from my message on graduation Sunday, May 25, 2014, from John 14:1-7
Advice. The great temptation at times like this is to give advice. "Eat your vegetables...they're good for you." "These are the best years of your life, make the most of them." "Live, laugh, love." And that classic, "Wherever you go...there you are."
The problem is that our desire to give advice is inversely proportional to the desire to receive it. In other words, the more we--preachers, parents, teachers, counselors, etc.--want to tell you something, the less you are willing to hear it.
Our desire to give advice comes from a good place. We only want the best for you. We want to protect you. We want you to thrive. It is like this Suburu car commercial. (33 sec clip of Father leaning in car window, telling the little girl behind the wheel to buckle up, check her mirrors, drive carefully, no going on the freeway, no talking on the cell phone....she replies, ok, Daddy, and the camera turns back to her she is a young woman behind the wheel)
That's how it feels to us parents, teachers, preachers, etc. You grow up so fast. We only want the best for you. For you graduates, you may feel like the young woman behind the wheel of the car, "Enough already....I can handle it...I am ready to go....let me go...I'm old enough..."
I have no advice for you today. I simply want to tell you what God is like, the God revealed in Jesus Christ. I want to share what the life in Christ is like.
It's like a journey. This is the metaphor that you graduates used with me when we talked. You gave thanks for how far you have come. You looked forward at what was to come.
This journey metaphor is biblical. Abram and Sarai are approached by God in the book of our beginnings and are told to leave their home, their family, and their country to "go to a land that I will show you." And although they are old...they Go! It seems that God is always going before us, asking us to leave home and security, to go to some other place. In fact to go not to a place, but to a promise.
Moses and the Hebrew children are led out of bondage in Egypt toward a promised land. It takes them 40 years of wandering in the wilderness to get there. That has been my experience of following this God. The journey is not always a straight line, a linear progression.
Then there's Jesus. In the passage today, he says that he goes to prepare a place for us. Jesus seems to be always going ahead, holding out something new, different, better for us.
Our question is like the one Thomas asks, "How can we know the way?" Jesus answers, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Many have interpreted this phrase quite narrowly, but I don't. The Jesus way for me is broad and inclusive. In John's gospel, Jesus comes to his mom at wedding feast and she doesn't understand him. He comes to Nicodemus at night, this learned leader of the Jews, doesn't understand him. He comes to a Samaritan woman at a well, and she doesn't understand him. He comes to the sick and the hungry, and they also misunderstand. The thing is he keeps coming, he keeps inviting. His way is one of wooing us, until we get it. He is about going to prepare a place for us, as many of us as possible.
So today, I say wherever you may go, Jesus is already there, inviting you to his way. I believe that you have free will, free choice. I don't believe your life is pre-ordained, all determined for you. I think God delights in discovering what we choose to do. I think God keeps inviting us to his way. So today, a graduate told me he had the choice of going to pursue pre-med at one school and engineering at another school. Which one is the right way? The answer is yes!! Christ can work through any way.
My own degree is in mathematics from Texas A & M, not a great school for theology. My parents had plans for me, to take over the farm or get a good job. God had other plans for me. I wonder how many of you here actually work in another field from the one in which you got your degree. Wherever you go, Christ is already there, wooing us to his way.
I did some post-doctoral work in spiritual direction at Boston College, a powerhouse of Jesuit teaching (Roman Catholic). This is what I found out about the Jesuits: they found God absolutely everywhere. They were known for their studies in mathematics, astronomy, geography, earthquakes, magnetism, electricity. They had a curiosity about other religions and philosophy. They were not afraid of other cultures. Wherever they went, Christ was already there.
How can we know the way? We can find Christ's way by some of the basic things we do around here. Worship, prayer, Bible study, small group accountability, service, generosity--these disciplines lead us into Christ's way. I found that on my journey as I went to the Wesley Foundation at Texas A & M. It was life changing for me to study the Bible ( I had never really read it for myself before), to do work projects ( to make a difference in the world), to worship ( my choice, not my parents), to pray, to give. One of the primary reasons I am a pastor today is because of the Jesus I met at Wesley Foundation.
I have no advice for you. I do have a song. I think it captures what I have been trying to say about Jesus going ahead to prepare a place for us. I usually sing the song as if I am the one who is looking out for others. But I want us to sing it as if Jesus is the one who is saying these things to us.
