from my message on Nov. 24, 2013, from John 1:35-45
Brace yourselves. I am about to share a very scary word with you. Are you ready to hear it? Ok, here goes. Witnessing!
We have seen too many bad examples. TV evangelists with hair that could preach Jesus. Pushy people knocking on our doors, just wanting to share some literature with us.
We're Methodists. We're uncomfortable with witnessing. I can prove it by our Book of Discipline. We used to have only 4 vows, only 4 ways that we said we would be following Jesus: prayers, presence, gifts, and service. It took us until the year 2008 to add the vow of witnessing!
And we're Westlake Methodists. I mean isn't faith a personal, even private matter. We don't talk about our faith. And we inclusive, accepting. We get along with people of other faiths or no faith. We're afraid of offending others.
Today, we are finishing up this series on a Disciple's Path, the 5 ways we United Methodists say that we follow Jesus. Today, it is witnessing. I want to lower your anxiety about witnessing. We will not be using any cliches. You will not be asked to make cold calls on strangers.
In 1 word, witnessing is about relationships. You will be asked to talk to people you already know. I will give you 3 practical ways to witness.
The first is to connect our service, our missions projects with witnessing. I told you last week we would revisit this topic today. It is very simple. We already do a great job of witnessing to our faith with our works. I am asking you to join words to the works. Let me give you some examples.
We give out bottles of water or bags of grace to people on the street. What if we added a message with them, a written message. You don't even have to speak. It might say, "This is a free gift to you, just like God's love for you. This brings you refreshment, just like God's love. We want to invite you to experience more of God's love by coming to worship with us at Westlake UMC, 1460 Redbud Trail, at 9 or 11:15 a.m. on Sundays." That's not so hard.
Or it could be inviting someone to join you in a mission project. A young woman has been visiting us here. She has a hard time getting her husband to come to worship with her. However, when she invited him to join here for a Saturday at Habitat for Humanity, he jumped at it. At the end of the day, he said, "That was so much fun. When can we do that again?" People may not always join us for worship or Sunday School. Their first step in faith may be joining us at a work project. That's not hard.
In fact, I have been thinking about tweaking ReThink Church Day. We have done this now 3 or 4 years, a time when we call off worship here and go out into the world to do mission projects. What if this year, we invited someone to join us in that project? They might help us feed the hungry or pick up trash or go singing or take care of the service animals. It's not so hard.
I would like for you to pray right now. Who is that person on your heart? Who would be the one that you could invite to join you in a mission project? That's relationships. That's witnessing.
The second way we focus on relational witnessing has to do with the scripture lesson today. John the Baptist already has some disciples, but when Jesus walks by, John names Jesus as the one to follow. Two disciples do. Andrew then finds his brother Simon, and tells him he has found the Messiah, and brings him to Jesus. Philip does the same routine with Nathaniel, and brings him to Jesus. So there is a chain reaction of people telling other people, people they know, about Jesus.
Watch this video of Hector Ruiz, as he talks about those who told him about Jesus.
None of us got to know Jesus by ourselves. Someone told us. Who have they been in your life? For Hector, it was his father and that Methodist Missionary, who became his spiritual mentor. Who has witnessed the faith to you? I know Thanksgiving is coming up in a few days. Pause know and give thanks to God for those witnesses to faith in your life. Then this becomes part of your witness to others.
Let me share part of my story. I was baptized as an infant in the Methodist Church, confirmed at age 12. I was always part of the faith community. But I had my doubts. When I was a junior in high school, there was a girl name Sharon, the first girl I ever kissed, a Church of Christ girl (yes, God works outside the Methodists). I told I wasn't sure about going to heaven. She said I could be sure. That planted something in my. The next year I dated a Baptist girl (yes, not a Methodist). She showed me a verse in the Bible that led me to an emotional conversion. It was Ephesians 2:8-9, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God--not by works, lest anyone should boast. I had always try to earn God's favor, to prove that I was good enough for God to love me. I was set free. Salvation was a gift.
Later at A & M, I found a home at the Wesley Foundation, the Methodist Student ministry. The campus minister there saw gifts in me, gave me a leadership role as we Aggies would go out and roof a little country church on a Saturday. He asked me to consider ordained ministry. Later, a seminary, my Hebrew professor let me see the layers of meanings behind the words of the Bible, an intellectual conversion.
Those persons who led you to faith become part of your witness to others. You didn't get here by yourself. Others don't either. It's about relationships.
The third way of relational witnessing is listening, about meeting people where they. So each week on this disciple's path, I have been telling you a story from our 10 weeks of renewal leave this summer, from the Appalachian Trail, or climbing mountains in New Mexico. The story this week is off the trail, what we did when we weren't hiking. Cathy and I got hooked on the West Wing on Netflix, streaming video. We did binge watching. There are 7 seasons of the West Wing, 22 episodes a season, for a total of 154 episodes. That's a lot of intrigue and political maneuvering in the White House over a summer.
