Wednesday, March 30, 2011
I don't know
3/30/11 We as a church will be undergoing a visioning process this weekend in a workshop called Partners in Ministry. I have praying for some time about starting another worship service/setting/time or even going to start a satellite campus. David, my co-leader, for the workshop, asked me how I would know that we were supposed to do that new emphasis. I talked my usual spiritual direction stuff: it would flow, it would be confirmed from many different sources, it would be biblical. To be truthful, I have had some anxiety over how I would know, how the congregation would know what or if we were supposed to do to reach more people for Christ. As I pondered this last night, it came to me, that God knows...I don't have to worry. God knows what God wants to happen here. I need to listen. I need to wait. God will reveal it. I don't know, but I don't need to know. God knows, and that's enough. Love, Lynn
Monday, March 28, 2011
give me some of that water
from my sermon on 3/27/11 from John 4:5-42 Are you thirsty? Water is one of those basic needs...right up there with oxygen. I wanted to be sure of my facts, so I looked it up this past week. You need about 2 quarts of water per day to function well. Depending on your size, how hot it is, and how much you exert yourself, you can only go 2 to 5 days before your body will start to shut down. Do you think this woman at the well is thirsty? Maybe for something other than water? How long can you go without touch? Without relationship? Without love? Jesus meets the woman at the well at high noon. When do other folks go to the well to get water? At the cool times of the day...at morning and evening. Why is she out there all alone? Do you think she is thirsty? Jesus has a conversation with her that goes from water to living water. Living water could mean flowing water like from a stream or a spring. Living water was a metaphor for the Torah, the first 5 books of the Old Testament, God's instructions for us through Moses. But I like what Jesus says about living water: it is the water that he gives us that gushes up to eternal life. The water that he gives...why you will never be thirsty again. The woman replies, "Give me some of that water!" The conversation takes an unusual turn. Jesus asks her to bring her husband. She says that she has no husband. This is the place where we usually beat up on the woman. Jesus knows that she has had 5 husbands. Now, Jewish culture said that 3 marriages was the upper limit. More than that Jesus knows the man she is living with is not her husband. Oh, how quick we are to say that she is immoral, living in sin. I wonder if we really know this woman. I like what Edwin Friedman says, this rabbi psychotherapist whom I ofter quote, "In the absence of information, we hullicinate." We tend to fill in the unknown areas with our own stuff. Everybody has a story. I wonder if we know this woman's story, if we have taken the time to get to know her. What if she has had 5 husbands because she has lost everyone of them to death? I have talked with some of you who have lost a spouse. What is that experience like? How much does that hurt? How shattered are you? Can you imagine going through that 5 times? The text doesn't say this happened. It could have. We don't know. What if she learned a dysfunctional pattern of coping? What if she were the eldest daughter of a father who was an alcoholic? Maybe from an early age she was an achiever, overfunctioning, highly successful. Somewhere in her being she said to herself, "My dad may be messed up, but look how good I am." Then when she goes to marry, who does she marry out of all the people in the world? An alcoholic. That marriages crumbles. She turns around and marries....another alcoholic. It is familiar, comfortable. Maybe that is what happened. What if she has been divorced 5 times? Women had little power in that culture. Their identity was through a male: their father, or husband, or brother. Husbands could initiate a divorce for trivial reasons like burning the toast. What if she has been cast aside that many times? We can't assume we know her. What if she has been so hurt by marriage, she simply doesn't want to make herself vulnerable again? I know I have talked with couples who have felt this way. "I just don't want to go through that pain again." As I reflected on this passage and my years of ministry, it struck me that there are a lot of thirsty people out there. You can be just as lonely in marriage, maybe more so, as you can be as a single person. You can be cut off because of a disease like AIDS, or depression, or cancer, or addiction. Others can cut you off because of your sexual orientation, or skin color, or economic condition. When Jesus sees the woman, he sees right through her. What he sees in her, he accepts and he loves. He doesn't judge her or blame her. He meets her right where she is. She is the polar opposite of last week's encounter with Nick at Nite. Last week we had a man; this week a woman. Last week he was named; this week unnamed. Last week he was Jewish; this week Samaritan (curse and spit on those half-breeds, no good, less than human beings). Last week it was in the dark of night; this week at high noon. Last week the epitome of morality; this week we have questions. AS you read John's Gospel and this close encounters Jesus has with individuals, you find that he wants to include absolutely everyone! He offers all living water, relationship with him. Are you thirsty today? She was....for more than H2O. She wonders if he is the Messiah. Jesus answers in a way that resonnates with an encounter that Moses had with God in Exodus, "I AM." She left her water jar! She no longer was thirsty! She found the living water! She went back to her village and immediately started witnessing. She said, "Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did!" Do you want people to know everything you ever did? Jesus did it in such a way that she knew she was loved and forgiven. I ask you, can you do anything that will keep Jesus from loving you? We often draw up boundaries and say, "There is no way God can forgive that." But Jesus knows all about us and loves us still. You know what they say about grace....that it is amazing. Are you thirsty? Ask of Jesus, "Give me some of that water." If you have known the love of Jesus in your life, then go out and witness to others what he has done in your life. Listen to people's stories and don't assume you know what is going on inside them. Then I have a concrete way for you to do this witnessing, as we Rethink Church again this year, 2 weeks from now. On April 10, we will have breakfast from Mobile Loaves and Fishes here at 8:30 am. We will have a brief worship service here at 9, getting out at 9:45 to go be the church out in the world. See your bulletin insert and go to the website to see some of the projects already lined up. But don't be limited by this, pray and seek what Jesus would have you do. There are a lot of thirsty people out there who are crying out, "Give my some of that water."
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
a blast from the past
3/23/11 Yesterday in the early afternoon, our secretary said that there was a couple who wanted to see me, and would it be ok if they came in. Yes, I replied. It turned out to be a couple whose marriage I had performed almost exactly 29 years ago. I actually remembered them because their wedding took place on a Wednesday afternoon, 5 p.m., with only 8 people in attendance. They told me that they had spent less than $500 on everything associated with the ceremony. They were pretty poor, just starting out.
Now 29 years later, they have had 3 children. They are active in their local UM church, just down the street from their home in the Twin Cities in Minnesota. They have good jobs and a nice house. They were taking time off between jobs to return to Austin to visit some of their former haunts. They went to the church here in Austin where I performed their marriage, and the people at St. John's said that I was in the Austin area.
They came to see me, and I am glad that they did. They cried at God's providing for them over all these years. I cried at God's reminding me of why I am in ministry.
Love,
Lynn
Now 29 years later, they have had 3 children. They are active in their local UM church, just down the street from their home in the Twin Cities in Minnesota. They have good jobs and a nice house. They were taking time off between jobs to return to Austin to visit some of their former haunts. They went to the church here in Austin where I performed their marriage, and the people at St. John's said that I was in the Austin area.
They came to see me, and I am glad that they did. They cried at God's providing for them over all these years. I cried at God's reminding me of why I am in ministry.
