from my message on Aug. 24, 2014, from Rom. 12:1-8
(video clip from Transformers recent movie) Anybody see this movie? It is like the 4th in a series. Anybody have these toys? I know our boys who are now 32 and 30 years of age used to play with these Transformers. Is is a car or a robot? Is it a plane or a robot? They transform.
Our God is about transformation. The old line is that God loves us just the way we are, but God loves us far too much to leave us that way. Repeat after me: Thank God, we are not who we once were. Thank God, we are not who we will be. We are being transformed.
Paul says, Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds. I know you like it when I do the Greek words with you. The word for transformed here is metamorphsis. It has an outward component. It is the same word used when Jesus is transfigured on the mountaintop, when his clothes glow bright white. It has an inner component, as here, Paul says our minds are renewed. That word for renewing of minds is found only in Christian literature. I like it that our God is about changing our minds!
Which is more important, the outward or the inward? Both! Which comes first? It could be either. Sometimes God does that interior work first, and the actions follow. For some of us, it is like we are in AA. We have to fake it till we make it. We go through the motions of loving and serving and giving until we actually become loving and serving and giving.
Transformation looks like this (video clip of our work at the back to school blast at Parker Lane UMC last Sunday)
We are being transformed in order to transform others. For a school setting, I will share a report I heard on National Public Radio as I was driving around this past week. It talked about the MVP, Mentors in Violence Prevention. These were seniors in high school who shepherded incoming freshmen. Often they were athletes and others who were looked up to as role models. These MVP's would not keep silent in situations of bullying or when a young woman was taken advantage of. One MVP was the captain of the football team. He said about those he mentors, "I try to get into their heads." Transformed by the renewing of our minds.
Thank God, we are not who we once were. Thank God, we are not who we will be.
Then this past week, I heard again about this talk called the Last Lecture. You can look it up online by Jerry Pausch. It is subtitled Realizing your Childhood Dreams. He was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University in virtual reality. He starts by saying, I was diagnosed with liver cancer a month ago and given 3-4 months to live; you do the math. The talk is very upbeat, humorous. It is not particularly religious our spiritual, but we Methodists have been trained to find good news everywhere.
In the talk he says about fundamentals, we're going to work on the things those other 21 players are doing. Jerry wanted to be a NFL football player. He never made it. He started playing football in middle school. The first few practices, the coach never even brought a football to the field. They worked on blocking and tackling and other techniques. When Jerry asked the coach why they didn't get to use a football, the coach asked, How many players on the field at a time? 22! And how many of them are touching the ball at any one time? 1! We're going to work on the things those other 21 players are doing. Jerry learned the fundamentals and teamwork.
Another saying was experience is what you get when you don't get what you wanted. He wanted to become the captain of the USS Enterprise. It didn't happen. He did get to meet William Shatner who played Capt. James T. Kirk. Jerry had his virtual reality team set up the command deck of the USS Enterprise for William to use.
Another saying was the brick wall is there to show you how much you want things. Jerry wanted to be an Imagineer for Disney. He got rejected time and again. He finally figured a way to take sabbatical leave, write a paper and work at Disney. He continued to consult for them.
Another saying was wait long enough and people will astound and amaze you. He said we get impatient with ourselves and others too quickly.
The best saying was maybe the most important thing is to help others realize their dreams instead of realizing your own. His last years were spent in recruiting students from across the disciplines in a class of 50 where they could work in teams on creative projects. He said it was the best work he did.
We are being transformed for others. All of those gifts listed here in Romans are for building up the community. Prophecy and teaching and giving and serving are not just for ourselves but for others.
Let's practice that now as we bless students, parents, and workers in our schools--teachers, administrators and support staff.
Thank God, we are not who we once were. Thank God, we are not who we will be. That's the good news have to share.
Monday, August 25, 2014
A crumby story
from my message on Aug. 17, 2014, from Mt. 15:21-28
What a crumby story! It's so crumby, it must be true.
First, it must be true, because everybody needs a vacation, even Jesus. Here, Jesus has left Israel and gone to the coastal region. The religious leaders have been plotting against him. He needs to get away.
I am just back from vacation. Just one quick story from northern Michigan, from Sleeping Bear Dune National Park. I hiked up this huge sand dune. You think we have sand dunes on the Texas coast. This sand dune was on steroids. I got to the top of the dune....and there was another one. I climbed it...and there was another one. It took me 4 dunes to get to the top where I could see Lake Michigan way off over there. At the top, as I was catching my breath, a father and young son came panting up. The little boy said, "Dad, now can we call the helicopter?"
On my way down, it was fun. I could run. A young couple was struggling to climb up. Every few steps, the girl said, "My calves hurt...my calves hurt." The boy said, "Yeah, well my ears hurt from you saying that your calves hurt."
Did you get a vacation this summer? Where did you go?
Jesus shows his human side. He tries to get away. He doesn't want to be bothered, especially by the squawking of this woman. The Greek word used to describe her crying out is that of a raven screeching. "Help me, Help me," she squawks. The disciples are like Jesus' posse. They run interference for Jesus. Not another demand upon the Master. Let him rest.
Is worship time like a vacation for you? Is it rest? Sabbath? Don't we need a break, an escape from the news cycle of awfulness? Just for an hour can we not hear about Israel fighting Gaza, or Ebola, or Russia and Ukraine? No squawking for help. the world is a crumby place sometime.
On vacation, I actually got to worship. Oh, I'm in worship a lot and leading worship a lot, but rarely do I get to worship. Cathy and I worshiped at Rancho de Taos Presbyterian Church in New Mexico. They a wonderful little congregation. There were 34 in worship; I know because I am a preacher, and I counted. When we sang the songs, I could barely choke the words out. I was in the presence of holiness. It is what I needed. We sat on the back, right hand side. They had the sacrament of communion. I went forward. The server placed a tiny piece of bread in my hands, a crumb. It was enough. It was just what I needed. Life can be crumby sometimes. We need a vacation, sabbath.
Second, the story must be true, because I wouldn't have included it in the Bible. If I were the editor, and I saw this story, I would have written "dele" for delete by it. Jesus doesn't come across very well in this story. He seems to have all of the cultural and religions biases of his day. Jesus is laser focused on his mission. He says, I was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He is quoting Isaiah. He says to the woman, It is not right to take the children's food and give it to the dogs. What is he calling her? A Dog! Yes, she is a woman, a foreigner, not a Jew, but a dog?!
The story must be true because the woman is laser focused on helping her child. What would you do for your child? The woman begs, sacrifices. You do too. I know what you do for your children. You take them in carpools all over the place to all kinds of activities. You put aside money for college. One family in this church has a parent who has given a kidney for the child. What you do? If you were a mother in Central America, what would you do? Would you put your child on a train to the US? This mother risks embarrassment. She will cross any barrier to get help for her child.
She has a snappy comeback. Even the dogs get to eat the crumbs from the master's table. She would be satisfied with just a crumb from Jesus. That's all she needs. Are you the parent in this story? Are you the child?
Third, this story must be true, because Jesus answers her plea. We are in relationship with God through Jesus. Our prayers count. We matter to Jesus. The universe is not fated.