I was there to hear your borning cry, I'll be there when you are old.
I rejoiced the day you were baptized, to see your life unfold.
I was there when you were but a child, with a faith to suit you well;
In a blaze of light you wandered off to find where demons dwell.
When you heard the wonder of the Word I was there to cheer you on;
you were raised to praise the living Lord, to whom you now belong.
If you find someone to share your time and you join your hearts as one;
I'll be there to make your verses rhyme from dusk to rising sun.
In the middle ages of your life, not too old, no longer young,
I'll be there to guide you through the night, complete what I've begun.
When the evening gently closes in and you shut your weary eyes,
I'll be there as I have always been with just one more surprise.
I was there to hear your borning cry, I'll be there when you are old.
I rejoiced the day you were baptized to see your life unfold.
Wherever you go, Christ is already there. That's the good news I have to share today.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Monday, May 19, 2014
Tintinabulation
from my message on 5/18/14 from Exodus 28:31-25, honoring our Handbell director, Susan Finnigan
Belle was her name. I know that Belle means "beautiful," and she was in every way. She was beautiful physically, emotionally, spiritually. She was my first cousin. Uncle Tom K. and Aunt Ruth adopted Belle as a baby. She was of Navajo descent. Grew up claiming her biological and cultural heritage by becoming a master Navajo weaver. She was the one who taught my wife Cathy to weave. She was so highly regarded that she acted as a consultant for museums and art galleries, often doing repairs to ancient rugs.
Belle married Greg. They had 2 children, a boy and a girl. They were coming back from visiting my Uncle and Aunt in Colorado Springs, headed for their home in Timnath, Colo. It was at the end of the Thanksgiving holiday. They were only a few miles from their home when a drunk driver hit their car. Greg sustained massive injuries which took months of rehab. The children in the back seat were largely unhurt. Belle died in the accident.
It was tragic. She was too young. There was a memorial service for Belle at the chapel at Colorado College where my Uncle and Aunt taught and where Belle had gotten her undergraduate degree. Everyone who attended the service was invited to bring a bell with them. If they didn't have a bell, one was given them as they entered the service. At a particular point in the service, everyone was asked to do this (ring a handbell).
This is one of the oldest uses of bells: to mark grief, a loss, a death. It is called tolling. You know the book by Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls. We still do this today, even in this church. On All Saints' Sunday, we don't just read the names of those who have died, or light a candle, we also toll a bell for them.
My hunch is that you may still be grieving someone today like I miss Belle. In just a moment I am going to toll this bell. May you remember that person (ring a handbell).
There are others we could ring a bell for today. Some of the deaths make the headlines, like 301 miners killed in Turkey, so preventable. We could ring a bell for all of those refugees who have been killed by the civil war in Syria. How many years has this war drug on?
There are others that don't make the headlines. Who will ring a bell for them? I started looking up statistics for those whose lives were cut short because they were born into poverty or without access to clean water or adequate food or medical care. Who will ring a bell for them?
You may be called to ring a bell, to call attention to some of these tragic situations. I know the United Methodists started ringing a bell about malaria. Most of the cases were among children in sub-Saharan Africa. We can't address all of the world's issues, but we said, "Imagine No Malaria." We have raised millions of dollars to purchase mosquito nets and and other aids. The mortality rate has been cut significantly. More needs to be done. Who will ring a bell for them?
The ringing of bells calls us to awareness. The ringing speaks to us on a visceral level, beyond words. Ringing resonates with our souls.
Think of all the bells. There are school bells, dinner bells, door bells, cow bells. Clocks like Big Ben tell us what time it is by the chiming of bells....Ding dong ding dong....Dong Ding Dong Ding...Bells can announce happy times like when a couple gets married, we have wedding bells. The war comes to an end and all of the bells ring out peace. We have the Liberty Bell. Lords and ladies on PBS on Sunday night ring a little bell to call the servants in. University of Texas has the Bell Tower. Little towns used to ring bells to call people to the meeting place.
Bells have been found in China dating back to 500 B. C. So on every continent and in every age, we have had bells. Bells started showing up in the Christian Church around 400 A.D. Bells became a part of cathedrals, reaching the height of popularity in England in the 1500's. These were large bells that were rung by pulling a rope. Groups would practice ringing a pattern, over and over again.