Love,
Lynn
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
standing in front of you
3/22/11 My breath prayer today comes from Exodus 17 where the Hebrew people have found freedom by escaping into the wilderness, but they also find themselves without water. They do what many of us do in times of crisis, they blame the leader, giving Moses a tongue-lashing. When Moses cries to God, God answers with the assurance, "I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink."
Although Moses is called to act, God remains the primary actor. God says, "I will be standing there in front of you." God can bring water out of a rock. God can make a way in the wilderness. God will provide.
I hope today you and I can see God standing right there in front of us.
Love,
Lynn
Although Moses is called to act, God remains the primary actor. God says, "I will be standing there in front of you." God can bring water out of a rock. God can make a way in the wilderness. God will provide.
I hope today you and I can see God standing right there in front of us.
Love,
Lynn
Monday, March 21, 2011
the first kiss
from my sermon on March 20, 2011, from John 3:1-17
Do you remember your first kiss? I don’t mean kissing the sandpaper skin of your grandmother’s cheek, but your first kiss with a person of the opposite gender with passion and hormones involved.
It was my sophomore year in high school, in the spring, and we were coming back from Concert and Sight Reading Contest. I was sitting on the back seat of one of those yellow buses. Billie Ruth was sitting on the seat in front of me. She was talking about a world that I could only imagine, a world of lips, and teeth, and tongues. She noticed my interest, and asked, “What kind of kissing do you like best, Lynn?” I stammered and stuttered and turned red. She immediately recognized my distress and as one of the best pastoral counselors I have ever encountered came back and sat down beside me. No, she did not kiss me. She did offer some sage advice. She said, “When you go to have your first kiss, make sure you do it with a girl from out of town…..that way if you blow it, no one will ever know it.”
That summer I went to a student council workshop at Texas Tech. There I met Sharon. She was ideal. She had brown hair and brown eyes. She was shorter than me! And most important, she was from out of town, Sudan, Texas. Things went so well between us that I didn’t get her telephone number at the end of the week. However, at the end of the summer, Sharon called me. She was at the community pool in Littlefield. Sudan didn’t have one. I screwed up my courage and asked her out on a date on Saturday night.
That week before my junior year in high school started, I cleaned up my mom’s Ford Galaxy 500, that car with the big front bench seat. I picked out all of my favorite 8 track tapes. I drove the 15 miles over to Sudan, picked up Sharon, and we drove back to Littlefield to watch a movie. After the movie, we went to DQ to get a soda. Then we drug main. That is we went up and down Main Street, driving very slowly, watching all of the other people watch us.
And it was night. Did you notice that Nicodemus met Jesus at night? Why was that? Some scholars think it was because Nick was scared. After all, he was a leader of the Jews. He probably didn't want to be seen talking to Jesus. Or secondly, some scholars take a metaphorical meaning. Nick was "in the dark." He didn't get it. He didn't understand who Jesus was. But I like this third possible track best. I think Nick met Jesus at night to be alone with Him. It was a time and place for intimacy, to be close to Jesus, with no other agenda.
So it was dark as I drove her home. I don’t know what was on her mind, but all I was thinking was THIS WOULD BE MY FIRST KISS. Then I got scared. I got to worrying: what if I miss? What if I lean over and plant one right on her glasses? What if she doesn’t like it? Or worse…what if I don’t like it? We make ourselves vulnerable when we enter into relationship.
Nick had lots of questions. How can one be born again? Can one reenter his mother's womb? How is this possible? You may have lots of questions. Do I have to believe everything in the Bible? There seem to be contradictions. Do I have to keep all of those OT laws? Do I have to have all my faith worked out before I commit? How about the Church and all of it problems? The Crusades? Clergy sexual abuse? Televangelists? Do I have to give up my ability to reason and to ask questions?
Jesus welcomes Nick and all seekers and their questions.
It was time for me to "cowboy up." I had Neil Diamond on the 8 track. I kid you not ...the song that was playing was ….Do It. So I leaned over and I did it. And it was…..wonderful.
I am here to tell that a relationship with Jesus is just that wonderful. It is the gift that God offers us to accept His love for us. There are many words for this experience of grace. Some call it accepting Christ as Savior and Lord, or being saved, or being born again, or being born anew.
God wants this loving relationship with us. I would have you read the Bible as a love story. In Genesis, when we overreach and do the one thing God asks us not to do, God comes looking for us. I used to read the story in Genesis 3 as if God were angry, but now I understand it as God’s missing us. “Where are you?” God calls out. “I want to take our daily walk together.” As you read the Bible, you see that God never gives up. God is always trying to find another way to be in relationship with us. God creates a covenant people through Abraham and Sarah to be a blessing to the whole world. God works through Moses and Aaron and the Hebrew people. God uses judges like Deborah, and prophets like Elijah, and priests like Eli, and kings like David, and finally at the right time, God comes as one of us. The Word becomes flesh. Emmanuel, God with us. Jesus lives and dies and is raised again to bring us into right relationship with God. It is as if God keeps saying, "I will find another way for me to show my love."
My relationship with Sharon grew. She talked easily of her faith. She talked of heaven. I said, “I wish I could be sure of going to heaven.” She said, “You can be.” It planted in me a desire.
Sharon graduated and went on to college. I had my senior year of high school to complete. It was going to be the best year of my life. I was student council president. I was going to graduate as valedictorian. But most important of all, I was the captain of the football team. Football is the national religion of Texas, right? I was the starting quarterback and defensive half back for the Littlefield Wildcats.
The first practice of 2 a days, in the first minutes, during a warm up drill, I sprained my right ankle. I instantly lost my starting positions. Through rehabilitation and scrimmages, I worked my way back up to starting both ways. During our first game of the season, we were winning, when I resprained my ankle. We were winning right to the last play of the game. The other team was on their own 20 yard line. They threw an 80 yard touch down bomb over the defensive halfback who took my place. That weekend, our head coach had a heart attack.
It began an awful pattern of us getting beat every week. Little towns don’t react very well to losing underneath the Friday night lights. One day the acting head coach called me out of history class into the principal’s office. He asked, “Do you know why we are losing all of these games Lynn?” “Duh, no, coach.” He said, “It’s because of you!” As a 17 year old, I didn’t handle that real well.
I wanted to shout, “It’s not fair!” You see I had a theology. I wouldn’t have called it a theology but that is what it was. I thought, you work hard, be good, be nice….and everything was supposed to go well for you.
During that losing season, my new girl friend, Mary Gail, took me to a revival. Before it even began, she showed me a verse in the Bible that has become my key verse. You want to write this down, Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God; not because of works lest anyone should boast.” I had spent my whole life trying to be good enough for God to love me. I had been trying to earn my salvation.
In the story we usually call the parable of the Prodigal Son, I am the elder son, the other brother. I resented the fact that the younger one, the wastrel gets welcomed home. But who is further from home? The one who had to leave in order to find himself and God? Or the one who lives in the father’s house, but is so caught up in his own self-righteousness, he doesn’t even know that he has a home.
When I read that verse, I felt a great weight lift off of me. It is not about my goodness, but about Christ’s. It is not about my earning salvation; it is about Christ’s gift. As John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
You don’t have to do this. You get to. It is a gift.