Abraham bargains with God over the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. If I find 50 righteous persons, would you still destroy the whole city? 45? 40? Look it up in Genesis. We can wrestle with God. God can change God's mind.
Then there's Moses up on the mountain with God. God is going to destroy the Hebrews because they have made a golden calf. Moses says, Whoa, there God. Is that what you really want to do? Look it up in Exodus. Moses talks God out of that reaction.
Our prayers count. Especially those prayers that lead to inclusion, to community. I think this crumby story got included in the Bible because it illustrates that Jesus really wants to include all kinds of people, even foreign women whose daughters are demon possessed. He praises her as having "great" faith, the only time he uses that adjective with faith. Peter, his trusted disciple has been called a "little" faith.
The story has been included because even those persons we may consider crumby are loved by God. I hope you find your place in this crumby story.
What a crumby story! It's so crumby, it must be true.
First, it must be true, because everybody needs a vacation, even Jesus. Here, Jesus has left Israel and gone to the coastal region. The religious leaders have been plotting against him. He needs to get away.
I am just back from vacation. Just one quick story from northern Michigan, from Sleeping Bear Dune National Park. I hiked up this huge sand dune. You think we have sand dunes on the Texas coast. This sand dune was on steroids. I got to the top of the dune....and there was another one. I climbed it...and there was another one. It took me 4 dunes to get to the top where I could see Lake Michigan way off over there. At the top, as I was catching my breath, a father and young son came panting up. The little boy said, "Dad, now can we call the helicopter?"
On my way down, it was fun. I could run. A young couple was struggling to climb up. Every few steps, the girl said, "My calves hurt...my calves hurt." The boy said, "Yeah, well my ears hurt from you saying that your calves hurt."
Did you get a vacation this summer? Where did you go?
Jesus shows his human side. He tries to get away. He doesn't want to be bothered, especially by the squawking of this woman. The Greek word used to describe her crying out is that of a raven screeching. "Help me, Help me," she squawks. The disciples are like Jesus' posse. They run interference for Jesus. Not another demand upon the Master. Let him rest.
Is worship time like a vacation for you? Is it rest? Sabbath? Don't we need a break, an escape from the news cycle of awfulness? Just for an hour can we not hear about Israel fighting Gaza, or Ebola, or Russia and Ukraine? No squawking for help. the world is a crumby place sometime.
On vacation, I actually got to worship. Oh, I'm in worship a lot and leading worship a lot, but rarely do I get to worship. Cathy and I worshiped at Rancho de Taos Presbyterian Church in New Mexico. They a wonderful little congregation. There were 34 in worship; I know because I am a preacher, and I counted. When we sang the songs, I could barely choke the words out. I was in the presence of holiness. It is what I needed. We sat on the back, right hand side. They had the sacrament of communion. I went forward. The server placed a tiny piece of bread in my hands, a crumb. It was enough. It was just what I needed. Life can be crumby sometimes. We need a vacation, sabbath.
Second, the story must be true, because I wouldn't have included it in the Bible. If I were the editor, and I saw this story, I would have written "dele" for delete by it. Jesus doesn't come across very well in this story. He seems to have all of the cultural and religions biases of his day. Jesus is laser focused on his mission. He says, I was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He is quoting Isaiah. He says to the woman, It is not right to take the children's food and give it to the dogs. What is he calling her? A Dog! Yes, she is a woman, a foreigner, not a Jew, but a dog?!
The story must be true because the woman is laser focused on helping her child. What would you do for your child? The woman begs, sacrifices. You do too. I know what you do for your children. You take them in carpools all over the place to all kinds of activities. You put aside money for college. One family in this church has a parent who has given a kidney for the child. What you do? If you were a mother in Central America, what would you do? Would you put your child on a train to the US? This mother risks embarrassment. She will cross any barrier to get help for her child.
She has a snappy comeback. Even the dogs get to eat the crumbs from the master's table. She would be satisfied with just a crumb from Jesus. That's all she needs. Are you the parent in this story? Are you the child?
Third, this story must be true, because Jesus answers her plea. We are in relationship with God through Jesus. Our prayers count. We matter to Jesus. The universe is not fated.
Abraham bargains with God over the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. If I find 50 righteous persons, would you still destroy the whole city? 45? 40? Look it up in Genesis. We can wrestle with God. God can change God's mind.
Then there's Moses up on the mountain with God. God is going to destroy the Hebrews because they have made a golden calf. Moses says, Whoa, there God. Is that what you really want to do? Look it up in Exodus. Moses talks God out of that reaction.
Our prayers count. Especially those prayers that lead to inclusion, to community. I think this crumby story got included in the Bible because it illustrates that Jesus really wants to include all kinds of people, even foreign women whose daughters are demon possessed. He praises her as having "great" faith, the only time he uses that adjective with faith. Peter, his trusted disciple has been called a "little" faith.
The story has been included because even those persons we may consider crumby are loved by God. I hope you find your place in this crumby story.
Monday, July 21, 2014
Wait for the harvest
from my message on July 20, 2014, from Matthew 1324-30, 36-43
Picture this: Bend, Texas. Not Big Bend on the Rio Grande, but Bend on the Colorado River, just above lake Buchanan. We are next to the Bend United Methodist Church, under a brush arbor. It is just a roof overhead, open sides. The valley is back here. Can you hear the cattle lowing? The cicadas? The Doves? The lay leader of the church is also the song leader. We are singing out of the old Cokesbury hymnal. The piano is out of tune. It's alright. There is a thunderhead building across over there in the distance. The lay leader says, "some of you who are not from around here are afraid it might rain. Some of us who live here are afraid it might not rain." We are at the Bend UMC revival. Three days of preaching and singing, hoping to get people to make a commitment to Christ. The lay leader introduces the preacher, Dave Mosser. Dave and I went to seminary together. We played on the soccer team together. I was a midfielder. He was a striker, one who scored goals. Dave preached on this passage from Matthew. I will never forget it. I won't do it with exact words, but it went something like this:
This parable that Jesus told, maybe it is just a simple story about judgment. In Matthew's gospel, just before these kingdom parables, the religious leaders, the Pharisees have hit Jesus pretty hard. They have questioned his authority. They have even begun a plot to kill him. Jesus' own family has started to doubt him. Maybe Jesus told a story about God's judgment at the last days when the harvest would reveal who was good and who was not. Harvest was an Old Testament metaphor for judgment. Do you think that's what this parable is about?
Maybe it is a simple story that got made into an allegory by the early church. They were the ones who made each part of the story stand for something: sower is the Son of Man, the good seed are the children of the kingdom, etc. Maybe there were undergoing the same kind of persecution that Jesus went through. They interpreted the parable for their time, saying that God would judge at the harvest. That truth gave them assurance. Is that what this story is about?
Maybe this story is about the inner workings of the church itself. Maybe as the church grew in numbers, maybe there grew a concern about purity. Maybe some persons were lax in their faith or even denied their faith. Surely they would need to be removed, rooted out. I know that this never happens in the church today, this desire to correct others who have gone the wrong way. (laughter) Is the church ever entirely pure?
