from my message on 1/15/12 from Matthew 6:5-15
Prayer...it's really very simple. It's like this story (most of the stories are from Richard Foster's book, Prayer). Father was going through the mall with his 2 year old son. The boy was being a typical 2 year old, acting out, rebelluous, fussy. The dad grew exasperated...what to do? So he began to make up a song....it didn't rhyme, the dad sang off-key...it was silly. As they went from store to store, the dad took his son in his arms and sang, "I am so glad that you are my son, I love your curly hair, I like the way you put pureed carrots in your hair, it's great that you learned to poop, you are so good with the dog..." On and on the dad sang, from store to store, without rhyme and off key. The little boy grew quiet. He was fascinated by this song. As the dad was buckling his son into the car seat, the little boy said, "Sing it over again to me, Daddy, sing it again!"
This is prayer, our desire to hear our Daddy sing a love song to us. We want to be wrapped in the arms of our God and hear how much we are loved. In the model prayer, Jesus gives us, he addresses God as Daddy, Abba. I read a quote this past week from an imminent Jewish scholar who said that in all of Jewish literature, not once is God addressed as Daddy. Now we know that God is neither male nor female, that God is beyond gender, but to call God Daddy is know that God is personal and intimate.
We are in our second week of 6 week study on the Treasures of the Transformed Life. We make our commitment to pray. God makes a commitment to meet us in prayer. We have been using water imagery for this study. A quote I came across this past week captures prayer well by saying, God thirsts to be thirsted after.
I got these quotes from a book called Prayer by Richard Foster, a Quaker pastor. He talks about a social worker who kept pestering him to come to her city to lead a workshop on healing prayer. He kept putting her off, saying he didn't have time, there were plenty of resource people in her city, etc. She kept after him. Finally, he said, let's make it a matter of prayer, and if 6 people came to her asking for such a workshop in the next week, unsolicited, then he would know that it supposed to be. Frankly, he said, he was not trying to be spiritual. He was merely trying to get her to go away. Four days later, she called to say that 12 people had asked for such a workshop. So Richard Foster went very unwillingly to lead a weekend workshop for some 15 social workers on healing prayer at this woman's house. The first meeting on Friday evening, one man said, "I am not one of you." Which is to say, that he was not a Christian, he was not a follower of Jesus as Lord and Savior. The group assured him that it was ok. The Holy Spirit fell gently on the gathering for the whole weekend, opening layers of healing. Finally, on Sunday afternoon, the man who had confessed that he was not a Christian, said, "I want to know Jesus the way you know Jesus." Richard didn't know what to do...he was surprised. One young man filled in the gap. He came and laid hands on the seeking man. Richard Foster said it was a holy moment, as the young man prayed the Nestea commercial! He said, "Dear God, let your child fall back into your loving embrace like it says on the Nestea commercial and go 'Ahhhh.'" The seeking man wept at all the love washing over him. He said he felt a connection with his baptism as a child and that he was being healed. All we want is to have our Daddy pick us up and sing us a love song.
This book I mention by Richard Foster, I found on my shelf this past week, because I was teaching another class, for Stephen Ministry. I thought that I had finished it, but I hadn't. When I looked to where I had left off, guess what the chapter was? It was on the Lord's Prayer. I was reminded that it really is the Disciple's Prayer, the Lord's gift to us. When we don't have the words, there are words waiting for us. I was reminded that it is a prayer of simplicity. Basically, we are going to our Daddy and expressing our needs. Now I know what Jesus says, that the Father knows what we need before we ask. But you parents know that we still like to have our children ask for what they need. It deepens the bond, strengthens the relationship.
One more water imagery from Foster's book, a quote from an old saint in the Church. He says, in prayer it is better to be a reservoir than a canal. A canal simply has water flowing through it. A reservoir waits until it is filled to overflowing, receives until it has a superabundance from which to draw. May it be so for us. May you fill up on your Daddy telling you how much you are loved. Amen.
Invitation to prayer. Once upon a time, I attended a prayer lunch in another city hosted by another denomination, which shall remain nameless. We ate a lot. We talked a lot around the tables, but we prayed very little. It was an afterthought, as we were about to leave.