As I look back over my life, I see many examples of justifying grace, many moments of conversion. I was baptized as an infant, confirmed as 6th grader. I had the emotional conversion my senior year in high school. I had the call to ordained ministry. I had a deep mindful conversion as I studied the Bible in its original languages and new layers of meaning came to me. More recently I have had the conversion of the practice of centering prayer. All gift…all Christ’s love for me and in me helping me become the me Christ intends.
As we read John's Gospel this Lent, you will find that it is different from Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In John, Jesus will have personal encounters with various persons, all in order to have a personal relationship with them.
Do you think Nick becomes a believer after this first kiss? In the 7th chapter of John, Nick stands up before the Sanhedrin, the court for the Jews, and advocates for Jesus. He says, "Doesn't Jesus deserve due process, a fair hearing?" After Jesus is crucified, Nick joins Joseph of Arimethea in taking Jesus' body for burial. He brings more than 100 lbs of spices to prepare the body. I think that Nick becomes a follower of Jesus.
How about you? Do you know this intimate relationship with Jesus?
Do you remember your first kiss?
Do you remember your first kiss? I don’t mean kissing the sandpaper skin of your grandmother’s cheek, but your first kiss with a person of the opposite gender with passion and hormones involved.
It was my sophomore year in high school, in the spring, and we were coming back from Concert and Sight Reading Contest. I was sitting on the back seat of one of those yellow buses. Billie Ruth was sitting on the seat in front of me. She was talking about a world that I could only imagine, a world of lips, and teeth, and tongues. She noticed my interest, and asked, “What kind of kissing do you like best, Lynn?” I stammered and stuttered and turned red. She immediately recognized my distress and as one of the best pastoral counselors I have ever encountered came back and sat down beside me. No, she did not kiss me. She did offer some sage advice. She said, “When you go to have your first kiss, make sure you do it with a girl from out of town…..that way if you blow it, no one will ever know it.”
That summer I went to a student council workshop at Texas Tech. There I met Sharon. She was ideal. She had brown hair and brown eyes. She was shorter than me! And most important, she was from out of town, Sudan, Texas. Things went so well between us that I didn’t get her telephone number at the end of the week. However, at the end of the summer, Sharon called me. She was at the community pool in Littlefield. Sudan didn’t have one. I screwed up my courage and asked her out on a date on Saturday night.
That week before my junior year in high school started, I cleaned up my mom’s Ford Galaxy 500, that car with the big front bench seat. I picked out all of my favorite 8 track tapes. I drove the 15 miles over to Sudan, picked up Sharon, and we drove back to Littlefield to watch a movie. After the movie, we went to DQ to get a soda. Then we drug main. That is we went up and down Main Street, driving very slowly, watching all of the other people watch us.
And it was night. Did you notice that Nicodemus met Jesus at night? Why was that? Some scholars think it was because Nick was scared. After all, he was a leader of the Jews. He probably didn't want to be seen talking to Jesus. Or secondly, some scholars take a metaphorical meaning. Nick was "in the dark." He didn't get it. He didn't understand who Jesus was. But I like this third possible track best. I think Nick met Jesus at night to be alone with Him. It was a time and place for intimacy, to be close to Jesus, with no other agenda.
So it was dark as I drove her home. I don’t know what was on her mind, but all I was thinking was THIS WOULD BE MY FIRST KISS. Then I got scared. I got to worrying: what if I miss? What if I lean over and plant one right on her glasses? What if she doesn’t like it? Or worse…what if I don’t like it? We make ourselves vulnerable when we enter into relationship.
Nick had lots of questions. How can one be born again? Can one reenter his mother's womb? How is this possible? You may have lots of questions. Do I have to believe everything in the Bible? There seem to be contradictions. Do I have to keep all of those OT laws? Do I have to have all my faith worked out before I commit? How about the Church and all of it problems? The Crusades? Clergy sexual abuse? Televangelists? Do I have to give up my ability to reason and to ask questions?
Jesus welcomes Nick and all seekers and their questions.
It was time for me to "cowboy up." I had Neil Diamond on the 8 track. I kid you not ...the song that was playing was ….Do It. So I leaned over and I did it. And it was…..wonderful.
I am here to tell that a relationship with Jesus is just that wonderful. It is the gift that God offers us to accept His love for us. There are many words for this experience of grace. Some call it accepting Christ as Savior and Lord, or being saved, or being born again, or being born anew.
God wants this loving relationship with us. I would have you read the Bible as a love story. In Genesis, when we overreach and do the one thing God asks us not to do, God comes looking for us. I used to read the story in Genesis 3 as if God were angry, but now I understand it as God’s missing us. “Where are you?” God calls out. “I want to take our daily walk together.” As you read the Bible, you see that God never gives up. God is always trying to find another way to be in relationship with us. God creates a covenant people through Abraham and Sarah to be a blessing to the whole world. God works through Moses and Aaron and the Hebrew people. God uses judges like Deborah, and prophets like Elijah, and priests like Eli, and kings like David, and finally at the right time, God comes as one of us. The Word becomes flesh. Emmanuel, God with us. Jesus lives and dies and is raised again to bring us into right relationship with God. It is as if God keeps saying, "I will find another way for me to show my love."
My relationship with Sharon grew. She talked easily of her faith. She talked of heaven. I said, “I wish I could be sure of going to heaven.” She said, “You can be.” It planted in me a desire.
Sharon graduated and went on to college. I had my senior year of high school to complete. It was going to be the best year of my life. I was student council president. I was going to graduate as valedictorian. But most important of all, I was the captain of the football team. Football is the national religion of Texas, right? I was the starting quarterback and defensive half back for the Littlefield Wildcats.
The first practice of 2 a days, in the first minutes, during a warm up drill, I sprained my right ankle. I instantly lost my starting positions. Through rehabilitation and scrimmages, I worked my way back up to starting both ways. During our first game of the season, we were winning, when I resprained my ankle. We were winning right to the last play of the game. The other team was on their own 20 yard line. They threw an 80 yard touch down bomb over the defensive halfback who took my place. That weekend, our head coach had a heart attack.
It began an awful pattern of us getting beat every week. Little towns don’t react very well to losing underneath the Friday night lights. One day the acting head coach called me out of history class into the principal’s office. He asked, “Do you know why we are losing all of these games Lynn?” “Duh, no, coach.” He said, “It’s because of you!” As a 17 year old, I didn’t handle that real well.
I wanted to shout, “It’s not fair!” You see I had a theology. I wouldn’t have called it a theology but that is what it was. I thought, you work hard, be good, be nice….and everything was supposed to go well for you.
During that losing season, my new girl friend, Mary Gail, took me to a revival. Before it even began, she showed me a verse in the Bible that has become my key verse. You want to write this down, Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God; not because of works lest anyone should boast.” I had spent my whole life trying to be good enough for God to love me. I had been trying to earn my salvation.
In the story we usually call the parable of the Prodigal Son, I am the elder son, the other brother. I resented the fact that the younger one, the wastrel gets welcomed home. But who is further from home? The one who had to leave in order to find himself and God? Or the one who lives in the father’s house, but is so caught up in his own self-righteousness, he doesn’t even know that he has a home.