The chief of staff is Leo Magarity, a recovering alcoholic. He joins one of his staff members in their pain and tells a story. There once was a man who fell into a hole. Help, help, he cried. A priest was walking by. Help me, Father. The priest wrote out a prayer and tossed it into the hole. The man cried, Help, somebody, help me. A doctor walked by, heard the man, wrote him out a prescription and tossed it into the hole. His friend, Joe, was walking by. Joe, help me, I've fallen into this hole. Joe, jumps down into the hole with him. Why did you do that? Now, we both in the hole. Joe responds, Yes, but I've been in this hole before, and I know the way out.
We listen to people in their need, their pain. We meet them where they are. And we help to show them a way out. That's witnessing.
Each week, I have been focusing on some shoes for walking this path. Today, I am wearing my most comfortable shoes. These are Rockports, probably 20 years or more old. I polish them, replace the shoe strings, get them resoled. They fit me.
That's how we do witnessing, in the way we are most comfortable. It has to fit us. We have to be genuine, authentic, credible. Our witness has to fit like these shoes.
I have given you 3 ways to witness. There's a world in need of good news out there. Amen.
Monday, November 25, 2013
Monday, November 18, 2013
A Disciple's Path: Walk for Others
from my message on Nov. 17, 2013, from Romans 12:1-8
I know the title of this message says walk for others, but towards the end of the week, it became also walk with others. But you will see that in a few minutes.
I want to start by bragging on you. You do service really well. We are in a series of messages based around the 5 ways we United Methodists follow Christ, by our prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness. We are on a Disciples' Path. Today, it is the fourth way, the way of service. This is probably this church's number one strength.
We just finished Christmas in October, where we get ahead of the culture's emphasis on consumerism. You got involved in some 18 different ways of walking for and with others from helping with coats for kids to giving coffee to troops to volunteering to go caroling at a retirement center. We need to serve in this way as a counterweight to the "buy more" trend around us. I am amazed at how Black Friday is not the day after Thanksgiving any more. More and more stores are opening on Thanksgiving, first at midnight, then 8 p.m., then 5 p.m., and now 4 p.m. I think Black Friday has begun to be the day after Halloween!
You get involved at all ages. We have the F.I.S.H., the Fifth In Service for Him, who go on mission projects. Children. Then we have youth who go to do home repair in North Carolina at ReCre. Adults do home repair after tornadoes in Joplin, Missouri, and medical missions in Central America. All ages and stages walking for others and with others.
I have a drawer full of t-shirts for walk: CROP walk for hunger, NAMI walk for mental illness, Alzheimer Walk, etc. We walk a lot for others.
I went to a meeting this past Tuesday with some leaders of the Hispanic-Latino community. We United Methodists pastors were meeting with some folks who were not necessarily church folks. I felt a little intimidated. They had been on the front lines for decades organizing farm laborers, getting people registered to vote, and fighting racism One man Gilbert, who admitted he had not been to church in 40 years, asked us what the term "ministries" meant. We UM pastors tried to explain that for us faith meant not just sitting in the pew but getting to real human needs in the world. We didn't just have good words, but also healing actions.
The leader of the group asked me to brag on Westlake UMC. I got to tell how we house the offices of Mobile Loaves and Fishes which feed the homeless living on the streets. I got to tell how SCORE helps people write a business plan and get a small business loan. I told how our congregation got Any Baby Can started. I shared about our involvement with Foundation for the Homeless, Habitat for Humanity, and others.
I want to brag on you. You are walking for and with others. Give yourselves a hand.
Now, we are going through this Healthy Church Initiative process, where some consultants have offered 5 prescriptions for us. One of those is to do an audit of all of missions, our service projects. Some of you may have felt threatened by this prescription. "THEY are going to take MY special mission away." I need to lower you anxiety. There is no THEY. It is only US. WE will decide if some service projects need to be trimmed. We get to choose.
For us, our service projects could also be seen as one of the primary ways that we witness to our faith. It is often one of the first ways people get on the path of discipleship. They may first come to a worship service, but join us as we go into the world to make a difference in a hands-on mission. I think we could tweak this service component just a tiny bit to make it an even more effective witness, but that is next week's message. This is my teaser to get you to come back and hear more about witnessing next week.
I do know that we have some issues in this church when it comes to serving that we need to look at. We do so many things that projects compete for time and resources. Just yesterday our mission day to do home repair in Bastrop after the fires there didn't make, because we had only 2 people sign up. We get stretched pretty thin sometimes. Leaders get stretched thin, sometimes ending up exhausted. Guests to our church get confused about our central mission or how to get started in serving others. In others words, our message gets diluted. We don't have focus.
What does the Bible have to say to this? We read from Romans 12. After all, we are the church. We are not just another service club. God bless the Rotarians, and Kiwanis, and Lions, and ...so forth. But our motivation is different. We act out of a relationship with Christ. We come from a place of grace. Paul says to the church at Rome and to us, Therefore by the mercies of God. We act in response to God's love and forgiveness, a free gift to us. We serve others because God has shown love to us in Christ's living and dying and being raised again.
