from my message on 5/18/14 from Exodus 28:31-25, honoring our Handbell director, Susan Finnigan
Belle was her name. I know that Belle means "beautiful," and she was in every way. She was beautiful physically, emotionally, spiritually. She was my first cousin. Uncle Tom K. and Aunt Ruth adopted Belle as a baby. She was of Navajo descent. Grew up claiming her biological and cultural heritage by becoming a master Navajo weaver. She was the one who taught my wife Cathy to weave. She was so highly regarded that she acted as a consultant for museums and art galleries, often doing repairs to ancient rugs.
Belle married Greg. They had 2 children, a boy and a girl. They were coming back from visiting my Uncle and Aunt in Colorado Springs, headed for their home in Timnath, Colo. It was at the end of the Thanksgiving holiday. They were only a few miles from their home when a drunk driver hit their car. Greg sustained massive injuries which took months of rehab. The children in the back seat were largely unhurt. Belle died in the accident.
It was tragic. She was too young. There was a memorial service for Belle at the chapel at Colorado College where my Uncle and Aunt taught and where Belle had gotten her undergraduate degree. Everyone who attended the service was invited to bring a bell with them. If they didn't have a bell, one was given them as they entered the service. At a particular point in the service, everyone was asked to do this (ring a handbell).
This is one of the oldest uses of bells: to mark grief, a loss, a death. It is called tolling. You know the book by Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls. We still do this today, even in this church. On All Saints' Sunday, we don't just read the names of those who have died, or light a candle, we also toll a bell for them.
My hunch is that you may still be grieving someone today like I miss Belle. In just a moment I am going to toll this bell. May you remember that person (ring a handbell).
There are others we could ring a bell for today. Some of the deaths make the headlines, like 301 miners killed in Turkey, so preventable. We could ring a bell for all of those refugees who have been killed by the civil war in Syria. How many years has this war drug on?
There are others that don't make the headlines. Who will ring a bell for them? I started looking up statistics for those whose lives were cut short because they were born into poverty or without access to clean water or adequate food or medical care. Who will ring a bell for them?
You may be called to ring a bell, to call attention to some of these tragic situations. I know the United Methodists started ringing a bell about malaria. Most of the cases were among children in sub-Saharan Africa. We can't address all of the world's issues, but we said, "Imagine No Malaria." We have raised millions of dollars to purchase mosquito nets and and other aids. The mortality rate has been cut significantly. More needs to be done. Who will ring a bell for them?
The ringing of bells calls us to awareness. The ringing speaks to us on a visceral level, beyond words. Ringing resonates with our souls.
Think of all the bells. There are school bells, dinner bells, door bells, cow bells. Clocks like Big Ben tell us what time it is by the chiming of bells....Ding dong ding dong....Dong Ding Dong Ding...Bells can announce happy times like when a couple gets married, we have wedding bells. The war comes to an end and all of the bells ring out peace. We have the Liberty Bell. Lords and ladies on PBS on Sunday night ring a little bell to call the servants in. University of Texas has the Bell Tower. Little towns used to ring bells to call people to the meeting place.
Bells have been found in China dating back to 500 B. C. So on every continent and in every age, we have had bells. Bells started showing up in the Christian Church around 400 A.D. Bells became a part of cathedrals, reaching the height of popularity in England in the 1500's. These were large bells that were rung by pulling a rope. Groups would practice ringing a pattern, over and over again.
You may smile at this, but the nearest neighbors didn't always appreciate these loud practice times. Also these bells couldn't be transported. So handbells were developed, and practices could take place indoors, quietly, at any time. Then music, melodies were developed for handbells, more than simple patterns rung over and over again.
Different techniques were developed to produce different sounds. There is the tower swing. One can dampen a sound by bringing the ringing bell up to the chest or down on the cushioned table. Bells can be plucked or struck with a mallet. Aren't you glad you came to learn all of this about bells?
The Bible doesn't have too much to say about bells. There are only a handful of passages that mention bells. Our today is part of a long detailed description of everything that goes with worship at the tabernacle, that moveable tent which went with the Hebrew children in their 40 sojourn in the wilderness. Almost 1/3 of the book of Exodus is spent in excrutiating detail about tabernacle worship. Today's passage talks about the proper dress for the High Priest. The hem of his robe was to have bells hanging down. That sound would let others know, "The High Priest is coming." More importantly, the bells would be ringing letting the LORD God know that the High Priest was entering the Holy of Holies, the place where God was thought to dwell. Do you see what the scripture said, upon entering or leaving "so that he will not die." This being a priest is a high risk occupation!
How many times have we been ushered into the presence of God with the ringing of bells here? It is awesome! If you have been part of Susan's handbell choirs over these last 19 years, would you please stand? Susan, you have had a big impact on us and our faith. You have helped us enter into the presence of God. You have added to our worship.
Here's the thing about playing handbells. You can only play a note or two by yourself (yes, there is even a technique of playing 4 at once). Handbells are best played in groups, with each person playing his or her own part. It is a good image for the body of Christ. We can't solve all of the world's problems, but we are called to play our part. For whom will you ring today?
And that word tintinabulation? When I was pastor at St. John's here in Austin, they had bought their first set of handbells. They had a contest to name the celebration of receiving these bells. A high school youth found this term, tintinabulation. It means the ringing of bells.
The good news is that you were made for tintinabulation. What part do you play? For whom will you ring a bell today? Amen.
Monday, May 19, 2014
Monday, May 12, 2014
Measure for Measure
from my message on Mother's Day, May 11, 2014, from Luke 6:37-38
(putting on an apron while standing behind the communion table) I will not be doing a cooking show today. But I want to tell you about my Grandmother Johnson and her cooking. My grandmother loved me. I know she loved me because when I would come to visit her in Marble Falls and later in Burnet, she would make me my favorite dessert--her lemon pie. It wasn't a lemon meringue pie, more of a lemon chess pie.
Now Cathy was my fiancee'. She loved me. She wanted to show her love for me. So when we were visiting grandmother in Burnet once, she asked grandmother if she could get the recipe for her lemon pie. Grandmother said, "Yes, just as soon as you marry my grandson!"
After we were married, Cathy spent some time with Grandmother Johnson in her kitchen to learn how to make the lemon pie. The recipe wasn't "take 3 cups of flour;" it was "take 3 handfuls of flour." Every time it was the same. Not 4 tablespoons of butter, but 4 pats of butter. Not 3 tablespoons of salt, but 3 pinches of salt.
(stepping away from the communion table) Grandmother Johnson wasn't exact, wasn't going for precision. She was generous...overflowing...not just with her measurements, but also with her love.
How do you want to be judged? How will you judge others? What will be the standard for measurement when it comes to forgiveness?
There was a famous play....you may have heard of it....Measure for Measure. Who was the author? Yes, William Shakespeare. Cathy and I got to see it in this past year at St. Edward's University. I will give you the Spark Notes version of the play. It is set in Venice. The Duke hands over authority to Angelo. Then the Duke goes into hiding, posing as a friar. He is like the all-seeing god. Angelo is very strict, moralistic. He cracks down on all crime in the city, especially that of a sexual nature. A man named Claudio is arrested because he has gotten his fiancee' pregnant before marriage. Claudio is scheduled to die for his crime. Claudio's sister Isabella is pure and chaste. In fact, she is slated to enter a nunnery. She goes before Lord Angelo to plead for her brother's life. Is there anything she can do to save him. Lord Angelo says he might think of a way...wink, wink. What would you do to save someone you love? How do you measure sin in someone else but not yourself. At this point, the Duke, still posing as a friar intervenes. He gets Marianna, a former lover of Angelo, to go in Isabella's place. Angelo is supposed to forgive Claudio and to marry Marianna...but oops...it doesn't happen that way. Angelo doesn't forgive Claudio. I can't tell you the ending, but it is a happy one.