You know where I think all of the denomination within the Christian Church come from? I think it is from our desire to correct each other, to try to get it right this time. I looked it up again this week in my book on American Christianity. There are over 250 major denominations in the US! At least 19 of them have Methodist or Wesleyan in their name! We are not the United Methodist Church. At best, we are the uniting Methodist Church. Our desire for purity that leads us to root out the bad people, maybe that's the meaning of this story. Is that what you think?
Maybe it's not just about the church. In the story, the field is identified as the world. Maybe God's judgment is upon the whole world. Is that what you think?
Are you getting irritated with me? I know I was with Dave. "Come on. What's the point? Just spit it out."
The point of this story is very simple, just one word......Wait. Say it to yourself. Say it out loud. Wait.
In this parable, I think we are the slaves, the workers in the fields. We are anxious. We are impatient. "Where did these weeds come from? Do you want us to go out right now and pull up all the weeds?
The master, says, Wait. Verse 30, "let them both grow together until the harvest...at harvest time..the reapers will gather up the weeds and burn them....but gather up the wheat into my barn."
In my research this past week, I came across a great quote, from ...you are going to love this book The Pastor's Survival Manual. "Workaholics harm themselves and others by caving in to the persistent urge to do something, take action, or control events when the opposite is needed. Workaholics are reluctant to let matters unfold naturally, so they rush in to fill the perceived void of inactivity with anything that will keep themselves busy and events churning. As a result, problems often grow larger because workaholics cannot leave them alone. Situations get worse because of irritation from their constant tinkering, from forcing premature activity, or from spending too much time with small matters, thereby granting them greater importance." Do any of you identify with this quote? The master's response is Wait.
I am part of an oppressed minority. I am an Aggie American. Yes, I have a degree from Texas A & M. I grew up on farm. I get Jesus' simple message in the wheat and the weeds. When the wheat and weeds were both immature, they both looked nearly identical. So how could you pull up only the weeds? When they both grew to maturity, then their roots were intertwined. So how could you pull up the weeds without destroying the wheat too? The message is clear. Wait, wait for the harvest.
We can apply this teaching to a very personal level. There was a magazine that had been sitting on my desk for weeks. I picked it up this past week, and the right article was waiting for me. A pastor in our UMC was writing about his daughter JoJo. She was in college and irritated at a male classmate. She was about to go "full force" on him. This pastor, Kirk Byron Jones, said, you don't want JoJo to go full force on you. She was so sure she was right. More importantly , she was sure that he was wrong. Just before she went full force, she paused, and began to listen. As she listened, her viewpoint changed. She wasn't so right. He wasn't so wrong. Wait.
We can apply this teaching even on the international stage. We have a crisis on the Texas border. A lot of undocumented people from Central America are showing up. Many of them are women and children. Many of them are young children. One response has been a series of protests: signs, barbed wire, "we don't want you here." I am not sure that is the most helpful response, but I understand where it is coming from. On the other side, we have a rescue mentality. "Let's send a bunch of food and clothing and water and supplies to help." Yes, we need to take care of some immediate needs for these vulnerable ones. But Wait. Something deeper is going on here.
We have been doing this mission study on Helping Without Hurting. So many times, we rich, white, powerful American Christians rush in and cause more harm than good in our attempts to help. Wait. What is causing all of these people to come to our border? Can you imagine sending your children more than a thousand miles to some strange land? How bad must it be in Central America?
National Public Radio had an insightful report on this situation last week. Many people are escaping gang violence in Honduras. These gangs have their origins in Los Angeles! Members of gangs in LA were deported back to Central America. They had no family, no connections, so in order to cope they banded together and became powerful. Now they intimidate children to sell drugs like in today's Austin American-Statesman article. If you don't they beat you up, or kill your father.
There is a crisis at our border, but to solve it, it will take a long term approach, a long term relationship with people in Central America. Wait.
We need to wait, because we are not the final judge. Only God is. Aren't you glad that Jesus waited on his 12 disciples? One betrayed him, one denied him, all deserted him, yet he didn't weed them out.
I did my work in spiritual direction at Boston College. One of the nuns there had a great definition for sin. She said, Sin is the failure to pause. Wait. BC is a Jesuit university. The Jesuits have a wonderful way of making decisions. In hard situations, they make a tentative decision. Then they wait. They live with that tentative decision for a while to see if they have consolation, peace, assurance, before making the final decision.
The good news I have for you today is....Wait.
Picture this: Bend, Texas. Not Big Bend on the Rio Grande, but Bend on the Colorado River, just above lake Buchanan. We are next to the Bend United Methodist Church, under a brush arbor. It is just a roof overhead, open sides. The valley is back here. Can you hear the cattle lowing? The cicadas? The Doves? The lay leader of the church is also the song leader. We are singing out of the old Cokesbury hymnal. The piano is out of tune. It's alright. There is a thunderhead building across over there in the distance. The lay leader says, "some of you who are not from around here are afraid it might rain. Some of us who live here are afraid it might not rain." We are at the Bend UMC revival. Three days of preaching and singing, hoping to get people to make a commitment to Christ. The lay leader introduces the preacher, Dave Mosser. Dave and I went to seminary together. We played on the soccer team together. I was a midfielder. He was a striker, one who scored goals. Dave preached on this passage from Matthew. I will never forget it. I won't do it with exact words, but it went something like this:
This parable that Jesus told, maybe it is just a simple story about judgment. In Matthew's gospel, just before these kingdom parables, the religious leaders, the Pharisees have hit Jesus pretty hard. They have questioned his authority. They have even begun a plot to kill him. Jesus' own family has started to doubt him. Maybe Jesus told a story about God's judgment at the last days when the harvest would reveal who was good and who was not. Harvest was an Old Testament metaphor for judgment. Do you think that's what this parable is about?
Maybe it is a simple story that got made into an allegory by the early church. They were the ones who made each part of the story stand for something: sower is the Son of Man, the good seed are the children of the kingdom, etc. Maybe there were undergoing the same kind of persecution that Jesus went through. They interpreted the parable for their time, saying that God would judge at the harvest. That truth gave them assurance. Is that what this story is about?
Maybe this story is about the inner workings of the church itself. Maybe as the church grew in numbers, maybe there grew a concern about purity. Maybe some persons were lax in their faith or even denied their faith. Surely they would need to be removed, rooted out. I know that this never happens in the church today, this desire to correct others who have gone the wrong way. (laughter) Is the church ever entirely pure?
You know where I think all of the denomination within the Christian Church come from? I think it is from our desire to correct each other, to try to get it right this time. I looked it up again this week in my book on American Christianity. There are over 250 major denominations in the US! At least 19 of them have Methodist or Wesleyan in their name! We are not the United Methodist Church. At best, we are the uniting Methodist Church. Our desire for purity that leads us to root out the bad people, maybe that's the meaning of this story. Is that what you think?
Maybe it's not just about the church. In the story, the field is identified as the world. Maybe God's judgment is upon the whole world. Is that what you think?
Are you getting irritated with me? I know I was with Dave. "Come on. What's the point? Just spit it out."
