2/26/10 I am off with the confirmation class, parents, and mentors for their retreat, some 35 of us in all. We are going out to the Laden's ranch. I will be leading them through an experience of catacomb worship tonight, to get a feel of what it was like in the early church with no hymnals, no Bibles, and a whole lot of fear. Tomorrow, we will work on writing our own worship service that they will lead on May 2. I will take them through a simulation game called "Crosses" where they will learn about missions and witnessing. Of course they will have free time to talk and play games and stay up too late and eat. I look forward to it. I do ask for your prayers that by retreating we may go forward with Christ.
Love,
Lynn
Friday, February 26, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
fruitfulness
from my sermon on 2/21/10 from John 15:1-8, beginning sermon series on the 5 practices of fruitful congregations.
Fruitfulness. At Perkins School of theology, I was a part of the seminary singers. Each of us was given a white piece of cloth upon which to put a symbol of our faith and wear as a stole. You see the one I chose....it it from this morning's scripture where Jesus says I am the vine and you are the branches. I root it in the first words of the Hebrew Bible, In beginning, God Created....and it has places where I am being pruned...and thankfully there is some fruit....we find here the fruit of the spirit from Gal. 5.
Fruitfulness is a significant metaphor in the Bible. Listen.
Scriptures to be read in this order on Feb. 21
LYNN--From the book of our beginnings…
READER 1 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it .
LYNN--From the wisdom literature from Psalm 1…
READER 2 Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season
LYNN—and from Proverbs 11…
READER 3 …the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life
LYNN—from Matthew’s gospel…
READER 4 Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.
LYNN—from Mark’s gospel…
READER 5 Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.” And he said, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!
LYNN—from the letter to the Galatians…
READER 6 the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.
LYNN—from the very last book of our bible, the Revelation to John…
READER 7 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
From the first book of the Bible to the last, we were made to be fruit. And not just any fruit, but good fruit. This next week I will be at the Bd. of ORdained Ministry where we will interview candidates for ministry, including our own Abby and Jim. Let's be in prayer for them. Sometimes a candidate will say something like "I am really passionate about evangelism." We might ask them to describe how they have led someone to follow Christ or be converted. Sometimes, they may stumble around and not come up with a single example of ever doing evangelism. They just failed the fruit test. Jesus said they you shall be known by the fruit that you bear.
What kind of fruit are you producing? Not just as individuals, but also as community. I think we bear some good fruit at times....like this last week when 8 of us from this community of faith went to New Orleans to do home repair. Long after Katrina has faded from the headlines, the UMC is still there bringing hope to families. We worked on 3 houses. The one I was on involved putting down laminate flooring, installing baseboards, hanging doors, lots of finish work. On Ash Wednesday, we got to worship with Aurora UMC in Algiers, LA. The pastor came down from the pulpit and said, Thank you for being here. How far did the group from Glen Falls, NY, come? We drove 24 hrs. How far for the group from Midland, MI? We drove 2 days. How far from Austin? Nine hours.
It was amazing. We were all connected. All part of the vine and branches. As I was marked with the ashes on the forehead with the words, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return," I was struck by the raspiness in my throat from all the saw dust. Later over supper I talked to the pastor, who is from Zimbabwe, by the way. He said, we have received so much from others, we need to give, so this summer we are going on a mission trip to South Carolina. We have plans to go to Haiti.
I am so proud to be part of this kind of church and fruitfulness.
I like it that Jesus says, Apart from my, you can do nothing. I need to hear this over and over again. I get exhausted when I try to do things in my own time, and power, and way. Jesus also says, that my Father is glorified in this that you bear much fruit, and so become my disciples. We can bear fruit because we are connected to the vine. We can bear fruit because God is fruitful.
I want to set up an analogy. I am probably only one of two people in the whole USA who doesn't have an iPhone. I am amazed at how profilic they are. Everywhere I go, I hear something like this: I wonder what the temperature is....there's an app for that....at Home Depot in New Orleans looking for sheet rock screws there was a sign, "Can't find the tool or part...there's an app for that"....what was the UT tennis team outcome...there's an app for that. I found out that app stands for application. With the iPhone has come an outpouring of creativity, of fruitfulness with all of the applications.