When I read that verse, I felt a great weight lift off of me. It is not about my goodness, but about Christ’s. It is not about my earning salvation; it is about Christ’s gift. As John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
You don’t have to do this. You get to. It is a gift.
As I look back over my life, I see many examples of justifying grace, many moments of conversion. I was baptized as an infant, confirmed as 6th grader. I had the emotional conversion my senior year in high school. I had the call to ordained ministry. I had a deep mindful conversion as I studied the Bible in its original languages and new layers of meaning came to me. More recently I have had the conversion of the practice of centering prayer. All gift…all Christ’s love for me and in me helping me become the me Christ intends.
As we read John's Gospel this Lent, you will find that it is different from Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In John, Jesus will have personal encounters with various persons, all in order to have a personal relationship with them.
Do you think Nick becomes a believer after this first kiss? In the 7th chapter of John, Nick stands up before the Sanhedrin, the court for the Jews, and advocates for Jesus. He says, "Doesn't Jesus deserve due process, a fair hearing?" After Jesus is crucified, Nick joins Joseph of Arimethea in taking Jesus' body for burial. He brings more than 100 lbs of spices to prepare the body. I think that Nick becomes a follower of Jesus.
How about you? Do you know this intimate relationship with Jesus?
Do you remember your first kiss?
Thursday, March 10, 2011
secret rewards
from my sermon on Ash Wednesday, 3/9/11 from Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Can you keep a secret? God holds great rewards for you...this Lent...starting even today on Ash Wednesday. It will take me a moment to get there so be patient.
First, some in our Disciple Bible Study class asked where did Ash Wednesday come from. Our Jewish forebearers in the faith at a time of grief, when someone died, would show their sorrow by placing ashes on themselves. So we are marked with ashes today as we remember our mortality. Our Jewish forebearers in the faith to show repentance would do so wearing sackcloth and ashes. So we are marked with ashes today as we turn from sin and toward God. And the rewards for doing this...well, it will take me a moment to get there.
When Jesus says these words in the Sermon on the Mount, he does so assuming that people are already doing these spiritual practices. His point is not in what they are doing but how. We are not to do them in order to be seen by others, but to do them in secret where only God can them.
Almsgiving means generosity towards the poor. I am challenging you to practice this discipline these 40 days of Lent. You say to me, "Pastor Lynn, we just finished 6 weeks on stewardship. We used the book, Enough: Discovering Joy through Simplicity and Generosity. Enough, already! Let it go!"
My challenge to you is try tithing, giving an actual 10% of everything that comes in, for these 40 days. Make it an experiment. Do it not because of what you filled out on a pledge card or to support the budget. Do it to show how much you love God. Do it in secret. Go beyond a pledge to a gift you make to our Father.
Prayer..I am inviting you to spend as much time as you can being alone with God. The funny thing is that when we are alone with God, we are never alone. I get up early in the morning, reflect on a short piece of scripture and then go walk and pray. My day flows out of that time of silence and solitude with God. You might want to take one of the Lenten devotional guides we have as a starting point. You might try going 1 minute, then 3, or 5 or 10 minutes, being still, being present to God. We lead such hurried, pressured lives. I am inviting you to pause and pray. Especially in times when you are threatening to blow up, repay evil with evil, pause and pray. You might pray when you are driving, and all of those crazy, agressive drivers are around you. If you pray then, just don't close your eyes. Do it in secret.
Fasting means to go without eating food. From this scripture, we get that phrase "what are you giving up for Lent?" You might go without eating a meal or desserts or some other food. The idea is to let the hunger for food call us to what we are really hungry for....God's presence. It is clearing out the clutter in our lives to make room for the presence of God. Fasting is always done with prayer.
It may be something other than food. In our Disciple Class, one said that she was going to cut back on social media presence. She was not going to spend hours updating her facebook page or seeing what others had written on her wall. I once had an associate pastor who used the season of Lent to address the issue of cursing. She...yes, she, had a real problem with expletives. When you go 40 days with a new behavior, it starts to rewire your brain. Try fasting in secret.
I am challenging you to do one thing that will become part of your spiritual practice these 40 days. Do it in secret where only God can see it. You will be rewarded. The commentaries said that the reward would come in the future when Jesus returns or when you go to heaven. I think the reward begins right now. The reward is intimacy with God. You do this practice to show how much you love God. God rewards you by his presence with you. It is a secret that only you and God share.
God can bring new life out of the ashes of this day and this season. About this time every year, we will be overwhelmed by smoke from down south. Farmers in Mexico and Central America burn the stubble of last year's crops. The ashes created go to fertilize the soil, enriching it so next year's crop will come up. God can bring new life out of ashes. God brings resurrection out of the cross. May it be so for you this Lent....if you can keep a secret.
Can you keep a secret? God holds great rewards for you...this Lent...starting even today on Ash Wednesday. It will take me a moment to get there so be patient.
First, some in our Disciple Bible Study class asked where did Ash Wednesday come from. Our Jewish forebearers in the faith at a time of grief, when someone died, would show their sorrow by placing ashes on themselves. So we are marked with ashes today as we remember our mortality. Our Jewish forebearers in the faith to show repentance would do so wearing sackcloth and ashes. So we are marked with ashes today as we turn from sin and toward God. And the rewards for doing this...well, it will take me a moment to get there.
When Jesus says these words in the Sermon on the Mount, he does so assuming that people are already doing these spiritual practices. His point is not in what they are doing but how. We are not to do them in order to be seen by others, but to do them in secret where only God can them.
Almsgiving means generosity towards the poor. I am challenging you to practice this discipline these 40 days of Lent. You say to me, "Pastor Lynn, we just finished 6 weeks on stewardship. We used the book, Enough: Discovering Joy through Simplicity and Generosity. Enough, already! Let it go!"
My challenge to you is try tithing, giving an actual 10% of everything that comes in, for these 40 days. Make it an experiment. Do it not because of what you filled out on a pledge card or to support the budget. Do it to show how much you love God. Do it in secret. Go beyond a pledge to a gift you make to our Father.
Prayer..I am inviting you to spend as much time as you can being alone with God. The funny thing is that when we are alone with God, we are never alone. I get up early in the morning, reflect on a short piece of scripture and then go walk and pray. My day flows out of that time of silence and solitude with God. You might want to take one of the Lenten devotional guides we have as a starting point. You might try going 1 minute, then 3, or 5 or 10 minutes, being still, being present to God. We lead such hurried, pressured lives. I am inviting you to pause and pray. Especially in times when you are threatening to blow up, repay evil with evil, pause and pray. You might pray when you are driving, and all of those crazy, agressive drivers are around you. If you pray then, just don't close your eyes. Do it in secret.
Fasting means to go without eating food. From this scripture, we get that phrase "what are you giving up for Lent?" You might go without eating a meal or desserts or some other food. The idea is to let the hunger for food call us to what we are really hungry for....God's presence. It is clearing out the clutter in our lives to make room for the presence of God. Fasting is always done with prayer.