You may smile at this, but the nearest neighbors didn't always appreciate these loud practice times. Also these bells couldn't be transported. So handbells were developed, and practices could take place indoors, quietly, at any time. Then music, melodies were developed for handbells, more than simple patterns rung over and over again.
Different techniques were developed to produce different sounds. There is the tower swing. One can dampen a sound by bringing the ringing bell up to the chest or down on the cushioned table. Bells can be plucked or struck with a mallet. Aren't you glad you came to learn all of this about bells?
The Bible doesn't have too much to say about bells. There are only a handful of passages that mention bells. Our today is part of a long detailed description of everything that goes with worship at the tabernacle, that moveable tent which went with the Hebrew children in their 40 sojourn in the wilderness. Almost 1/3 of the book of Exodus is spent in excrutiating detail about tabernacle worship. Today's passage talks about the proper dress for the High Priest. The hem of his robe was to have bells hanging down. That sound would let others know, "The High Priest is coming." More importantly, the bells would be ringing letting the LORD God know that the High Priest was entering the Holy of Holies, the place where God was thought to dwell. Do you see what the scripture said, upon entering or leaving "so that he will not die." This being a priest is a high risk occupation!
How many times have we been ushered into the presence of God with the ringing of bells here? It is awesome! If you have been part of Susan's handbell choirs over these last 19 years, would you please stand? Susan, you have had a big impact on us and our faith. You have helped us enter into the presence of God. You have added to our worship.
Here's the thing about playing handbells. You can only play a note or two by yourself (yes, there is even a technique of playing 4 at once). Handbells are best played in groups, with each person playing his or her own part. It is a good image for the body of Christ. We can't solve all of the world's problems, but we are called to play our part. For whom will you ring today?
And that word tintinabulation? When I was pastor at St. John's here in Austin, they had bought their first set of handbells. They had a contest to name the celebration of receiving these bells. A high school youth found this term, tintinabulation. It means the ringing of bells.
The good news is that you were made for tintinabulation. What part do you play? For whom will you ring a bell today? Amen.
Belle was her name. I know that Belle means "beautiful," and she was in every way. She was beautiful physically, emotionally, spiritually. She was my first cousin. Uncle Tom K. and Aunt Ruth adopted Belle as a baby. She was of Navajo descent. Grew up claiming her biological and cultural heritage by becoming a master Navajo weaver. She was the one who taught my wife Cathy to weave. She was so highly regarded that she acted as a consultant for museums and art galleries, often doing repairs to ancient rugs.
Belle married Greg. They had 2 children, a boy and a girl. They were coming back from visiting my Uncle and Aunt in Colorado Springs, headed for their home in Timnath, Colo. It was at the end of the Thanksgiving holiday. They were only a few miles from their home when a drunk driver hit their car. Greg sustained massive injuries which took months of rehab. The children in the back seat were largely unhurt. Belle died in the accident.
It was tragic. She was too young. There was a memorial service for Belle at the chapel at Colorado College where my Uncle and Aunt taught and where Belle had gotten her undergraduate degree. Everyone who attended the service was invited to bring a bell with them. If they didn't have a bell, one was given them as they entered the service. At a particular point in the service, everyone was asked to do this (ring a handbell).
This is one of the oldest uses of bells: to mark grief, a loss, a death. It is called tolling. You know the book by Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls. We still do this today, even in this church. On All Saints' Sunday, we don't just read the names of those who have died, or light a candle, we also toll a bell for them.
My hunch is that you may still be grieving someone today like I miss Belle. In just a moment I am going to toll this bell. May you remember that person (ring a handbell).
There are others we could ring a bell for today. Some of the deaths make the headlines, like 301 miners killed in Turkey, so preventable. We could ring a bell for all of those refugees who have been killed by the civil war in Syria. How many years has this war drug on?
There are others that don't make the headlines. Who will ring a bell for them? I started looking up statistics for those whose lives were cut short because they were born into poverty or without access to clean water or adequate food or medical care. Who will ring a bell for them?
You may be called to ring a bell, to call attention to some of these tragic situations. I know the United Methodists started ringing a bell about malaria. Most of the cases were among children in sub-Saharan Africa. We can't address all of the world's issues, but we said, "Imagine No Malaria." We have raised millions of dollars to purchase mosquito nets and and other aids. The mortality rate has been cut significantly. More needs to be done. Who will ring a bell for them?