God is like that. You are having trouble in your marriage. The Lord God of the Universe says, "There an app for that." You suffer from depression; God says, "there's an app for that." You struggle with addiction issues; yep, God says, "There's an app for that." Big problems like Haiti; there's an app for that too.
Even when a sad person flies a plane into an IRS building here in Austin, God says, "there's an app for that." I was flying into Austin Thursday evening watching that on the airport monitors. The next day I read in the papers that there happened to be a window contractor who was driving by in his pickup with a 20' foot ladder right after the tragedy. He stopped, set up his ladder and got 5 people out of the building. The Travis Co. emergency responders were doing a training right across the street from the building at that exact time. All of a sudden, it was no longer a training but an actual rescue.
I was reading in the fine print of the article that the wife of the man who flew the plan was named Sheryl Housh. Oh no! Sheryl was the first person I hired at St. John's to be our music director. We worked together 6 years. She has served as substitute organist here at this very organ. I read her statement the next day. It was so full of grace, of forgiveness, of healing, of faith. Yes, even here, God has an app for that. Even in the most barren of soils and siturations, God is able to produce fruit.
What fruit is God producing in you as an individual ...as a community? The good news I have to share is that you were made to produce good fruit. Amen.
Fruitfulness. At Perkins School of theology, I was a part of the seminary singers. Each of us was given a white piece of cloth upon which to put a symbol of our faith and wear as a stole. You see the one I chose....it it from this morning's scripture where Jesus says I am the vine and you are the branches. I root it in the first words of the Hebrew Bible, In beginning, God Created....and it has places where I am being pruned...and thankfully there is some fruit....we find here the fruit of the spirit from Gal. 5.
Fruitfulness is a significant metaphor in the Bible. Listen.
Scriptures to be read in this order on Feb. 21
LYNN--From the book of our beginnings…
READER 1 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it .
LYNN--From the wisdom literature from Psalm 1…
READER 2 Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season
LYNN—and from Proverbs 11…
READER 3 …the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life
LYNN—from Matthew’s gospel…
READER 4 Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.
LYNN—from Mark’s gospel…
READER 5 Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.” And he said, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!
LYNN—from the letter to the Galatians…
READER 6 the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.
LYNN—from the very last book of our bible, the Revelation to John…
READER 7 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
From the first book of the Bible to the last, we were made to be fruit. And not just any fruit, but good fruit. This next week I will be at the Bd. of ORdained Ministry where we will interview candidates for ministry, including our own Abby and Jim. Let's be in prayer for them. Sometimes a candidate will say something like "I am really passionate about evangelism." We might ask them to describe how they have led someone to follow Christ or be converted. Sometimes, they may stumble around and not come up with a single example of ever doing evangelism. They just failed the fruit test. Jesus said they you shall be known by the fruit that you bear.
What kind of fruit are you producing? Not just as individuals, but also as community. I think we bear some good fruit at times....like this last week when 8 of us from this community of faith went to New Orleans to do home repair. Long after Katrina has faded from the headlines, the UMC is still there bringing hope to families. We worked on 3 houses. The one I was on involved putting down laminate flooring, installing baseboards, hanging doors, lots of finish work. On Ash Wednesday, we got to worship with Aurora UMC in Algiers, LA. The pastor came down from the pulpit and said, Thank you for being here. How far did the group from Glen Falls, NY, come? We drove 24 hrs. How far for the group from Midland, MI? We drove 2 days. How far from Austin? Nine hours.
It was amazing. We were all connected. All part of the vine and branches. As I was marked with the ashes on the forehead with the words, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return," I was struck by the raspiness in my throat from all the saw dust. Later over supper I talked to the pastor, who is from Zimbabwe, by the way. He said, we have received so much from others, we need to give, so this summer we are going on a mission trip to South Carolina. We have plans to go to Haiti.
I am so proud to be part of this kind of church and fruitfulness.
I like it that Jesus says, Apart from my, you can do nothing. I need to hear this over and over again. I get exhausted when I try to do things in my own time, and power, and way. Jesus also says, that my Father is glorified in this that you bear much fruit, and so become my disciples. We can bear fruit because we are connected to the vine. We can bear fruit because God is fruitful.
