from my message on 5/6/12 from I John 4:7-21
Love, Love, Love, Love. I don't much about love, but what little I know is this: it take more than one word to describe what love is. Our English language is so limited because we have just this one word for love. Thank goodness that years ago, I ran across a little book by C.S. Lewis, called the Four Loves, which talks about the 4 Greek words used for love. As I have taught about this in the past, some youth especially found it helpful to have words for what they were feeling. I hope it helps you today to see where you are in relationship with others and with God.
Storge is the first word, which might be known as affection in English. It is the humblest and most modest form of love. It is the love that exists between parents and children. It is natural, built-in. Even animals practice this kind of love. You can have a whole flock of sheep, and the ewe and its lamb will find each other out of the crowd. For whom do you have affection? Who has affection for you? Is this where you with Christ? Remember how he said that he is the good shepherd and that he knows his sheep and they know him? Do you feel that affection for Christ?
Philia or friendship is the second form of love. You have heard this in the American city, Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. It is often ignored, maybe because so few experience it. It is the least natural, instinctive, or necessary form of love. We cannot choose our family, but we do choose our friends. What a gift it is to find someone else who says, "What, you too?" You find that you have a commonality. Here's what I have found: that you if you have 2 to 3 good friends over a lifetime, you are rich indeed. Who are your friends? Who is the person you could call at 3 a.m. for help? Is this where you are in your relationship with Jesus? Remember how he said, "I no longer call you slaves/servants; I call you friends."
Eros is romantic love or being in love, the third word for love. Here all rational calculations are thrown out the window. They are irrelevant when it comes to being in love. Maybe you have been in love? Isn't it a bit crazy? People try to talk you out of it. Edwin Friedman, the rabbi/psychotherapist who taught me family systems, said that he thought he never did any good when it came to pre-maritial counseling. The couple was moving at each other at the speed of light. They only had eyes for the other. Nothing could penetrate that. Have you been in love? Maybe even now? Have you ever been in love with Christ? I have read a little book called The Dark Night of the Soul. We think it is about being depressed or struggling in our faith, but that's not the impression I got when I read it. The Dark Night of the Soul was about longing to be with the Beloved, about having a lover's tryst with Jesus. Is this where you are? Are you in love with Christ?
Agape is the fourth expression of love. The best illustration of this love is Jesus on the cross. It is the self-sacrificing, self-giving love. It is the love that calculates the cost and yet still loves. This kind of love makes one vulnerable. To love like this means you will be hurt. Lewis says, "the only place outside of heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers of love is hell." Twenty-nine times in this passage the word used for love is agape. It is God's love for us. But we can also love like this. "We love, because he first loved us." Once we have experienced this love, we can love others the same way.
Chuck Colson, one of Nixon's hatchetmen, was caught, convicted, sent to prison. He had a conversion experience and became a Christian. He started a prison ministry. He was talking with his son, Chris, about evidence for God. The grandson, Charlie, then 4, interrupted. "But grandpa, there is a God." Chuck nodded, agreeing with him. "See, if there wasn't a God, people couldn't love each other."
Is this where you are? Have you experience the love of Christ to the point that you can love others, even the unloveable, knowing you probably will be hurt?
The General Conference of the UMC has just wrapped up. This meeting of some 1,000 delegates from around the world comes together every 4 years to see how we can share Christ's love in the world. It can be difficult as Robert's Rules of Order, 1000's of petitions, motions and seconds, and substitute motions get tossed about. I was reading the blog of our lead clergy delegate from the SWTx Conf, Laura. She shared a bright moment that came from a testimony from a clergy in our area, a woman named Lorenza Andrade Smith. Lorenza's ministry is with street people. She was trying to get into a homeless shelter in San Antonio to spend the night. She was trying to bring her paten (plate for communion bread) and chalice (cup for the grape juice) into the shelter with her. The shelter wouldn't allow for that, as her paten and chalice could be used as weapons. So Lorenza went to sleep on a bench outside of the Alamo. There she was arrested for vagrancy and taken to jail. The punishment for her crime was to do community service...wait for it.. at the homeless shelter she was trying to enter! These (holding up the paten and chalice from our communion table) are our weapons in the world, to share the love that Christ has for us with others! That is the good news I have to share today.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Thursday, May 3, 2012
transitions, part II
5/3/12 For many months, maybe a full year, we had looked for an assistant to the youth minister. We tried parttime college kids from the Wesley Foundation. We looked for students from the local seminary. We advertised on various websites. No bites. The right person was not found. Finally, we bumped up the compensation package and looked for a full time person. We found Diane, one who had just completed a Master's degree from a west coast seminary. She wanted to move back to Austin, where she had gone to the University of Texas. Hurrah! We found a gifted, committed youth assistant.
About this time, Tonya, whom we had hired to help with the Point, a new movement involving worship and service, announced that she needed/wanted to move back to South Carolina where her mother lived. How we find a replacement for such a one who could play the guitar, sing, do website design and maintenance, be good at relationships and organization? The very day Tonya told us she was going to be moving out, Diane told us that she had a boyfriend who wanted to move to Austin (for obvious reasons). This young man, Jonathan, had also just graduated from the same west coast seminary as Diane. He played the guitar, sang, had been doing video production and web communication for a church in California. Diane asked if we knew of anyone who could use his skills. We got his resume' that very day. In short, we hired Jonathan to start work with us on May 15, right as Tonya is leaving.