And we act in community. The imagery is that of the Body of Christ. We need all of the spiritual gifts in order to be a whole body. The list is not meant to be exhaustive. You can read I Cor. 12 and Eph. 4 to find other gifts. The point is that we need each other in order to walk for others and with others. We act in community, not just for those already a part of the church but for the wider world. We walk for and with others, the world community.
Now, I need to bring this home with a story about walking. Many of you know that Cathy and I got 10 weeks renewal leave this summer. I walked about 10 miles a day. One of my big hikes was to climb the highest point in New Mexico, Wheeler Peak, 13,161 feet. I called the leader of the hike to see if I could joint the group leaving from Angel Fire, NM. The person vetted me, "What kind of shape are you in?" "Well, I just spent the last 2 1/2 weeks walking about 150 miles of the Appalachian Trail. I have spent the last week and a half getting acclimated to the altitude here." They let me go on the hike. It was challenging. It was only 4 mile up, but it was a 4,000 foot climb over those 4 miles, starting at about 9,000 feet, thin air. Here's a picture of me standing at the top of Wheeler Peak. Do you see those storms clouds in the background? We had just gotten to the top when it became time to come down. Thunder and lightning. I am only afraid of 2 things: snake and lightning. The leaders said, "We have to leave now." They took off. One woman in our group said, "If I don't eat something, I will be sick. I suffer from vertigo." I stayed with her. We walked down in a hail storm with lightning. Watch the video of us slow stepping down the slippery rocks. This poor woman had blisters, vertigo, and more. She shuffled down the mountain like Tim Conway. I could have gone a lot faster by myself. But I put my agenda and timeline to the side. I was not going to leave her behind. We walk with others. It took us longer to come down than to climb up. I did all of my Stephen Ministry listening skills. I got her to tell me her story. She was a recovering alcoholic, sober for some 18 months. On the one year anniversary of her sobriety, her dad died. Her brother took his own life not long after. We had a lot of time to talk, to get down the mountain. We do not leave people behind. We are community. We walk with others.
Today, I have these work boots, I am going to give for others. We have the Methodist Free Store at 1717 E. 12th street. See their website. We Methodists let people shop for free, anything they want. But the point is that the servants at the free store establish a relationship with the shoppers. "What do you need? How can we be in prayer with you? How are things going in your life?" It is not just offering stuff, but a relationship....a relationship with another person, with Christ. Here's the amazing thing: many of the shoppers have now become servants, helping others shop. We walk for and with others. I am taking this boots to the free store.
The good news is that we were made to walk for other and with others. Amen.
I know the title of this message says walk for others, but towards the end of the week, it became also walk with others. But you will see that in a few minutes.
I want to start by bragging on you. You do service really well. We are in a series of messages based around the 5 ways we United Methodists follow Christ, by our prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness. We are on a Disciples' Path. Today, it is the fourth way, the way of service. This is probably this church's number one strength.
We just finished Christmas in October, where we get ahead of the culture's emphasis on consumerism. You got involved in some 18 different ways of walking for and with others from helping with coats for kids to giving coffee to troops to volunteering to go caroling at a retirement center. We need to serve in this way as a counterweight to the "buy more" trend around us. I am amazed at how Black Friday is not the day after Thanksgiving any more. More and more stores are opening on Thanksgiving, first at midnight, then 8 p.m., then 5 p.m., and now 4 p.m. I think Black Friday has begun to be the day after Halloween!
You get involved at all ages. We have the F.I.S.H., the Fifth In Service for Him, who go on mission projects. Children. Then we have youth who go to do home repair in North Carolina at ReCre. Adults do home repair after tornadoes in Joplin, Missouri, and medical missions in Central America. All ages and stages walking for others and with others.
I have a drawer full of t-shirts for walk: CROP walk for hunger, NAMI walk for mental illness, Alzheimer Walk, etc. We walk a lot for others.
I went to a meeting this past Tuesday with some leaders of the Hispanic-Latino community. We United Methodists pastors were meeting with some folks who were not necessarily church folks. I felt a little intimidated. They had been on the front lines for decades organizing farm laborers, getting people registered to vote, and fighting racism One man Gilbert, who admitted he had not been to church in 40 years, asked us what the term "ministries" meant. We UM pastors tried to explain that for us faith meant not just sitting in the pew but getting to real human needs in the world. We didn't just have good words, but also healing actions.
The leader of the group asked me to brag on Westlake UMC. I got to tell how we house the offices of Mobile Loaves and Fishes which feed the homeless living on the streets. I got to tell how SCORE helps people write a business plan and get a small business loan. I told how our congregation got Any Baby Can started. I shared about our involvement with Foundation for the Homeless, Habitat for Humanity, and others.
I want to brag on you. You are walking for and with others. Give yourselves a hand.
Now, we are going through this Healthy Church Initiative process, where some consultants have offered 5 prescriptions for us. One of those is to do an audit of all of missions, our service projects. Some of you may have felt threatened by this prescription. "THEY are going to take MY special mission away." I need to lower you anxiety. There is no THEY. It is only US. WE will decide if some service projects need to be trimmed. We get to choose.