The point of this story is very simple, just one word......Wait. Say it to yourself. Say it out loud. Wait.
In this parable, I think we are the slaves, the workers in the fields. We are anxious. We are impatient. "Where did these weeds come from? Do you want us to go out right now and pull up all the weeds?
The master, says, Wait. Verse 30, "let them both grow together until the harvest...at harvest time..the reapers will gather up the weeds and burn them....but gather up the wheat into my barn."
In my research this past week, I came across a great quote, from ...you are going to love this book The Pastor's Survival Manual. "Workaholics harm themselves and others by caving in to the persistent urge to do something, take action, or control events when the opposite is needed. Workaholics are reluctant to let matters unfold naturally, so they rush in to fill the perceived void of inactivity with anything that will keep themselves busy and events churning. As a result, problems often grow larger because workaholics cannot leave them alone. Situations get worse because of irritation from their constant tinkering, from forcing premature activity, or from spending too much time with small matters, thereby granting them greater importance." Do any of you identify with this quote? The master's response is Wait.
I am part of an oppressed minority. I am an Aggie American. Yes, I have a degree from Texas A & M. I grew up on farm. I get Jesus' simple message in the wheat and the weeds. When the wheat and weeds were both immature, they both looked nearly identical. So how could you pull up only the weeds? When they both grew to maturity, then their roots were intertwined. So how could you pull up the weeds without destroying the wheat too? The message is clear. Wait, wait for the harvest.
We can apply this teaching to a very personal level. There was a magazine that had been sitting on my desk for weeks. I picked it up this past week, and the right article was waiting for me. A pastor in our UMC was writing about his daughter JoJo. She was in college and irritated at a male classmate. She was about to go "full force" on him. This pastor, Kirk Byron Jones, said, you don't want JoJo to go full force on you. She was so sure she was right. More importantly , she was sure that he was wrong. Just before she went full force, she paused, and began to listen. As she listened, her viewpoint changed. She wasn't so right. He wasn't so wrong. Wait.
We can apply this teaching even on the international stage. We have a crisis on the Texas border. A lot of undocumented people from Central America are showing up. Many of them are women and children. Many of them are young children. One response has been a series of protests: signs, barbed wire, "we don't want you here." I am not sure that is the most helpful response, but I understand where it is coming from. On the other side, we have a rescue mentality. "Let's send a bunch of food and clothing and water and supplies to help." Yes, we need to take care of some immediate needs for these vulnerable ones. But Wait. Something deeper is going on here.
We have been doing this mission study on Helping Without Hurting. So many times, we rich, white, powerful American Christians rush in and cause more harm than good in our attempts to help. Wait. What is causing all of these people to come to our border? Can you imagine sending your children more than a thousand miles to some strange land? How bad must it be in Central America?
National Public Radio had an insightful report on this situation last week. Many people are escaping gang violence in Honduras. These gangs have their origins in Los Angeles! Members of gangs in LA were deported back to Central America. They had no family, no connections, so in order to cope they banded together and became powerful. Now they intimidate children to sell drugs like in today's Austin American-Statesman article. If you don't they beat you up, or kill your father.
There is a crisis at our border, but to solve it, it will take a long term approach, a long term relationship with people in Central America. Wait.
We need to wait, because we are not the final judge. Only God is. Aren't you glad that Jesus waited on his 12 disciples? One betrayed him, one denied him, all deserted him, yet he didn't weed them out.
I did my work in spiritual direction at Boston College. One of the nuns there had a great definition for sin. She said, Sin is the failure to pause. Wait. BC is a Jesuit university. The Jesuits have a wonderful way of making decisions. In hard situations, they make a tentative decision. Then they wait. They live with that tentative decision for a while to see if they have consolation, peace, assurance, before making the final decision.
The good news I have for you today is....Wait.
Monday, July 14, 2014
Hope for the Harvest
from my message on July 13, 2014, from Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
May I tell you a story? He lived in a little town, where there was not much to do. He and little brother had little money with which to do anything anyway. So they thought, "There's a pool table in the Methodist church. Let's shoot pool there." The door was locked, so they broke in. They were having fun shooting pool. The big brother scratched on a shot. The cue ball went flying off the table across the floor. He went after it. He found it in the hand of a big man standing there, the preacher of the church. Argghh! What was going to happen? What was he going to say? He said, "What if I got you your own key so you could play pool whenever you wanted, and could bring your friends?" Wow! Can you believe it?
And then the camera turned to the old man being interviewed, because this was a video the United Methodist Church produced. He said, "I was that young boy. I am now a retired United Methodist pastor. I became a pastor largely because of what that pastor and that church did for me. Over the years, I have helped hundreds of persons come to faith in Jesus Christ."
This story is so outrageous, so unexpected, that it has to be of God. Some seed falls on good soil, and it produces 100 fold. It is a story of hope.
I love to tell stories. When I came to be your pastor 7 years ago, in my very first sermon, I asked, May I tell you a story? My dad was a great storyteller. I aspire to be half the storyteller he was. Jesus like to tell stories. He followed in a great line of Old Testament prophets who got their points across by saying, "there was basket of good figs and a basket of rotten figs..." "a potter had a vessel that was spoiled in his hands and he flattened it, and began reshaping the clay..."
There's an old Jewish saying, God loved stories, so he created humankind.
In today's scripture, Jesus tells a story, a parable. If you come to worship over the next few weeks, you will get to hear some more stories of Jesus. Parables give us room to move around and find our place within the story. We don't so much interpret them as they interpret us. I think that at the earliest telling Jesus told a story that had but one point, the parable, like we find in the first 9 verses. I think it is about hope for the harvest. I think the second part of the reading came from the early church. It is an allegory, where each part is assigned a meaning: the sower is Jesus, the soils are the different responses to the good news of Jesus, etc. The allegory came from a time when the early church was under persecution and many were resistant to accepting Christ or were finding it easy to drop their new Christian faith. Even if came later, the story is still true.
The story is one of hope. I want to read each part of the story through the lens of hope. So the seed that fell on the path and was picked up by birds maybe was intended to be planted somewhere else. You know your botany, how plants spread. Birds eat seeds from here and poop them out over there, and the species expands. I am not making this up. Plants travel to new places this way. Maybe the seed didn't find root here but someplace else.
In a book called Overhearing the Gospel, there is a story of a man who had lost his faith. He was taking a shortcut through the early evening through a cemetery. He heard an old man talking to his grandson on the other side of the hedge. He paused. The old man was trying to explain to his grandson about the death of his son, the young one's father. He talked about the resurrection and hope. The man who was taking the shortcut through the cemetery got the good news that was intended somewhere else. Even the seed that falls on the path and is carried away by birds may be a story of hope.
Some seed falls on rocky ground with thin soil. It grows rapidly and then dies quickly. I am going to be in the cool mountains of New Mexico soon, at Angel Fire. I love driving through Cimmaron Canyon. There are sheer granite cliffs hundreds of feet high. Coming out of those cliffs you will see some tall pine trees. How do they grow? There is no soil at all! Seeds grow in the most unlikely of places, even flowers between cracks in city sidewalks.