The ringing of bells calls us to awareness. The ringing speaks to us on a visceral level, beyond words. Ringing resonates with our souls.
Think of all the bells. There are school bells, dinner bells, door bells, cow bells. Clocks like Big Ben tell us what time it is by the chiming of bells....Ding dong ding dong....Dong Ding Dong Ding...Bells can announce happy times like when a couple gets married, we have wedding bells. The war comes to an end and all of the bells ring out peace. We have the Liberty Bell. Lords and ladies on PBS on Sunday night ring a little bell to call the servants in. University of Texas has the Bell Tower. Little towns used to ring bells to call people to the meeting place.
Bells have been found in China dating back to 500 B. C. So on every continent and in every age, we have had bells. Bells started showing up in the Christian Church around 400 A.D. Bells became a part of cathedrals, reaching the height of popularity in England in the 1500's. These were large bells that were rung by pulling a rope. Groups would practice ringing a pattern, over and over again.
You may smile at this, but the nearest neighbors didn't always appreciate these loud practice times. Also these bells couldn't be transported. So handbells were developed, and practices could take place indoors, quietly, at any time. Then music, melodies were developed for handbells, more than simple patterns rung over and over again.
Different techniques were developed to produce different sounds. There is the tower swing. One can dampen a sound by bringing the ringing bell up to the chest or down on the cushioned table. Bells can be plucked or struck with a mallet. Aren't you glad you came to learn all of this about bells?
The Bible doesn't have too much to say about bells. There are only a handful of passages that mention bells. Our today is part of a long detailed description of everything that goes with worship at the tabernacle, that moveable tent which went with the Hebrew children in their 40 sojourn in the wilderness. Almost 1/3 of the book of Exodus is spent in excrutiating detail about tabernacle worship. Today's passage talks about the proper dress for the High Priest. The hem of his robe was to have bells hanging down. That sound would let others know, "The High Priest is coming." More importantly, the bells would be ringing letting the LORD God know that the High Priest was entering the Holy of Holies, the place where God was thought to dwell. Do you see what the scripture said, upon entering or leaving "so that he will not die." This being a priest is a high risk occupation!
How many times have we been ushered into the presence of God with the ringing of bells here? It is awesome! If you have been part of Susan's handbell choirs over these last 19 years, would you please stand? Susan, you have had a big impact on us and our faith. You have helped us enter into the presence of God. You have added to our worship.
Here's the thing about playing handbells. You can only play a note or two by yourself (yes, there is even a technique of playing 4 at once). Handbells are best played in groups, with each person playing his or her own part. It is a good image for the body of Christ. We can't solve all of the world's problems, but we are called to play our part. For whom will you ring today?
And that word tintinabulation? When I was pastor at St. John's here in Austin, they had bought their first set of handbells. They had a contest to name the celebration of receiving these bells. A high school youth found this term, tintinabulation. It means the ringing of bells.
The good news is that you were made for tintinabulation. What part do you play? For whom will you ring a bell today? Amen.
Monday, May 12, 2014
Measure for Measure
from my message on Mother's Day, May 11, 2014, from Luke 6:37-38
(putting on an apron while standing behind the communion table) I will not be doing a cooking show today. But I want to tell you about my Grandmother Johnson and her cooking. My grandmother loved me. I know she loved me because when I would come to visit her in Marble Falls and later in Burnet, she would make me my favorite dessert--her lemon pie. It wasn't a lemon meringue pie, more of a lemon chess pie.
Now Cathy was my fiancee'. She loved me. She wanted to show her love for me. So when we were visiting grandmother in Burnet once, she asked grandmother if she could get the recipe for her lemon pie. Grandmother said, "Yes, just as soon as you marry my grandson!"
After we were married, Cathy spent some time with Grandmother Johnson in her kitchen to learn how to make the lemon pie. The recipe wasn't "take 3 cups of flour;" it was "take 3 handfuls of flour." Every time it was the same. Not 4 tablespoons of butter, but 4 pats of butter. Not 3 tablespoons of salt, but 3 pinches of salt.
(stepping away from the communion table) Grandmother Johnson wasn't exact, wasn't going for precision. She was generous...overflowing...not just with her measurements, but also with her love.
How do you want to be judged? How will you judge others? What will be the standard for measurement when it comes to forgiveness?