For us, our service projects could also be seen as one of the primary ways that we witness to our faith. It is often one of the first ways people get on the path of discipleship. They may first come to a worship service, but join us as we go into the world to make a difference in a hands-on mission. I think we could tweak this service component just a tiny bit to make it an even more effective witness, but that is next week's message. This is my teaser to get you to come back and hear more about witnessing next week.
I do know that we have some issues in this church when it comes to serving that we need to look at. We do so many things that projects compete for time and resources. Just yesterday our mission day to do home repair in Bastrop after the fires there didn't make, because we had only 2 people sign up. We get stretched pretty thin sometimes. Leaders get stretched thin, sometimes ending up exhausted. Guests to our church get confused about our central mission or how to get started in serving others. In others words, our message gets diluted. We don't have focus.
What does the Bible have to say to this? We read from Romans 12. After all, we are the church. We are not just another service club. God bless the Rotarians, and Kiwanis, and Lions, and ...so forth. But our motivation is different. We act out of a relationship with Christ. We come from a place of grace. Paul says to the church at Rome and to us, Therefore by the mercies of God. We act in response to God's love and forgiveness, a free gift to us. We serve others because God has shown love to us in Christ's living and dying and being raised again.
And we act in community. The imagery is that of the Body of Christ. We need all of the spiritual gifts in order to be a whole body. The list is not meant to be exhaustive. You can read I Cor. 12 and Eph. 4 to find other gifts. The point is that we need each other in order to walk for others and with others. We act in community, not just for those already a part of the church but for the wider world. We walk for and with others, the world community.
Now, I need to bring this home with a story about walking. Many of you know that Cathy and I got 10 weeks renewal leave this summer. I walked about 10 miles a day. One of my big hikes was to climb the highest point in New Mexico, Wheeler Peak, 13,161 feet. I called the leader of the hike to see if I could joint the group leaving from Angel Fire, NM. The person vetted me, "What kind of shape are you in?" "Well, I just spent the last 2 1/2 weeks walking about 150 miles of the Appalachian Trail. I have spent the last week and a half getting acclimated to the altitude here." They let me go on the hike. It was challenging. It was only 4 mile up, but it was a 4,000 foot climb over those 4 miles, starting at about 9,000 feet, thin air. Here's a picture of me standing at the top of Wheeler Peak. Do you see those storms clouds in the background? We had just gotten to the top when it became time to come down. Thunder and lightning. I am only afraid of 2 things: snake and lightning. The leaders said, "We have to leave now." They took off. One woman in our group said, "If I don't eat something, I will be sick. I suffer from vertigo." I stayed with her. We walked down in a hail storm with lightning. Watch the video of us slow stepping down the slippery rocks. This poor woman had blisters, vertigo, and more. She shuffled down the mountain like Tim Conway. I could have gone a lot faster by myself. But I put my agenda and timeline to the side. I was not going to leave her behind. We walk with others. It took us longer to come down than to climb up. I did all of my Stephen Ministry listening skills. I got her to tell me her story. She was a recovering alcoholic, sober for some 18 months. On the one year anniversary of her sobriety, her dad died. Her brother took his own life not long after. We had a lot of time to talk, to get down the mountain. We do not leave people behind. We are community. We walk with others.
Today, I have these work boots, I am going to give for others. We have the Methodist Free Store at 1717 E. 12th street. See their website. We Methodists let people shop for free, anything they want. But the point is that the servants at the free store establish a relationship with the shoppers. "What do you need? How can we be in prayer with you? How are things going in your life?" It is not just offering stuff, but a relationship....a relationship with another person, with Christ. Here's the amazing thing: many of the shoppers have now become servants, helping others shop. We walk for and with others. I am taking this boots to the free store.
The good news is that we were made to walk for other and with others. Amen.
Monday, November 11, 2013
A Disciple's Path: Walking in Gratitude
from my message on Nov. 10, 2013, from Psalm 24:1-2 and II Cor. 9:6-15
Paul says, The Point is this, the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
Pop Gunn, that's what he was called. His given name was Curtis C. Gunn, but everybody called him Pop, Pop Gunn. He was a member of the church I served in San Antonio, Laurel Heights. Maybe you have been to San Antonio and seen the Gunn auto dealerships? Pop started in the 1950's with one Oldsmobile dealership, but as you can see from the website, it grew to include Chevy, GMC, Honda, Nissan, etc. Pop was quite rich. Can you be rich and still be a Christian? I think so. Pop had a heart for Jesus. He sowed bountifully. Pop was one of the visionaries that started the Methodist Hospital in San Antonio. That has now grow to some 9 centers around San Antonio.
Pop was also very involved in the Permanent Endowment Fund at Laurel Heights UMC. He invited many of his church members and friends to support the fund. He sowed bountifully. When I got there as pastor, the fund had something like $1.3 million in it. Our Permanent Endowment Fund at Westlake UMC has a little under $40,000. Of course, Laurel Heights has been in existence a lot longer.
