be mad, don't be ...." You let people grieve the way they need to grieve and you go along with them. How can Jesus get away with saying, "Do not weep."

First, remember that Jesus had compassion for her. That word compassion is not all that common in the NT but Jesus feels that word several times for different people. It literally means, my guts go out to you, my heart is with your heart, I feel in my insides what you are feeling. Out of all the crowd, Jesus feels for the woman.

Second, Jesus is the Lord of life and death. He touches the bier. You have seen the pictures on TV of deaths in the Middle East, of bodies being carried in a shroud through the throngs. No casket, just a pallet supported by hands. Jesus stops them and touches the bier. He says just 4 words in Greek, a few more in English, "Young man, I say to you, Rise." And the young man does, just like that. As proof that he is alive, he sits up and begins to speak.

Now, I am a rational person with a degree in math and minor in physics. You want an explanation and I can't give you one for this miracle. All I know is that this is not an isolated event in our Bible. The gospel story has many examples of Jesus interrupting death. This is a part of our witness as Christians. Jesus is Lord over life and death. Do you believe this?

I had confirmation that Jesus interrupts death from a most unusual place this past week. You see I went to Annual Conference, a meeting of some 1,200 delegates from 350 churches representing some 120,000 Methodists over 78 counties in Southwest Texas. Out of all the reports and Robert's Rules of Order I heard witness to Jesus.

Harry Kahl told the story of the time he worked at Lydia Patterson Institute in El Paso, our school for mainly kids from Mexico, to help them break the cycle of poverty. You are not going to believe this, but a high school kid acted out, I don't remember the incident. Harry as principal called an assembly and said the school picnic was called off until someone stepped forward to take responsibility. Fernando came forward. Harry let the picnic happen. He said to Fernando, "That's it. It's over. You're gone." Fernando pleaded, "Just give me one more chance." Harry said, "I have to talk with your parents." "They are deep in Mexico." "Someone then." "My aunt." "OK." Harry talked with her and said that Fernando was through. He begged, "Just one more chance." Harry granted it. Fernando became a model student. He graduated from LPI, went on to college. Harry performed his marriage. Harry baptized his kids. Harry always hoped that Fernando would enter the ministry. He didn't. He came back to work at LPI, to help kids just like himself. Now is son is graduating from LPI.....and is intending to go into the UM ministry! Is it over? Jesus says, "Rise."

Hyde Park UMC just celebrated 100 years of ministry...and this past Sunday closed its doors. Is it over? Not quite.....Trinity UMC has outgrown its facilities and will be moving into the old site at Hyde Park. What will happen to the old Trinity site? A school for gifted and talented students in the arts is prepared to take over that campus. Is it over? No, hear Jesus say, "Rise."

Malaria is supposed to be the death knell for many people in Africa, but is it over for them? These crazy Methodists have said that they want to rid the continent of Africa of this preventable disease by 2015! And we are doing it with bed nets, serum, communication, etc. You know about this because you have been part of the pilot group. This congregation has committed some $50,000 to Imagine No Malaria. Our Southwest Texas Conference has pledged more than $2 million! Is it over? No, hear Jesus say, "Rise."

Now the boy who was raised would die again, but his resuscitation is a sign that he will be raised again forever someday, just like this meal we share at this table is a foretaste of the heavenly banquet that we will enjoy when we are raised in the resurrection. Jesus interrupts death as a sign that we will be his in life, in death, in life beyond death.

To condense this message down to a short phrase, I quote one of my favorite theologians, Gracie Allen, who said, "Never put a period where God has placed a comma."

The people are in awe. They call Jesus a prophet. He is more than that, he is Lord. They that he has blessed his people. He has. They witness to him. So do we. It's not over. Hear Jesus say, "Rise." That is the good news I have for you today.

introver/extrovert

6/3/10 For most of my life I have been an extrovert. In Myers-Briggs terms that means that I get energized by being around people. The older I get the more I need time apart to find that renewal of energy. We are in the midst of annual conference where I am greeting hundreds of people. I am trying to remember names. I am trying to do my public role as chair of the order of elders. I find myself getting drained. That's why this morning when I had a choice about walking with a group of pastors along the bayfront in Corpus Christi or taking a walk alone along north beach, I chose to be alone. I was up in plenty of time to make the fun run with others, but I needed the solitude and silence of my morning walk. For those of you who have been following my blog, you know that this is my usual pattern, to combine my exercise and my individual prayer time. Please know that I am in good shape, whole and holy, as I begin this day. I start it energized.

Love,
Lynn

listening

6/2/10 We are desperate for someone to listen to us. I spend a lot of my time simply listening to people. They need to be heard, to be understood. Yesterday, I spent 2 hours with the 2 young men who rent a condo we own in Corpus Christi. I asked a few open-ended questions. I made a few comments, but mostly I listened. As we went along, they both learned things about the other that they didn't know, yet they live in the same 2 bedroom condo.

We are also desperate for a word from God. We need to listen. We need a word of hope and healing. God listens to our prayers, but we are also made to listen for God.

Love,
Lynn

conferencing

6/1/10 John Wesley who started the Methodist movement had a wonderful spiritual practice of "conferencing," that is, of gathering for prayer and discernment, as we dealt with issues of the faith. We still do this today. I am off in a minute as the Southwest Texas Conference gathers for its annual meeting. Please pray with us and for us.

Love,
Lynn