Today, I want us to pray. We will take time in worship to pray, not just talk about prayer. You may stay right where you are in the pew. You may be silent. You may pray out loud. You can use the blue prayer insert. You can pray from your heart. You can sing. You can dance. You can go to one of the prayer stations around the worship center and write a prayer to place on the wall. If you are a child or a child at heart, you can come down front here and draw a picture of your prayer. You can touch the water of baptism and be thankful. You can come here to the altar rail to kneel and pray and perhaps be anointed with oil. Youth may want to form a prayer huddle around the sound board and pray with our new assistant, Diane. There are many right ways to pray. Let's take time to do that now.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Thursday, January 12, 2012
speak
1/12/12 My breath prayer for the day has particular significance for me. Nine years ago, I was writing an application to enroll in a program for spiritual direction at Boston College and to take a sabbatical summer there. I was 50 years old, had been a pastor for 25 of those years, and I was tired. This verse from I Samuel 3:9c summed up the hunger in my soul, "Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening." The context is this: the boy Samuel had been sleeping the house of the LORD, when the LORD came to him in a voice. Three times, the LORD came to Samuel, and 3 times Samuel went to his mentor Eli, thinking that it was Eli who had called. Finally, Eli gives Samuel the correct response. The next time you hear the voice, say, "Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening." Nine years ago, I started listening in a whole new way, as I deepened my life in prayer through the practice of spiritual direction. Today, I still hunger for that voice, as I walk and pray in the mornings. The good news is that God is still speaking. Will we take the initiative and say, "Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening?"
Love,
Lynn
Love,
Lynn
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
sum
1/11/12 My breath prayer for the day comes from Psalm 139:11, "How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!" My undergraduate degree is in mathematics...a B.S. degree, not a B.A., in math from Texas A & M. I am quick to point out that it is pure math, not business math, or applied math, or computer math....simply pure math. I was drawn to the mathematical word in the text today....sum. To consider the sum of God's thoughts is overwhelming. Mathematicians have a symbol for infinity; it looks like the number 8 laid on its side. That's the sum of God's thoughts. I am humbled.
Love,
Lynn
Love,
Lynn
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
found
1/10/12 My breath prayer for the day comes from John 1:45b, where Philip says to Nathaniel, "We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth." I remember when I was attending college that the Southern Baptists had a huge evangelistic campaign, running ads in all the media channels, that said, "I found it." "It" could mean salvation. "It" could mean Jesus. I had problems with the phrasing. I didn't like the impersonal pronoun "it", especially if "it" meant Jesus. I didn't like the campaign for a second reason, namely, that it seemed to emphasize our effort. Isn't it true in our faith journey when we think that we have found the Savior that He has actually found us?
Love,
Lynn
Love,
Lynn
Monday, January 9, 2012
the water always wins
from my sermon on 1/8/12 from Mark 1:4-11
Sometimes life is hard, as hard as a rock (hold up a large stone). You know the stone cold loneliness of depression, being cut off from everyone. You know the stone cold loneliness of divorce as you reach across to the empty side of the bed. You know the stone cold loneliness of grief as you have lost someone you loved. You know the stone cold loneliness of addiction where your only companions are guilt and shame. Sometimes life gets hard. We have a saying, I'm between a rock...and a hard place.
The water seems so soft (pour water into baptismal font). But I am here to tell you incredible good news: The Water Always Wins. Watch this video (drop of water falls from an icicle that goes into creek, into stream, into river, into mighty river, which ends in the Grand Canyon!). I know that life can get hard, hard as a rock, but the water always wins.
Today, we start a 6 week series, a church wide study on the Treasures of the Transformed Life. The study has a major metaphor of water. Here's the 1st treasure, The Water Always Wins. Today, in the scripture we have Jesus getting baptized. We have only 2 stories of Jesus' birth in Matthew and Luke. How many stories do we have of Jesus baptism? Six! In all 4 gospels, Mt, Mk, Lk, and Jn, plus Acts and Romans. Do you think the baptism of Jesus is at least as important as his birth? We are baptized because Jesus was baptized and asked us to continue this practice. We are baptized because Jesus continues to show up in this sacrament in the power of the Holy Spirit and changes lives. This is our sacrament of identity and belonging. The Water Always Wins.