There is a famous couplet from the play, "Haste still pays haste, and leisure answers leisure. Like doth quit like, and measure for measure."
How do you want to be treated? How will you treat others? What measure will you use for yourself? For others?
Before the Jewish faith came along, there was an ancient practice of reprisal. If someone knocked out your eye or your tooth, you might kill the perpetrator. If someone killed a family member of yours, you might respond by killing all of their family. So when the Old Testament and the Jewish faith propose "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth," it was putting a limit on reprisal. It was actually showing mercy. Then Jesus comes along and pushes the boundary even further as we have in our passage today as he talks about giving and forgiving.
What is the measure? Mercy without justice may simply be permissiveness, anything goes. Justice without mercy may simply be cruelty.
I think Jesus may be talking about a quality called restorative justice. I read a paper by one of our church members going for her master's degree. Restorative justice is a set of principles that looks beyond meting out punishment to that of restoring relationships. It understands that it is more than a law that gets broken, it is a community that gets torn. It understands that we can't simply warehouse criminals and pretend that the problem has been dealt with. Restorative justice gives voice to all the parties involved. In fact, the verb tenses in our passage illustrate this; they are all plural. Y'all don't judge, you all don't condemn. You all give, y'all forgive.
I will give you an example from 2 villages in Africa. A mother had her son murdered by a young man from another village. The village elders came together with the family members. It was decided that the murderer would be adopted by the mother of the man who was murdered. This new son would take care of his new mother and live in her house and provide for her.
I have another example from my former church. There a mom had her son murdered while he was working as a convenience store clerk. It was all caught on closed circuit security camera. It was played all over the news at stations in Corpus Christi. The perpetrator, another young man, was easily caught. He was tried, sentenced to death row in prison. My church member established a relationship with her son's murderer. She began writing to him. Then calling him. She finally got on his visitor list and went to see him many times. She forgave him. She pleaded that he be spared, but the State of Texas executed him. She felt like she had lost 2 sons.
I have no easy answers for you. Restorative justice is messy, difficult. In some cases of abuse, the parties may need to be remain separated. What can we as a church do? Some women from this church are involved in the Women's Storybook Project. They go once a month to the prison in Gatesville. They help the moms incarcerated there to read a book on tape to give to their children at home, so the children can go to sleep hearing their mom read to them. Some people from this church are involved in Kairos minnistry, which means they from relationships with persons in prison, so that when the persons has served their time, he or she will have a network of support. They help the former prisoners to find work and to find a community of faith.
What is your measure of forgiveness for yourself? For others? In our Bible passage, it talks about a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, overflowing. You see my apron. Imagine it is a robe. You go to the market and ask for a measure of flour. The vendor fills up the cloth pocket made by lifting up your robe in front of your belly. You want a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, overflowing the edges. No air pockets. No shorting the amount. Generous.
In the kitchen at Laurel Heights UMC where I served in San Antonio, these verses were placed upon the wall. We had a community meal there every Wednesday night. I hope that all the food there, in fact all the ministry there was done with these verses in mind.
Isn't this why we come to worship? Why we come to Bible Study and practice prayer? We need to fill up on the full measure of God's love for us, so that we can give that same measure to others. What measure do you want for yourself? I want a measure that looks like Christ, living, dying, and rising from the dead. I want a measure that has a God who loves us in spite of ourselves, in spite of our undeserving, in spite of our ungratefulness.
The measure by which God forgives us is the measure that I want to give others. Measure for measure. Amen.
(putting on an apron while standing behind the communion table) I will not be doing a cooking show today. But I want to tell you about my Grandmother Johnson and her cooking. My grandmother loved me. I know she loved me because when I would come to visit her in Marble Falls and later in Burnet, she would make me my favorite dessert--her lemon pie. It wasn't a lemon meringue pie, more of a lemon chess pie.
Now Cathy was my fiancee'. She loved me. She wanted to show her love for me. So when we were visiting grandmother in Burnet once, she asked grandmother if she could get the recipe for her lemon pie. Grandmother said, "Yes, just as soon as you marry my grandson!"
After we were married, Cathy spent some time with Grandmother Johnson in her kitchen to learn how to make the lemon pie. The recipe wasn't "take 3 cups of flour;" it was "take 3 handfuls of flour." Every time it was the same. Not 4 tablespoons of butter, but 4 pats of butter. Not 3 tablespoons of salt, but 3 pinches of salt.
(stepping away from the communion table) Grandmother Johnson wasn't exact, wasn't going for precision. She was generous...overflowing...not just with her measurements, but also with her love.
How do you want to be judged? How will you judge others? What will be the standard for measurement when it comes to forgiveness?
There was a famous play....you may have heard of it....Measure for Measure. Who was the author? Yes, William Shakespeare. Cathy and I got to see it in this past year at St. Edward's University. I will give you the Spark Notes version of the play. It is set in Venice. The Duke hands over authority to Angelo. Then the Duke goes into hiding, posing as a friar. He is like the all-seeing god. Angelo is very strict, moralistic. He cracks down on all crime in the city, especially that of a sexual nature. A man named Claudio is arrested because he has gotten his fiancee' pregnant before marriage. Claudio is scheduled to die for his crime. Claudio's sister Isabella is pure and chaste. In fact, she is slated to enter a nunnery. She goes before Lord Angelo to plead for her brother's life. Is there anything she can do to save him. Lord Angelo says he might think of a way...wink, wink. What would you do to save someone you love? How do you measure sin in someone else but not yourself. At this point, the Duke, still posing as a friar intervenes. He gets Marianna, a former lover of Angelo, to go in Isabella's place. Angelo is supposed to forgive Claudio and to marry Marianna...but oops...it doesn't happen that way. Angelo doesn't forgive Claudio. I can't tell you the ending, but it is a happy one.
There is a famous couplet from the play, "Haste still pays haste, and leisure answers leisure. Like doth quit like, and measure for measure."
How do you want to be treated? How will you treat others? What measure will you use for yourself? For others?
Before the Jewish faith came along, there was an ancient practice of reprisal. If someone knocked out your eye or your tooth, you might kill the perpetrator. If someone killed a family member of yours, you might respond by killing all of their family. So when the Old Testament and the Jewish faith propose "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth," it was putting a limit on reprisal. It was actually showing mercy. Then Jesus comes along and pushes the boundary even further as we have in our passage today as he talks about giving and forgiving.
What is the measure? Mercy without justice may simply be permissiveness, anything goes. Justice without mercy may simply be cruelty.
I think Jesus may be talking about a quality called restorative justice. I read a paper by one of our church members going for her master's degree. Restorative justice is a set of principles that looks beyond meting out punishment to that of restoring relationships. It understands that it is more than a law that gets broken, it is a community that gets torn. It understands that we can't simply warehouse criminals and pretend that the problem has been dealt with. Restorative justice gives voice to all the parties involved. In fact, the verb tenses in our passage illustrate this; they are all plural. Y'all don't judge, you all don't condemn. You all give, y'all forgive.