It may be something other than food. In our Disciple Class, one said that she was going to cut back on social media presence. She was not going to spend hours updating her facebook page or seeing what others had written on her wall. I once had an associate pastor who used the season of Lent to address the issue of cursing. She...yes, she, had a real problem with expletives. When you go 40 days with a new behavior, it starts to rewire your brain. Try fasting in secret.
I am challenging you to do one thing that will become part of your spiritual practice these 40 days. Do it in secret where only God can see it. You will be rewarded. The commentaries said that the reward would come in the future when Jesus returns or when you go to heaven. I think the reward begins right now. The reward is intimacy with God. You do this practice to show how much you love God. God rewards you by his presence with you. It is a secret that only you and God share.
God can bring new life out of the ashes of this day and this season. About this time every year, we will be overwhelmed by smoke from down south. Farmers in Mexico and Central America burn the stubble of last year's crops. The ashes created go to fertilize the soil, enriching it so next year's crop will come up. God can bring new life out of ashes. God brings resurrection out of the cross. May it be so for you this Lent....if you can keep a secret.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
covered
3/8/11 My breath prayer for the day has been from Psalm 32:1, "Happy (blessed) are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered." I don't know about you, but I feel in need of forgiveness just about daily. Trying to relate to people like my wife, our sons, my co-workers, the people driving agressively around me, etc., make me realize how far I am from living out of love. It is not that I am a bad person; it is simply I am not the person God wants me to be. I still want things my way, in my time....in short, I am selfish.
Thank God my sins are covered. As I was walking this morning, I wondered what this meant. I thought "covered" might mean hidden, like under cover. But I think it may mean like a debt is covered; it has been taken care of, paid for. I am glad that God in Christ Jesus has it covered.
Love,
Lynn
Thank God my sins are covered. As I was walking this morning, I wondered what this meant. I thought "covered" might mean hidden, like under cover. But I think it may mean like a debt is covered; it has been taken care of, paid for. I am glad that God in Christ Jesus has it covered.
Love,
Lynn
Monday, March 7, 2011
nobody ever stops here
from my sermon on 3/6/11 , Transfiguration of the Lord, from Matthew 17:1-9
As a Christian, one does not go to the Holy Land as a tourist, but as a pilgrim. It is not a trip so much as a spiritual journey. In 1997, Cathy got to go for the first time, and I for the second time.
It is a long flight on El Al airlines, the official carrier of Israel. During the night, the gentleman on my left, a proud Israeli, asked, "Have you heard about the modern day exodus of the Ethiopian Jews?" "No." He said, "For years our people had been harrassed, persecuted, and executed by the Communist dictator there. We had been sneaking them out in small groups by land, air, and sea. In May of 1991, the fear was the wholesale slaughter of our people. We got the UN to hold the airfield open. We chartered aircraft. In just over 26 hours, we airlifted out over 14,000 people. We resettled them across Israel. All Jewish need to know that they have a home."
I wrote some notes about this story in my journal, but upon landing I quickly forgot about it. I was jetlagged, sleep deprived, and excited. After landed in Tel Aviv, we went to Jerusalem, the city set upon a hill.
From the very first moments, we noticed that there were 3 older nuns aboard our bus. They said that there were Episcopal nuns. Yes, the Episcopal Church has nuns. They told our guide that there were of the Order of the Mount of Transfiguation, our scripture passage references today. They said, "It was in the brochure that we were going to the Mount of Transfiguration as a part of this tour. We have lived our whole lives in anticipation of going to our namesake site." The guide assured them, "It is a part of our tour. We will be there on Thursday."
We quickly got caught up in the Holy Land, the Fifth Gospel. To walk where Jesus walked is a powerful thing. We strode along the Via Delarosa, the traditional path that Jesus took toward his crucifixion. We went to the Church of the Holy Seplechure where Jesus is said to have been buried. We went to the Western Wall, where people from all over the world still place their prayers in between the cracks of the huge stones that make up the outer retaining wall of the old Temple mount. All of the sights, sounds, smells, feelings are just overwhelming. But every day, the nuns would ask about going to the Mount of Transfiguration. "On Thursday, we will be there," the guide promised them.
So on Thursday, we got up and off in plenty of time. We headed north. Israel is a tiny country. I think we may have some counties in far west Texas that are larger than this whole nation. We stop at Caesarea by the Sea. We head in the middle of the afternoon to the Mount of Transfiguration. There is still plenty of daylight. At the base of the mountain, the driver and the guide get out to talk to the cab drivers. The road to the top is narrow and winding. There are switchbacks and ess-curves. You can see the guide talking with the drivers. In Israel, one has to talk with the hands. After several minutes, the driver and guide re-enter our bus. The guide takes the microphone and says, "We can't go up to the top of the Mount of Transfiguration. All of the cab drives are Muslim. There is a major Muslim holiday that begins at sundown. There is plenty of time to get to the top, but not back down again before the holiday begins. I am so sorry."
If you were to look in the dictionary under the words "crestfallen," "disappointed," and "crushed," you would find the pictures of these 3 nuns. They had waited their whole lives for just this moment, and now it was ruined. All life and energy seemed to drain out of them. They were good Christian women. They didn't curse. They didn't rant. They took it quietly.
As we left the Mount of Transfiguration, heading up north to the Sea of Galilee and Tiberius where we were to spend a couple of nights, there was a cold, funeral atmosphere as if something had died. As we were driving along, the guide kept looking out the left window, back to the west. He said, "There is a a beautiful sunset behind the Mount of Transfiguration. I know it is not enough, but maybe we could at least stop and take a picture of the Mount from along the road. At the next pull out we will park the bus and let you get out and take a picture." Fairly soon, the driver spotted a small dirt road that led to what looked to be a trailer park to the east. He got us safely off the highway. We trudged down the steps and tried to put the best face on what was going on. We were looking back west, taking pictures of the nuns and the mount. We did not notice, but from the east, from the trailer houses, all of these little children were coming to greet us. All of these little black children. All of these litttle black, Ethiopian children. All of these little, black Ethiopian Jewish children who had been rescued.
We gave them candy and gum. We took their pictures. Our guide interpreted for us. He translated, "They are saying, 'Nobody ever stops here. They stop at the Mount of Transfiguration. They stop at Jerusalem. They stop in Galilee. But nobody ever stops here.'" The children were attracted to the nuns and their habits. They thought that they were angels. Suddenly the nuns were transfigured. The word means changed, transformed. The nuns were smiling. The reason for their coming all of this way was abundantly clear. Sometimes you don't have to go to the mountaintop to have a mountaintop experience.
Most of life is not lived on the mountaintop. Most of life cannot be captured, localized, held enshrined. That's what happens in the passage. Jesus takes his inner circle to this awesome encounter with God. Peter tries to hold onto it, and in a pedestrian way says, "Uh, Lord, it's good for us to be here. Why don't I build 3 dwellings so we can just stay here." I love the way Matthew remembers this event. He says, "While Peter was still speaking..." God interrupts! God's glory comes as a cloud and a voice says, "This is my Son, the beloved one, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him!" Has God ever interrupted you? Has God ever said, "Nobody ever stops here?" "You can't localize me, bind me, keep me." This is the God I know, one who won't be captured in a single place.