Our Hebrew forebearers in the faith had a healthy respect for water. They were not a great seafaring people like their Phoenician neighbors. Therefore, our Bible begins in Genesis 1:2 with the Spirit of God brooding over the face of the chaotic waters (pour some water into baptismal font). In Genesis 6 when the creation is in the process of, to quote an AMC series, Breaking Bad, God wipes out all evil by a flood (pour more water). Later when the Hebrew people are leaving captivity in Egypt, they find the way to liberation through the parted waters (pour more water). In the wilderness the LORD provides for his children water from a rock (pour more water). When they enter the promised land, it is through the water of the Jordan River (pour more water). So water has an awesome power that overcomes evil, leads to liberation, sustains life, and opens to a promised land. The water overcomes the hardness of life. The water always wins.
I want to tell a story that I think I have told you before, but maybe you weren't here that Sunday or maybe you have forgotten. I had a friend in seminary named Dave Mosser. We played soccer together. I was a midfielder; he was a stricker, one who scored goals. Dave was a risk taker. I did my internship in ministry in Mason, Texas. He did his in Liberia, on the west coast of Africa. He liked pushing the boundaries. At the close of his year in Liberia, he decided to take a day off at the beach. He wanted to do some body surfing, letting his body become a surf board, sliding down the face of the waves. Now these were not Corpus Chrisit waves. They were huge waves. But Dave is a risk taker, and was having a great time. The really big waves you learn to dive under the crest so it doesn't overwhelm you. Dave did this, and found himself really far from shore. No problem. He is a superb athlete and strong swimmer. He starts to swim to shore.....only to find himself further from shore. He swims all out....and is still further from shore...Can you say riptide? He is getting tired. All of his effort results in him being swept further out to sea. He rolls over on his back to catch his breath. He is floating there looking up at the blue sky and the seabirds. He thinks, Now this is just great. I spend a year in Liberia where I don't catch some fatal disease, or drink bad water or eat harmful food or get caught in political strife because I am a pastor....and what happens is that I die as a tourist while body surfing. After a few minutes, Dave hears the sounds of waves crashing on the shore. He looks up and in just a minute more of relaxing, the waves deposit him on the beach. The water always wins. Now you can fight against the tide of God's movement in your life. You can even drown and die trying to go your own way, but the flow of God's love is always to deliver you safely home. God only wants to save. Can you go with the flow? The water always wins.
Water has the power to create community. All the people were coming to John the Baptist to confess their sins, to repent and be forgiven. Jesus came too to join in that movement. But more, Jesus was baptized to create a new community. People need more than just forgiveness; they need relationship with God and with one another. Water has a wonderful way of connecting us.
There was a woman you may have heard of. Her name was Helen Keller, born in Alabama. She had a normal childhood until about 19 months of age when she was struck with probably scarlet fever. She lost her hearing and her eyesight. She became a wild child. Unruly. Unmanagable. The family got a teacher for her, a Miss Sullivan. But no breakthroughs until this scene from the film, The Miracle Worker, with Ann Bancroft as Teacher, and Patty Duke as Helen. (video clip of Helen finally understanding the word "water" as Teacher pumps the hand pump on the well. This starts an amazing connection as Helen realizes the ground, pump, tree, mommy, daddy). The water always wins.
As you see baptism is not something we do for ourselves, by ourselves, to ourselves. It is a gift...from God...from the community. It is our sacrament of identity. We know that we belong to God and God's people. Have you ever wondered why Jesus was baptized? He had no sin. Maybe he was baptized because he needed to remember who he was from time to time. When things got hard, as hard as a rock, he could remember what the Father said to him, You are my child, the beloved one, with you I am well pleased.
Jesus may have needed to hear these words, because in the very next scene in Mark's gospel, he is driven into the wilderness to be tempted/tested by Satan. Now, I know you are educated, sophisticated people. You may believe in a Satan. You may think evil is simply a philosophical concept. I know the power of evil. It...and I choose that impersonal pronound intentionally is subtle, conniving, uncaring, driving us apart.
I tell you a story about evil. I was in a meeting recently with a pastor friend named Don. At the close of the meeting, we were telling preacher stories. Don said, I had a woman come to me who was going through a divorce. She asked me if I would baptize her 9 month old son. Now we pastors have been trained to teach, interpret, and protect the sacraments, to do them decently and in order. My funny line is that we don't do drive through baptisms. But this woman seems anxious, desperate to have her son baptized. Don asks the standard question we have been trained to ask, Has this child been baptized before? The woman replies, Kinda. Don't you love that Texas word, Kinda. Don says, What do you mean kinda baptized? The woman says, The man I am divorcing had our son when he was 4 months old baptized in the church of Satan. Don said, Absolutely we will have your child baptized in our church. He formed a prayer team to surround the woman and her son. He had the whole church in prayer on the day of his baptism. And Don performed the baptism in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. We need to hear God say, This is MY CHILD, the beloved one, with whom I am well pleased.