I will give you an example from 2 villages in Africa. A mother had her son murdered by a young man from another village. The village elders came together with the family members. It was decided that the murderer would be adopted by the mother of the man who was murdered. This new son would take care of his new mother and live in her house and provide for her.
I have another example from my former church. There a mom had her son murdered while he was working as a convenience store clerk. It was all caught on closed circuit security camera. It was played all over the news at stations in Corpus Christi. The perpetrator, another young man, was easily caught. He was tried, sentenced to death row in prison. My church member established a relationship with her son's murderer. She began writing to him. Then calling him. She finally got on his visitor list and went to see him many times. She forgave him. She pleaded that he be spared, but the State of Texas executed him. She felt like she had lost 2 sons.
I have no easy answers for you. Restorative justice is messy, difficult. In some cases of abuse, the parties may need to be remain separated. What can we as a church do? Some women from this church are involved in the Women's Storybook Project. They go once a month to the prison in Gatesville. They help the moms incarcerated there to read a book on tape to give to their children at home, so the children can go to sleep hearing their mom read to them. Some people from this church are involved in Kairos minnistry, which means they from relationships with persons in prison, so that when the persons has served their time, he or she will have a network of support. They help the former prisoners to find work and to find a community of faith.
What is your measure of forgiveness for yourself? For others? In our Bible passage, it talks about a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, overflowing. You see my apron. Imagine it is a robe. You go to the market and ask for a measure of flour. The vendor fills up the cloth pocket made by lifting up your robe in front of your belly. You want a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, overflowing the edges. No air pockets. No shorting the amount. Generous.
In the kitchen at Laurel Heights UMC where I served in San Antonio, these verses were placed upon the wall. We had a community meal there every Wednesday night. I hope that all the food there, in fact all the ministry there was done with these verses in mind.
Isn't this why we come to worship? Why we come to Bible Study and practice prayer? We need to fill up on the full measure of God's love for us, so that we can give that same measure to others. What measure do you want for yourself? I want a measure that looks like Christ, living, dying, and rising from the dead. I want a measure that has a God who loves us in spite of ourselves, in spite of our undeserving, in spite of our ungratefulness.
The measure by which God forgives us is the measure that I want to give others. Measure for measure. Amen.
Monday, May 5, 2014
Giving Bread, Not Stones
from my message from Matthew 7:7-10
(preaching from behind the communion table) It is really very simple. If your child asks for bread (hold up the communion bread), would you give him or her a stone (hole up stone) instead? No, you try to give your children the best.
I got this message from Ray Kiser, the pastor at Lake Travis UMC. We are in a prayer/accountability group together. Every other Monday morning, a group of us pastors meet at La Madeliene for breakfast. We ask that classic Methodist question, "How is it with your soul?" We pray for one another. Ray said that he approaches every conversation, every encounter with this intent, "I want to give bread here, not a stone."
We can't meet every demand, all the world's needs, but we can give bread, not a stone. This past week I got a phone call from a woman needing rent help. I am busy. It is an interruption to my day. I don't have a pot of money to save all of the housing issues. But I want to give bread, not a stone. So I take the time to listen carefully to her situation. I help her generate alternatives.
Today, we are commissioning 3 new Stephen Ministers, to add to the 10 we already have. I remind you Stephen Minsters that you can't solve all your care receiver's issues, can't make all illnesses go away, can't heal every hurt. But you can give bread, not a stone. You can listen, you can love, you can pray, you can encourage.
We want to give bread, not a stone. The truth is that we have not always been given bread by our parents. I remember a time from my childhood, when my dad came home one evening. He said, "Lynn, I have a present for you out in the station wagon." Wow, this was exciting. This hardly ever happened. "Daddy, thank you. Whatever it is, I am so grateful." I ran out to the carport to the Ford Galaxy station wagon. Opened the front door. There on the floor ...was ...a hoe...to chop weeds in the garden. I was not an abused child. We had a home, food, clothes. I learned the value of work growing up on the farm. I fed chickens, gathered eggs, washed eggs, delivered eggs, learned to drive a tractor, learned to drive a truck and trailer. We went to worship and Sunday School. I learned to treat my neighbor right. I got bread, not just stones.
The point in the scripture is that even parents know how to give good gifts, then how much more will our heavenly Father do for us. The passage we have today comes from a part of Matthew's gospel we know as the Sermon on the Mount. It contains Jesus' teaching in a summary form. The teaching is very challenging. Things like not just loving those who love you, but loving your enemy. We can't possibly do this without practicing the opening words of our passage today. We need to pray: to seek, ask, knock. We need to spend much time in prayer to be shaped by God's grace, so that we may act gracefully towards others.
We feast on our Bible story, how God has given us bread, not a stone all through our history. There's the bread of Passover. Remember the bread that Elijah ate, and he went 40 days on that one meal. We have the ministry of Jesus where he fed the multitudes with a few loaves and fishes. He ate with tax collectors and sinners. He had a last supper with his closest friends. But he also revealed himself in a resurrected form by sharing other meals with his disciples. We met him here today at this table, where we are given bread, not a stone.
How will you practice this concept? I invite you to think of a situation now, with a family member, or co-worker, or a neighbor, maybe even a conflicted situation, where you need to give bread, not a stone. You could start praying now, seeking, asking, knocking, so that you might be able to give bread, not a stone. It will be challenging. In fact, as I reflected on this message, it came to me that this is one of the great measure of spiritual maturity: how often we can give bread instead of stones, especially in difficult situations.
As we keep coming to this table here, and are fed bread, the bread of life, the broken body of Jesus, I believe that we can give bread, not stones to others. That's the good news I have to share today.
(preaching from behind the communion table) It is really very simple. If your child asks for bread (hold up the communion bread), would you give him or her a stone (hole up stone) instead? No, you try to give your children the best.
I got this message from Ray Kiser, the pastor at Lake Travis UMC. We are in a prayer/accountability group together. Every other Monday morning, a group of us pastors meet at La Madeliene for breakfast. We ask that classic Methodist question, "How is it with your soul?" We pray for one another. Ray said that he approaches every conversation, every encounter with this intent, "I want to give bread here, not a stone."
We can't meet every demand, all the world's needs, but we can give bread, not a stone. This past week I got a phone call from a woman needing rent help. I am busy. It is an interruption to my day. I don't have a pot of money to save all of the housing issues. But I want to give bread, not a stone. So I take the time to listen carefully to her situation. I help her generate alternatives.
Today, we are commissioning 3 new Stephen Ministers, to add to the 10 we already have. I remind you Stephen Minsters that you can't solve all your care receiver's issues, can't make all illnesses go away, can't heal every hurt. But you can give bread, not a stone. You can listen, you can love, you can pray, you can encourage.
We want to give bread, not a stone. The truth is that we have not always been given bread by our parents. I remember a time from my childhood, when my dad came home one evening. He said, "Lynn, I have a present for you out in the station wagon." Wow, this was exciting. This hardly ever happened. "Daddy, thank you. Whatever it is, I am so grateful." I ran out to the carport to the Ford Galaxy station wagon. Opened the front door. There on the floor ...was ...a hoe...to chop weeds in the garden. I was not an abused child. We had a home, food, clothes. I learned the value of work growing up on the farm. I fed chickens, gathered eggs, washed eggs, delivered eggs, learned to drive a tractor, learned to drive a truck and trailer. We went to worship and Sunday School. I learned to treat my neighbor right. I got bread, not just stones.