I want to set up an analogy. I am probably only one of two people in the whole USA who doesn't have an iPhone. I am amazed at how profilic they are. Everywhere I go, I hear something like this: I wonder what the temperature is....there's an app for that....at Home Depot in New Orleans looking for sheet rock screws there was a sign, "Can't find the tool or part...there's an app for that"....what was the UT tennis team outcome...there's an app for that. I found out that app stands for application. With the iPhone has come an outpouring of creativity, of fruitfulness with all of the applications.
God is like that. You are having trouble in your marriage. The Lord God of the Universe says, "There an app for that." You suffer from depression; God says, "there's an app for that." You struggle with addiction issues; yep, God says, "There's an app for that." Big problems like Haiti; there's an app for that too.
Even when a sad person flies a plane into an IRS building here in Austin, God says, "there's an app for that." I was flying into Austin Thursday evening watching that on the airport monitors. The next day I read in the papers that there happened to be a window contractor who was driving by in his pickup with a 20' foot ladder right after the tragedy. He stopped, set up his ladder and got 5 people out of the building. The Travis Co. emergency responders were doing a training right across the street from the building at that exact time. All of a sudden, it was no longer a training but an actual rescue.
I was reading in the fine print of the article that the wife of the man who flew the plan was named Sheryl Housh. Oh no! Sheryl was the first person I hired at St. John's to be our music director. We worked together 6 years. She has served as substitute organist here at this very organ. I read her statement the next day. It was so full of grace, of forgiveness, of healing, of faith. Yes, even here, God has an app for that. Even in the most barren of soils and siturations, God is able to produce fruit.
What fruit is God producing in you as an individual ...as a community? The good news I have to share is that you were made to produce good fruit. Amen.
miss me?
2/25/10 Last week I was on a mission trip to New Orleans to do home repair. Imagine that? A church that helps people recover from their devasting losses long after it has faded from the headlines. I got to cut a lot of baseboards and hung some doors. I got to sleep on an uncomfortable bunk bed with a lot of stinky guys who snored a lot. I got to worship on Ash Wednesday with Aurora UMC in Algiers, LA, who hosted us. I would not trade my experience for anything even though I came back tired and hardly able to breath.
This week I have bee to 3 long days of meeting with the Bd. of Ordained Ministry. I led the opening worship service on Monday, barely able to speak. I found that people really listened because I didn't have much volume. We interview some 35 candidates for ministry over the 3 days. Our own youth minister and associate pastor, Abby and Jim respectively, were among those interviewed. They both passed with flying colors.
My breath prayer for the day has been Psalm 27:13, "I believe that I shall see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living."
Love,
Lynn
This week I have bee to 3 long days of meeting with the Bd. of Ordained Ministry. I led the opening worship service on Monday, barely able to speak. I found that people really listened because I didn't have much volume. We interview some 35 candidates for ministry over the 3 days. Our own youth minister and associate pastor, Abby and Jim respectively, were among those interviewed. They both passed with flying colors.
My breath prayer for the day has been Psalm 27:13, "I believe that I shall see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living."
Love,
Lynn
Thursday, February 11, 2010
I, Valentine
from my sermon on Valentine's day, 2/14/10 from John 15:12-12
I am Valentine. You have covered up my story with chocolate candy, flowers, hearts, cards, and the color red. I want to tell you my story so that you may get an idea of where all of this came from. I am a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. My story gets confusing because there are at least 3 different St. Valentines. Valens is Latin for "worthy." All 3 have worthy stories, but I am going to tell 2 of them that may actually be the same person.
I was a priest in Rome in the 3rd century. I had a ministry with children. Remember how Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me. Do not hinder them, for to such belong the kingdom of God." I welcomed children.
It was not easy to be a Christian. The government outlawed our faith. We were supposed to worship the Roman gods. This I could not do. The Emperor Claudius put me in jail for my rebellion. When the little children heard of this , they missed me and were sad. I was sad too. to encourage me, the children would come to the prison and toss notes and flowers to me through th bars.
The other story is that I am a priest in Rome, again while Claudius in emperor. He was called Claudius the cruel. He wanted to increase the size of the army. I know this ancient history must sound like today's news. We are always waging war and sending our best young men to battle. Claudius knew that young, unmarried men made the best soldiers because they were focused on the fight and not on the family. So he decreed that marriages and engagements were to cease. Just like that, there were to be no more marriages.