Our United Methodist church will plant missions where there seems to be little or no soil. We will go to ghettos, depressed inner cities, centers of drug abuse, etc. Some of those seed grow and bear fruit even in these most unlikely places.
Some seeds fell among thorns and weeds which choked out the plants. The story said that it was cares of this world and the lure of wealth that got in the way. Maybe we in Westlake can identify with this part of the story. Anybody here know some anxiety or worry over finances more than faith?
When I first started in ministry, I was pretty cocky, pretty sure. I went to the senior pastor at St. John's here in Austin, where I was the associate pastor. I said, "We should be doing more for the poor, the hungry, the vulnerable. We are too rich, too comfortable around here." Mal Hierholzer said, "Don't the rich and comfortable need the gospel too....maybe more so?" Seeds of hope are planted even among thorns. Maybe even here in our community.
Then there is the good soil, where the seed bear up to 100 fold. In biblical times, a harvest of 7-10 times was considered good. 100 times would be wonderful. There is hope for the harvest.
This parable is not about efficiency and effectiveness. This God throws seeds out everywhere, not just the good soil. This God lavishes his grace upon us.
This church is not efficient or effective either (smile). It is summertime. We print way too many bulletins. Look at all of that paper wasted. We baptize people who don't understand what they are getting into. And we will serve communion to absolutely anyone!
When I was senior pastor at St. John's here in Austin, I remember a time when it was Boy Scout Sunday. A woman from the neighborhood brought her den with her in their uniforms. I knew her. Our kids went to the same elementary school together. It happened that we had the sacrament of communion that Sunday. She came forward with her den to receive. She came to me. I broke off a piece of bread, and said, "The body of Christ for you." She burst into tears. She was shattered right there in front of me. Later that afternoon, I called her on the phone. "What happened there in worship when I served you communion?" She said, "That was the first time in more than 20 years that I had communion. When I was younger, my parents got a divorce. Our church shunned us. I was not going to go back ever again. Today was the first day I felt welcomed back." She became active in our church. There is hope for the harvest.
The story is not so much about us and the 4 soils. It is about God who will throw seeds out absolutely everywhere, because some of them produce up to 100 fold.
Let me sing it for you from Godspell:
Find your place in the story. It is a story of hope. Amen.
May I tell you a story? He lived in a little town, where there was not much to do. He and little brother had little money with which to do anything anyway. So they thought, "There's a pool table in the Methodist church. Let's shoot pool there." The door was locked, so they broke in. They were having fun shooting pool. The big brother scratched on a shot. The cue ball went flying off the table across the floor. He went after it. He found it in the hand of a big man standing there, the preacher of the church. Argghh! What was going to happen? What was he going to say? He said, "What if I got you your own key so you could play pool whenever you wanted, and could bring your friends?" Wow! Can you believe it?
And then the camera turned to the old man being interviewed, because this was a video the United Methodist Church produced. He said, "I was that young boy. I am now a retired United Methodist pastor. I became a pastor largely because of what that pastor and that church did for me. Over the years, I have helped hundreds of persons come to faith in Jesus Christ."
This story is so outrageous, so unexpected, that it has to be of God. Some seed falls on good soil, and it produces 100 fold. It is a story of hope.
I love to tell stories. When I came to be your pastor 7 years ago, in my very first sermon, I asked, May I tell you a story? My dad was a great storyteller. I aspire to be half the storyteller he was. Jesus like to tell stories. He followed in a great line of Old Testament prophets who got their points across by saying, "there was basket of good figs and a basket of rotten figs..." "a potter had a vessel that was spoiled in his hands and he flattened it, and began reshaping the clay..."
There's an old Jewish saying, God loved stories, so he created humankind.
In today's scripture, Jesus tells a story, a parable. If you come to worship over the next few weeks, you will get to hear some more stories of Jesus. Parables give us room to move around and find our place within the story. We don't so much interpret them as they interpret us. I think that at the earliest telling Jesus told a story that had but one point, the parable, like we find in the first 9 verses. I think it is about hope for the harvest. I think the second part of the reading came from the early church. It is an allegory, where each part is assigned a meaning: the sower is Jesus, the soils are the different responses to the good news of Jesus, etc. The allegory came from a time when the early church was under persecution and many were resistant to accepting Christ or were finding it easy to drop their new Christian faith. Even if came later, the story is still true.
The story is one of hope. I want to read each part of the story through the lens of hope. So the seed that fell on the path and was picked up by birds maybe was intended to be planted somewhere else. You know your botany, how plants spread. Birds eat seeds from here and poop them out over there, and the species expands. I am not making this up. Plants travel to new places this way. Maybe the seed didn't find root here but someplace else.
In a book called Overhearing the Gospel, there is a story of a man who had lost his faith. He was taking a shortcut through the early evening through a cemetery. He heard an old man talking to his grandson on the other side of the hedge. He paused. The old man was trying to explain to his grandson about the death of his son, the young one's father. He talked about the resurrection and hope. The man who was taking the shortcut through the cemetery got the good news that was intended somewhere else. Even the seed that falls on the path and is carried away by birds may be a story of hope.
Some seed falls on rocky ground with thin soil. It grows rapidly and then dies quickly. I am going to be in the cool mountains of New Mexico soon, at Angel Fire. I love driving through Cimmaron Canyon. There are sheer granite cliffs hundreds of feet high. Coming out of those cliffs you will see some tall pine trees. How do they grow? There is no soil at all! Seeds grow in the most unlikely of places, even flowers between cracks in city sidewalks.
Our United Methodist church will plant missions where there seems to be little or no soil. We will go to ghettos, depressed inner cities, centers of drug abuse, etc. Some of those seed grow and bear fruit even in these most unlikely places.
Some seeds fell among thorns and weeds which choked out the plants. The story said that it was cares of this world and the lure of wealth that got in the way. Maybe we in Westlake can identify with this part of the story. Anybody here know some anxiety or worry over finances more than faith?
When I first started in ministry, I was pretty cocky, pretty sure. I went to the senior pastor at St. John's here in Austin, where I was the associate pastor. I said, "We should be doing more for the poor, the hungry, the vulnerable. We are too rich, too comfortable around here." Mal Hierholzer said, "Don't the rich and comfortable need the gospel too....maybe more so?" Seeds of hope are planted even among thorns. Maybe even here in our community.
Then there is the good soil, where the seed bear up to 100 fold. In biblical times, a harvest of 7-10 times was considered good. 100 times would be wonderful. There is hope for the harvest.
This parable is not about efficiency and effectiveness. This God throws seeds out everywhere, not just the good soil. This God lavishes his grace upon us.
This church is not efficient or effective either (smile). It is summertime. We print way too many bulletins. Look at all of that paper wasted. We baptize people who don't understand what they are getting into. And we will serve communion to absolutely anyone!