The point in the scripture is that even parents know how to give good gifts, then how much more will our heavenly Father do for us. The passage we have today comes from a part of Matthew's gospel we know as the Sermon on the Mount. It contains Jesus' teaching in a summary form. The teaching is very challenging. Things like not just loving those who love you, but loving your enemy. We can't possibly do this without practicing the opening words of our passage today. We need to pray: to seek, ask, knock. We need to spend much time in prayer to be shaped by God's grace, so that we may act gracefully towards others.
We feast on our Bible story, how God has given us bread, not a stone all through our history. There's the bread of Passover. Remember the bread that Elijah ate, and he went 40 days on that one meal. We have the ministry of Jesus where he fed the multitudes with a few loaves and fishes. He ate with tax collectors and sinners. He had a last supper with his closest friends. But he also revealed himself in a resurrected form by sharing other meals with his disciples. We met him here today at this table, where we are given bread, not a stone.
How will you practice this concept? I invite you to think of a situation now, with a family member, or co-worker, or a neighbor, maybe even a conflicted situation, where you need to give bread, not a stone. You could start praying now, seeking, asking, knocking, so that you might be able to give bread, not a stone. It will be challenging. In fact, as I reflected on this message, it came to me that this is one of the great measure of spiritual maturity: how often we can give bread instead of stones, especially in difficult situations.
As we keep coming to this table here, and are fed bread, the bread of life, the broken body of Jesus, I believe that we can give bread, not stones to others. That's the good news I have to share today.
Monday, April 28, 2014
Seeing isn't believing; Believing is seeing
From my message on 4/27, from I Peter 1:8-9, John 20:24-29
Seeing isn't believing. That's what the confirmation class came to when they looked at these scriptures. I had heard reports about the unreliability of eyewitnesses, so this past week I "googled" it. When you do this search, this is what you will find: the Innocence project. This is a group that works to overturn wrongful convictions. They discovered that eyewitnesses are frequently inaccurate. In fact, in over 75% of the cases that they got overturned due to later DNA evidence, the reason for wrongful conviction was the unreliability of eyewitnesses.
There are 2 reasons. One is the estimator variable. These are factors like the amount of lighting, the distance involved, the issue of ethnicity, the presence of a weapon, and the degree of stress. Diane, our youth minister, had as one of her youth ministers growing up, a man who was robbed at gunpoint. He only could remember that the perpetrator was a male. He could not describe the height, weight, age, race, hair color, eye color, clothing, or any other feature. He only focused on the gun which was pointed at him. That gun he could describe in great detail, but not the robber.
The second reason is the system variable. These are factors involving the line-up. The police may subtly or overtly lead the witness to the "right" perpetrator with their instructions, body language, or tone.
Seeing isn't believing.
Let's do a vision test now. I will show you this picture for 3 seconds. What did you see? A man.....did he look like your understanding of Jesus? Let's take a longer look. Point out what you see. The artist has included many scenes from Jesus' life. There are scenes of angels announcing his birth, a manger scene, shepherd's crook, 2 crosses, a star, an empty tomb, among other things, all represented in Jesus' face.
We look with the eyes of faith. Believing is seeing. We see everything through these lens. The line spoken to Thomas is for us, for all who have lived since the time of the early church. Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have come to believe.
Believing is seeing. We look at the world with Christ eyes. We see Christ everywhere. We live on this side of the resurrection. Didn't we celebrate Easter last Sunday? We believe that he has been raised from the dead and goes before us.
I wanted to translate this understanding to a mission context. We sent a team of 6 persons to Belize to see if we might be called to do mission work there. The mission team has been undergoing training to look at the world differently.
We are being called to move from Relief to Restoration. Relief is appropriate in the immediate aftermath of a horrific event like a tornado, flood, hurricane, earthquake, etc. Water, food, medical aid, shelter are needed to survive. But often we get stuck in relief mode. Restoration realizes that people have many coping skills and would like to participate in their new life.
We want to move from having an Experience to establishing a Relationship. So many times we have gone on a mission trip to feel good about ourselves. And it does feel good to help people. But this new way of seeing things involves more than our feelings. It is about other people and a relationship.
We want to move from Short Term to Long Term. We don't want to just parachute in for a few days or a week. The situation will still be there after we leave. We need to expand our time horizon to the long term. Some of our short term answers actually hurt more than they help in the long run.
We want to move from What's Wrong with You to What can I learn from You. This doesn't work so well when meeting people to say, "What's wrong with you? How can I fix you?" This really upsets the power dynamic, putting us instantly in the role of savior and others in the role of helpless victims. Maybe we need to be students. We may have need reverse mentoring. We may learn from those we encounter.
We want to move from Mission To to Mission With.
We want to move from We Are Bringing Jesus to You to Looking for the Jesus Who Is Already There. Christ is alive and working ahead of us. We look for the Christ who is already present.
Let's watch this video to see how we might see the resurrected Christ already at work in Belize. (go to our website YouTube channel to see this, www.westlake-umc.org)
One concrete response you can make to this message today is to visit with Kim Weidmann. She wants to do a training course for anyone interested in this new way of looking at missions. You may also be drawn to this specific mission opportunity with our brothers and sisters in Belize.
Another concrete response is to look at people around you differently. You mentors of the confirmands, you didn't look at these youth at some problem to solve. You didn't treat them like some short term project just to feel good about yourself. No, you saw these youth as holy children, created in the image of God, worthy of a relationship.
There may be a family member or a co-worker, you know the one, whom you could see differently. Not as someone to fix or a problem to solve, but as a holy child of God, deserving of a long term relationship.
Seeing isn't believing . Believing is seeing. We see the risen Christ everywhere. That's the good news I have to share today.
Seeing isn't believing. That's what the confirmation class came to when they looked at these scriptures. I had heard reports about the unreliability of eyewitnesses, so this past week I "googled" it. When you do this search, this is what you will find: the Innocence project. This is a group that works to overturn wrongful convictions. They discovered that eyewitnesses are frequently inaccurate. In fact, in over 75% of the cases that they got overturned due to later DNA evidence, the reason for wrongful conviction was the unreliability of eyewitnesses.
There are 2 reasons. One is the estimator variable. These are factors like the amount of lighting, the distance involved, the issue of ethnicity, the presence of a weapon, and the degree of stress. Diane, our youth minister, had as one of her youth ministers growing up, a man who was robbed at gunpoint. He only could remember that the perpetrator was a male. He could not describe the height, weight, age, race, hair color, eye color, clothing, or any other feature. He only focused on the gun which was pointed at him. That gun he could describe in great detail, but not the robber.
The second reason is the system variable. These are factors involving the line-up. The police may subtly or overtly lead the witness to the "right" perpetrator with their instructions, body language, or tone.
Seeing isn't believing.
Let's do a vision test now. I will show you this picture for 3 seconds. What did you see? A man.....did he look like your understanding of Jesus? Let's take a longer look. Point out what you see. The artist has included many scenes from Jesus' life. There are scenes of angels announcing his birth, a manger scene, shepherd's crook, 2 crosses, a star, an empty tomb, among other things, all represented in Jesus' face.
We look with the eyes of faith. Believing is seeing. We see everything through these lens. The line spoken to Thomas is for us, for all who have lived since the time of the early church. Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have come to believe.
Believing is seeing. We look at the world with Christ eyes. We see Christ everywhere. We live on this side of the resurrection. Didn't we celebrate Easter last Sunday? We believe that he has been raised from the dead and goes before us.
