7/31/12 I do a lot of swimming in the summertime. Our free neighborhood pool opens up for morning and evening lap swimming. Cathy and I can swim about 7 months of the year at Deep Eddy, a spring fed pool that stays a cool 68 degrees year round. Even on vacation, we swam at Taos, N.M., public indoor pool. On the way back from N. Dakota, we took a break at Garden City, Kansas, which has a gorgeous outdoor pool, which is absolutely huge. My brother-in-law David says that it is the largest hand dug pool in the USA. I had a lane all to myself, 50 meters long. I heartily recommend it to you if you are ever headed that way. Of course, the last few days, I have been watching a lot of swimming on tv as part of the Olympics. How about that 17 year old Missy Franklin? If I could do only 1 kind of exercise, it would be swimming. I get a total body work-out. I love to get into the rhythm of breathing and stroking. I wish as much joy as I find in swimming.
Love,
Lynn
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Monday, July 30, 2012
nailed it
from my message on 7/29/12, part of the Olympics series, from Col. 2:6-15
(I am getting out my workmate saw horse, saw, landscaping timber, tool belt) I grew up on a farm in the Panhandle of Texas; Littlefield is my hometown. Dad had chickens, a large commercial operation of laying hens. Later, he added a hog farm, with breeding stock, raising hogs for the meat. When I was in high school and college, Dad began to switch from farming to building chicken farms and hog farms for others. He became a contractor/builder. As his eldest son, I got training in the building trades, first in plumbing, then in concrete, and of course, carpentry. On the job, when we were raising a wall section, or putting up trusses, someone would ask, "Do you like it?" If it were on the mark, plumb, straight and true, we would reply, "Nail it."
Which leads me to the Olympics (fanfare of trumpets and tympani starts to play as I start to saw the landscape timber). I love the Olympics. I have already watched many hours on tv and plan to watch many more hours. I love the pursuit of perfection. Do you see the men's gymnastics yesterday? They would do their routines on the parallel bars or pommel horse, going around and around, and at the end, they would do the dismount. They would try to land without taking a step or a hop. If they stuck the landing, we would say, they..."Nailed it." It was on the mark, perfect. (I continue sawing the board). And the 10 meter platform diving.....10 meters...a meter is more than a yard....it's about 39 inches...so 10 meters is about 32.5 feet. (I get out my tape measure and extend it up towards the ceiling). That ceiling is about 15 feet. More than twice that height, someone is jumping, no diving off and platform into the water. You don't want to do a belly flop into the water. You want to hit it exactly perpendicular. You want to slice into the water, making hardly any splash. It sounds like "ssllippp." And when you hit it just right, we will say, you ...."Nailed it."
(I get through sawing through the board) What does this have to do with the scripture? Paul talks about dealing with sin. I know you are sophisticated people. You may not think about sin too much. Paul uses language of trespassing, crossing the line, breaking a law. Do you know anything about sin like this? I once had a church member in San Saba, an old pecan buyer. He said, "Preacher, I have broken all of the 10 commandments, except 2, and I am not going to tell you which 2." One of my spiritual directors once invited me to do an examination of my life through the commandments. He said, "Not the 10 commandments, but the 2 great commandments. How are you doing about loving God with all of your heart, you soul, your mind, your strength, and your neighbor as yourself?" Who loves perfectly all of the time? Cathy and I are just back from 3 and 1/2 weeks of vacation. We saw some 9 states with 4,500 miles of driving. Now, I love my wife, but there were times I did not love her perfectly over that time and distance. Who loves perfectly? Do you something about sin?
In driving back from N. Dakota, we took highway 83, in a straight line from north to south, for more than a 1,000 miles, all the way to Abilene, Tx. It is a 2 lane highway, going through a lot of little towns. In all of those little towns, the flags at the post office and other public buildings were flying at half staff. The days of mourning over the shooting at Aurora, Colorado, were upon us. Do you know something about sin?
Paul also uses languages about being in debt, about owing God a bond, being in bondage....maybe our language today would be about being addicted. We are addicted to our work, to money and possessions, to drugs. We are caught in a bind. Do you know something about sin? Maybe you have not broken God's law or feel in debt, but have you broken God's heart? Then you know something about sin.