We do what Peter wants to do. We go to the Walk to Emmaus and have a mountaintop experience. And God says, "Nobody ever stops here." We go to women of faith conference, or men of promise, or Beth Moore Bible Study and we think, "This is it. This is where I want to stay for ever." And God says, "Nobody ever stops here."
It may be a former church, or Sunday School class, or former pastor or former youth director, or mission trip that we want to hold onto. And God says, "Nobody ever stops here." It may be coming to the table today to take communion, but we are not called to stop here.
Maybe it is church membership. Pastor Jim and I went to the Bishop's Convocation this past week. We heard Mike Slaughter of Ginghamsburg UMC challenge us. He said, "We don't need to try to get more people in the church. We need to get the church more into the world." Nobody ever stops here.
The disciples are afraid. They literally fall on their faces. Jesus touches them and says to them, "Get up and do not be afraid." He has othe mountains to climb. One is a small hill outside of Jerusalem where on Good Friday He shows us what God's love looks like. Then after His resurrection, He meets His disciples on a mountain in Galilee, so says Matthew's gospel.
When the disciples look up, they see nobody but Jesus alone. Nobody ever stops here, when we are following Jesus.
This is the Transfiguration of the Lord, the last Sunday of the season of Epiphany, this "aha" season. My last "aha" came this morning out walking. We meet Christ at the base of the mountain not just at the top of the Mount of Transfiguration. And it is not just Christ who is transformed. We are. Nobody ever stops here.
As a Christian, one does not go to the Holy Land as a tourist, but as a pilgrim. It is not a trip so much as a spiritual journey. In 1997, Cathy got to go for the first time, and I for the second time.
It is a long flight on El Al airlines, the official carrier of Israel. During the night, the gentleman on my left, a proud Israeli, asked, "Have you heard about the modern day exodus of the Ethiopian Jews?" "No." He said, "For years our people had been harrassed, persecuted, and executed by the Communist dictator there. We had been sneaking them out in small groups by land, air, and sea. In May of 1991, the fear was the wholesale slaughter of our people. We got the UN to hold the airfield open. We chartered aircraft. In just over 26 hours, we airlifted out over 14,000 people. We resettled them across Israel. All Jewish need to know that they have a home."
I wrote some notes about this story in my journal, but upon landing I quickly forgot about it. I was jetlagged, sleep deprived, and excited. After landed in Tel Aviv, we went to Jerusalem, the city set upon a hill.
From the very first moments, we noticed that there were 3 older nuns aboard our bus. They said that there were Episcopal nuns. Yes, the Episcopal Church has nuns. They told our guide that there were of the Order of the Mount of Transfiguation, our scripture passage references today. They said, "It was in the brochure that we were going to the Mount of Transfiguration as a part of this tour. We have lived our whole lives in anticipation of going to our namesake site." The guide assured them, "It is a part of our tour. We will be there on Thursday."
We quickly got caught up in the Holy Land, the Fifth Gospel. To walk where Jesus walked is a powerful thing. We strode along the Via Delarosa, the traditional path that Jesus took toward his crucifixion. We went to the Church of the Holy Seplechure where Jesus is said to have been buried. We went to the Western Wall, where people from all over the world still place their prayers in between the cracks of the huge stones that make up the outer retaining wall of the old Temple mount. All of the sights, sounds, smells, feelings are just overwhelming. But every day, the nuns would ask about going to the Mount of Transfiguration. "On Thursday, we will be there," the guide promised them.
So on Thursday, we got up and off in plenty of time. We headed north. Israel is a tiny country. I think we may have some counties in far west Texas that are larger than this whole nation. We stop at Caesarea by the Sea. We head in the middle of the afternoon to the Mount of Transfiguration. There is still plenty of daylight. At the base of the mountain, the driver and the guide get out to talk to the cab drivers. The road to the top is narrow and winding. There are switchbacks and ess-curves. You can see the guide talking with the drivers. In Israel, one has to talk with the hands. After several minutes, the driver and guide re-enter our bus. The guide takes the microphone and says, "We can't go up to the top of the Mount of Transfiguration. All of the cab drives are Muslim. There is a major Muslim holiday that begins at sundown. There is plenty of time to get to the top, but not back down again before the holiday begins. I am so sorry."
If you were to look in the dictionary under the words "crestfallen," "disappointed," and "crushed," you would find the pictures of these 3 nuns. They had waited their whole lives for just this moment, and now it was ruined. All life and energy seemed to drain out of them. They were good Christian women. They didn't curse. They didn't rant. They took it quietly.
As we left the Mount of Transfiguration, heading up north to the Sea of Galilee and Tiberius where we were to spend a couple of nights, there was a cold, funeral atmosphere as if something had died. As we were driving along, the guide kept looking out the left window, back to the west. He said, "There is a a beautiful sunset behind the Mount of Transfiguration. I know it is not enough, but maybe we could at least stop and take a picture of the Mount from along the road. At the next pull out we will park the bus and let you get out and take a picture." Fairly soon, the driver spotted a small dirt road that led to what looked to be a trailer park to the east. He got us safely off the highway. We trudged down the steps and tried to put the best face on what was going on. We were looking back west, taking pictures of the nuns and the mount. We did not notice, but from the east, from the trailer houses, all of these little children were coming to greet us. All of these little black children. All of these litttle black, Ethiopian children. All of these little, black Ethiopian Jewish children who had been rescued.
We gave them candy and gum. We took their pictures. Our guide interpreted for us. He translated, "They are saying, 'Nobody ever stops here. They stop at the Mount of Transfiguration. They stop at Jerusalem. They stop in Galilee. But nobody ever stops here.'" The children were attracted to the nuns and their habits. They thought that they were angels. Suddenly the nuns were transfigured. The word means changed, transformed. The nuns were smiling. The reason for their coming all of this way was abundantly clear. Sometimes you don't have to go to the mountaintop to have a mountaintop experience.
Most of life is not lived on the mountaintop. Most of life cannot be captured, localized, held enshrined. That's what happens in the passage. Jesus takes his inner circle to this awesome encounter with God. Peter tries to hold onto it, and in a pedestrian way says, "Uh, Lord, it's good for us to be here. Why don't I build 3 dwellings so we can just stay here." I love the way Matthew remembers this event. He says, "While Peter was still speaking..." God interrupts! God's glory comes as a cloud and a voice says, "This is my Son, the beloved one, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him!" Has God ever interrupted you? Has God ever said, "Nobody ever stops here?" "You can't localize me, bind me, keep me." This is the God I know, one who won't be captured in a single place.
We do what Peter wants to do. We go to the Walk to Emmaus and have a mountaintop experience. And God says, "Nobody ever stops here." We go to women of faith conference, or men of promise, or Beth Moore Bible Study and we think, "This is it. This is where I want to stay for ever." And God says, "Nobody ever stops here."
It may be a former church, or Sunday School class, or former pastor or former youth director, or mission trip that we want to hold onto. And God says, "Nobody ever stops here." It may be coming to the table today to take communion, but we are not called to stop here.