Now this week, our youth minister, J.D., announced that he will be leaving us so that he can go to seminary full time, instead of half time, so he can finish in 2 years instead of 4.
At staff meeting, I closed as I often do, by asking them how Christ has shown up in that hour. Tonya remarked that she had seen Christ at work in the providing of the right persons with the right gifts at the right time. Christ had shown up in the transitions.
Love,
Lynn
About this time, Tonya, whom we had hired to help with the Point, a new movement involving worship and service, announced that she needed/wanted to move back to South Carolina where her mother lived. How we find a replacement for such a one who could play the guitar, sing, do website design and maintenance, be good at relationships and organization? The very day Tonya told us she was going to be moving out, Diane told us that she had a boyfriend who wanted to move to Austin (for obvious reasons). This young man, Jonathan, had also just graduated from the same west coast seminary as Diane. He played the guitar, sang, had been doing video production and web communication for a church in California. Diane asked if we knew of anyone who could use his skills. We got his resume' that very day. In short, we hired Jonathan to start work with us on May 15, right as Tonya is leaving.
Now this week, our youth minister, J.D., announced that he will be leaving us so that he can go to seminary full time, instead of half time, so he can finish in 2 years instead of 4.
At staff meeting, I closed as I often do, by asking them how Christ has shown up in that hour. Tonya remarked that she had seen Christ at work in the providing of the right persons with the right gifts at the right time. Christ had shown up in the transitions.
Love,
Lynn
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
transitions, part I
5/2/12 This is the time of year when United Methodist pastors and their families are thinking about moving. Hopefully, they have heard from their District Superintendents by now about their new place of ministry. This morning I had breakfast with Dan who is going to be the new pastor at San Saba, where Cathy and I were sent in 1983, almost 29 years ago. Dan wanted to get my impressions of that county seat, hill country town. I was happy to oblige him over a super breakfast burrito from Mi Ranchito. He asked all the right questions. He demonstrated excitement about going to San Saba by entering their classic domed sanctuary for the first time and shouting "Wahoo!" He and his wife have 2 little girls, just like Cathy and I had 2 little boys while out there. I think they are going to make this transitions just fine.
Love,
Lynn
Love,
Lynn
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
privacy
5/1/12 More than at any other time in my ministry, I am dealing with folks who don't want their situation in life to be shared with anyone else. They value their privacy. I have church members in the hospital for surgery, in ICU, for tests, etc. Of course, the government passed the HIPAA law several years ago, where the H stands for Health, and the I for information, and the P for privacy. Everyone is entitled to protect their individual health information and to share with others only what they want. As a pastor what I find difficult is learning about these situations long after the fact and feeling distant from my congregants. When does privacy become isolation? I believe that the community of faith has a lot of healing to share through their prayers, their visits, their cards, their sharing of scripture and songs, etc. The desire for privacy cuts folks off from the very thing they need most, the love of others. Yes, I know that information has not always been used for prayerful purposes and that one's situation can become nothing more than gossip. I understand that privacy has its place. But community also has its place.
Love,
Lynn
Love,
Lynn
Monday, April 30, 2012
others
from my message on 4/29/12 from I John 3:16-24
Others. I admit it: I like helping others. I enjoy serving others. I look forward to Friday mornings when I get to go out to the Habitat for Humanity job site and pound nails. Sure, I have lots of work I could be doing on my own house, but it feels great to work on a house for others. I like it. I bet you do too. Otherwise, you wouldn't be so enthusiastic about ReThink Church last Sunday. More than 200 of you got involved in some 10 work projects around the area last Sunday. It feels good.
I thought I would be resistant to having helping others be a commandment, but I am not. Upon reflection, I realized that as an eldest son, super-responsible, overfunctioning person, I like to please the "big people," the authority figures in my life. So if parents, teachers, preachers, ...God, say "you are supposed to love others," I don't have any problem doing that. I find that I can get attention and affection by doing what these "big people" want me to do. And look at my chosen profession. I am a pastor. I do this all the time, helping others. In fact, I can say to you today, "Hello, my name is Lynn, and I am a help-aholic." You are supposed to say, "Hello, Lynn," because you are in the same 12 step recovery group. I never met a need I didn't like. So I don't have any trouble with helping others being commanded.
The passage says if you have the world's riches and you see someone in need, you are supposed to help them. I feel good about doing that. The passage says that helping others is commanded, that we are commanded to believe in the name of the Son Jesus Christ and to love one another. I am ok with that. But there is one part of the passage that poses a problem for me. It says as Jesus laid down his life for us, we are to lay down our lives for others. The problem I have is this: that means I have to put my schedule, my agenda, my control aside. It means I have to surrender the throne. I stop driving the car. I get out of the power position. I don't like "laying down my life" for others. It sounds a lot like what Jesus did when he said, "Not my will, but thine be done."