I wanted to translate this understanding to a mission context. We sent a team of 6 persons to Belize to see if we might be called to do mission work there. The mission team has been undergoing training to look at the world differently.
We are being called to move from Relief to Restoration. Relief is appropriate in the immediate aftermath of a horrific event like a tornado, flood, hurricane, earthquake, etc. Water, food, medical aid, shelter are needed to survive. But often we get stuck in relief mode. Restoration realizes that people have many coping skills and would like to participate in their new life.
We want to move from having an Experience to establishing a Relationship. So many times we have gone on a mission trip to feel good about ourselves. And it does feel good to help people. But this new way of seeing things involves more than our feelings. It is about other people and a relationship.
We want to move from Short Term to Long Term. We don't want to just parachute in for a few days or a week. The situation will still be there after we leave. We need to expand our time horizon to the long term. Some of our short term answers actually hurt more than they help in the long run.
We want to move from What's Wrong with You to What can I learn from You. This doesn't work so well when meeting people to say, "What's wrong with you? How can I fix you?" This really upsets the power dynamic, putting us instantly in the role of savior and others in the role of helpless victims. Maybe we need to be students. We may have need reverse mentoring. We may learn from those we encounter.
We want to move from Mission To to Mission With.
We want to move from We Are Bringing Jesus to You to Looking for the Jesus Who Is Already There. Christ is alive and working ahead of us. We look for the Christ who is already present.
Let's watch this video to see how we might see the resurrected Christ already at work in Belize. (go to our website YouTube channel to see this, www.westlake-umc.org)
One concrete response you can make to this message today is to visit with Kim Weidmann. She wants to do a training course for anyone interested in this new way of looking at missions. You may also be drawn to this specific mission opportunity with our brothers and sisters in Belize.
Another concrete response is to look at people around you differently. You mentors of the confirmands, you didn't look at these youth at some problem to solve. You didn't treat them like some short term project just to feel good about yourself. No, you saw these youth as holy children, created in the image of God, worthy of a relationship.
There may be a family member or a co-worker, you know the one, whom you could see differently. Not as someone to fix or a problem to solve, but as a holy child of God, deserving of a long term relationship.
Seeing isn't believing . Believing is seeing. We see the risen Christ everywhere. That's the good news I have to share today.
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
It's Good to not Always Find What You Are Looking For
from my Easter Message, April 20, 2014, from John 20:1-18
She went to the tomb early. Mary only was looking to do what's right, to take care of her dead friend's body. But the stone had been rolled away!
It reminded me of the Rolling Stones. Maybe you have heard of them? They had some wisdom for us in this regard:
(Sing) You can't always get what you want,
no, you can't always get what you want,
no, you can't always get what you want,
but if you try sometimes, you just might find,
you get what you need.
It's Good to not Always Get What You Are Looking For.
I want to tell you a story of what happened at Broadway UMC in Indianapolis. The pastor Mike Mather reported that his congregation would have prayer meetings during the season before Easter. This particular Wednesday, it had snowed, so only 6 people showed up. They read some scripture. They were meditating quietly when Mike heard some voices at the side door of the sanctuary. Three youth were there. The oldest might be 13 years old. "What's going on?" "We're having evening prayers." "Can we come in?" "Sure."
The 3 sat down. The congregation started singing, "It's me, it's me, it's me, oh Lord, Standing in the Need of Prayer." Mike hear more voices at the door. Three more youth were there. "Are our friends in here?" "Yes." "Tell them to come out." "No, but you are welcome to come in." They did and sat down with the other 3.
They were whispering amongst themselves, obviously trying to get their leader to leave. Mike started to explain how the praying went. "Someone can offer a prayer. Then say, Lord, in your mercy. Then everyone responds, Hear our prayer." The silence was broken only by the youth chattering amongst themselves. Mike started to intervene, when one of the members of the church asked a prayer, and said, Lord in your mercy. Mike was watching the 6 youth. Their got big when everyone said, Hear our prayer.
A dam broke. ONe of the youth said, Pray for my cousin Booder who got killed last year. He rushed to say, Lord in your mercy. Everyone responded, Hear our prayer. The youth prayed. There was a lot of violence in their lives. The congregation prayed. There was violence in the community, in the world. Lord, in your mercy. Hear our prayer.
One of the youth prayed, For the schools to stop expellin' people. Lord in your mercy. Hear our prayer. Then the leader prayed, For me and my grandma, cuz my dad is trying to take me away from her. Lord in your mercy. Hear our prayer.
Mike then had them turn to the Lord's Prayer. They sang, "I want to walk as a child of the light. I want to follow Jesus." They shared the peace of Christ amongst themselves. And 6 youth left a prayer service just a little bit quieter.
The youth were expecting to find that inside the church. The 6 church members weren't expecting to find those youth needing prayer. It's good to not always find what you are looking for.
That's a good story. But the rest of the story is that 18 months later, Broadway UMC find that its ministry with youth on the streets had grown tremendously. Youth had found a safe place. And Broadway UMC received a grant from the national church so that they could share their experience with others. They found a ministry that was waiting for them.
It's good to not always find what you are looking for.
Mary saw Jesus, but she didn't recognize him. She thought he was the gardener. She was looking for her dead friend's body.
Another story comes from my addiction to Netflix streaming video. I have gotten into another series, Call the Midwife. I never thought that I would be hooked on this show. It is set in the East end of London in the late 1950's. There is an order of Anglican nuns whose ministry is being nurse-midwives. They also lead other nurse-midwives who are not a part of the religious order. I love the faith angle of the programs.
Every episode is going to have the delivery of a baby. Trust me on this one. When a show is named, Call the Midwife, there is going to be a baby born. Every episode will have a difficulty. It is the second season, episode 5, where the main character, Nurse Lee, attends the birth of a baby boy. The boy has spina bifada. That means that nerves protrude through the vertebrae out the back. It can be not very serious to extremely serious. This one was severe. It was crushing to the parents. They refuse to hold the baby. Nurse Lee finds herself doing all of the care of the child, feeding it, dressing it, and changing its diaper. She is wearing herself out while the parents are depressed and do nothing.
The mother superior advises Nurse Lee to take the parents to St. Gideons, a home for children with birth defects. Only the father goes inside with Nurse Lee who is still carrying the baby. The father is talking with the matron of the home about what it's like there. Children are all around them carrying on with their lives. Two young men serve them tea and biscuits. Don't you love England? No matter what the situation is, you are going to have tea. One of the young men who is serving them has difficulty walking and talking. The father asks matron, "What happened to him?" "Jacob has spina bifada like your son." "Why?" "We don't know why; it happens in 1 out of 1,000 births." Jacob brings the tea and biscuits over to the father and nurse Lee. Jacob makes a little joke when no one drinks the tea, "It's not poison, you know." The father asks Jacob, "What's it really like here?" "Oh, it's quite lovely. There's a biscuit factory next door.....we get the broken ones."
So do we. We still get the broken ones. I don't know what you are looking for today. If you are looking for a perfect church or perfect people or perfect pastor, you won't find that here. We get the broken ones. We follow Jesus who was broken for us. If you are only looking for death and destruction, you won't find that here either. Jesus has been raised from the dead. He has joined us in all of our brokenness and somehow brings hope and healing out of it.