Maybe it is church membership. Pastor Jim and I went to the Bishop's Convocation this past week. We heard Mike Slaughter of Ginghamsburg UMC challenge us. He said, "We don't need to try to get more people in the church. We need to get the church more into the world." Nobody ever stops here.
The disciples are afraid. They literally fall on their faces. Jesus touches them and says to them, "Get up and do not be afraid." He has othe mountains to climb. One is a small hill outside of Jerusalem where on Good Friday He shows us what God's love looks like. Then after His resurrection, He meets His disciples on a mountain in Galilee, so says Matthew's gospel.
When the disciples look up, they see nobody but Jesus alone. Nobody ever stops here, when we are following Jesus.
This is the Transfiguration of the Lord, the last Sunday of the season of Epiphany, this "aha" season. My last "aha" came this morning out walking. We meet Christ at the base of the mountain not just at the top of the Mount of Transfiguration. And it is not just Christ who is transformed. We are. Nobody ever stops here.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
mountaintop
3/3/11 All of the scriptures this week involve a mountaintop experience, specifically the Mount of Transfiguration, where Jesus is transformed in front of his inner circle. As I have been working on the sermon for this week, I have come to the conclusion that we meet Jesus not just on the mountaintop but also at its base. We may have occasional spiritual highs, but we live most of life dealing with the sick, the hungry, the naked, the lost....you know people like us. And Jesus says that as you have done it unto the least of these, you have done it unto me. Those people to whom we minister become transformed....they become Jesus. We become transformed.....we are no longer stuck on a mountaintop. The mountaintop becomes transformed.....it is found on the plain.
Love,
Lynn
Love,
Lynn
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
blessed
from my sermon on 2/27/11 from Matthew 5:1-12
May I tell you a story about being blessed? It was 1978. The place was Mason, Tx, where I did my internship in ministry. He said, "My name is George, but everybody calls me 'Old Man George.'" So I called him Old Man George. He said, "I'm 86 years old, and I've been married to the same woman for 63 years." I was 25 years old. I couldn't imagine even being 63 years old, much less married that long.
Can you be friends across the generations? We became friends. Old Man George and his wife Meta would have me come out to their ranch north of town. I would do little chores for them, and they would feed me a meal. I remember once taking down those old glass insulators along a row of low telephone poles along the dirt road that led to their house.
Old Man George would take my walking across his property. He pointed out an Indian midden, a pile of flint chips. He picked up one and said, "This here could have been used for scraping buffaloe hides." I still have it in my office. I don't mean to offend anyone here, but once we out walking and came upon a cow paddy. He said, "Be careful, Lynn, and don't step on that Republican platform!" He was a yellow dog Democrat. He would rather vote for a yellow dog than any Republican.
Old Man George were faithful in attending worship and Sunday School at the First UMC. Before the Sunday School would start, the 3 adult classes would gather in the social hall for a devotional. They would sing some of the old songs of the faith, and then someone would offer a brief meditation. This particular Sunday they had sung their songs. I got up to lead the meditation. As I approached the podium, I could see Old Man George coming from the back of the room. This room was filled with good German people with sturdy names like Brandenburger and Durst. He came up to me and said in a voice much too loud, to be easily heard by everyone, "Ain't sex wonderful!" I was in shock. "Well yes, Old Man George, it sure is." "No, ain't sex wonderful!" "Yeah, we will talk about that sometime." "No, I mean, ain't it a good gift from God."
We sometimes translate the word blessed to mean "happy." Happy doesn't go far enough. It is sometimes translated as favored or fortunate or honored. When I think of what it means to be blessed, I have a picture of Old Man George standing up in front of those old German people in church and saying "ain't sex wonderful." That's the first meaning of being blessed, that deep joy.
I didn't know it till I looked it up this past week that there are 40 beattitudes in the Old Testament, 40 blessed are you's. In Genesis 12, Abram and Sara are "blessed to be a blessing" to the whole world. In the OT, to be blessed meant to be healthy and wealthy and to live a long life and to have many children.
In the NT, there are 44 beattitudes. There are several in the last book of the Bible, the Revelation to John. The greatest concentration of beattitudes are found here in Matthew's Gospel as he remembers Jesus teaching at the beginning of a section we call the Sermon on the Mount.
Some people say that they are virtues to aspire to keep. Some say that are entrance requirements to the Kingdom of God. Some say that are a feeling. I don't go with any of these meanings. Who would choose to be this way? Poor in spirit? Mourning? Persecuted? They seem odd, counterintutive.
I am getting to the second meaning of what it means to be blessed, so I continue with the story of Old Man George. For some of you who have lived in Texas, you are going to find this hard to believe, but that summer there was a drought. It was hot and dry. The land was burning up. Old Man George and Meta had a daughter and son-in-law who lived south of town. This daughter, Doris, had some fish tanks that were drying up. Doris treated the fish like pets. She would go out with a big bag of dog food, throw handfuls on top of the water and shout, "Here, fishy, fishy, fishy." This big ol' mouth would appear from below and swallow the floating chunks. As the tanks dried up, the fish were dying from a lack of oxygen.
Doris resolved to thin the number of fish. Cathy, not yet my wife, and I, being great humanitarians volunteered to help with this noble cause. Old Man George and Meta were there too. I am not saying the fish were big, but I had 20# test line on my rod and reel, and when I tried to drag one of them in, it broke the line. Old Man George rigged up the following: he took a mop handle with its steel triangle at the top and got 106# test line that was used for trot lines. He put a bobber and hook on the end. When you threw that out there with some dog food for bait, it didn't break. You should have seen Old Man George's eyes when he hooked one of those big catfish. They were as big as silver dollars.
Old Man George taught me how to clean the fish. We hung them up under the shade trees right there by the ponds. We gutted them. You peel off the skin with these special pliers. You fillet them. You put some breading on them. You have a deep fat fryer going there hooked up to a butane tank. You toss the fillets in until they are golden brown. You might cook up some hush puppies. You could have a little salad on the side. Now friends, I am here to tell that is some pretty good eating. Fresh catfish, fried up and eaten right there underneath the shade trees with a slight breeze blowing.
I don't know if if was a fish bone that did it, but 2 days later, Meta was sick. She had a perforated colon. Peritinitis, an infection of her gut, had set in. The hospital in Mason was more of a first aid station. Meta was loaded onto an ambulance and taken to Sid Peterson Hospital in Kerrville, 60 miles away. The senior pastor was gone. The family found me, and we rushed behind the ambulance to the hospital. They prepped Meta for surgery. We went in to see her. The family looked to me to say a prayer. It was really the first time anyone had ever turned to me as their pastor. I don't know what I said. All I remember is Old Man George holding Meta's hand and looking at her. They took her into surgery. We went to wait.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the meek....These are not things that we would choose. These are not the kind of things that we seek. But there are the kinds of things we all have experienced. We are getting to the second meaning of being blessed. It is a relational word. It means that no matter what happens in life we are connected to God. There is nothing beyond God's touch. We are not called to pursue these things. They are simply the way life is. And God is there....in the midst of these circumstances. Right now...and in the future.