There was a famous play....you may have heard of it....Measure for Measure. Who was the author? Yes, William Shakespeare. Cathy and I got to see it in this past year at St. Edward's University. I will give you the Spark Notes version of the play. It is set in Venice. The Duke hands over authority to Angelo. Then the Duke goes into hiding, posing as a friar. He is like the all-seeing god. Angelo is very strict, moralistic. He cracks down on all crime in the city, especially that of a sexual nature. A man named Claudio is arrested because he has gotten his fiancee' pregnant before marriage. Claudio is scheduled to die for his crime. Claudio's sister Isabella is pure and chaste. In fact, she is slated to enter a nunnery. She goes before Lord Angelo to plead for her brother's life. Is there anything she can do to save him. Lord Angelo says he might think of a way...wink, wink. What would you do to save someone you love? How do you measure sin in someone else but not yourself. At this point, the Duke, still posing as a friar intervenes. He gets Marianna, a former lover of Angelo, to go in Isabella's place. Angelo is supposed to forgive Claudio and to marry Marianna...but oops...it doesn't happen that way. Angelo doesn't forgive Claudio. I can't tell you the ending, but it is a happy one.
There is a famous couplet from the play, "Haste still pays haste, and leisure answers leisure. Like doth quit like, and measure for measure."
How do you want to be treated? How will you treat others? What measure will you use for yourself? For others?
Before the Jewish faith came along, there was an ancient practice of reprisal. If someone knocked out your eye or your tooth, you might kill the perpetrator. If someone killed a family member of yours, you might respond by killing all of their family. So when the Old Testament and the Jewish faith propose "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth," it was putting a limit on reprisal. It was actually showing mercy. Then Jesus comes along and pushes the boundary even further as we have in our passage today as he talks about giving and forgiving.
What is the measure? Mercy without justice may simply be permissiveness, anything goes. Justice without mercy may simply be cruelty.
I think Jesus may be talking about a quality called restorative justice. I read a paper by one of our church members going for her master's degree. Restorative justice is a set of principles that looks beyond meting out punishment to that of restoring relationships. It understands that it is more than a law that gets broken, it is a community that gets torn. It understands that we can't simply warehouse criminals and pretend that the problem has been dealt with. Restorative justice gives voice to all the parties involved. In fact, the verb tenses in our passage illustrate this; they are all plural. Y'all don't judge, you all don't condemn. You all give, y'all forgive.
I will give you an example from 2 villages in Africa. A mother had her son murdered by a young man from another village. The village elders came together with the family members. It was decided that the murderer would be adopted by the mother of the man who was murdered. This new son would take care of his new mother and live in her house and provide for her.
I have another example from my former church. There a mom had her son murdered while he was working as a convenience store clerk. It was all caught on closed circuit security camera. It was played all over the news at stations in Corpus Christi. The perpetrator, another young man, was easily caught. He was tried, sentenced to death row in prison. My church member established a relationship with her son's murderer. She began writing to him. Then calling him. She finally got on his visitor list and went to see him many times. She forgave him. She pleaded that he be spared, but the State of Texas executed him. She felt like she had lost 2 sons.
I have no easy answers for you. Restorative justice is messy, difficult. In some cases of abuse, the parties may need to be remain separated. What can we as a church do? Some women from this church are involved in the Women's Storybook Project. They go once a month to the prison in Gatesville. They help the moms incarcerated there to read a book on tape to give to their children at home, so the children can go to sleep hearing their mom read to them. Some people from this church are involved in Kairos minnistry, which means they from relationships with persons in prison, so that when the persons has served their time, he or she will have a network of support. They help the former prisoners to find work and to find a community of faith.
What is your measure of forgiveness for yourself? For others? In our Bible passage, it talks about a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, overflowing. You see my apron. Imagine it is a robe. You go to the market and ask for a measure of flour. The vendor fills up the cloth pocket made by lifting up your robe in front of your belly. You want a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, overflowing the edges. No air pockets. No shorting the amount. Generous.
In the kitchen at Laurel Heights UMC where I served in San Antonio, these verses were placed upon the wall. We had a community meal there every Wednesday night. I hope that all the food there, in fact all the ministry there was done with these verses in mind.