The good news I have to share with you today is that The Water Always Wins.
Sometimes life is hard, as hard as a rock (hold up a large stone). You know the stone cold loneliness of depression, being cut off from everyone. You know the stone cold loneliness of divorce as you reach across to the empty side of the bed. You know the stone cold loneliness of grief as you have lost someone you loved. You know the stone cold loneliness of addiction where your only companions are guilt and shame. Sometimes life gets hard. We have a saying, I'm between a rock...and a hard place.
The water seems so soft (pour water into baptismal font). But I am here to tell you incredible good news: The Water Always Wins. Watch this video (drop of water falls from an icicle that goes into creek, into stream, into river, into mighty river, which ends in the Grand Canyon!). I know that life can get hard, hard as a rock, but the water always wins.
Today, we start a 6 week series, a church wide study on the Treasures of the Transformed Life. The study has a major metaphor of water. Here's the 1st treasure, The Water Always Wins. Today, in the scripture we have Jesus getting baptized. We have only 2 stories of Jesus' birth in Matthew and Luke. How many stories do we have of Jesus baptism? Six! In all 4 gospels, Mt, Mk, Lk, and Jn, plus Acts and Romans. Do you think the baptism of Jesus is at least as important as his birth? We are baptized because Jesus was baptized and asked us to continue this practice. We are baptized because Jesus continues to show up in this sacrament in the power of the Holy Spirit and changes lives. This is our sacrament of identity and belonging. The Water Always Wins.
Our Hebrew forebearers in the faith had a healthy respect for water. They were not a great seafaring people like their Phoenician neighbors. Therefore, our Bible begins in Genesis 1:2 with the Spirit of God brooding over the face of the chaotic waters (pour some water into baptismal font). In Genesis 6 when the creation is in the process of, to quote an AMC series, Breaking Bad, God wipes out all evil by a flood (pour more water). Later when the Hebrew people are leaving captivity in Egypt, they find the way to liberation through the parted waters (pour more water). In the wilderness the LORD provides for his children water from a rock (pour more water). When they enter the promised land, it is through the water of the Jordan River (pour more water). So water has an awesome power that overcomes evil, leads to liberation, sustains life, and opens to a promised land. The water overcomes the hardness of life. The water always wins.
I want to tell a story that I think I have told you before, but maybe you weren't here that Sunday or maybe you have forgotten. I had a friend in seminary named Dave Mosser. We played soccer together. I was a midfielder; he was a stricker, one who scored goals. Dave was a risk taker. I did my internship in ministry in Mason, Texas. He did his in Liberia, on the west coast of Africa. He liked pushing the boundaries. At the close of his year in Liberia, he decided to take a day off at the beach. He wanted to do some body surfing, letting his body become a surf board, sliding down the face of the waves. Now these were not Corpus Chrisit waves. They were huge waves. But Dave is a risk taker, and was having a great time. The really big waves you learn to dive under the crest so it doesn't overwhelm you. Dave did this, and found himself really far from shore. No problem. He is a superb athlete and strong swimmer. He starts to swim to shore.....only to find himself further from shore. He swims all out....and is still further from shore...Can you say riptide? He is getting tired. All of his effort results in him being swept further out to sea. He rolls over on his back to catch his breath. He is floating there looking up at the blue sky and the seabirds. He thinks, Now this is just great. I spend a year in Liberia where I don't catch some fatal disease, or drink bad water or eat harmful food or get caught in political strife because I am a pastor....and what happens is that I die as a tourist while body surfing. After a few minutes, Dave hears the sounds of waves crashing on the shore. He looks up and in just a minute more of relaxing, the waves deposit him on the beach. The water always wins. Now you can fight against the tide of God's movement in your life. You can even drown and die trying to go your own way, but the flow of God's love is always to deliver you safely home. God only wants to save. Can you go with the flow? The water always wins.
Water has the power to create community. All the people were coming to John the Baptist to confess their sins, to repent and be forgiven. Jesus came too to join in that movement. But more, Jesus was baptized to create a new community. People need more than just forgiveness; they need relationship with God and with one another. Water has a wonderful way of connecting us.