One day, Pop had me visit one of our church members who had an apartment in an assisted living facility. Mr. A. D. Larson was his name. He had been married, but his wife had died years before. They never had any children. He had never had a high office in any corporation. He had been a bookkeeper and an accountant. He had lived very modestly. Over the years he had made wise investments. When he died, he left a portion of his estate to the Laurel Heights UMC Endowment Fund. He left $1.3 million!!!! He doubled the fund with his one gift! Talk about sowing bountifully and reaping bountifully.
Not all of you can do. Not all of you are called to do this. My job is to preach the good news today and to offer some practical advice and then to tell you one story.
The good news is this: God owns everything. I know we pretend that we own stuff. We put our names on pieces of paper that say this house is ours, or this parcel of land, or this car, or this stock portfolio, but really we own nothing. The Psalmist says, The earth is the Lord's and everything in it. We are just borrowing the stuff for a little while. We are sharecroppers. What are you going to take into the next life after you die? Nothing. We sow and reap, but we are sharecroppers.
Really I find this to be quite liberating. We are freed from worrying about taking care of ourselves. We are freed to seeing how we can glorify God for this short time we are on earth. The stuff is his. How do we recognize that in our decisions?
This creates in us gratitude. We have been given so much. How do we say "thank you" to God? We sow in gratitude. We reap in gratitude.
And we do this harvesting with cheerfulness. Paul says that we are not to give out of guilt or compulsion, because God loves a cheerful giver. My prayer is God send me a church of cheerful givers. And it feels good to give. You know this. I went last night to a banquet for Foundation for the Homeless where many members of this church hold leadership positions. Oh, and people were laughing. They were giving away thousands of dollars and smiling! They were cheerful. It felt good to make a difference with our generosity. It is our thank you note to God.
Now the practical. Preparing for this message, I knew I had to be a person of integrity, so I got out my will. How many of you have a will? I know the last time we made an emphasis on the Permanent Endowment Fund, we found some folks who didn't have one. They were smart people, but they didn't have a will. If you don't have a will, the great State of Texas has one for you. Unfortunately, it just doesn't fit anyone who ever died. My brother David died without a will. It was a mess. The first practical thing I have to share is get a will. Especially as you have children, include guardians for them and trustees for the estate. Some of you will need to choose someone with durable power of attorney who can act on your behalf if you are incapacitated.
In your will, you could include the Permanent Endowment Fund. Again, as a person of integrity, I looked closely at my will. I have set aside 10% of my estate to the church. Not this church. I am giving to 3 places that shape my faith. The First UMC of Littlefield, Tx, that nurtured me as a child and youth. The Wesley Foundation at Texas A & M where I received my call to ordained ministry. The Perkins School of Theology where I did my seminary work. Maybe you can remember Westlake UMC in your will. It could be an insurance policy, or a stock, or a bond, or a piece of land.
Now as a person of integrity, I am giving to the Westlake UMC fund. I did it this morning as a cash gift. I went to our church website and charged it to my credit card....and got airline miles too! It only took a few seconds. Maybe some of you can give that way.
I am asking you today to walk in gratitude and to give a gift that has a long-lasting impact. Like Pop Gunn, we sow bountifully today, expecting a bountiful harvest that we may never see ourselves. We have future perspective. It is like supporting the Healthy Church Initatives. It is preparing for a future. It is making a way for those who aren't here yet. It is like being a veteran of the military. I know that tomorrow is Veteran's Day. You serve not thinking of yourself but others. Not just thinking about today, but about the future.
Now the story. Each week on this path of discipleship, I have telling you a story from this past summer's renewal leave and hiking part of the Appalachian Trail. Here's that picture of Cathy and me again. Look closely at the blue bucket at the base of the sign. It is filled with iced down Gatorade. That is called Trail Magic. Any gift along the path, that someone else freely gave, with no strings attached is Trail Magic. It might be watermelon slices. It could be a hamburger cookout. It might be candy bars. How wonderful it is be come upon Trail Magic when you are hot and tired and hungry!
Remember last week when I told about losing Cathy's expensive Canon camera and someone returned it? That's Trail Magic. Cathy and I got to practice Trail Magic. The next day after getting the camera back, we got to our car to find a young German couple who asked us for a ride into town. We helped them find a youth hostel. That was Trail Magic. Another day we passed out cookies. We met another German couple whose trail names were Hansel and Gretel. German television had shown a documentary on the Appalachian Trail, so we met a lot of Germans. We took Hansel and Gretel to Walmart to shop.
I am asking you to practice some Trail Magic. To give away for those you may not even know, without strings, for the future. I am asking you to do this with gratitude, cheerfully.
I am asking you to sow bountifully, knowing that God will reap bountifully.
