the greatest of these is love

1/27/10 I was visiting yesterday with a young couple for their premarital counseling. One of the passages that they picked for their wedding service is the classic I Corinthians 13, which ends, "Now faith, hope, love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love." Without breaking any confidences, our time together went well. They laughed, they cried, they talked well about what they meant when they said they loved each other.

The bigger context of love is this. The young man, C., who is getting married, I have known since before he was born. He nearly died in infancy. His parents and I prayed and struggled over him. I baptized him when he was 2 years old. Love in Christ is like that. It is not just a warm fuzzy feeling or sexual. It is tenacious, long-lasting, and fierce. C. has grown up with that kind of love, and I suspect will pass it on in his marriage and in his parenting and in his work. That kind of love is the greatest.

Love,
Lynn

happiness is

1/27/10 Last night we showed the film, Happiness Is, in our sanctuary. I didn't know that anyone would come out on a Tuesday night in the bleak mid-winter, but about 100 people did. Those who did got to see a moving documentary about the nature of happiness. I remember one language scholar remind us that happiness comes from the root word "hap", which has to do with luck or chance, as in happenstance. So in one regard, even though we pursue happiness, its coming to us is somewhat a gift. Another person, a "reverent agnostic," had to admit that persons who practiced their faith, praying and gathering for community, were "happier" than those who didn't. People struggled with the fact that having more stuff or more money did not necessarily mean more happiness. A rabbi said that we had to get ourselves out of the way. Happiness comes from having a reference outside of ourselves, like God. Alan Graham, who started Mobil Loaves and Fishes, had a significant role in the film. He had a great line for those who had a problem with organized religion. He said, "What do you want? Disorganized Religion?" He finds happiness in dealing with the poor and hungry.....kind of like Jesus did.



Love,

Lynn

the Word of the Lord

from my sermon on 1/24/10 from Luke 4:14-21

Have you ever read a story that was so good that you couldn't put it down? My English teacher wife gave me a novel entitled The Book Thief. The protaganist is a little girl named Liesl who becomes an orphan and is taken in by a foster family. The first book that she steals is The Gravedigger's Handbook taken from the funeral for her brother. Another main characther is Max, a Jewish man that the family also takes in and hides in their basement. Oh, you must understand that the setting is Hitler's Germany at the beginning of WW II. Plus the story is told from the viewpoint of the angel of death. Piqued your interest. I finished the 550 pages on Friday night. I couldn't put it down.

I have been gripped by another story that I cannot put down. First heard the story at church when I was a little boy. My grandparents gave me a copy of the story, my very own Bible when I was 7 yrs. old. AS I grew up and went to Texas A & M, I read the story for myself for the first time. I went on to seminary where I learned to read the NT in its original language Greek, and the OT in Hebrew. Now for going on 32 years I have been teaching and preaching from this story. It is so good I just can't put it down.

Jesus too had been steeped in the story. The passage that we find only in Luke says that Jesus normal pattern was to be in worship on the sabbath. It took 10 men to form a synagogue. The order of worship included several readings from the holy book. Anyone of the men might be called upon to read the scripture and then to comment upon it. So Jesus stood to read from Isaiah 61:1-2, a passage about the servant who would become a model for the Messiah. It is about setting people free from prison and blindness and oppression and sin. Then he preaches one of the shortest sermons. "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

I like that Jesus says the story is fulfilled right here and now, not in some pie in the sky in the sweet by and by. It is realized in him, and maybe in us. Have you been gripped by this story that is so good that you cannot put it down?