I would not stop my ministry with young couples, who wanted to get married. I continued to perform marriages....in secret. The government could not stop love.
I know that engaged couples today invite family and friends. Imagine a wedding where it was just the bride and groom and maybe a witness or two. I know couples today spend a lot of time and money preparing for their big day--contracting with caterers, florists, musicians, buying rings and special clothes. Imagine in my day, quietly exchanging vows in near darkness in a catacomb, fearful that at any moment you might be discovered and carted off to jail. Priests could even be executed for performing marriages. It was not some mere formality. It was life and death worship.
I was discovered. I was thrown into prison.
Here is where the two stories combine. In prison, I befriend the jailer's daughter. Tradition says that the jailer is named Asterius and his daughter is Julia. The tradition says that she was blind until a miracle was performed through me and she regained her sight. Before my execution, I wrote her a note and signed it, "From your Valentine."
I like it that I am associated with love---children--couples who want to get married. I like it that people show their affection in ways in the same ways we did, with cards and flowers and letters.
But I would not have you overlook this: I was executed, I died for my faith. It happened on Feb 14 about 269 or 270 A.D., this very day, some 1740 years ago. I laid down my life for my friends, just like Jesus did. I like it that you still show your love, but I would have you direct on this day, not just to those who are easy to love, but also to those who aren't. Especially, I would have you remember those who are in prison, maybe for doing wrong, but maybe for doing what's right like I did.
Your worship bulletin has some ways for you to get involved:
Amnesty International advocates for prisoners of conscience like I am.
The Innocence project does DNA testing among other things to overturn wrongful convictions. To date, they have freed over 250 prisoners in the USA.
Women's StoryBook Project helps incarcerated mothers record stories for their children at home, so that the children can go to sleep hearing their mothers' voices. I am told that the outside volunteers gather with the incarcerated mothers in a circle before and after the sessions to share something about parenting that has to do with a randomly chosen letter of the alphabet. Somehow the walls come down as they are all simply moms trying to cope with rearing children.
Kairos is an ecumenical ministry to prisoners. Kairos is the Greek word for the right time or the fullness of time. I heard a story from a man, a member of another church, who was part of the inside team, who went in to minister with the men in white. During a presentation at night, there was a power failure in the prison. It was terrifying....this inside team surrounded by murderers, rapists, robbers, and the like. When the lights came back on, a few moments later, the inside team found that they had been herded into the center of the room, and surrounded by the prisoners they were working with . The prisoners were all facing out, standing shoulder to shoulder, protecting the inside team.
May we never forget what Jesus said, "I was in prison and you visited me. As you did it to one of the least of these, you did it unto me." I hope that you can be willing to lay down your life for your friends, for Jesus' friends, who may be in prison.
Amen.
I am Valentine. You have covered up my story with chocolate candy, flowers, hearts, cards, and the color red. I want to tell you my story so that you may get an idea of where all of this came from. I am a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. My story gets confusing because there are at least 3 different St. Valentines. Valens is Latin for "worthy." All 3 have worthy stories, but I am going to tell 2 of them that may actually be the same person.
I was a priest in Rome in the 3rd century. I had a ministry with children. Remember how Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me. Do not hinder them, for to such belong the kingdom of God." I welcomed children.
It was not easy to be a Christian. The government outlawed our faith. We were supposed to worship the Roman gods. This I could not do. The Emperor Claudius put me in jail for my rebellion. When the little children heard of this , they missed me and were sad. I was sad too. to encourage me, the children would come to the prison and toss notes and flowers to me through th bars.
The other story is that I am a priest in Rome, again while Claudius in emperor. He was called Claudius the cruel. He wanted to increase the size of the army. I know this ancient history must sound like today's news. We are always waging war and sending our best young men to battle. Claudius knew that young, unmarried men made the best soldiers because they were focused on the fight and not on the family. So he decreed that marriages and engagements were to cease. Just like that, there were to be no more marriages.
I would not stop my ministry with young couples, who wanted to get married. I continued to perform marriages....in secret. The government could not stop love.