I was trying to find some good news in adopting this position of laying down my life for others. Thankfully, it came. I realized that others could be a gift to us. By serving others, we come closest to being the persons Christ intends for us to be. By laying down our lives for others, we come closest to Christ, not just his example, but his person. When we lay down our lives for others, Christ can so fill us that we won't need to be needed anymore, we won't need to be noticed, we won't need to prove we are loveable. We can become the persons Christ intends for us to be and grow close to Christ.
Maybe that's why we like ReThink Church so much. As we watch a few slides from last Sunday's projects, let me tell you about them. The handbell choir went out to Marbridge Villas where some mentally challenged residents live. One of the men who lived there plowed right through the handbell tables in order to get to his spot during the concert. Our handbell players literally had to "get out of the way" and lay down their lives for this man. Some of us sang at the Summit retirement home and others at the Austin State School. John laid down his life as he let a resident at the School play his beautiful Taylor guitar. That took a lot of trust, of surrender. We had some 58 people go out to Hearts and Hooves and work in the hot sun pulling weeds, building a rock table, scooping poop, and tending the miniature ponies. Fifty-two people helped at Church under the Bridge, enough to give individual attention to those who live on the streets who were looking for clothes. Sixteen people went to the SPCA to tend animals there. Fourteen helped serve breakfast at Parker Lane UMC. Some of our less mobile folks wrote cards to servicemen and the homebound or sorted cookies into bags for lunches for Mobile Loaves and Fishes. It feels good when we can lay down our lives for others.
Some of you have asked me, "Pastor Lynn, can we do Rethink Church every week?" Well....we need to gather in worship, to encounter the living God in scripture, pray, and song. Plus, our new Point worship setting does such projects once a month. Look for their next one in May. Finally, the answer is yes, you can do ReThink Church every week, in fact, every day! Don't wait for me to call you; Christ has already called you.
I challenge you to see serving others as a gift, as a way of becoming the persons Christ intends you to be and to grow close to Christ. It might be like Stacey who left work after a hard day of teaching school. Imagine that, a teacher leaving school tired and frustrated. On the way home, she stopped at a light. There on the corner was the man holding the sign asking for help. She looked in the care. There was no "bag of grace" such as make for these situations, not even a bottle of water. She looked in her purse. She had a $1 bill. She rolled down the window, apologizing, "I'm sorry, this is all I have." The man said, "You saw me. So many pass by without ever seeing me."
It might be like Reggie McNeal, a great teacher, preacher, author. I heard him say that he has started treating wait staff differently. Instead of treating them like servants, he has started treating them like family. He routinely asks those he meets in restaurants, "How can I bless you? What prayer can you share with me?" He says it is amazing how the relationship dynamic changes. People will actually tell you things.
What will it be for you? How will lay down your life for others? How about letting others cut in while driving? Maybe it is treating your spouse or your children or your boss or your co-workers differently. I challenge you to try it for this week, that one thing where you surrender control on behalf of others.
One more story to reiterate the point. I don't often go out clubbing on Saturday night. I know that y'all find that hard to believe. In fact, I have never done this, until about 2 weeks ago. Tonya Creamer on our staff was having her CD release party at Skinny's Ballroom. Now it wasn't on Sixth Street. It was at 115 San Jacinto, a lot quieter than Sixth Street. I was a total neophyte. I didn't know what to expect. It was clean. There is no smoking. Yes, there was a bar, but people were sedate. What really made me feel at home was that at Skinny's they had church pews facing the stage! Now we good Methodists who came out to support Tonya, we sat in those pews....filling them up...from the back first to the front! Pretty soon all of the pews were taken and all of the chairs in the bar were taken. Steve and Marci were there, who usually serve as ushers at our 11:15 a.m. service. They saw the situation, and being good ushers, went to look for extra chairs. They found some and set them up in the back of the room! It was like Easter overflow seating. It was the most natural thing for them to do. When we start to practice laying down our lives for others, we soon find that we don't even have to think about doing it. It becomes part of who we are.
Let me share with you a 4 letter word that will change your life....THEM. It is in serving others, them, that we come closest to being the people Christ intends for us to be. We come the closest we can to Christ. That is the good news I have to share today.
Others. I admit it: I like helping others. I enjoy serving others. I look forward to Friday mornings when I get to go out to the Habitat for Humanity job site and pound nails. Sure, I have lots of work I could be doing on my own house, but it feels great to work on a house for others. I like it. I bet you do too. Otherwise, you wouldn't be so enthusiastic about ReThink Church last Sunday. More than 200 of you got involved in some 10 work projects around the area last Sunday. It feels good.
I thought I would be resistant to having helping others be a commandment, but I am not. Upon reflection, I realized that as an eldest son, super-responsible, overfunctioning person, I like to please the "big people," the authority figures in my life. So if parents, teachers, preachers, ...God, say "you are supposed to love others," I don't have any problem doing that. I find that I can get attention and affection by doing what these "big people" want me to do. And look at my chosen profession. I am a pastor. I do this all the time, helping others. In fact, I can say to you today, "Hello, my name is Lynn, and I am a help-aholic." You are supposed to say, "Hello, Lynn," because you are in the same 12 step recovery group. I never met a need I didn't like. So I don't have any trouble with helping others being commanded.