When I was senior pastor at St. John's here in Austin, I remember a time when it was Boy Scout Sunday. A woman from the neighborhood brought her den with her in their uniforms. I knew her. Our kids went to the same elementary school together. It happened that we had the sacrament of communion that Sunday. She came forward with her den to receive. She came to me. I broke off a piece of bread, and said, "The body of Christ for you." She burst into tears. She was shattered right there in front of me. Later that afternoon, I called her on the phone. "What happened there in worship when I served you communion?" She said, "That was the first time in more than 20 years that I had communion. When I was younger, my parents got a divorce. Our church shunned us. I was not going to go back ever again. Today was the first day I felt welcomed back." She became active in our church. There is hope for the harvest.
The story is not so much about us and the 4 soils. It is about God who will throw seeds out absolutely everywhere, because some of them produce up to 100 fold.
Let me sing it for you from Godspell:
All Good Gifts
Guitar Chords and
Lyrics
INTRO: (A _ Em) 2x
A
Em G
D
We plough the fields
and scatter the good seed on the land
A
B/A Dm
A9
But it is fed and
watered by God's almighty hands
A
Em
G
D
He sends the snow in
winter, the warmth to swell the grain
C#m7
DM7
Ebm7
E - Esus - E
The breezes and the
sunshine, the soft refreshing rain
REFRAIN:
A DM7
GM7-CM7
All good gifts around
us,
A
DM7 GM7-CM7
Are sent from heaven
above
F#m7(pause) C#m7-F#m7(pause)
C#m7
G - D
So thank the Lord,
thank the Lord for all His love
A
Em G
D
We thank Thee then, oh
Father, for all things bright and good
A
B/A Dm
A9
The seed time and the
harvest, our life, our health, our food
A
Em
G
D
No gifts we have to
offer, for all Thy love imparts
C#m7
DM7
Ebm7
E - Esus - E
But that which Thou
desirest- our humble, thankful hearts.
(Ref)
Bridge:
D
A
DM7 - GM7 - CM7
I really want to thank You, Lord
A
DM7
GM7 - CM7
I want to thank You Lord, thank You for all Your love
A
DM7
GM7
CM7
Oh thank You Lord, I want to thank You Lord.
Asus - A
Thank You, Lord.Find your place in the story. It is a story of hope. Amen.
Monday, July 7, 2014
Freedom
from my message on July 6, 2014 from Gal. 5:1, 13-14
So, how was your 4th of July? Did you spend some time around a table? Was it a picnic table, or kitchen table, or dining room table, or tray table while watching soccer or tennis from Wimbledon? What did you eat? Was it BBQ, fried chicken, hot dogs, hamburgers, any tofu burgers out there? With whom did you gather? Was it family or friends?
We gather today around another table. We gather as Americans to celebrate our independence, now 238 years. We celebrate our freedom form the tyranny of Great Britain. We also celebrate that 50 years ago the Civil Rights Act was signed into law, outlawing discrimination by race, color, religion, sex, national origin. We gather as Christians around this table to celebrate that all people are welcome here. You don't have to earn it or fight for it. There's a place for you at this table.
Our freedom as followers of Christ is rooted in the Jewish Passover feast. Our Jewish ancestors were once slaves in Egypt. The gods of the Egyptians said, Make more bricks. The God of the Hebrews, Yahweh, said, Let my people go. The Passover feast celebrates that we have a God who is a liberator.
Jesus celebrated a Passover feast with his closest friends before his passion and resurrection. He offered there another kind of freedom. He changed the words of the liturgy. He said, This is my body given for you. He said, This is my blood poured out for you and for many, for the forgiveness of sins. This may be the kind of freedom you need today, freedom from guilt and shame, from a past that drags you down. Where do you need forgiveness today?
We come to today's scripture where Paul says, For freedom you have been set free; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence. Paul says that our freedom is freedom from sin and freedom to serve others. God has freely chosen us, so that we might serve others. Love of neighbor is the highest expression of freedom.
Our high school youth have just come back from a mission trip from ReCre in North Carolina. I understand from Diane our youth director that the seniors on the trip did not use it as an opportunity to haze the freshmen, but that the seniors actively mentored the younger students. That is an example of true freedom. Not to mention high school youth taking a week of their summer off to go roof houses in the hot summer sun. That is an expression of Christian freedom.
I will sing it for you, Freely, Freely, you have received,
Freely, Freely, Give,
Go in my name and because you believe,
Others will know that I live.
This freedom can even be expressed on a political level. Consider this:
Anti-Semitic German preacher Ahlwardt came to New York in 1895 to advocate a crusade against Jews. The city's Jewish leaders went to the police commissioner, Teddy Roosevelt, and demanded that Ahlwardt not be allowed to speak. But Roosevelt insisted that the German was entitled to freedom of speech regardless of his views and even required police protection. So Roosevelt personally appointed the man's security guards: 40 policemen, all of them Jewish.
Isn't that great?
This freedom can even be expressed on an international level. Consider this:
In his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela tells of a place he came to during his 27 years in prison: "It was during those long and lonely years that my hunger for the freedom of my own people became a hunger for the freedom of all people, white and black. I knew as well as I knew anything that the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed. A man who takes away another man's freedom is a prisoner of hatred; he is locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. I am not truly free if I am taking away someone else's freedom, just as surely as I am not free when my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity."
Come to the table. All are welcome here, at this table of freedom.
So, how was your 4th of July? Did you spend some time around a table? Was it a picnic table, or kitchen table, or dining room table, or tray table while watching soccer or tennis from Wimbledon? What did you eat? Was it BBQ, fried chicken, hot dogs, hamburgers, any tofu burgers out there? With whom did you gather? Was it family or friends?
We gather today around another table. We gather as Americans to celebrate our independence, now 238 years. We celebrate our freedom form the tyranny of Great Britain. We also celebrate that 50 years ago the Civil Rights Act was signed into law, outlawing discrimination by race, color, religion, sex, national origin. We gather as Christians around this table to celebrate that all people are welcome here. You don't have to earn it or fight for it. There's a place for you at this table.
Our freedom as followers of Christ is rooted in the Jewish Passover feast. Our Jewish ancestors were once slaves in Egypt. The gods of the Egyptians said, Make more bricks. The God of the Hebrews, Yahweh, said, Let my people go. The Passover feast celebrates that we have a God who is a liberator.
Jesus celebrated a Passover feast with his closest friends before his passion and resurrection. He offered there another kind of freedom. He changed the words of the liturgy. He said, This is my body given for you. He said, This is my blood poured out for you and for many, for the forgiveness of sins. This may be the kind of freedom you need today, freedom from guilt and shame, from a past that drags you down. Where do you need forgiveness today?
We come to today's scripture where Paul says, For freedom you have been set free; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence. Paul says that our freedom is freedom from sin and freedom to serve others. God has freely chosen us, so that we might serve others. Love of neighbor is the highest expression of freedom.
Our high school youth have just come back from a mission trip from ReCre in North Carolina. I understand from Diane our youth director that the seniors on the trip did not use it as an opportunity to haze the freshmen, but that the seniors actively mentored the younger students. That is an example of true freedom. Not to mention high school youth taking a week of their summer off to go roof houses in the hot summer sun. That is an expression of Christian freedom.
I will sing it for you, Freely, Freely, you have received,
Freely, Freely, Give,
Go in my name and because you believe,
Others will know that I live.