I know that engaged couples today invite family and friends. Imagine a wedding where it was just the bride and groom and maybe a witness or two. I know couples today spend a lot of time and money preparing for their big day--contracting with caterers, florists, musicians, buying rings and special clothes. Imagine in my day, quietly exchanging vows in near darkness in a catacomb, fearful that at any moment you might be discovered and carted off to jail. Priests could even be executed for performing marriages. It was not some mere formality. It was life and death worship.
I was discovered. I was thrown into prison.
Here is where the two stories combine. In prison, I befriend the jailer's daughter. Tradition says that the jailer is named Asterius and his daughter is Julia. The tradition says that she was blind until a miracle was performed through me and she regained her sight. Before my execution, I wrote her a note and signed it, "From your Valentine."
I like it that I am associated with love---children--couples who want to get married. I like it that people show their affection in ways in the same ways we did, with cards and flowers and letters.
But I would not have you overlook this: I was executed, I died for my faith. It happened on Feb 14 about 269 or 270 A.D., this very day, some 1740 years ago. I laid down my life for my friends, just like Jesus did. I like it that you still show your love, but I would have you direct on this day, not just to those who are easy to love, but also to those who aren't. Especially, I would have you remember those who are in prison, maybe for doing wrong, but maybe for doing what's right like I did.
Your worship bulletin has some ways for you to get involved:
Amnesty International advocates for prisoners of conscience like I am.
The Innocence project does DNA testing among other things to overturn wrongful convictions. To date, they have freed over 250 prisoners in the USA.
Women's StoryBook Project helps incarcerated mothers record stories for their children at home, so that the children can go to sleep hearing their mothers' voices. I am told that the outside volunteers gather with the incarcerated mothers in a circle before and after the sessions to share something about parenting that has to do with a randomly chosen letter of the alphabet. Somehow the walls come down as they are all simply moms trying to cope with rearing children.
Kairos is an ecumenical ministry to prisoners. Kairos is the Greek word for the right time or the fullness of time. I heard a story from a man, a member of another church, who was part of the inside team, who went in to minister with the men in white. During a presentation at night, there was a power failure in the prison. It was terrifying....this inside team surrounded by murderers, rapists, robbers, and the like. When the lights came back on, a few moments later, the inside team found that they had been herded into the center of the room, and surrounded by the prisoners they were working with . The prisoners were all facing out, standing shoulder to shoulder, protecting the inside team.
May we never forget what Jesus said, "I was in prison and you visited me. As you did it to one of the least of these, you did it unto me." I hope that you can be willing to lay down your life for your friends, for Jesus' friends, who may be in prison.
Amen.
the Lord reigns
2/11/10 My breath prayer for today comes from Psalm 99:1, "The LORD reigns; let the peoples tremble!" As I walked in the cold rain this morning, I tried to remember that whatever situation I was praying about was within God's reign. I didn't have to have all the answers or know the outcome. I could trust the matter, the person, the country, the illness, the joy, or whatever to God. We often forget this: that we are not in charge. Our Lord reigns!
Love,
Lynn
Love,
Lynn
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
celebrating with Lisa
2/10/10 Lisa is our intern pastor. She has been a member of this congregation for years. More recently she has been a student at Austin Seminary. Last week she went reluctantly to a banquet at the seminary. To tell you how reluctant she was, she tried to give me her ticket. She was glad that she attended, because at the banquet she received a $10,000 fellowship that she can use for continuing education. Then yesterday, she heard from Boston University where she had applied for doctoral program. She had been accepted. I cannot tell you how many people apply for the very few positions. This morning in my emails, Lisa said that she listened to the voice mail from BU more closely, and it said that BU was also offering tuition help and that she was in the running for another scholarship. I am celebrating with Lisa today.
Love,
Lynn
Love,
Lynn
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
appreciation
2/9/10 Several of our staff members have been sick lately, which means those that remain pick up responsibilities. I have a new appreciation for my colleagues as I see what they have been doing. I can answer the phone and do computer work, but there is a lot I don't know about how the systems work here. People ask me questions I can't answer. I try to transfer a call, and it gets dropped. I am glad that I don't have to mop floors or enter data on a daily basis. I hope you will join me in showing appreciation for our wonderful staff, especially those who are not up front leading worship.
Love,
Lynn
Love,
Lynn
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