Isn't this why we come to worship? Why we come to Bible Study and practice prayer? We need to fill up on the full measure of God's love for us, so that we can give that same measure to others. What measure do you want for yourself? I want a measure that looks like Christ, living, dying, and rising from the dead. I want a measure that has a God who loves us in spite of ourselves, in spite of our undeserving, in spite of our ungratefulness.
The measure by which God forgives us is the measure that I want to give others. Measure for measure. Amen.
(putting on an apron while standing behind the communion table) I will not be doing a cooking show today. But I want to tell you about my Grandmother Johnson and her cooking. My grandmother loved me. I know she loved me because when I would come to visit her in Marble Falls and later in Burnet, she would make me my favorite dessert--her lemon pie. It wasn't a lemon meringue pie, more of a lemon chess pie.
Now Cathy was my fiancee'. She loved me. She wanted to show her love for me. So when we were visiting grandmother in Burnet once, she asked grandmother if she could get the recipe for her lemon pie. Grandmother said, "Yes, just as soon as you marry my grandson!"
After we were married, Cathy spent some time with Grandmother Johnson in her kitchen to learn how to make the lemon pie. The recipe wasn't "take 3 cups of flour;" it was "take 3 handfuls of flour." Every time it was the same. Not 4 tablespoons of butter, but 4 pats of butter. Not 3 tablespoons of salt, but 3 pinches of salt.
(stepping away from the communion table) Grandmother Johnson wasn't exact, wasn't going for precision. She was generous...overflowing...not just with her measurements, but also with her love.
How do you want to be judged? How will you judge others? What will be the standard for measurement when it comes to forgiveness?
There was a famous play....you may have heard of it....Measure for Measure. Who was the author? Yes, William Shakespeare. Cathy and I got to see it in this past year at St. Edward's University. I will give you the Spark Notes version of the play. It is set in Venice. The Duke hands over authority to Angelo. Then the Duke goes into hiding, posing as a friar. He is like the all-seeing god. Angelo is very strict, moralistic. He cracks down on all crime in the city, especially that of a sexual nature. A man named Claudio is arrested because he has gotten his fiancee' pregnant before marriage. Claudio is scheduled to die for his crime. Claudio's sister Isabella is pure and chaste. In fact, she is slated to enter a nunnery. She goes before Lord Angelo to plead for her brother's life. Is there anything she can do to save him. Lord Angelo says he might think of a way...wink, wink. What would you do to save someone you love? How do you measure sin in someone else but not yourself. At this point, the Duke, still posing as a friar intervenes. He gets Marianna, a former lover of Angelo, to go in Isabella's place. Angelo is supposed to forgive Claudio and to marry Marianna...but oops...it doesn't happen that way. Angelo doesn't forgive Claudio. I can't tell you the ending, but it is a happy one.
There is a famous couplet from the play, "Haste still pays haste, and leisure answers leisure. Like doth quit like, and measure for measure."
How do you want to be treated? How will you treat others? What measure will you use for yourself? For others?
Before the Jewish faith came along, there was an ancient practice of reprisal. If someone knocked out your eye or your tooth, you might kill the perpetrator. If someone killed a family member of yours, you might respond by killing all of their family. So when the Old Testament and the Jewish faith propose "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth," it was putting a limit on reprisal. It was actually showing mercy. Then Jesus comes along and pushes the boundary even further as we have in our passage today as he talks about giving and forgiving.
What is the measure? Mercy without justice may simply be permissiveness, anything goes. Justice without mercy may simply be cruelty.
I think Jesus may be talking about a quality called restorative justice. I read a paper by one of our church members going for her master's degree. Restorative justice is a set of principles that looks beyond meting out punishment to that of restoring relationships. It understands that it is more than a law that gets broken, it is a community that gets torn. It understands that we can't simply warehouse criminals and pretend that the problem has been dealt with. Restorative justice gives voice to all the parties involved. In fact, the verb tenses in our passage illustrate this; they are all plural. Y'all don't judge, you all don't condemn. You all give, y'all forgive.
I will give you an example from 2 villages in Africa. A mother had her son murdered by a young man from another village. The village elders came together with the family members. It was decided that the murderer would be adopted by the mother of the man who was murdered. This new son would take care of his new mother and live in her house and provide for her.