Paul says, The Point is this, the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
Pop Gunn, that's what he was called. His given name was Curtis C. Gunn, but everybody called him Pop, Pop Gunn. He was a member of the church I served in San Antonio, Laurel Heights. Maybe you have been to San Antonio and seen the Gunn auto dealerships? Pop started in the 1950's with one Oldsmobile dealership, but as you can see from the website, it grew to include Chevy, GMC, Honda, Nissan, etc. Pop was quite rich. Can you be rich and still be a Christian? I think so. Pop had a heart for Jesus. He sowed bountifully. Pop was one of the visionaries that started the Methodist Hospital in San Antonio. That has now grow to some 9 centers around San Antonio.
Pop was also very involved in the Permanent Endowment Fund at Laurel Heights UMC. He invited many of his church members and friends to support the fund. He sowed bountifully. When I got there as pastor, the fund had something like $1.3 million in it. Our Permanent Endowment Fund at Westlake UMC has a little under $40,000. Of course, Laurel Heights has been in existence a lot longer.
One day, Pop had me visit one of our church members who had an apartment in an assisted living facility. Mr. A. D. Larson was his name. He had been married, but his wife had died years before. They never had any children. He had never had a high office in any corporation. He had been a bookkeeper and an accountant. He had lived very modestly. Over the years he had made wise investments. When he died, he left a portion of his estate to the Laurel Heights UMC Endowment Fund. He left $1.3 million!!!! He doubled the fund with his one gift! Talk about sowing bountifully and reaping bountifully.
Not all of you can do. Not all of you are called to do this. My job is to preach the good news today and to offer some practical advice and then to tell you one story.
The good news is this: God owns everything. I know we pretend that we own stuff. We put our names on pieces of paper that say this house is ours, or this parcel of land, or this car, or this stock portfolio, but really we own nothing. The Psalmist says, The earth is the Lord's and everything in it. We are just borrowing the stuff for a little while. We are sharecroppers. What are you going to take into the next life after you die? Nothing. We sow and reap, but we are sharecroppers.
Really I find this to be quite liberating. We are freed from worrying about taking care of ourselves. We are freed to seeing how we can glorify God for this short time we are on earth. The stuff is his. How do we recognize that in our decisions?
This creates in us gratitude. We have been given so much. How do we say "thank you" to God? We sow in gratitude. We reap in gratitude.
And we do this harvesting with cheerfulness. Paul says that we are not to give out of guilt or compulsion, because God loves a cheerful giver. My prayer is God send me a church of cheerful givers. And it feels good to give. You know this. I went last night to a banquet for Foundation for the Homeless where many members of this church hold leadership positions. Oh, and people were laughing. They were giving away thousands of dollars and smiling! They were cheerful. It felt good to make a difference with our generosity. It is our thank you note to God.
Now the practical. Preparing for this message, I knew I had to be a person of integrity, so I got out my will. How many of you have a will? I know the last time we made an emphasis on the Permanent Endowment Fund, we found some folks who didn't have one. They were smart people, but they didn't have a will. If you don't have a will, the great State of Texas has one for you. Unfortunately, it just doesn't fit anyone who ever died. My brother David died without a will. It was a mess. The first practical thing I have to share is get a will. Especially as you have children, include guardians for them and trustees for the estate. Some of you will need to choose someone with durable power of attorney who can act on your behalf if you are incapacitated.
In your will, you could include the Permanent Endowment Fund. Again, as a person of integrity, I looked closely at my will. I have set aside 10% of my estate to the church. Not this church. I am giving to 3 places that shape my faith. The First UMC of Littlefield, Tx, that nurtured me as a child and youth. The Wesley Foundation at Texas A & M where I received my call to ordained ministry. The Perkins School of Theology where I did my seminary work. Maybe you can remember Westlake UMC in your will. It could be an insurance policy, or a stock, or a bond, or a piece of land.
Now as a person of integrity, I am giving to the Westlake UMC fund. I did it this morning as a cash gift. I went to our church website and charged it to my credit card....and got airline miles too! It only took a few seconds. Maybe some of you can give that way.
I am asking you today to walk in gratitude and to give a gift that has a long-lasting impact. Like Pop Gunn, we sow bountifully today, expecting a bountiful harvest that we may never see ourselves. We have future perspective. It is like supporting the Healthy Church Initatives. It is preparing for a future. It is making a way for those who aren't here yet. It is like being a veteran of the military. I know that tomorrow is Veteran's Day. You serve not thinking of yourself but others. Not just thinking about today, but about the future.
Now the story. Each week on this path of discipleship, I have telling you a story from this past summer's renewal leave and hiking part of the Appalachian Trail. Here's that picture of Cathy and me again. Look closely at the blue bucket at the base of the sign. It is filled with iced down Gatorade. That is called Trail Magic. Any gift along the path, that someone else freely gave, with no strings attached is Trail Magic. It might be watermelon slices. It could be a hamburger cookout. It might be candy bars. How wonderful it is be come upon Trail Magic when you are hot and tired and hungry!
Remember last week when I told about losing Cathy's expensive Canon camera and someone returned it? That's Trail Magic. Cathy and I got to practice Trail Magic. The next day after getting the camera back, we got to our car to find a young German couple who asked us for a ride into town. We helped them find a youth hostel. That was Trail Magic. Another day we passed out cookies. We met another German couple whose trail names were Hansel and Gretel. German television had shown a documentary on the Appalachian Trail, so we met a lot of Germans. We took Hansel and Gretel to Walmart to shop.