This freedom can even be expressed on a political level. Consider this:
Anti-Semitic German preacher Ahlwardt came to New York in 1895 to advocate a crusade against Jews. The city's Jewish leaders went to the police commissioner, Teddy Roosevelt, and demanded that Ahlwardt not be allowed to speak. But Roosevelt insisted that the German was entitled to freedom of speech regardless of his views and even required police protection. So Roosevelt personally appointed the man's security guards: 40 policemen, all of them Jewish.
Isn't that great?
This freedom can even be expressed on an international level. Consider this:
In his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela tells of a place he came to during his 27 years in prison: "It was during those long and lonely years that my hunger for the freedom of my own people became a hunger for the freedom of all people, white and black. I knew as well as I knew anything that the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed. A man who takes away another man's freedom is a prisoner of hatred; he is locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. I am not truly free if I am taking away someone else's freedom, just as surely as I am not free when my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity."
Come to the table. All are welcome here, at this table of freedom.
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Good Enough
from my message on June 29, 2014, from Romans 7:15-25a
Are you good enough? I am here to tell you that by the grace of Jesus Christ, you are good enough. You could leave right now and have gotten the whole message.
This is a message for perfectionists and those people who deal with perfectionists, so I guess that's everybody here. I don't always preach this way, so be prepared for some antics.
First, we start with a You Might be a Perfectionist quiz, modeled after Jeff Foxworth's You Might Be a Redneck. Jeff said, If you ever mowed the lawn and found a car there, you might be a redneck.
If all of you're emails, tweets, and Facebook posts are free of spelling errors....then you might be a perfectionist
If you noticed the typo in the previous item.....
If you ignore the 12 great reviews to fret about the 1 lousy one.....
If you have the urge to be everything to everybody.......
If you have ever felt that you were unworthy of love or belonging.....
If you didn't try something new because you might fail......
If you were eager to point out others' faults to minimize yours.......
If you were afraid to share your vulnerability......
If you ever felt you weren't skinny enough, rich enough, smart enough, nice enough, strong enough, popular enough, creative enough.....Then you might be a perfectionist
Do we have any perfectionists here? Can you identify with Paul in this passage from Romans? I don't understand my own actions. What I want to do, I don't do. The thing I don't want to do, I do. Wretched man that I am!
I am a perfectionist. I think if I could just control my actions, get everything just right, be good enough, then i would be acceptable to God and others. I work really hard to keep up the facade that I am perfect.
It's not what God intends for us, this living in secret shame. We learn these roles early on. I am the eldest son. I have always been super-responsible. Here's the story that characterizes my perfectionism. It is December of my junior year in high school. I am showing my dad my first semester report card. I say, "Look, Dad, I made a 98 in chemistry." To which my dad replied, "Don't they give 100's anymore?" I was crushed. "But it was the highest grade in the class. It is an A+."
It didn't matter. No matter what I do, how hard I work, it never feels good enough.
Our director of music and worship, Diana, loaned me a book on this subject. It is by Brune' Brown, and it is called the Gifts of Imperfection. She named 3 gifts: Courage, Compassion, and Connection. Courage comes from the Latin cour for heart. One is to speak from one's heart. Compassion means to set appropriate boundaries, to know what is your stuff and what is others' stuff. You can take care of your stuff so that you can be available to stand alongside others with their stuff. Connection means you can't do it alone. This work is best done in community.
While I am talking about this, you may be filling out that scratch piece of paper with something you want to let go of. You may have something you have been holding onto so tightly in your so-called perfectionism that you can't open your hand to the love Christ holds for you.
So, this past week I decided to open myself, to practice the gifts of imperfection. I was in a meeting. The talk turned to focus on me. The people were not intending to strike at me, yet their comments were wounding me. I said, "Hold on a sec. Let me tell you how what you are saying feels to me. My heart is racing. My breath is shallow. My mind is whirring. I feel like a little boy, ashamed of what I have done."
The dynamic of the conversation changed instantly. I had shown courage, compassion, and connection. It was liberating. Brune' Brown says, "Shame loves perfectionists, because it is so easy to keep us quiet."
In her book, she shares other ways to move beyond perfectionism. Play, music, and dance are some of those ways. They open the imagination. We are going to practice that now.
Learn this song with me:
That's the way it is by golly, that's the way it is by golly, that's the way it is by golly, that's the way it is.
So when you make a 98, and your dad says, "Don't they give 100's anymore," you sing, That's the way it is by golly.....
Write down on that scratch piece of paper what you want to let go of, what you have been holding onto so tightly that you can't be open to the love that Christ holds for you. Write down where you don't feel good enough, while we sing, That's the way it is by golly....
Now I have some kazoos for some of you. Add your sounds to the song while we write down where we don't feel good enough....That's the way it is by golly,....
Now I will have the ushers to come forward with the trash cans, notice that they are recycle bins, so you can throw those places where you don't feel good enough away while we sing...That's the way it is by golly...
I like how Paul ends this passage. He says, But thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ. I looked up this passage in the Greek. I was expecting the word for thanks to be eucharist, but it wasn't. The word was charis, the word for grace. Grace is God's unmerited love for us, a free gift, nothing we can do to earn it. That's the way it is by golly. By grace, you are good enough.
Are you good enough? I am here to tell you that by the grace of Jesus Christ, you are good enough. You could leave right now and have gotten the whole message.
This is a message for perfectionists and those people who deal with perfectionists, so I guess that's everybody here. I don't always preach this way, so be prepared for some antics.
First, we start with a You Might be a Perfectionist quiz, modeled after Jeff Foxworth's You Might Be a Redneck. Jeff said, If you ever mowed the lawn and found a car there, you might be a redneck.
If all of you're emails, tweets, and Facebook posts are free of spelling errors....then you might be a perfectionist
If you noticed the typo in the previous item.....
If you ignore the 12 great reviews to fret about the 1 lousy one.....
If you have the urge to be everything to everybody.......
If you have ever felt that you were unworthy of love or belonging.....
If you didn't try something new because you might fail......
If you were eager to point out others' faults to minimize yours.......
If you were afraid to share your vulnerability......
If you ever felt you weren't skinny enough, rich enough, smart enough, nice enough, strong enough, popular enough, creative enough.....Then you might be a perfectionist
Do we have any perfectionists here? Can you identify with Paul in this passage from Romans? I don't understand my own actions. What I want to do, I don't do. The thing I don't want to do, I do. Wretched man that I am!
I am a perfectionist. I think if I could just control my actions, get everything just right, be good enough, then i would be acceptable to God and others. I work really hard to keep up the facade that I am perfect.
It's not what God intends for us, this living in secret shame. We learn these roles early on. I am the eldest son. I have always been super-responsible. Here's the story that characterizes my perfectionism. It is December of my junior year in high school. I am showing my dad my first semester report card. I say, "Look, Dad, I made a 98 in chemistry." To which my dad replied, "Don't they give 100's anymore?" I was crushed. "But it was the highest grade in the class. It is an A+."
It didn't matter. No matter what I do, how hard I work, it never feels good enough.