The passage says if you have the world's riches and you see someone in need, you are supposed to help them. I feel good about doing that. The passage says that helping others is commanded, that we are commanded to believe in the name of the Son Jesus Christ and to love one another. I am ok with that. But there is one part of the passage that poses a problem for me. It says as Jesus laid down his life for us, we are to lay down our lives for others. The problem I have is this: that means I have to put my schedule, my agenda, my control aside. It means I have to surrender the throne. I stop driving the car. I get out of the power position. I don't like "laying down my life" for others. It sounds a lot like what Jesus did when he said, "Not my will, but thine be done."
I was trying to find some good news in adopting this position of laying down my life for others. Thankfully, it came. I realized that others could be a gift to us. By serving others, we come closest to being the persons Christ intends for us to be. By laying down our lives for others, we come closest to Christ, not just his example, but his person. When we lay down our lives for others, Christ can so fill us that we won't need to be needed anymore, we won't need to be noticed, we won't need to prove we are loveable. We can become the persons Christ intends for us to be and grow close to Christ.
Maybe that's why we like ReThink Church so much. As we watch a few slides from last Sunday's projects, let me tell you about them. The handbell choir went out to Marbridge Villas where some mentally challenged residents live. One of the men who lived there plowed right through the handbell tables in order to get to his spot during the concert. Our handbell players literally had to "get out of the way" and lay down their lives for this man. Some of us sang at the Summit retirement home and others at the Austin State School. John laid down his life as he let a resident at the School play his beautiful Taylor guitar. That took a lot of trust, of surrender. We had some 58 people go out to Hearts and Hooves and work in the hot sun pulling weeds, building a rock table, scooping poop, and tending the miniature ponies. Fifty-two people helped at Church under the Bridge, enough to give individual attention to those who live on the streets who were looking for clothes. Sixteen people went to the SPCA to tend animals there. Fourteen helped serve breakfast at Parker Lane UMC. Some of our less mobile folks wrote cards to servicemen and the homebound or sorted cookies into bags for lunches for Mobile Loaves and Fishes. It feels good when we can lay down our lives for others.
Some of you have asked me, "Pastor Lynn, can we do Rethink Church every week?" Well....we need to gather in worship, to encounter the living God in scripture, pray, and song. Plus, our new Point worship setting does such projects once a month. Look for their next one in May. Finally, the answer is yes, you can do ReThink Church every week, in fact, every day! Don't wait for me to call you; Christ has already called you.
I challenge you to see serving others as a gift, as a way of becoming the persons Christ intends you to be and to grow close to Christ. It might be like Stacey who left work after a hard day of teaching school. Imagine that, a teacher leaving school tired and frustrated. On the way home, she stopped at a light. There on the corner was the man holding the sign asking for help. She looked in the care. There was no "bag of grace" such as make for these situations, not even a bottle of water. She looked in her purse. She had a $1 bill. She rolled down the window, apologizing, "I'm sorry, this is all I have." The man said, "You saw me. So many pass by without ever seeing me."
It might be like Reggie McNeal, a great teacher, preacher, author. I heard him say that he has started treating wait staff differently. Instead of treating them like servants, he has started treating them like family. He routinely asks those he meets in restaurants, "How can I bless you? What prayer can you share with me?" He says it is amazing how the relationship dynamic changes. People will actually tell you things.
What will it be for you? How will lay down your life for others? How about letting others cut in while driving? Maybe it is treating your spouse or your children or your boss or your co-workers differently. I challenge you to try it for this week, that one thing where you surrender control on behalf of others.
One more story to reiterate the point. I don't often go out clubbing on Saturday night. I know that y'all find that hard to believe. In fact, I have never done this, until about 2 weeks ago. Tonya Creamer on our staff was having her CD release party at Skinny's Ballroom. Now it wasn't on Sixth Street. It was at 115 San Jacinto, a lot quieter than Sixth Street. I was a total neophyte. I didn't know what to expect. It was clean. There is no smoking. Yes, there was a bar, but people were sedate. What really made me feel at home was that at Skinny's they had church pews facing the stage! Now we good Methodists who came out to support Tonya, we sat in those pews....filling them up...from the back first to the front! Pretty soon all of the pews were taken and all of the chairs in the bar were taken. Steve and Marci were there, who usually serve as ushers at our 11:15 a.m. service. They saw the situation, and being good ushers, went to look for extra chairs. They found some and set them up in the back of the room! It was like Easter overflow seating. It was the most natural thing for them to do. When we start to practice laying down our lives for others, we soon find that we don't even have to think about doing it. It becomes part of who we are.
Let me share with you a 4 letter word that will change your life....THEM. It is in serving others, them, that we come closest to being the people Christ intends for us to be. We come the closest we can to Christ. That is the good news I have to share today.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
silent Easter
from my message on 4/8/12 from Mark 16:1-8
According to Mark's Gospel, this is how that first Easter went.....(15 seconds of silence)...I know you are disappointed. I know that you are saying, "Pastor Lynn, we are underwhelmed." I know you were expecting running to the tomb, an appearance by the risen Christ to some of his disciples, maybe a meal where Jesus reconciles with followers, or maybe Jesus showing his wounds to prove he has been raised from the dead. There were no trumpets blasting in Mark, only the women fleeing the tomb, "and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid." It was a silent Easter.