One in our midst has....Clint Rabb, a pastor who was a member of the SWTX Conf., and high up in the leadership of the United Methodist Committee on Relief. I went to his funeral yesterday. Among the procession of bishops, district superintendents, UMCOR staff, family, and choir, was one man who came into the chancel area with a band aid on his head and hand. He was Jim Gulley, who told about Clint. They were going to supper, walking across the hotel lobby, when the earthquake hit in Haiti. Several of them were trapped by falling concrete. A space of 5' x 8' x 3' had enough air movement that they wouldn't suffocate. Using cell phones for flashlights, they found the extent of their injuries. Sam Dixon, head of UMCOR, and Clint had their legs underneath huge concrete beams. The pain was tremendous. Now here's the part of the story I like best. In that situation they prayed and sang and comforted one another. Clint though trapped helped Sam by moving backpacks and such to make him more comfortable. At one point, Clint said, "When I get out, i am going to line up a string of Zero Cokes, ice cold, and then I am going to drink them slowly one by one." After a little while, he said, "No, Real Coke." For 55 hours they were trapped, until they heard the voices of French firement. The group sang the Doxology. That's the kind of story that I want to be part of.....that sings the Doxology when freed. Clint died of his injuries about 15 hours later in a Florida hospital. Oh, we preachers sang yesterday, O For a 1,000 tongues to sing. We sang like we meant it...like we believed it. The story is so good I just can't put it down. Even in the midst of death we sing about life.

Maybe you have been gripped by this same story. I see you going out on the Mobile Loaves and Fishes trucks and saying to people who live on the street, "What kind of sandwich do you want? PB & J or ham & cheese." We have come to bring good news to the poor. Some of you go to the women's prison in Gatesville where you help the women inmates read Good Night Moon to their children back home. We proclaim release to the captives.

I have inviting this congregation to write a new vision statement. I am here to tell you that it needs to have something to do with this story of people being set free.

I recently came to a new understanding. All of us live our lives oriented around a story. It could be that life is chaos and has no meaning, so do whatever you want. That's a story. It could be do unto others before they do it unto you. That's a story. The one who dies with the most toys at the end wins. That's a story. Around what story do you orient your life?

I have been gripped by this story that says God sets people free and invites us to be part of that process today. It is so good I can't put it down.

You expect a word today. I am a preacher after all. You don't want it to be a Saturday night special or just how I am feeling today. I feel so inadequate...how dare I? ....yet I say The Word of the Lord....thanks be to God.

book thief

1/21/10 My wife is an English teacher, so I get referrals to lots of great books through her. ONe of her students actually referred her to a book that I am reading now. It is called The Book Thief, and I am speeding through the pages. I love a good story, and this one involves an orphan girl (the book thief) and a scared Jewish man who are taken in by a poor family in Hitler's Germany. The teller of the story is the angel of death. I don't want to give a book review, so suffice it to say that I recommend that you find this book.

This Sunday I am going to be preaching about the power of the Word of the Lord, that is rooted in our holy book, the Bible. I wish that we would be so drawn by the love found within it that we would treasure it like the book thief does her small collection of stolen books.

Love,
Lynn

Haiti cont.

1/20/10 On Sunday, I invited our congregation to give to Haiti Relief through the United Methodist Committee on Relief. More than $7205 was given from just this congregation on that one day. The best in us comes out in the worst of times. You can always go to our website where we have a big icon about Haiti Relief.

I am feeling somewhat down because a UM pastor whom I knew and who worked for UMCOR was killed in Haiti in the earthquake. Clint Rabb survived for days before succumbing to his injuries. His funeral will be at University UMC here in Austin on Saturday at noon. I am trying to minister to my grief and feeling of being overwhelmed in this crisis by finding whatever ways we can help that I can.

Besides money, we can always pray. My prayer verse for the day is from Luke 4:17, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor."

Love,
Lynn

what are you expecting

my sermon on 1/17/10 from John 2:1-11 may be found at our website, www.westlake-umc.org, in an audio format, under the worship tab

Haiti

1/14/10 We are just now learning the extent of the devastation to our neighbors in Haiti. Please be in prayer for all those who have suffered loss and for those who are trying to bring healing. I include part of our United Methodist response below.


Thank you for all of your phone calls concerning the earthquake in Haiti. This is the information that we have gotten from UMCOR and South Central Jurisdiction.

Here are the UMCOR relief effort for Haiti. The ADVANCE as issued a number for giving to the effort. This number is 418325 Haiti Emergency relief. Please send your offering money to:
Treasurer, SWTX Conference
United Methodist Church
16400 Huebner Rd.
San Antonio TX 78248

We are also asking for prayers for: Sam Dixon, Clint Rabb and Jim Gulley are in Port au Prince for a meeting with the new head of the Haitian church. They have not been heard from since the earthquake. Please pray that they are safe and pray for their families and friends while we await word of their safety.

Love,
Lynn