There was a woman you may have heard of. Her name was Helen Keller, born in Alabama. She had a normal childhood until about 19 months of age when she was struck with probably scarlet fever. She lost her hearing and her eyesight. She became a wild child. Unruly. Unmanagable. The family got a teacher for her, a Miss Sullivan. But no breakthroughs until this scene from the film, The Miracle Worker, with Ann Bancroft as Teacher, and Patty Duke as Helen. (video clip of Helen finally understanding the word "water" as Teacher pumps the hand pump on the well. This starts an amazing connection as Helen realizes the ground, pump, tree, mommy, daddy). The water always wins.
As you see baptism is not something we do for ourselves, by ourselves, to ourselves. It is a gift...from God...from the community. It is our sacrament of identity. We know that we belong to God and God's people. Have you ever wondered why Jesus was baptized? He had no sin. Maybe he was baptized because he needed to remember who he was from time to time. When things got hard, as hard as a rock, he could remember what the Father said to him, You are my child, the beloved one, with you I am well pleased.
Jesus may have needed to hear these words, because in the very next scene in Mark's gospel, he is driven into the wilderness to be tempted/tested by Satan. Now, I know you are educated, sophisticated people. You may believe in a Satan. You may think evil is simply a philosophical concept. I know the power of evil. It...and I choose that impersonal pronound intentionally is subtle, conniving, uncaring, driving us apart.
I tell you a story about evil. I was in a meeting recently with a pastor friend named Don. At the close of the meeting, we were telling preacher stories. Don said, I had a woman come to me who was going through a divorce. She asked me if I would baptize her 9 month old son. Now we pastors have been trained to teach, interpret, and protect the sacraments, to do them decently and in order. My funny line is that we don't do drive through baptisms. But this woman seems anxious, desperate to have her son baptized. Don asks the standard question we have been trained to ask, Has this child been baptized before? The woman replies, Kinda. Don't you love that Texas word, Kinda. Don says, What do you mean kinda baptized? The woman says, The man I am divorcing had our son when he was 4 months old baptized in the church of Satan. Don said, Absolutely we will have your child baptized in our church. He formed a prayer team to surround the woman and her son. He had the whole church in prayer on the day of his baptism. And Don performed the baptism in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. We need to hear God say, This is MY CHILD, the beloved one, with whom I am well pleased.
The good news I have to share with you today is that The Water Always Wins.
Friday, January 6, 2012
new & improved
from my sermon on Jan 1, 2012 from Rev. 21:1-6a
I had a good message going...until yesterday. I had the message all done before I took all of this week off, picking it yesterday evening. I wanted to talk to you about New & Improved. Where have you heard that phrase before? Only in every single advertisment for every new product! We have used New & Improved so much that it has become OLD & STALE. I wanted to talk to you about New Year's Resolutions.....I know, I know, you are going to lose weight, you are going to diet and going to exercise more...or you are going to attend worship more or read the Bible this year. I applaud you who make these resolutions; it is a noble and worthy endeavor for you to take responsibility for your lives, for you to become more personally accountable. It is like you are becomig a New & Improved YOu.
It was a good message, but I have a God message for you today. God's message to you on this first day of the new year is "I am making all things new." Hear this: Our God is making all things new. Say it in your soul: Our God is making all things new. Say it our loud with me: Our God is making all things new.
You see, it is not just your making some New Year's resolutions, it is God making a resolution to show how much God loves you. I am asking you to be open to what God desires for you....what is God's heart for you. Listen to what the scripture says, God's resolution is for you to have no more tears, no more death, no more mourning, no more crying, no more pain. That is God's ultimate desire for you. I know at this time of year, your pain may be intensified. People say Merry Christmas to you, and you don't feel so merry. People say, Happy New Year, and you don't feel so happy. The days are the shortest, and the nights are the longest. Please know that sadness and grief and depression are not God's ultimate desire for you. You may need to come to the altar rail today and kneel with your hands upraised so that one of us pastors may pray with you and anoint you with oil. You may need to come here in order to hear God's heart for you. You may need to hear God say to you, I am making all things new.