Are there any English majors in the room? Great, you are going to love this ending. In the Greek text, Mark literally ends this way, "they said nothing to anyone, they were afraid for...."
FOR is one of those Greek words that expects a phrase to follow it. They were afraid for... is this any way to end a sentence? a paragraph? a Gospel?
I have read the commentaries. Maybe the original ending got torn off of the manuscript. After all, papari is fragile stuff. This is the first instance of the "dog ate my homework" defense. If you read Mark's Gospel, you will find that later copyists try to add on at least 2 different endings. They try to overcome the silence of the original ending, borrowing material from other sources that make Mark more like the other Gospels.
Maybe the women were silent because they were in awe. Maybe what they had experienced was so overwhelming that they did not have the words to express it. Last night we had the first service of Easter, a service of baptism. Five children and one youth were baptized. The father of 3 little girls was trying to describe his experience of becoming a father. He did not start having children until he was in his 40's. He told me that when his first daughter was born and the nurse placed this tiny person in his hands, he couldn't speak. He looked into this face that was his face. He thought about being a co-creator with God, and there were no words.
I once had a Good Friday service at another congregation. We had read the passages that described the passion of the Christ. The sanctuary had slowly gotten darker and darker. Finally, at the crucifixion, even the Christ light was taken out of the worship space. All was darkness. All was quiet. In the worship bulletin, that was supposed to be the end, but people started streaming out of their seats, up to the chancel area, where they knelt in silent prayer. God showed up in the silence, outside of what was written in the liturgy. Maybe that is how it was that first Easter. It was silent, because the women didn't have the words to describe what they experienced.
Maybe they were scared. It says that they were alarmed, afraid. Certainly at the time that Mark wrote his Gospel, it was a dangerous thing to be a Christian. A believer could be persecuter or even put to death by being a follower of the Christ. Are we scared today? We live in a multi-cultural society, with people of many different faiths or no faith. I think we are afraid of offending others with our faith. We are afraid to go up against the rationalism of our age, those who can shoot us down with their logic. We may be embarrassed by the Gospel story. Maybe we are silent out of fear.
I think that Mark has a great ending, "they said nothing to anyone, they were afraid for...." I like his ending, because it makes the ending up to us. Tom Long tells the story of an actor who memorized the Gospel of Mark. He would perform the 16 chapters in one telling. The first time he did it, he came to this ending, "they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid." There was an awkward moment of silence. He couldn't stand it. He blurted out, "Amen." Applause followed. Later, he reflected. Was the right thing....for him to get the applause. He began to end the performance exactly as Mark had written it. "They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid." What happened was this: the audience would sit in stunned silence for a moment, and then there came a holy buzz, "What did that mean? What are we supposed to do? Is that the end?" It puts the ending on us. We are the ones who are called to break the silence.
You may do that in a dramatic fashion like our organist, Sheryl. Tune in to CNN this next Sunday evening at 7 p.m. as she tells her story. Just over 2 years ago, Sheryl's husband flew his plane into the IRS building here in Austin. Sheryl tells how her faith has helped her deal with this terrible tragedy.
Sometimes it is not so dramatic. I heard of a middle school boy who had some friends who were Christians and one who was an atheist. His Christian friends were picking on the atheist. He stood up for the atheist. He apologized. He said, "I am sorry. This is not the way we are supposed to act."
Sometimes, you don't have to use many words at all. Join us on ReThink Church day in 2 weeks when we go out into the world to be the church in these some 10 service projects. Take care of animals or take clothes to the homeless at Church Under the Bridge. This "hands-on" ministry really resonates with young people.
Don't worry about the ending. The angel tells the women that Jesus goes ahead of them. He will meet them in Galilee. Galilee is code language for "the nations." Jesus is going ahead of us too wherever we go, preparing the way for us to tell his story.
The women must have broken the silence or else we wouldn't be here today. How will you write the ending of the gospel so that there will not be a silent Easter?
According to Mark's Gospel, this is how that first Easter went.....(15 seconds of silence)...I know you are disappointed. I know that you are saying, "Pastor Lynn, we are underwhelmed." I know you were expecting running to the tomb, an appearance by the risen Christ to some of his disciples, maybe a meal where Jesus reconciles with followers, or maybe Jesus showing his wounds to prove he has been raised from the dead. There were no trumpets blasting in Mark, only the women fleeing the tomb, "and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid." It was a silent Easter.
Are there any English majors in the room? Great, you are going to love this ending. In the Greek text, Mark literally ends this way, "they said nothing to anyone, they were afraid for...."
FOR is one of those Greek words that expects a phrase to follow it. They were afraid for... is this any way to end a sentence? a paragraph? a Gospel?
I have read the commentaries. Maybe the original ending got torn off of the manuscript. After all, papari is fragile stuff. This is the first instance of the "dog ate my homework" defense. If you read Mark's Gospel, you will find that later copyists try to add on at least 2 different endings. They try to overcome the silence of the original ending, borrowing material from other sources that make Mark more like the other Gospels.