What's the answer to sin? Paul says that Christ Jesus has taken our brokenness, taken our debt and "nailed it" to the cross. (I nail the short sawed off piece to the long piece, using long nails....I set the rough cross upright in my workmate vise grips). I began my ministry like so many do by doing youth work. I was a summer youth director at St. Mark's UMC in Baytown, Tx, in 1974. Youth work is some of the hardest ministry in the church and some of the lowest paid. God bless you J. D. for the years you have spent with us. God bless you Diane, for what you will continue to do with us. So the youth in Baytown liked to do weekend retreats down on the beach in Galveston. At the first one, they asked my could they do a sin burning service. I said I didn't know what that meant. They said, "You give us a piece of paper. We write our sins on them. You nail them to the cross. You light a match to them. Our sins are burned up." I thought about doing that with you today. It would be a little hard in this space to do. But could you imagine that? What if you were to confess your sins? What if I were to nail your sins to this cross? What if they were forgiven here? I don't know about you, but I need this kind of outlet on an almost daily basis. I allow some time and space now for you to confess silently. Take them to the cross. (after a moment of silence) In the name of Jesus Christ, we are forgiven, because he "nailed it" (drive a nail into the cross).
We know that sin is not just individual, but also corporate. Paul has language of us dealing with principalities and powers. He means that sin has become institutionalized. It has gotten into systems. It is almost like it is in the air that we breath and the water that we drink. It gets into governments....like Syria. Yet all that awfulness, all that ugliness has been redeemed by Christ, because in the cross, he "nailed it." It has gotten into schools like Penn State where blind eyes were turned to abuse because football was more important. Yet even that evil and brokenness has been redeemed by Christ, because in the cross, he "nailed it." It has even gotten into the church, where there has been clergy sexual abuse. Yet even that sin has been redeemed by Christ, because in the cross, he "nailed it."
I am not trying to be cute. I am trying to give you a memory device of what God has done in Christ Jesus. I am not trying to be simplistic. I once did a series of 7 sermons on sin and salvation, but here Paul makes it clear that our sins have been forgiven because Christ "nailed it."
We polish up the cross. We emboss it with gold. We wear the cross as jewelry. But the cross of Christ is more like this rough wood. Christ took what was an emblem of humiliation, punishment,and defeat, and nailed it, making into a symbol of victory. Christ took what was a sign of death and nailed it, making it into a sign of life.
Our hope is not in our good works. Our hope is not in what we have done, but in what Christ has done for us in the cross. He nailed it. That's the good news I have to share today.
(I am getting out my workmate saw horse, saw, landscaping timber, tool belt) I grew up on a farm in the Panhandle of Texas; Littlefield is my hometown. Dad had chickens, a large commercial operation of laying hens. Later, he added a hog farm, with breeding stock, raising hogs for the meat. When I was in high school and college, Dad began to switch from farming to building chicken farms and hog farms for others. He became a contractor/builder. As his eldest son, I got training in the building trades, first in plumbing, then in concrete, and of course, carpentry. On the job, when we were raising a wall section, or putting up trusses, someone would ask, "Do you like it?" If it were on the mark, plumb, straight and true, we would reply, "Nail it."
Which leads me to the Olympics (fanfare of trumpets and tympani starts to play as I start to saw the landscape timber). I love the Olympics. I have already watched many hours on tv and plan to watch many more hours. I love the pursuit of perfection. Do you see the men's gymnastics yesterday? They would do their routines on the parallel bars or pommel horse, going around and around, and at the end, they would do the dismount. They would try to land without taking a step or a hop. If they stuck the landing, we would say, they..."Nailed it." It was on the mark, perfect. (I continue sawing the board). And the 10 meter platform diving.....10 meters...a meter is more than a yard....it's about 39 inches...so 10 meters is about 32.5 feet. (I get out my tape measure and extend it up towards the ceiling). That ceiling is about 15 feet. More than twice that height, someone is jumping, no diving off and platform into the water. You don't want to do a belly flop into the water. You want to hit it exactly perpendicular. You want to slice into the water, making hardly any splash. It sounds like "ssllippp." And when you hit it just right, we will say, you ...."Nailed it."