I am asking you to practice some Trail Magic. To give away for those you may not even know, without strings, for the future. I am asking you to do this with gratitude, cheerfully.
I am asking you to sow bountifully, knowing that God will reap bountifully.
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
A Disciple's Path: Walk Together
from my message on Nov. 3, All Saints' Sunday, from I Cor. 11:23-26
Loneliness. I think loneliness is the number disease in America. I once went to a workshop where the presenter said that some incredible number of people who come into the emergency room, way over 50%, maybe 80%, come with the root cause of loneliness.
He reaches over to her side of the bed. She is not there. His wife of 46 years has died. He says, "I am no good without her." He stops eating right. Stops exercising. Stops going out. Stops living.
She is standing there with the papers in her hands. The divorce papers. She feels that she has been traded in for a younger model, a trophy wife. She feels rejected. Used. Discarded. Discounted. She stops taking care of herself.
Around here, we try to fill up on many things. How many people did I greet this morning with "how's it going" and they replied, "Busy" ? Busy is our symptom of loneliness. We try to do too much. We don't know how to say, "No."
If it is not busyness, it is alcohol, or pornography, or work. We are never satisfied. Underneath it all is our loneliness.
I have good news for you. You were not meant for loneliness. You were meant for relationship with God and one another.
We are in this series, A Disciple's Path. Today, we are walking together. We acknowledge that we can't do it alone. We don't have to do alone. Thank goodness, Thank God, we don't have to do it alone.
I need to pause and put on my hiking shoes. You may remember that Cathy and I had 10 weeks of renewal leave this summer, where we did a lot of hiking. The first 3 weeks I did some 150 of the Appalachian Trail from the James River to Front Royal in Virginia.
The first hike we did was from Punchbowl Mountain to the James River, about 11 miles. It was hard. Uphill at first. We were carrying too much stuff. Cathy was struggling with the binoculars and the camera. I volunteered to carry her very nice, expensive Canon camera in my backpack. When she wanted to take a picture, I would simply turn around so she could reach in and grab the camera. About noon at the peak of the climb, we stopped for lunch (graham crackers with peanut butter, bananas, granola bars, apples). I went to get out the lunch. No camera! Where did it fall out? How long ago? Cathy said, "I am not going back down that mountain." We were resolved to have lost it. We were heartsick.
We meet some hikers going north while we were traveling south. We would say, "If you find a Canon camera, we are the Barton's, we are staying at the Dutch Haus B & B in Montebello." We thought it was gone forever, but it didn't hurt to ask.
We finished our hike about 3 p.m. in 93 degree heat. Depressed. Down. It was so bad that Cathy drove. That's a bad sign. I usually drive. We pulled into the B & B. A woman named Sandy came out. "Are you the Barton's?" "Yes." "Zach has your camera. He'll meet you at the Rte. 60 wayside at 9 tomorrow morning."
We were at the wayside at 8:45. Hikers came through. No Zach. They kept saying, "there were lots of people at the shelter last night. I think I heard about some camera." Nine came and went. Nine thirty. We began to think that Zach had done a runner, made car payment with our camera. But we started hiking down to where Zach was supposed to be coming from. After about 20 minutes, 2 guys were walking together. "Are you Zach?" "Yes. Here's your camera." We gave him a breakfast plate I had been carrying and $20. It was a small price to pay for keeping my marriage!
Here's the point. There are people looking out for you. People you might not even be aware of. Saints. Yes, we can call them saints. Pause and give thanks for the saints around you. People who have been looking out for you. You can't do this path by yourself. You don't have to do it by yourself. You were not made for loneliness.
The Appalachian Trail is a community. We in the church are too. We gather for communion today. We come to this table, realizing it is a very large table. So many have walked the path ahead of us, looking out for us, taking care of us. This is not a private meal today. It is a crowded table.
Then flip it around. For whom are you walking? Who are the ones you are looking out for? Could you see yourself as a saint?
There is a young woman who visited this church 2 weeks ago. She had been praying to find a church community. She wanted it not just for herself , but for others. God had placed it upon her heart to reach out to young moms, to try to connect them. She knew that sometimes young moms felt if not trapped, at least limited. Loss of sleep. Maybe loss of contact with others. She wants to connect them, so they will know they don't have to do this path alone.
I have a story from last year, from our District Superintendent in the Valley. A D. S. is like a regional manager in the church. She was conducting a charge conference, a church business meeting. As Laura, the D. S., was leaving the church, she met a woman who wanted to tell her how much her church meant to her. This woman had found herself recently divorced, living in a broken down trailer, with broken windows, cold and depressed. Some Methodists came by, snowbirds, retired. They fixed up her trailer, new windows, carpet, everything. She was not alone. This woman started attending the local Methodist church because of their help. She wanted to give back. She offered to be the church janitor, no pay. The pastor gave her a key, and more than that trust. She liked to sweep the sidewalk, because Jesus might be coming that way.