I have another example from my former church. There a mom had her son murdered while he was working as a convenience store clerk. It was all caught on closed circuit security camera. It was played all over the news at stations in Corpus Christi. The perpetrator, another young man, was easily caught. He was tried, sentenced to death row in prison. My church member established a relationship with her son's murderer. She began writing to him. Then calling him. She finally got on his visitor list and went to see him many times. She forgave him. She pleaded that he be spared, but the State of Texas executed him. She felt like she had lost 2 sons.
I have no easy answers for you. Restorative justice is messy, difficult. In some cases of abuse, the parties may need to be remain separated. What can we as a church do? Some women from this church are involved in the Women's Storybook Project. They go once a month to the prison in Gatesville. They help the moms incarcerated there to read a book on tape to give to their children at home, so the children can go to sleep hearing their mom read to them. Some people from this church are involved in Kairos minnistry, which means they from relationships with persons in prison, so that when the persons has served their time, he or she will have a network of support. They help the former prisoners to find work and to find a community of faith.
What is your measure of forgiveness for yourself? For others? In our Bible passage, it talks about a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, overflowing. You see my apron. Imagine it is a robe. You go to the market and ask for a measure of flour. The vendor fills up the cloth pocket made by lifting up your robe in front of your belly. You want a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, overflowing the edges. No air pockets. No shorting the amount. Generous.
In the kitchen at Laurel Heights UMC where I served in San Antonio, these verses were placed upon the wall. We had a community meal there every Wednesday night. I hope that all the food there, in fact all the ministry there was done with these verses in mind.
Isn't this why we come to worship? Why we come to Bible Study and practice prayer? We need to fill up on the full measure of God's love for us, so that we can give that same measure to others. What measure do you want for yourself? I want a measure that looks like Christ, living, dying, and rising from the dead. I want a measure that has a God who loves us in spite of ourselves, in spite of our undeserving, in spite of our ungratefulness.
The measure by which God forgives us is the measure that I want to give others. Measure for measure. Amen.
Monday, May 5, 2014
Giving Bread, Not Stones
from my message from Matthew 7:7-10
(preaching from behind the communion table) It is really very simple. If your child asks for bread (hold up the communion bread), would you give him or her a stone (hole up stone) instead? No, you try to give your children the best.
I got this message from Ray Kiser, the pastor at Lake Travis UMC. We are in a prayer/accountability group together. Every other Monday morning, a group of us pastors meet at La Madeliene for breakfast. We ask that classic Methodist question, "How is it with your soul?" We pray for one another. Ray said that he approaches every conversation, every encounter with this intent, "I want to give bread here, not a stone."
We can't meet every demand, all the world's needs, but we can give bread, not a stone. This past week I got a phone call from a woman needing rent help. I am busy. It is an interruption to my day. I don't have a pot of money to save all of the housing issues. But I want to give bread, not a stone. So I take the time to listen carefully to her situation. I help her generate alternatives.
Today, we are commissioning 3 new Stephen Ministers, to add to the 10 we already have. I remind you Stephen Minsters that you can't solve all your care receiver's issues, can't make all illnesses go away, can't heal every hurt. But you can give bread, not a stone. You can listen, you can love, you can pray, you can encourage.
We want to give bread, not a stone. The truth is that we have not always been given bread by our parents. I remember a time from my childhood, when my dad came home one evening. He said, "Lynn, I have a present for you out in the station wagon." Wow, this was exciting. This hardly ever happened. "Daddy, thank you. Whatever it is, I am so grateful." I ran out to the carport to the Ford Galaxy station wagon. Opened the front door. There on the floor ...was ...a hoe...to chop weeds in the garden. I was not an abused child. We had a home, food, clothes. I learned the value of work growing up on the farm. I fed chickens, gathered eggs, washed eggs, delivered eggs, learned to drive a tractor, learned to drive a truck and trailer. We went to worship and Sunday School. I learned to treat my neighbor right. I got bread, not just stones.
The point in the scripture is that even parents know how to give good gifts, then how much more will our heavenly Father do for us. The passage we have today comes from a part of Matthew's gospel we know as the Sermon on the Mount. It contains Jesus' teaching in a summary form. The teaching is very challenging. Things like not just loving those who love you, but loving your enemy. We can't possibly do this without practicing the opening words of our passage today. We need to pray: to seek, ask, knock. We need to spend much time in prayer to be shaped by God's grace, so that we may act gracefully towards others.