Maybe the women were silent because they were in awe. Maybe what they had experienced was so overwhelming that they did not have the words to express it. Last night we had the first service of Easter, a service of baptism. Five children and one youth were baptized. The father of 3 little girls was trying to describe his experience of becoming a father. He did not start having children until he was in his 40's. He told me that when his first daughter was born and the nurse placed this tiny person in his hands, he couldn't speak. He looked into this face that was his face. He thought about being a co-creator with God, and there were no words.
I once had a Good Friday service at another congregation. We had read the passages that described the passion of the Christ. The sanctuary had slowly gotten darker and darker. Finally, at the crucifixion, even the Christ light was taken out of the worship space. All was darkness. All was quiet. In the worship bulletin, that was supposed to be the end, but people started streaming out of their seats, up to the chancel area, where they knelt in silent prayer. God showed up in the silence, outside of what was written in the liturgy. Maybe that is how it was that first Easter. It was silent, because the women didn't have the words to describe what they experienced.
Maybe they were scared. It says that they were alarmed, afraid. Certainly at the time that Mark wrote his Gospel, it was a dangerous thing to be a Christian. A believer could be persecuter or even put to death by being a follower of the Christ. Are we scared today? We live in a multi-cultural society, with people of many different faiths or no faith. I think we are afraid of offending others with our faith. We are afraid to go up against the rationalism of our age, those who can shoot us down with their logic. We may be embarrassed by the Gospel story. Maybe we are silent out of fear.
I think that Mark has a great ending, "they said nothing to anyone, they were afraid for...." I like his ending, because it makes the ending up to us. Tom Long tells the story of an actor who memorized the Gospel of Mark. He would perform the 16 chapters in one telling. The first time he did it, he came to this ending, "they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid." There was an awkward moment of silence. He couldn't stand it. He blurted out, "Amen." Applause followed. Later, he reflected. Was the right thing....for him to get the applause. He began to end the performance exactly as Mark had written it. "They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid." What happened was this: the audience would sit in stunned silence for a moment, and then there came a holy buzz, "What did that mean? What are we supposed to do? Is that the end?" It puts the ending on us. We are the ones who are called to break the silence.
You may do that in a dramatic fashion like our organist, Sheryl. Tune in to CNN this next Sunday evening at 7 p.m. as she tells her story. Just over 2 years ago, Sheryl's husband flew his plane into the IRS building here in Austin. Sheryl tells how her faith has helped her deal with this terrible tragedy.
Sometimes it is not so dramatic. I heard of a middle school boy who had some friends who were Christians and one who was an atheist. His Christian friends were picking on the atheist. He stood up for the atheist. He apologized. He said, "I am sorry. This is not the way we are supposed to act."
Sometimes, you don't have to use many words at all. Join us on ReThink Church day in 2 weeks when we go out into the world to be the church in these some 10 service projects. Take care of animals or take clothes to the homeless at Church Under the Bridge. This "hands-on" ministry really resonates with young people.
Don't worry about the ending. The angel tells the women that Jesus goes ahead of them. He will meet them in Galilee. Galilee is code language for "the nations." Jesus is going ahead of us too wherever we go, preparing the way for us to tell his story.
The women must have broken the silence or else we wouldn't be here today. How will you write the ending of the gospel so that there will not be a silent Easter?
Monday, April 2, 2012
songs of the heart: prayer for the journey
from my message on Palm Sunday, 4/1/12, from Psalm 118
So, I had a phone call from Bishop Dorff on Thursday, asking me to move to another appointment.....April Fools! I had you going there for a minute. Yes, today is April 1, April Fools Day, but in the church it is also Palm Sunday. I want you to go to your earliest memories of Palm Sunday. For me, it was like a victory parade for Jesus. We, as children, would wave the palm branches and shout Hosanna. I thought Hosanna meant Hurrah! or Yeah, Jesus! But Hosanna doesn't mean that. If you can wait just a few moments, I will tell you what it means.
What I want to get across to you about this parade imagery on Palm Sunday is that there is movement. Jesus is on a journey. We are too. Journey is a good metaphor for being a follower of Christ. Today, we are looking at Psalm 118 as a song of the heart, a prayer for the journey. This psalm would have been sung as Jesus was entering the city of Jerusalem. You see, if you were a faithful Jew and lived near Jerusalem, you would make a pilgrimage, you would travel there 3 times a year for 3 major religious holidays. This particular one was Passover, which our Jewish friends, still celebrate today. In fact, it begins this Friday night at sundown. Passover is the festival that remembers how God saved his people from bondage in Egypt. God delivers his people, and they set off across the wilderness to a Promised Land. Jesus probably had this feast with his disciples as his last meal before his passion. So the people are singing Psalm 118 as Jesus enters Jerusalem, and Jesus is living out what they are singing.