We don't have to do it alone. In fact, the only way we can do this path is to walk together.
We are all walking, and when we can look beyond our loneliness to see others walking too, we find that we are all walking together, towards home.
That's the good news I have to share today.
Loneliness. I think loneliness is the number disease in America. I once went to a workshop where the presenter said that some incredible number of people who come into the emergency room, way over 50%, maybe 80%, come with the root cause of loneliness.
He reaches over to her side of the bed. She is not there. His wife of 46 years has died. He says, "I am no good without her." He stops eating right. Stops exercising. Stops going out. Stops living.
She is standing there with the papers in her hands. The divorce papers. She feels that she has been traded in for a younger model, a trophy wife. She feels rejected. Used. Discarded. Discounted. She stops taking care of herself.
Around here, we try to fill up on many things. How many people did I greet this morning with "how's it going" and they replied, "Busy" ? Busy is our symptom of loneliness. We try to do too much. We don't know how to say, "No."
If it is not busyness, it is alcohol, or pornography, or work. We are never satisfied. Underneath it all is our loneliness.
I have good news for you. You were not meant for loneliness. You were meant for relationship with God and one another.
We are in this series, A Disciple's Path. Today, we are walking together. We acknowledge that we can't do it alone. We don't have to do alone. Thank goodness, Thank God, we don't have to do it alone.
I need to pause and put on my hiking shoes. You may remember that Cathy and I had 10 weeks of renewal leave this summer, where we did a lot of hiking. The first 3 weeks I did some 150 of the Appalachian Trail from the James River to Front Royal in Virginia.
The first hike we did was from Punchbowl Mountain to the James River, about 11 miles. It was hard. Uphill at first. We were carrying too much stuff. Cathy was struggling with the binoculars and the camera. I volunteered to carry her very nice, expensive Canon camera in my backpack. When she wanted to take a picture, I would simply turn around so she could reach in and grab the camera. About noon at the peak of the climb, we stopped for lunch (graham crackers with peanut butter, bananas, granola bars, apples). I went to get out the lunch. No camera! Where did it fall out? How long ago? Cathy said, "I am not going back down that mountain." We were resolved to have lost it. We were heartsick.
We meet some hikers going north while we were traveling south. We would say, "If you find a Canon camera, we are the Barton's, we are staying at the Dutch Haus B & B in Montebello." We thought it was gone forever, but it didn't hurt to ask.
We finished our hike about 3 p.m. in 93 degree heat. Depressed. Down. It was so bad that Cathy drove. That's a bad sign. I usually drive. We pulled into the B & B. A woman named Sandy came out. "Are you the Barton's?" "Yes." "Zach has your camera. He'll meet you at the Rte. 60 wayside at 9 tomorrow morning."
We were at the wayside at 8:45. Hikers came through. No Zach. They kept saying, "there were lots of people at the shelter last night. I think I heard about some camera." Nine came and went. Nine thirty. We began to think that Zach had done a runner, made car payment with our camera. But we started hiking down to where Zach was supposed to be coming from. After about 20 minutes, 2 guys were walking together. "Are you Zach?" "Yes. Here's your camera." We gave him a breakfast plate I had been carrying and $20. It was a small price to pay for keeping my marriage!
Here's the point. There are people looking out for you. People you might not even be aware of. Saints. Yes, we can call them saints. Pause and give thanks for the saints around you. People who have been looking out for you. You can't do this path by yourself. You don't have to do it by yourself. You were not made for loneliness.
The Appalachian Trail is a community. We in the church are too. We gather for communion today. We come to this table, realizing it is a very large table. So many have walked the path ahead of us, looking out for us, taking care of us. This is not a private meal today. It is a crowded table.
Then flip it around. For whom are you walking? Who are the ones you are looking out for? Could you see yourself as a saint?
There is a young woman who visited this church 2 weeks ago. She had been praying to find a church community. She wanted it not just for herself , but for others. God had placed it upon her heart to reach out to young moms, to try to connect them. She knew that sometimes young moms felt if not trapped, at least limited. Loss of sleep. Maybe loss of contact with others. She wants to connect them, so they will know they don't have to do this path alone.
I have a story from last year, from our District Superintendent in the Valley. A D. S. is like a regional manager in the church. She was conducting a charge conference, a church business meeting. As Laura, the D. S., was leaving the church, she met a woman who wanted to tell her how much her church meant to her. This woman had found herself recently divorced, living in a broken down trailer, with broken windows, cold and depressed. Some Methodists came by, snowbirds, retired. They fixed up her trailer, new windows, carpet, everything. She was not alone. This woman started attending the local Methodist church because of their help. She wanted to give back. She offered to be the church janitor, no pay. The pastor gave her a key, and more than that trust. She liked to sweep the sidewalk, because Jesus might be coming that way.
We don't have to do it alone. In fact, the only way we can do this path is to walk together.
We are all walking, and when we can look beyond our loneliness to see others walking too, we find that we are all walking together, towards home.
That's the good news I have to share today.
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