We feast on our Bible story, how God has given us bread, not a stone all through our history. There's the bread of Passover. Remember the bread that Elijah ate, and he went 40 days on that one meal. We have the ministry of Jesus where he fed the multitudes with a few loaves and fishes. He ate with tax collectors and sinners. He had a last supper with his closest friends. But he also revealed himself in a resurrected form by sharing other meals with his disciples. We met him here today at this table, where we are given bread, not a stone.
How will you practice this concept? I invite you to think of a situation now, with a family member, or co-worker, or a neighbor, maybe even a conflicted situation, where you need to give bread, not a stone. You could start praying now, seeking, asking, knocking, so that you might be able to give bread, not a stone. It will be challenging. In fact, as I reflected on this message, it came to me that this is one of the great measure of spiritual maturity: how often we can give bread instead of stones, especially in difficult situations.
As we keep coming to this table here, and are fed bread, the bread of life, the broken body of Jesus, I believe that we can give bread, not stones to others. That's the good news I have to share today.
(preaching from behind the communion table) It is really very simple. If your child asks for bread (hold up the communion bread), would you give him or her a stone (hole up stone) instead? No, you try to give your children the best.
I got this message from Ray Kiser, the pastor at Lake Travis UMC. We are in a prayer/accountability group together. Every other Monday morning, a group of us pastors meet at La Madeliene for breakfast. We ask that classic Methodist question, "How is it with your soul?" We pray for one another. Ray said that he approaches every conversation, every encounter with this intent, "I want to give bread here, not a stone."
We can't meet every demand, all the world's needs, but we can give bread, not a stone. This past week I got a phone call from a woman needing rent help. I am busy. It is an interruption to my day. I don't have a pot of money to save all of the housing issues. But I want to give bread, not a stone. So I take the time to listen carefully to her situation. I help her generate alternatives.
Today, we are commissioning 3 new Stephen Ministers, to add to the 10 we already have. I remind you Stephen Minsters that you can't solve all your care receiver's issues, can't make all illnesses go away, can't heal every hurt. But you can give bread, not a stone. You can listen, you can love, you can pray, you can encourage.
We want to give bread, not a stone. The truth is that we have not always been given bread by our parents. I remember a time from my childhood, when my dad came home one evening. He said, "Lynn, I have a present for you out in the station wagon." Wow, this was exciting. This hardly ever happened. "Daddy, thank you. Whatever it is, I am so grateful." I ran out to the carport to the Ford Galaxy station wagon. Opened the front door. There on the floor ...was ...a hoe...to chop weeds in the garden. I was not an abused child. We had a home, food, clothes. I learned the value of work growing up on the farm. I fed chickens, gathered eggs, washed eggs, delivered eggs, learned to drive a tractor, learned to drive a truck and trailer. We went to worship and Sunday School. I learned to treat my neighbor right. I got bread, not just stones.
The point in the scripture is that even parents know how to give good gifts, then how much more will our heavenly Father do for us. The passage we have today comes from a part of Matthew's gospel we know as the Sermon on the Mount. It contains Jesus' teaching in a summary form. The teaching is very challenging. Things like not just loving those who love you, but loving your enemy. We can't possibly do this without practicing the opening words of our passage today. We need to pray: to seek, ask, knock. We need to spend much time in prayer to be shaped by God's grace, so that we may act gracefully towards others.
We feast on our Bible story, how God has given us bread, not a stone all through our history. There's the bread of Passover. Remember the bread that Elijah ate, and he went 40 days on that one meal. We have the ministry of Jesus where he fed the multitudes with a few loaves and fishes. He ate with tax collectors and sinners. He had a last supper with his closest friends. But he also revealed himself in a resurrected form by sharing other meals with his disciples. We met him here today at this table, where we are given bread, not a stone.
How will you practice this concept? I invite you to think of a situation now, with a family member, or co-worker, or a neighbor, maybe even a conflicted situation, where you need to give bread, not a stone. You could start praying now, seeking, asking, knocking, so that you might be able to give bread, not a stone. It will be challenging. In fact, as I reflected on this message, it came to me that this is one of the great measure of spiritual maturity: how often we can give bread instead of stones, especially in difficult situations.
As we keep coming to this table here, and are fed bread, the bread of life, the broken body of Jesus, I believe that we can give bread, not stones to others. That's the good news I have to share today.
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