It like what happens to Mary, that young girl, when the angel says to her, "You are favored, blessed, because through you will the Messiah be born." She reacts to that overwhelming news by saying, "Let it be...may it be so." A covenantal relationship is enough to see us through anything.
Well, Meta came through just fine. She recovered and thrived. At the end of December, after 7 months, I left Mason. Several years later I was serving in San Saba, not too far from Mason. The pastor in Mason and I were friends and were in a lectionary group together. He filled me in with the rest of the story. Old Man George and Meta finally had to move out of their ranch house. Meta's health dictated that she needed to be in a nursing home. Old Man George was in the same facility but in the assisted living wing. Every day, he would go to Meta's room and hold her hand. He would say, "I love you Meta." She would reply, "I love you, Old Man George."
That's what it means to be blessed. That's the good news I have to share with you today.
May I tell you a story about being blessed? It was 1978. The place was Mason, Tx, where I did my internship in ministry. He said, "My name is George, but everybody calls me 'Old Man George.'" So I called him Old Man George. He said, "I'm 86 years old, and I've been married to the same woman for 63 years." I was 25 years old. I couldn't imagine even being 63 years old, much less married that long.
Can you be friends across the generations? We became friends. Old Man George and his wife Meta would have me come out to their ranch north of town. I would do little chores for them, and they would feed me a meal. I remember once taking down those old glass insulators along a row of low telephone poles along the dirt road that led to their house.
Old Man George would take my walking across his property. He pointed out an Indian midden, a pile of flint chips. He picked up one and said, "This here could have been used for scraping buffaloe hides." I still have it in my office. I don't mean to offend anyone here, but once we out walking and came upon a cow paddy. He said, "Be careful, Lynn, and don't step on that Republican platform!" He was a yellow dog Democrat. He would rather vote for a yellow dog than any Republican.
Old Man George were faithful in attending worship and Sunday School at the First UMC. Before the Sunday School would start, the 3 adult classes would gather in the social hall for a devotional. They would sing some of the old songs of the faith, and then someone would offer a brief meditation. This particular Sunday they had sung their songs. I got up to lead the meditation. As I approached the podium, I could see Old Man George coming from the back of the room. This room was filled with good German people with sturdy names like Brandenburger and Durst. He came up to me and said in a voice much too loud, to be easily heard by everyone, "Ain't sex wonderful!" I was in shock. "Well yes, Old Man George, it sure is." "No, ain't sex wonderful!" "Yeah, we will talk about that sometime." "No, I mean, ain't it a good gift from God."
We sometimes translate the word blessed to mean "happy." Happy doesn't go far enough. It is sometimes translated as favored or fortunate or honored. When I think of what it means to be blessed, I have a picture of Old Man George standing up in front of those old German people in church and saying "ain't sex wonderful." That's the first meaning of being blessed, that deep joy.
I didn't know it till I looked it up this past week that there are 40 beattitudes in the Old Testament, 40 blessed are you's. In Genesis 12, Abram and Sara are "blessed to be a blessing" to the whole world. In the OT, to be blessed meant to be healthy and wealthy and to live a long life and to have many children.
In the NT, there are 44 beattitudes. There are several in the last book of the Bible, the Revelation to John. The greatest concentration of beattitudes are found here in Matthew's Gospel as he remembers Jesus teaching at the beginning of a section we call the Sermon on the Mount.
Some people say that they are virtues to aspire to keep. Some say that are entrance requirements to the Kingdom of God. Some say that are a feeling. I don't go with any of these meanings. Who would choose to be this way? Poor in spirit? Mourning? Persecuted? They seem odd, counterintutive.
I am getting to the second meaning of what it means to be blessed, so I continue with the story of Old Man George. For some of you who have lived in Texas, you are going to find this hard to believe, but that summer there was a drought. It was hot and dry. The land was burning up. Old Man George and Meta had a daughter and son-in-law who lived south of town. This daughter, Doris, had some fish tanks that were drying up. Doris treated the fish like pets. She would go out with a big bag of dog food, throw handfuls on top of the water and shout, "Here, fishy, fishy, fishy." This big ol' mouth would appear from below and swallow the floating chunks. As the tanks dried up, the fish were dying from a lack of oxygen.
Doris resolved to thin the number of fish. Cathy, not yet my wife, and I, being great humanitarians volunteered to help with this noble cause. Old Man George and Meta were there too. I am not saying the fish were big, but I had 20# test line on my rod and reel, and when I tried to drag one of them in, it broke the line. Old Man George rigged up the following: he took a mop handle with its steel triangle at the top and got 106# test line that was used for trot lines. He put a bobber and hook on the end. When you threw that out there with some dog food for bait, it didn't break. You should have seen Old Man George's eyes when he hooked one of those big catfish. They were as big as silver dollars.
Old Man George taught me how to clean the fish. We hung them up under the shade trees right there by the ponds. We gutted them. You peel off the skin with these special pliers. You fillet them. You put some breading on them. You have a deep fat fryer going there hooked up to a butane tank. You toss the fillets in until they are golden brown. You might cook up some hush puppies. You could have a little salad on the side. Now friends, I am here to tell that is some pretty good eating. Fresh catfish, fried up and eaten right there underneath the shade trees with a slight breeze blowing.
I don't know if if was a fish bone that did it, but 2 days later, Meta was sick. She had a perforated colon. Peritinitis, an infection of her gut, had set in. The hospital in Mason was more of a first aid station. Meta was loaded onto an ambulance and taken to Sid Peterson Hospital in Kerrville, 60 miles away. The senior pastor was gone. The family found me, and we rushed behind the ambulance to the hospital. They prepped Meta for surgery. We went in to see her. The family looked to me to say a prayer. It was really the first time anyone had ever turned to me as their pastor. I don't know what I said. All I remember is Old Man George holding Meta's hand and looking at her. They took her into surgery. We went to wait.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the meek....These are not things that we would choose. These are not the kind of things that we seek. But there are the kinds of things we all have experienced. We are getting to the second meaning of being blessed. It is a relational word. It means that no matter what happens in life we are connected to God. There is nothing beyond God's touch. We are not called to pursue these things. They are simply the way life is. And God is there....in the midst of these circumstances. Right now...and in the future.
It like what happens to Mary, that young girl, when the angel says to her, "You are favored, blessed, because through you will the Messiah be born." She reacts to that overwhelming news by saying, "Let it be...may it be so." A covenantal relationship is enough to see us through anything.
Well, Meta came through just fine. She recovered and thrived. At the end of December, after 7 months, I left Mason. Several years later I was serving in San Saba, not too far from Mason. The pastor in Mason and I were friends and were in a lectionary group together. He filled me in with the rest of the story. Old Man George and Meta finally had to move out of their ranch house. Meta's health dictated that she needed to be in a nursing home. Old Man George was in the same facility but in the assisted living wing. Every day, he would go to Meta's room and hold her hand. He would say, "I love you Meta." She would reply, "I love you, Old Man George."
That's what it means to be blessed. That's the good news I have to share with you today.
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