In the church, God is making all things new too. God's intent is for our healing. In one week we will be launching Stephen Ministry training where some 10 laypeople will get 50+ hours of training in listening and caring for persons who are hurting. Caring ministry is not just for clergy. Our Point service is catching on. The first family to become members of our congregation joined two weeks ago through that service. Other folks are catching the vision of kingdom work through the Point. We found a social network site that lets people volunteer for projects. The Point is on there, advertising their going to distribute clothes to folks who live on the street and go to Church under the Bridge. We have already had some 5 families of 13 people sign up. These are people who have not come to worship but have caught the vision of service to others. Our Long Range Planning Group is helping us to get focus in fulfilling our vision statement of Serving All. We know that we have to discern and prioritize those we need to reach first. Our God is making all things new.
God is working in the wider world too, making all things new. The scripture talks about a new heaven and a new earth. Who would have ever guessed we would have had an Arab Spring? Tunisa...Tunisa of all places on the earth started off questioning the dictatorship...then Egypt...Libya....Yemen...now Syria..Who saw this coming? The passage talks about a new Jerusalem. We remember that the word Jerusalem means "city of peace." We pray it may be so. We pray that God is making all things new.
The Rev. to John is a book about hope....not fear. It was written to 1st Century Christians undergoing persecution. The message is one of enduring, being patient, looking for the inbreaking of God's rule. It is not just about last things, but about things that last, ultimate things. It is about keeping the faith, doing justice, especially when it is hard to do it.
New & Improved comes not by our effort, or our effort alone. It is God's desire to transform you, the church, the whole creation.
This may be scary to you, to be made new means change. What is even scarier....that God is not able to do this...that God doesn't make all things new. That God is distant, uncaring, impotent. Then we would be stuck. I pray that God is the one who camps out with us, literally tabernacles with us, goes the journey with us, makes all things new.
I had a good message going...until yesterday. I had the message all done before I took all of this week off, picking it yesterday evening. I wanted to talk to you about New & Improved. Where have you heard that phrase before? Only in every single advertisment for every new product! We have used New & Improved so much that it has become OLD & STALE. I wanted to talk to you about New Year's Resolutions.....I know, I know, you are going to lose weight, you are going to diet and going to exercise more...or you are going to attend worship more or read the Bible this year. I applaud you who make these resolutions; it is a noble and worthy endeavor for you to take responsibility for your lives, for you to become more personally accountable. It is like you are becomig a New & Improved YOu.
It was a good message, but I have a God message for you today. God's message to you on this first day of the new year is "I am making all things new." Hear this: Our God is making all things new. Say it in your soul: Our God is making all things new. Say it our loud with me: Our God is making all things new.
You see, it is not just your making some New Year's resolutions, it is God making a resolution to show how much God loves you. I am asking you to be open to what God desires for you....what is God's heart for you. Listen to what the scripture says, God's resolution is for you to have no more tears, no more death, no more mourning, no more crying, no more pain. That is God's ultimate desire for you. I know at this time of year, your pain may be intensified. People say Merry Christmas to you, and you don't feel so merry. People say, Happy New Year, and you don't feel so happy. The days are the shortest, and the nights are the longest. Please know that sadness and grief and depression are not God's ultimate desire for you. You may need to come to the altar rail today and kneel with your hands upraised so that one of us pastors may pray with you and anoint you with oil. You may need to come here in order to hear God's heart for you. You may need to hear God say to you, I am making all things new.
In the church, God is making all things new too. God's intent is for our healing. In one week we will be launching Stephen Ministry training where some 10 laypeople will get 50+ hours of training in listening and caring for persons who are hurting. Caring ministry is not just for clergy. Our Point service is catching on. The first family to become members of our congregation joined two weeks ago through that service. Other folks are catching the vision of kingdom work through the Point. We found a social network site that lets people volunteer for projects. The Point is on there, advertising their going to distribute clothes to folks who live on the street and go to Church under the Bridge. We have already had some 5 families of 13 people sign up. These are people who have not come to worship but have caught the vision of service to others. Our Long Range Planning Group is helping us to get focus in fulfilling our vision statement of Serving All. We know that we have to discern and prioritize those we need to reach first. Our God is making all things new.
God is working in the wider world too, making all things new. The scripture talks about a new heaven and a new earth. Who would have ever guessed we would have had an Arab Spring? Tunisa...Tunisa of all places on the earth started off questioning the dictatorship...then Egypt...Libya....Yemen...now Syria..Who saw this coming? The passage talks about a new Jerusalem. We remember that the word Jerusalem means "city of peace." We pray it may be so. We pray that God is making all things new.