(I get through sawing through the board) What does this have to do with the scripture? Paul talks about dealing with sin. I know you are sophisticated people. You may not think about sin too much. Paul uses language of trespassing, crossing the line, breaking a law. Do you know anything about sin like this? I once had a church member in San Saba, an old pecan buyer. He said, "Preacher, I have broken all of the 10 commandments, except 2, and I am not going to tell you which 2." One of my spiritual directors once invited me to do an examination of my life through the commandments. He said, "Not the 10 commandments, but the 2 great commandments. How are you doing about loving God with all of your heart, you soul, your mind, your strength, and your neighbor as yourself?" Who loves perfectly all of the time? Cathy and I are just back from 3 and 1/2 weeks of vacation. We saw some 9 states with 4,500 miles of driving. Now, I love my wife, but there were times I did not love her perfectly over that time and distance. Who loves perfectly? Do you something about sin?
In driving back from N. Dakota, we took highway 83, in a straight line from north to south, for more than a 1,000 miles, all the way to Abilene, Tx. It is a 2 lane highway, going through a lot of little towns. In all of those little towns, the flags at the post office and other public buildings were flying at half staff. The days of mourning over the shooting at Aurora, Colorado, were upon us. Do you know something about sin?
Paul also uses languages about being in debt, about owing God a bond, being in bondage....maybe our language today would be about being addicted. We are addicted to our work, to money and possessions, to drugs. We are caught in a bind. Do you know something about sin? Maybe you have not broken God's law or feel in debt, but have you broken God's heart? Then you know something about sin.
What's the answer to sin? Paul says that Christ Jesus has taken our brokenness, taken our debt and "nailed it" to the cross. (I nail the short sawed off piece to the long piece, using long nails....I set the rough cross upright in my workmate vise grips). I began my ministry like so many do by doing youth work. I was a summer youth director at St. Mark's UMC in Baytown, Tx, in 1974. Youth work is some of the hardest ministry in the church and some of the lowest paid. God bless you J. D. for the years you have spent with us. God bless you Diane, for what you will continue to do with us. So the youth in Baytown liked to do weekend retreats down on the beach in Galveston. At the first one, they asked my could they do a sin burning service. I said I didn't know what that meant. They said, "You give us a piece of paper. We write our sins on them. You nail them to the cross. You light a match to them. Our sins are burned up." I thought about doing that with you today. It would be a little hard in this space to do. But could you imagine that? What if you were to confess your sins? What if I were to nail your sins to this cross? What if they were forgiven here? I don't know about you, but I need this kind of outlet on an almost daily basis. I allow some time and space now for you to confess silently. Take them to the cross. (after a moment of silence) In the name of Jesus Christ, we are forgiven, because he "nailed it" (drive a nail into the cross).
We know that sin is not just individual, but also corporate. Paul has language of us dealing with principalities and powers. He means that sin has become institutionalized. It has gotten into systems. It is almost like it is in the air that we breath and the water that we drink. It gets into governments....like Syria. Yet all that awfulness, all that ugliness has been redeemed by Christ, because in the cross, he "nailed it." It has gotten into schools like Penn State where blind eyes were turned to abuse because football was more important. Yet even that evil and brokenness has been redeemed by Christ, because in the cross, he "nailed it." It has even gotten into the church, where there has been clergy sexual abuse. Yet even that sin has been redeemed by Christ, because in the cross, he "nailed it."
I am not trying to be cute. I am trying to give you a memory device of what God has done in Christ Jesus. I am not trying to be simplistic. I once did a series of 7 sermons on sin and salvation, but here Paul makes it clear that our sins have been forgiven because Christ "nailed it."
We polish up the cross. We emboss it with gold. We wear the cross as jewelry. But the cross of Christ is more like this rough wood. Christ took what was an emblem of humiliation, punishment,and defeat, and nailed it, making into a symbol of victory. Christ took what was a sign of death and nailed it, making it into a sign of life.
Our hope is not in our good works. Our hope is not in what we have done, but in what Christ has done for us in the cross. He nailed it. That's the good news I have to share today.
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