The father and Nurse Lee return to the car. They drive home with the mom. The mom and dad start packing up the baby's clothes. They are going to take the boy to the home it seems. The father says, "I have got his things. You carry it." The mom takes the boy into her arms for the first time. She says, "This is our son, not an it. This is Danny, Jr. We are not taking him to that home."
It's good to not always get what you are looking for.
Mary went to the tomb to find a corpse. She left saying, "I have seen the Lord." That's the good news I have to share today.
She went to the tomb early. Mary only was looking to do what's right, to take care of her dead friend's body. But the stone had been rolled away!
It reminded me of the Rolling Stones. Maybe you have heard of them? They had some wisdom for us in this regard:
(Sing) You can't always get what you want,
no, you can't always get what you want,
no, you can't always get what you want,
but if you try sometimes, you just might find,
you get what you need.
It's Good to not Always Get What You Are Looking For.
I want to tell you a story of what happened at Broadway UMC in Indianapolis. The pastor Mike Mather reported that his congregation would have prayer meetings during the season before Easter. This particular Wednesday, it had snowed, so only 6 people showed up. They read some scripture. They were meditating quietly when Mike heard some voices at the side door of the sanctuary. Three youth were there. The oldest might be 13 years old. "What's going on?" "We're having evening prayers." "Can we come in?" "Sure."
The 3 sat down. The congregation started singing, "It's me, it's me, it's me, oh Lord, Standing in the Need of Prayer." Mike hear more voices at the door. Three more youth were there. "Are our friends in here?" "Yes." "Tell them to come out." "No, but you are welcome to come in." They did and sat down with the other 3.
They were whispering amongst themselves, obviously trying to get their leader to leave. Mike started to explain how the praying went. "Someone can offer a prayer. Then say, Lord, in your mercy. Then everyone responds, Hear our prayer." The silence was broken only by the youth chattering amongst themselves. Mike started to intervene, when one of the members of the church asked a prayer, and said, Lord in your mercy. Mike was watching the 6 youth. Their got big when everyone said, Hear our prayer.
A dam broke. ONe of the youth said, Pray for my cousin Booder who got killed last year. He rushed to say, Lord in your mercy. Everyone responded, Hear our prayer. The youth prayed. There was a lot of violence in their lives. The congregation prayed. There was violence in the community, in the world. Lord, in your mercy. Hear our prayer.
One of the youth prayed, For the schools to stop expellin' people. Lord in your mercy. Hear our prayer. Then the leader prayed, For me and my grandma, cuz my dad is trying to take me away from her. Lord in your mercy. Hear our prayer.
Mike then had them turn to the Lord's Prayer. They sang, "I want to walk as a child of the light. I want to follow Jesus." They shared the peace of Christ amongst themselves. And 6 youth left a prayer service just a little bit quieter.
The youth were expecting to find that inside the church. The 6 church members weren't expecting to find those youth needing prayer. It's good to not always find what you are looking for.
That's a good story. But the rest of the story is that 18 months later, Broadway UMC find that its ministry with youth on the streets had grown tremendously. Youth had found a safe place. And Broadway UMC received a grant from the national church so that they could share their experience with others. They found a ministry that was waiting for them.
It's good to not always find what you are looking for.
Mary saw Jesus, but she didn't recognize him. She thought he was the gardener. She was looking for her dead friend's body.
Another story comes from my addiction to Netflix streaming video. I have gotten into another series, Call the Midwife. I never thought that I would be hooked on this show. It is set in the East end of London in the late 1950's. There is an order of Anglican nuns whose ministry is being nurse-midwives. They also lead other nurse-midwives who are not a part of the religious order. I love the faith angle of the programs.
Every episode is going to have the delivery of a baby. Trust me on this one. When a show is named, Call the Midwife, there is going to be a baby born. Every episode will have a difficulty. It is the second season, episode 5, where the main character, Nurse Lee, attends the birth of a baby boy. The boy has spina bifada. That means that nerves protrude through the vertebrae out the back. It can be not very serious to extremely serious. This one was severe. It was crushing to the parents. They refuse to hold the baby. Nurse Lee finds herself doing all of the care of the child, feeding it, dressing it, and changing its diaper. She is wearing herself out while the parents are depressed and do nothing.
The mother superior advises Nurse Lee to take the parents to St. Gideons, a home for children with birth defects. Only the father goes inside with Nurse Lee who is still carrying the baby. The father is talking with the matron of the home about what it's like there. Children are all around them carrying on with their lives. Two young men serve them tea and biscuits. Don't you love England? No matter what the situation is, you are going to have tea. One of the young men who is serving them has difficulty walking and talking. The father asks matron, "What happened to him?" "Jacob has spina bifada like your son." "Why?" "We don't know why; it happens in 1 out of 1,000 births." Jacob brings the tea and biscuits over to the father and nurse Lee. Jacob makes a little joke when no one drinks the tea, "It's not poison, you know." The father asks Jacob, "What's it really like here?" "Oh, it's quite lovely. There's a biscuit factory next door.....we get the broken ones."
So do we. We still get the broken ones. I don't know what you are looking for today. If you are looking for a perfect church or perfect people or perfect pastor, you won't find that here. We get the broken ones. We follow Jesus who was broken for us. If you are only looking for death and destruction, you won't find that here either. Jesus has been raised from the dead. He has joined us in all of our brokenness and somehow brings hope and healing out of it.
The father and Nurse Lee return to the car. They drive home with the mom. The mom and dad start packing up the baby's clothes. They are going to take the boy to the home it seems. The father says, "I have got his things. You carry it." The mom takes the boy into her arms for the first time. She says, "This is our son, not an it. This is Danny, Jr. We are not taking him to that home."
It's good to not always get what you are looking for.
Mary went to the tomb to find a corpse. She left saying, "I have seen the Lord." That's the good news I have to share today.
Monday, April 14, 2014
Prayer Practice: Thy will be done
from my message on April 13, 2014, from Matthew 26:36-46
(sound of a heart beating) Can you hear it? It's a heartbeat. It is the heart of Jesus beating for us. We are in the garden of Gethsemane with him. His heart is breaking for us. He is grieved, agitated, grieved unto death over us.
And he is praying, "My father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not what I want, but what you want." It is the prayer of relinquishment, of letting go, of ceding control, of yielding.
How many times have we prayed this same prayer? 100's, 1000's, every time, we have prayed the Lord's Prayer, we have said it, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done."
And we mean it. We have aligned our hearts with Jesus' heart, and we have really meant what we prayed.
Some of us are parents. When we had kids, we gave up some control. There were late night feedings. There were trips to the emergency room. We tossed out our agenda. Thy will be done.
Some of you have callings. It's not just a job or a paycheck. It's a calling. Your profession takes you to places and people you do not choose. The schedule is not always convenient. You may be "on call." You give up some control. Thy will be done.
Some of you have other callings as followers of Christ. You get up early on Tuesday mornings to be down at First UMC at 5 a.m. for Feed My People, to serve breakfast to those who live on the streets. You get up early on Saturday morning to drive nails on a house for Habitat for Humanity. You are a youth, and you choose to sleep on a hard bunk and work in the hot sun as you do a mission trip. You cede some control. Thy will be done.
Sometimes our hearts align with Jesus' heart. Sometimes we break His heart. We have tachycardia, as we race ahead of what Jesus' will for us. We have heart arrhythmia, as our hearts get out of sync with His heart. We mean "thy will be done," until it conflicts with our will. Then we want to do our own thing.