The Rev. to John is a book about hope....not fear. It was written to 1st Century Christians undergoing persecution. The message is one of enduring, being patient, looking for the inbreaking of God's rule. It is not just about last things, but about things that last, ultimate things. It is about keeping the faith, doing justice, especially when it is hard to do it.
New & Improved comes not by our effort, or our effort alone. It is God's desire to transform you, the church, the whole creation.
This may be scary to you, to be made new means change. What is even scarier....that God is not able to do this...that God doesn't make all things new. That God is distant, uncaring, impotent. Then we would be stuck. I pray that God is the one who camps out with us, literally tabernacles with us, goes the journey with us, makes all things new.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
camping with God
my message on Christmas Day came from John 1:1-14
We had an informal worship setting in our gym, with folks eating brunch around tables. Children came in their pj's. I asked the people to tell stories of camping experiences.
I grew up in Littlefield, Texas, not too far from the mountains of New Mexico. We could be at campgrounds near Tres Ritos in about half a day's drive. It was inexpensive, close, fun, beautiful. Sometimes our family pulled a little trailer, or we put a camper shell on the back of the pickup, or we borrowed tents from the scout troup.
I loved camping. All of the senses were more alive. The smell of wood smoke today still effects me deeply. Food tastes better when cooked outdoors. Ah, the taste of S'mores. You can hear further. The air smells cleaner, fresher.
I loved being with family, having time apart. We often camped with other families, and we enjoyed playing board games, and going fishing and hiking.
What I loved most about camping was the telling of stories around the campfire. My dad would say something like this:
You remember old Bill. He used to be a sure enough cowboy. He rode the rodeo circuit. Tried to stay on the backs of those bucking broncs. One day he was thrown from a bull. Hurt him bad. Got him in his back. Old Bill lived, but the stay in the hospital was long. The injury was severe. Bill would never be able to stand straight up again. He would always be bent over forever. He couldn't be a cowboy anymore.
Well, little towns take care of their own. When Bill came back to Littlefield, the good folks got him a job with the school. Bill would no longer be riding a horse; he would be pushing a broom. Bill became the school janitor. Bill did his job well. He was on time. He took care to clean up well. Most of all he was kind...to everyone....the staff, the teachers, and especially the children. Everybody loved Bill. He did his job faithfully for years.
Finally, Bill died. Now the funeral director had a problem when he put Bill in the casket. If he put Bill chest down, the legs stuck up. If he put the legs down the chest stuck up. What to do? The funeral director came up with the answer. He put a strap across Bill's chest and thighs so that Bill's body could lie flat in the casket.
Now Bill belonged to a Pentecostal church...Hallelujah, praise the Lord, thank you Jesus. On the day of the funeral, the church was filled to capacity, standing room only. Everybody loved Bill. The preacher started out quietly enough. He talked of Bill's good qualities, his overcoming his accident, his hard work, his faithfulness, and most of all his love of all people. Lots of amen's and that's right were heard. Then the preacher really went to preaching. He asked, "Do you believe in the resurrection of the dead?" Yes, the people said. The preacher got down out of the pulpit and stood behind the casket. "Do you believe that we will rise again?" Yes, the people said. The preacher started to pound on the casket, "DO you believe that Bill will be raised from the dead?" As he pounded on the casket, the chest strap broke, and Bill's head and chest popped up.
The church emptied out so fast!
We kids would then ask, "Daddy, did that really happen?" And dad would say, "Well, it could have."
You are wondering how I am going to make a connection to the scripture. We have a story in the church that says that God loves us so much that God came to live among us as one of us. The
Church celebrates the birth of this one known as Jesus on this day. Our story goes that Jesus even died for us while we were yet sinners. And even more amazing, he rose again from the dead. Now we believe that he is with us forever and that he brings all things to their fulfillment.
Daddy, did that really happen? Well, it could have. We pray as Christians that it did. This is our story, unique in all the world. No other religion has a God like this.
The connection to camping? Well that word in John 1:14, where it says the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, the word dwelt or lived is literally, tented or tabernacled or camped out. You remember when the Hebrew children were wandering across the wilderness after leaving the bondage of Egypt? You remember how God desired to go with his people where ever they went, so God told them to build a portable sanctuary or tabernacle? That is the word used here. God wants to go with us wherever we go. God won't be tamed or domesticated or located. God will camp out with us.