The words are familiar to many of us. I will illustrate by starting a quote, that I bet you can finish. This is the day the Lord has made...Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118, verse 24. I must confess I didn't have this message very well developed till yesterday. I was on retreat with our Stephen Ministers. I asked for their help. One of them upon reading the psalm, said, "Don't miss the joy of this passage, finding joy in the moment." That's a good word. This psalme is called a Hallel psalm, a praise God song. At the Stephen ministry training, we spent 2 1/2 hours talking about aging. What a downer! All that time talking about dealing with loss...of hair, of hearing, of movement. One of the leaders was talking about dealing with her mother-in-law, who went to an assisted care facility. One of the biggest losses she faced was that of her faith community. She could no longer attend worship like she used to. She turned to the TV. On Sunday morning, she would go to worship with the TV preachers. She told our leader, "I don't agree with most of what they say. Their theology is pretty thin. It is a gospel of success, about health and wealth. But one thing you can say for them: they're happy!" In this journey, it is a good thing to pray, looking for joy, thanksgiving, celebration. This is day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Now we come to Hosanna. Did you notice that the word was not used in Psalm 118? It was there in verse 25...if you read it in Hebrew. The word Hosanna means.....save us, help us! I have had the confirmands coming into my office this past week to have a conversation with me. I don't bring them into the office to scare them. I want to show them that they can have this relationship over a lifetime. Wherever they go, there will always be a pastor to listen and pray with with them. I ask them if there is anything we need to talk about. More than one said to me, "Pastor Lynn, is it ok if I ask God to help me with the STAAR test?" The State of Texas has just initiated a new evaluation instrument. Several of the students had anxiety over taking this test. My answer to them was "Yes." You are saying Hosanna, help us, save us. And the thing is that the more you pray, the better you get at praying. The more you pray, the more the Lord reforms and refines your prayer. It is a journey in prayer. Prayer changes things. The first thing prayer changes is YOU.
The point of this journey in prayer is to bring us closer to Jesus. I will illustrate with something I don't get to do too often, tell an Aggie math joke. I have a degree in mathematics from Texas A & M. I started in 1971 when there were not too many girls on campus. That first semester, my calculus professor was teaching about limits. He was drawing the difference between a math major and an engineering student. He said, "Imagine on one side of a room, a beautiful girl (at A & M, called a Maggie). Put a math major and an engineering student on the other side of the room. Each time, the math major and future engineer get to move 1/2 the distance closer to Maggie. So the first step is to go halfway. The next step they both go 3/4 way. The next step 7/8 and so forth. You ask the math major, do you ever reach Maggie. No....the correct answer is that between any 2 points on a line, you can always find another midpoint. You ask the future engineer, do you ever reach Maggie. He responds, You get close enough."
All God wants to do with us in prayer is to draw us closer to Christ. We are being lead not to a place, but a person. The 24 th verse....rejoice in the Lord and be glad in it, could also be traslated as be glad in him. The verses in Psalm 118 are familiar because we say one over and over again in the communion liturgy. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. In prayer, we are being drawn to Him. The psalm says, the stone that the builders have rejected has become the chief cornerstone. Jesus, despised and crucified, has become God's instrument of salvation. Jesus wants to be more than a teacher, good man, or prophet.
I illustrate by telling a story from Don Saliers, a UM pastor, teacher, & writer, who wrote in the Daily Disciplines this past week. Don was helping a mid-sized church with "pumping up" Holy Week. They asked him for suggestions. "Have you ever had a palm processional?" They hadn't. There were some fears about the weather. More about whether the children would use the palms in sword fights. But they decided to try it. Palm Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day, with perfect weather. The children took the palm branches. They entered the church, singing, Hosanna, Loud Hosanna the little children sang...Yes, there were some sword fights with the branches. But when they looked up...they saw what was at the end of the aisle. There was the cross. The mood changed. They knew that Palm Sunday was not the end of the journey. Jesus wants to be more than teacher, good man, or prophet. He wants to be Savior, the one who releases us from the past, from guilt, from shame, from the power of sin. He wants to be Lord, the one by whom we orient our lives.
Jesus goes this journey through Holy Week for us, with us. Come Thursday night, as He washes our feet. See how he changes the words of the Passover, saying This is my body, This is my blood. Come Friday night to experience several different stations, inside and outside that take us to His passion. Come Saturday night when several will be baptized here.
Jesus is on a journey. We are too. Our Methodist theology says that we are going on to perfection. The Holy Week Walk the children do today takes them close to Jesus. The early Christians were called Followers of the Way. Our vision statement says, Following One, Serving All.
I am moving, not to a new appointment, but even now after all these years, closer and closer to Jesus. How about you?
So, I had a phone call from Bishop Dorff on Thursday, asking me to move to another appointment.....April Fools! I had you going there for a minute. Yes, today is April 1, April Fools Day, but in the church it is also Palm Sunday. I want you to go to your earliest memories of Palm Sunday. For me, it was like a victory parade for Jesus. We, as children, would wave the palm branches and shout Hosanna. I thought Hosanna meant Hurrah! or Yeah, Jesus! But Hosanna doesn't mean that. If you can wait just a few moments, I will tell you what it means.