I had a member in a former church. She was brilliant, a physics teacher, who from time to time worked for NASA. She took every Bible Study we ever offered. She was faithful in worship, bringing her family with her. But she had one reservation. When we would talk about following Jesus, she would say, "I respect Him and His teachings. He is a great model to emulate. But I just can't give up my control. I can't give up my will. I can't go that far."
I know that we have not fully prayed "Thy will be done," because of some words in our vocabulary. If we truly lived into Thy Will Be Done, then we wouldn't have words like "Holocaust" or "Food Insecurity" or "Homophobia" or "Racism" or "Sexism" or "Pay Inequality." We continue to break God's heart.
I realize that this prayer of relinquishment, Thy will be done, is a major league prayer. That's why I have saved it till last in this sermon series on Prayer Practice. Today, I invite us to start small, to take some baby steps toward Thy Will Be Done.
Let's start with the marriage relationship. Cathy and I load the dishwasher differently. I put the cups in the upper rack, underneath that folding shelf. The saucers go up top too as well as the glasses. The dinner plates, pots and pans go down below with the silverware. I can get twice as many dishes in the dishwasher as Cathy can. She just throws them in there anywhere. Plates up top, glasses on the bottom. It just drives me crazy (there should be a support group!). Since Cathy has retired, she now does most of the dishes. I have just had to let this go. Thy will be done.
It could be with children. They may choose colleges and majors and careers that you would not have picked. Let it go. Thy will be done.
You may have co-workers. They do things in a different way, in a different order than you do. Do you have to win every battle. Sometimes, you may need to simply not say anything. Just hush your mouth. Walk away. My spiritual director gave me a practical tip we can practice right now. When you find yourself in one of these conflicts, simply reach over and feel your pulse in your wrist. You will have to pause. You can connect with the heart of Christ beating for you. Thy will be done.
You may find someone sitting in your pew next Sunday (Easter). They may also take your parking place. You are going to breath and welcome all of the guests. Thy will be done.
In this Healthy Church Initiative, we are being challenged to give up some of our control. We may be doing things not for our own pleasure, but for those who need to be here. We will listen for Jesus' heart beating for all of His children. Thy will be done.
It is not easy to pray this way. In fact, the only way I can do it is to surrender even this prayer to Jesus. Jesus has to pray it for me, with me, until I can pray it and mean it also. That's why Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane. He reverses what happened in the Garden of Eden. He prays, "Thy will be done," to replace our grabby, "My will be done."
He does this to offer us a wonderful gift: the ability to lay down the terrible burden of always having to get our own way. Besides that, can we want any better for ourselves than He wants for us?
Listen for Jesus' heart. He is praying, "Thy will be done," until we can.
That's the good news I have to share today.
(sound of a heart beating) Can you hear it? It's a heartbeat. It is the heart of Jesus beating for us. We are in the garden of Gethsemane with him. His heart is breaking for us. He is grieved, agitated, grieved unto death over us.
And he is praying, "My father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not what I want, but what you want." It is the prayer of relinquishment, of letting go, of ceding control, of yielding.
How many times have we prayed this same prayer? 100's, 1000's, every time, we have prayed the Lord's Prayer, we have said it, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done."
And we mean it. We have aligned our hearts with Jesus' heart, and we have really meant what we prayed.
Some of us are parents. When we had kids, we gave up some control. There were late night feedings. There were trips to the emergency room. We tossed out our agenda. Thy will be done.
Some of you have callings. It's not just a job or a paycheck. It's a calling. Your profession takes you to places and people you do not choose. The schedule is not always convenient. You may be "on call." You give up some control. Thy will be done.
Some of you have other callings as followers of Christ. You get up early on Tuesday mornings to be down at First UMC at 5 a.m. for Feed My People, to serve breakfast to those who live on the streets. You get up early on Saturday morning to drive nails on a house for Habitat for Humanity. You are a youth, and you choose to sleep on a hard bunk and work in the hot sun as you do a mission trip. You cede some control. Thy will be done.
Sometimes our hearts align with Jesus' heart. Sometimes we break His heart. We have tachycardia, as we race ahead of what Jesus' will for us. We have heart arrhythmia, as our hearts get out of sync with His heart. We mean "thy will be done," until it conflicts with our will. Then we want to do our own thing.
I had a member in a former church. She was brilliant, a physics teacher, who from time to time worked for NASA. She took every Bible Study we ever offered. She was faithful in worship, bringing her family with her. But she had one reservation. When we would talk about following Jesus, she would say, "I respect Him and His teachings. He is a great model to emulate. But I just can't give up my control. I can't give up my will. I can't go that far."
I know that we have not fully prayed "Thy will be done," because of some words in our vocabulary. If we truly lived into Thy Will Be Done, then we wouldn't have words like "Holocaust" or "Food Insecurity" or "Homophobia" or "Racism" or "Sexism" or "Pay Inequality." We continue to break God's heart.
I realize that this prayer of relinquishment, Thy will be done, is a major league prayer. That's why I have saved it till last in this sermon series on Prayer Practice. Today, I invite us to start small, to take some baby steps toward Thy Will Be Done.
Let's start with the marriage relationship. Cathy and I load the dishwasher differently. I put the cups in the upper rack, underneath that folding shelf. The saucers go up top too as well as the glasses. The dinner plates, pots and pans go down below with the silverware. I can get twice as many dishes in the dishwasher as Cathy can. She just throws them in there anywhere. Plates up top, glasses on the bottom. It just drives me crazy (there should be a support group!). Since Cathy has retired, she now does most of the dishes. I have just had to let this go. Thy will be done.
It could be with children. They may choose colleges and majors and careers that you would not have picked. Let it go. Thy will be done.
You may have co-workers. They do things in a different way, in a different order than you do. Do you have to win every battle. Sometimes, you may need to simply not say anything. Just hush your mouth. Walk away. My spiritual director gave me a practical tip we can practice right now. When you find yourself in one of these conflicts, simply reach over and feel your pulse in your wrist. You will have to pause. You can connect with the heart of Christ beating for you. Thy will be done.
You may find someone sitting in your pew next Sunday (Easter). They may also take your parking place. You are going to breath and welcome all of the guests. Thy will be done.
In this Healthy Church Initiative, we are being challenged to give up some of our control. We may be doing things not for our own pleasure, but for those who need to be here. We will listen for Jesus' heart beating for all of His children. Thy will be done.
It is not easy to pray this way. In fact, the only way I can do it is to surrender even this prayer to Jesus. Jesus has to pray it for me, with me, until I can pray it and mean it also. That's why Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane. He reverses what happened in the Garden of Eden. He prays, "Thy will be done," to replace our grabby, "My will be done."
He does this to offer us a wonderful gift: the ability to lay down the terrible burden of always having to get our own way. Besides that, can we want any better for ourselves than He wants for us?
Listen for Jesus' heart. He is praying, "Thy will be done," until we can.
That's the good news I have to share today.
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Prayer Practice: Prayers for Healing
from my message on March 30, 2014, from James 5:13-16
I have some questions for you. Are any of you suffering? Anyone here cheerful? Is anyone here sick? Has anyone here ever sinned? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then God's response back to you is "Pray."
Today, we continue our Lenten series on Prayer Practice by focusing on Prayers for Healing. I believe that the God revealed in Jesus Christ is a Healer. If you come to the altar rail today to be anointed with oil, I will pray with you in the name of Jesus Christ, our Great Physician. I believe God wants us to be whole and holy. God wants us to be well in our bodies, minds, spirits, memories, and relationships.