Is there anyplace you can go that God can't go? Sickness, depression, chemical dependency, divorce, grief....even hell. Our scriptures say that Jesus descended into hell. Is there anyplace you can go where Jesus won't go? The good news I have to share with you on this Christmas day is that our God revealed in Jesus Christ camps out with us.
We had an informal worship setting in our gym, with folks eating brunch around tables. Children came in their pj's. I asked the people to tell stories of camping experiences.
I grew up in Littlefield, Texas, not too far from the mountains of New Mexico. We could be at campgrounds near Tres Ritos in about half a day's drive. It was inexpensive, close, fun, beautiful. Sometimes our family pulled a little trailer, or we put a camper shell on the back of the pickup, or we borrowed tents from the scout troup.
I loved camping. All of the senses were more alive. The smell of wood smoke today still effects me deeply. Food tastes better when cooked outdoors. Ah, the taste of S'mores. You can hear further. The air smells cleaner, fresher.
I loved being with family, having time apart. We often camped with other families, and we enjoyed playing board games, and going fishing and hiking.
What I loved most about camping was the telling of stories around the campfire. My dad would say something like this:
You remember old Bill. He used to be a sure enough cowboy. He rode the rodeo circuit. Tried to stay on the backs of those bucking broncs. One day he was thrown from a bull. Hurt him bad. Got him in his back. Old Bill lived, but the stay in the hospital was long. The injury was severe. Bill would never be able to stand straight up again. He would always be bent over forever. He couldn't be a cowboy anymore.
Well, little towns take care of their own. When Bill came back to Littlefield, the good folks got him a job with the school. Bill would no longer be riding a horse; he would be pushing a broom. Bill became the school janitor. Bill did his job well. He was on time. He took care to clean up well. Most of all he was kind...to everyone....the staff, the teachers, and especially the children. Everybody loved Bill. He did his job faithfully for years.
Finally, Bill died. Now the funeral director had a problem when he put Bill in the casket. If he put Bill chest down, the legs stuck up. If he put the legs down the chest stuck up. What to do? The funeral director came up with the answer. He put a strap across Bill's chest and thighs so that Bill's body could lie flat in the casket.
Now Bill belonged to a Pentecostal church...Hallelujah, praise the Lord, thank you Jesus. On the day of the funeral, the church was filled to capacity, standing room only. Everybody loved Bill. The preacher started out quietly enough. He talked of Bill's good qualities, his overcoming his accident, his hard work, his faithfulness, and most of all his love of all people. Lots of amen's and that's right were heard. Then the preacher really went to preaching. He asked, "Do you believe in the resurrection of the dead?" Yes, the people said. The preacher got down out of the pulpit and stood behind the casket. "Do you believe that we will rise again?" Yes, the people said. The preacher started to pound on the casket, "DO you believe that Bill will be raised from the dead?" As he pounded on the casket, the chest strap broke, and Bill's head and chest popped up.
The church emptied out so fast!
We kids would then ask, "Daddy, did that really happen?" And dad would say, "Well, it could have."
You are wondering how I am going to make a connection to the scripture. We have a story in the church that says that God loves us so much that God came to live among us as one of us. The
Church celebrates the birth of this one known as Jesus on this day. Our story goes that Jesus even died for us while we were yet sinners. And even more amazing, he rose again from the dead. Now we believe that he is with us forever and that he brings all things to their fulfillment.
Daddy, did that really happen? Well, it could have. We pray as Christians that it did. This is our story, unique in all the world. No other religion has a God like this.
The connection to camping? Well that word in John 1:14, where it says the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, the word dwelt or lived is literally, tented or tabernacled or camped out. You remember when the Hebrew children were wandering across the wilderness after leaving the bondage of Egypt? You remember how God desired to go with his people where ever they went, so God told them to build a portable sanctuary or tabernacle? That is the word used here. God wants to go with us wherever we go. God won't be tamed or domesticated or located. God will camp out with us.
Is there anyplace you can go that God can't go? Sickness, depression, chemical dependency, divorce, grief....even hell. Our scriptures say that Jesus descended into hell. Is there anyplace you can go where Jesus won't go? The good news I have to share with you on this Christmas day is that our God revealed in Jesus Christ camps out with us.
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