What I want to get across to you about this parade imagery on Palm Sunday is that there is movement. Jesus is on a journey. We are too. Journey is a good metaphor for being a follower of Christ. Today, we are looking at Psalm 118 as a song of the heart, a prayer for the journey. This psalm would have been sung as Jesus was entering the city of Jerusalem. You see, if you were a faithful Jew and lived near Jerusalem, you would make a pilgrimage, you would travel there 3 times a year for 3 major religious holidays. This particular one was Passover, which our Jewish friends, still celebrate today. In fact, it begins this Friday night at sundown. Passover is the festival that remembers how God saved his people from bondage in Egypt. God delivers his people, and they set off across the wilderness to a Promised Land. Jesus probably had this feast with his disciples as his last meal before his passion. So the people are singing Psalm 118 as Jesus enters Jerusalem, and Jesus is living out what they are singing.
The words are familiar to many of us. I will illustrate by starting a quote, that I bet you can finish. This is the day the Lord has made...Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118, verse 24. I must confess I didn't have this message very well developed till yesterday. I was on retreat with our Stephen Ministers. I asked for their help. One of them upon reading the psalm, said, "Don't miss the joy of this passage, finding joy in the moment." That's a good word. This psalme is called a Hallel psalm, a praise God song. At the Stephen ministry training, we spent 2 1/2 hours talking about aging. What a downer! All that time talking about dealing with loss...of hair, of hearing, of movement. One of the leaders was talking about dealing with her mother-in-law, who went to an assisted care facility. One of the biggest losses she faced was that of her faith community. She could no longer attend worship like she used to. She turned to the TV. On Sunday morning, she would go to worship with the TV preachers. She told our leader, "I don't agree with most of what they say. Their theology is pretty thin. It is a gospel of success, about health and wealth. But one thing you can say for them: they're happy!" In this journey, it is a good thing to pray, looking for joy, thanksgiving, celebration. This is day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Now we come to Hosanna. Did you notice that the word was not used in Psalm 118? It was there in verse 25...if you read it in Hebrew. The word Hosanna means.....save us, help us! I have had the confirmands coming into my office this past week to have a conversation with me. I don't bring them into the office to scare them. I want to show them that they can have this relationship over a lifetime. Wherever they go, there will always be a pastor to listen and pray with with them. I ask them if there is anything we need to talk about. More than one said to me, "Pastor Lynn, is it ok if I ask God to help me with the STAAR test?" The State of Texas has just initiated a new evaluation instrument. Several of the students had anxiety over taking this test. My answer to them was "Yes." You are saying Hosanna, help us, save us. And the thing is that the more you pray, the better you get at praying. The more you pray, the more the Lord reforms and refines your prayer. It is a journey in prayer. Prayer changes things. The first thing prayer changes is YOU.
The point of this journey in prayer is to bring us closer to Jesus. I will illustrate with something I don't get to do too often, tell an Aggie math joke. I have a degree in mathematics from Texas A & M. I started in 1971 when there were not too many girls on campus. That first semester, my calculus professor was teaching about limits. He was drawing the difference between a math major and an engineering student. He said, "Imagine on one side of a room, a beautiful girl (at A & M, called a Maggie). Put a math major and an engineering student on the other side of the room. Each time, the math major and future engineer get to move 1/2 the distance closer to Maggie. So the first step is to go halfway. The next step they both go 3/4 way. The next step 7/8 and so forth. You ask the math major, do you ever reach Maggie. No....the correct answer is that between any 2 points on a line, you can always find another midpoint. You ask the future engineer, do you ever reach Maggie. He responds, You get close enough."
All God wants to do with us in prayer is to draw us closer to Christ. We are being lead not to a place, but a person. The 24 th verse....rejoice in the Lord and be glad in it, could also be traslated as be glad in him. The verses in Psalm 118 are familiar because we say one over and over again in the communion liturgy. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. In prayer, we are being drawn to Him. The psalm says, the stone that the builders have rejected has become the chief cornerstone. Jesus, despised and crucified, has become God's instrument of salvation. Jesus wants to be more than a teacher, good man, or prophet.
I illustrate by telling a story from Don Saliers, a UM pastor, teacher, & writer, who wrote in the Daily Disciplines this past week. Don was helping a mid-sized church with "pumping up" Holy Week. They asked him for suggestions. "Have you ever had a palm processional?" They hadn't. There were some fears about the weather. More about whether the children would use the palms in sword fights. But they decided to try it. Palm Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day, with perfect weather. The children took the palm branches. They entered the church, singing, Hosanna, Loud Hosanna the little children sang...Yes, there were some sword fights with the branches. But when they looked up...they saw what was at the end of the aisle. There was the cross. The mood changed. They knew that Palm Sunday was not the end of the journey. Jesus wants to be more than teacher, good man, or prophet. He wants to be Savior, the one who releases us from the past, from guilt, from shame, from the power of sin. He wants to be Lord, the one by whom we orient our lives.
Jesus goes this journey through Holy Week for us, with us. Come Thursday night, as He washes our feet. See how he changes the words of the Passover, saying This is my body, This is my blood. Come Friday night to experience several different stations, inside and outside that take us to His passion. Come Saturday night when several will be baptized here.
Jesus is on a journey. We are too. Our Methodist theology says that we are going on to perfection. The Holy Week Walk the children do today takes them close to Jesus. The early Christians were called Followers of the Way. Our vision statement says, Following One, Serving All.
I am moving, not to a new appointment, but even now after all these years, closer and closer to Jesus. How about you?
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