In biblical times, the priest did it all: chief medical officer, counselor, religious representative. Today, we sometimes compartmentalize. But I want to claim that God wants us to be not in parts or pieces, but whole human beings. I want to claim that all those who practice the healing arts are on the same team, after the same goal.
It is National Physician Day. We recognize all the ways God heals through the doctors around us. We have just about every medical discipline represented in this congregation. We give thanks to God for you. I also give thanks for nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, respiratory therapists, counselors, and all the others. If you consider yourself to be part of the healing team, let us recognize you now.
I also give thanks to God for the healing that comes through surgery, radiation, pharmaceuticals, counseling, and other therapies. Furthermore, I give thanks for the healing that comes through recovery groups like AA and other 12 step programs.
We use best practices. In our passage today, sick persons were anointed with oil and prayed over. That's about the best medicine they had. Today we have so many more tools.
They touched. They laid hands on. We still know the power of touch today. A story I got from long ago involved a baby in the Neonatal ICU who was born premature and drug dependent. The mom had been a heroin addict. The mom deserted the child. A nurse there knew the child needed more than the breathing tube and IV's. She began to hold the child. Then as the child got better, she began to carry the child around like a papoose. The child thrived. She adopted the little girl as her own. The child grew and became full of life. She would run, and jump, and push the boundaries. The mom would say, "Ruby, be careful." Ruby would reply, "Oh, mama, I was born to dance." And so we are. Touch is powerful.
They prayed in biblical times. We do today. Prayer changes things. The first thing prayer changes is us. There have been all kinds of studies done that show prayer lowering blood pressure, lowering anxiety. There have been studies done that show how prayer rewires the brain, creating new neural pathways. Prayer changes us first.
Prayer also changes others. Many of you know this. You have experienced it. We have many examples of healing that we have celebrated over the years here in worship. That's why we put all of these names and situations on the blue prayer sheet each week. That's why we pray on Wednesdays at 1 p.m. in the library. We believe that our prayers matter and change others.
Prayer also changes God. We read many examples in the Bible of how seems to wait to act until we pray. God is in relationship with us. It makes a difference to God when we pray.
Always our prayers for healing are in the realm of mystery. The prayers themselves don't bring about the healing. We don't heal others. The oil or the touch doesn't have the healing power. Only God heals. It is a mystery how God does this.
I have been in the hospital with the family gathered around. The doctor was there to remove the life support....and she lived! In fact, when I went to see her the next week in her care facility, she ran over my foot in her wheelchair as she was on the way to art class.
I have also been there with Ellen in San Saba, who had cancer. Wife, mother of a young son, artist, with cancer. We banged on heaven's door. We begged, we pleaded for her to be healed. She continued to decline. It wasn't right. I grew discouraged. I was doing a prayer exercise, taking people who needed healing before Jesus. The meditation involved me carrying people one by one down into a pool of water to Jesus. When I carried Ellen down into the healing water with Jesus, I heard a voice in my spirit. The voice said, the voice of God said, "She belongs to me." All of my anxiety left me. That's right. She belongs to You, O God. She always has, always will. In life, in death, in life beyond death, she belongs to you. Even death can be our final healing.
You can practice praying for healing for others by lifting up persons on this blue prayer sheet, by remembering them when you go by their house, or calling their name out in prayer when you wake up at night.
Stephen Ministers are persons trained to listen and care for others. Stephen Ministers learn a great phrase in their training: we are the caregivers, Christ is the cure giver. That's the good news I have to share today.
I have some questions for you. Are any of you suffering? Anyone here cheerful? Is anyone here sick? Has anyone here ever sinned? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then God's response back to you is "Pray."
Today, we continue our Lenten series on Prayer Practice by focusing on Prayers for Healing. I believe that the God revealed in Jesus Christ is a Healer. If you come to the altar rail today to be anointed with oil, I will pray with you in the name of Jesus Christ, our Great Physician. I believe God wants us to be whole and holy. God wants us to be well in our bodies, minds, spirits, memories, and relationships.
In biblical times, the priest did it all: chief medical officer, counselor, religious representative. Today, we sometimes compartmentalize. But I want to claim that God wants us to be not in parts or pieces, but whole human beings. I want to claim that all those who practice the healing arts are on the same team, after the same goal.
It is National Physician Day. We recognize all the ways God heals through the doctors around us. We have just about every medical discipline represented in this congregation. We give thanks to God for you. I also give thanks for nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, respiratory therapists, counselors, and all the others. If you consider yourself to be part of the healing team, let us recognize you now.
I also give thanks to God for the healing that comes through surgery, radiation, pharmaceuticals, counseling, and other therapies. Furthermore, I give thanks for the healing that comes through recovery groups like AA and other 12 step programs.
We use best practices. In our passage today, sick persons were anointed with oil and prayed over. That's about the best medicine they had. Today we have so many more tools.
They touched. They laid hands on. We still know the power of touch today. A story I got from long ago involved a baby in the Neonatal ICU who was born premature and drug dependent. The mom had been a heroin addict. The mom deserted the child. A nurse there knew the child needed more than the breathing tube and IV's. She began to hold the child. Then as the child got better, she began to carry the child around like a papoose. The child thrived. She adopted the little girl as her own. The child grew and became full of life. She would run, and jump, and push the boundaries. The mom would say, "Ruby, be careful." Ruby would reply, "Oh, mama, I was born to dance." And so we are. Touch is powerful.
They prayed in biblical times. We do today. Prayer changes things. The first thing prayer changes is us. There have been all kinds of studies done that show prayer lowering blood pressure, lowering anxiety. There have been studies done that show how prayer rewires the brain, creating new neural pathways. Prayer changes us first.
Prayer also changes others. Many of you know this. You have experienced it. We have many examples of healing that we have celebrated over the years here in worship. That's why we put all of these names and situations on the blue prayer sheet each week. That's why we pray on Wednesdays at 1 p.m. in the library. We believe that our prayers matter and change others.
Prayer also changes God. We read many examples in the Bible of how seems to wait to act until we pray. God is in relationship with us. It makes a difference to God when we pray.
Always our prayers for healing are in the realm of mystery. The prayers themselves don't bring about the healing. We don't heal others. The oil or the touch doesn't have the healing power. Only God heals. It is a mystery how God does this.
I have been in the hospital with the family gathered around. The doctor was there to remove the life support....and she lived! In fact, when I went to see her the next week in her care facility, she ran over my foot in her wheelchair as she was on the way to art class.
I have also been there with Ellen in San Saba, who had cancer. Wife, mother of a young son, artist, with cancer. We banged on heaven's door. We begged, we pleaded for her to be healed. She continued to decline. It wasn't right. I grew discouraged. I was doing a prayer exercise, taking people who needed healing before Jesus. The meditation involved me carrying people one by one down into a pool of water to Jesus. When I carried Ellen down into the healing water with Jesus, I heard a voice in my spirit. The voice said, the voice of God said, "She belongs to me." All of my anxiety left me. That's right. She belongs to You, O God. She always has, always will. In life, in death, in life beyond death, she belongs to you. Even death can be our final healing.
You can practice praying for healing for others by lifting up persons on this blue prayer sheet, by remembering them when you go by their house, or calling their name out in prayer when you wake up at night.
Stephen Ministers are persons trained to listen and care for others. Stephen Ministers learn a great phrase in their training: we are the caregivers, Christ is the cure giver. That's the good news I have to share today.
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