Our director of music and worship, Diana, loaned me a book on this subject. It is by Brune' Brown, and it is called the Gifts of Imperfection. She named 3 gifts: Courage, Compassion, and Connection. Courage comes from the Latin cour for heart. One is to speak from one's heart. Compassion means to set appropriate boundaries, to know what is your stuff and what is others' stuff. You can take care of your stuff so that you can be available to stand alongside others with their stuff. Connection means you can't do it alone. This work is best done in community.
While I am talking about this, you may be filling out that scratch piece of paper with something you want to let go of. You may have something you have been holding onto so tightly in your so-called perfectionism that you can't open your hand to the love Christ holds for you.
So, this past week I decided to open myself, to practice the gifts of imperfection. I was in a meeting. The talk turned to focus on me. The people were not intending to strike at me, yet their comments were wounding me. I said, "Hold on a sec. Let me tell you how what you are saying feels to me. My heart is racing. My breath is shallow. My mind is whirring. I feel like a little boy, ashamed of what I have done."
The dynamic of the conversation changed instantly. I had shown courage, compassion, and connection. It was liberating. Brune' Brown says, "Shame loves perfectionists, because it is so easy to keep us quiet."
In her book, she shares other ways to move beyond perfectionism. Play, music, and dance are some of those ways. They open the imagination. We are going to practice that now.
Learn this song with me:
That's the way it is by golly, that's the way it is by golly, that's the way it is by golly, that's the way it is.
So when you make a 98, and your dad says, "Don't they give 100's anymore," you sing, That's the way it is by golly.....
Write down on that scratch piece of paper what you want to let go of, what you have been holding onto so tightly that you can't be open to the love that Christ holds for you. Write down where you don't feel good enough, while we sing, That's the way it is by golly....
Now I have some kazoos for some of you. Add your sounds to the song while we write down where we don't feel good enough....That's the way it is by golly,....
Now I will have the ushers to come forward with the trash cans, notice that they are recycle bins, so you can throw those places where you don't feel good enough away while we sing...That's the way it is by golly...
I like how Paul ends this passage. He says, But thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ. I looked up this passage in the Greek. I was expecting the word for thanks to be eucharist, but it wasn't. The word was charis, the word for grace. Grace is God's unmerited love for us, a free gift, nothing we can do to earn it. That's the way it is by golly. By grace, you are good enough.
Monday, June 9, 2014
Spirits vs. Holy Spirit
from my message on June 8, 2014, Pentecost, from Acts 2:1-15
Are you thirsty? For what or for whom do you thirst?
When I first started in ministry, I didn't know very much. I was thirsty for knowledge. I would find myself talking with a family in the church, and things were fitting together right. I was confused. One person would be overfunctioning, rescuing everything and everybody. One would be quiet. One would be acting out. All would defer to one person as if they were afraid of him or her.
It wasn't until my third year out of seminary, when I was taking a course on chemical addictions and family systems, that things started to make sense. I took this course at Austin Community College with a bunch of recovering alcoholics. We read books together. We attended lectures together. I found out that alcoholism is a family disease. No one becomes an alcoholic by himself or herself. There are "enablers" around the alcoholic who all play their roles to help the alcoholic continue in their relationship with the chemical. I found out that denial and blame are two key signs of addiction. "I don't have a problem.....he is the problem, she is the problem...work is the problem.." I found out the drug always works...I don't mean to pick on just alcohol, it could be food, or sex, or gambling or work. The drug works on the reptilian part of our brains. It produces a feeling, a high, but we always come down lower from the high. Then we need more of the drug to achieve the high. We sink lower. There is a downward spiral. This is where shame comes in. We feel so out of control.
I was frustrated in class. All of my other classmates were in recovery programs. I wasn't. One night I said, "Listen, I don't get how I can ever help any body on drugs. I don't have a problem with alcohol. I don't even drink." One of the old alkies asked, "Have you ever been sick?" "Well, yes, of course!" "Well, we have a disease called alcoholism. We didn't ask to get it. It is progressive. But there is a treatment for it."
I found out that I could work with people who were addicted. When I was in one of those confusing family situations, I learned to start asking the question, "What role does alcohol or other drugs play in your family?"
Almost every time, people would reflect and say, "Oh, yeah, we do have a problem." I found out that the drug addiction was only 10% of the problem, but it was the first 10%. We couldn't get to the other 90% until we got rid of the fog, the miscommunication, the dysfunction of the drug.
Are you thirsty today? For what or for whom do you thirst?
We Methodists began as abstainers from alcohol. The Methodists were a reform movement within the Anglican Church in the 1700's. At that time the common working person's drug of choice was gin. It was cheap and plentiful. There was a saying at that time, "you can get drunk for a 1/2 penny, dead drunk for a penny." So the Methodists saw a problem with alcoholism. They were against hard liquor.
Where did grape juice come from, like we use at communion? There was a communion steward, one who prepares the communion elements, named Thomas Welch. He was a dentist. One time when he prepared the bread and wine for communion, a friend of his got started on a bender by drinking the wine at communion. Dr. Welch was determined to find an alternative. He took some crushed grapes and pasteurized them to keep them from fermenting. He made non-fermented grape sweet juice. I bet you have had Welch's grape juice. It rapidly caught on in the late 1800's and began to be used by Methodists and other denominations.
I saw an article in the Austin American-Statesman about a new church in Ft. Worth that billed itself as a Pub Church, complete with craft beer. This was not a Methodist Church. It was Lutheran. We continue to this day using grape juice, not wine.
Wine is found all through the Bible. Water purity was unreliable. Water was often mixed with wine. There are positive verses that talk about wine gladdening the heart. There are verses that caution about overindulging and having wine make a mockery of us. Jesus came eating and drinking the Gospel stories say. Wine was a part of the Last Supper.
On the day of Pentecost, the on-lookers couldn't understand what was going on. They thought that those who had been filled by the Holy Spirit had been filled with distilled spirits. "They're drunk," they accused. Peter and the others said, "No, they are filled with something better, the Spirit of God."
Are you thirsty? For what or for whom do you thirst?
M. Scott Peck calls alcoholism the sacred disease. We try to fill up on spirit when only Holy Spirit will satisfy. He calls all of our substitutes "Cheap grace." All the treatment programs of which I am aware are spiritually based. They have admit that we are powerless over the drug and that we need a higher power to save us.
The Holy Spirit can fill us and save us. It looks like Kevin's story ( go to our website YouTube channel to hear his testimony). Kevin just celebrated his first birthday of sobriety. It is like going from death to life.
Why am I talking about this today? I once had a member of my church in San Saba who said, "I found Jesus and salvation in AA (alcoholics anonymous). The church was afraid to address my disease." I am not afraid to talk about it, as it is one of the most pervasive issues around.
Let me do a little math with you. We have just over 800 members here. Some 62% of Methodists drink. That means 500 of us drink in this congregation. Ten percent of those who drink have a problem with alcohol. That means 50 of us have a problem.
Some of you have had the courage to talk with me about your disease. I try to work with the motivated people in families to get help. Thankfully, there are all kinds of resources nearby. We have an Al-Anon group that meets here on Fridays at noon for family members or friends of those who have problems with alcohol. There are 12 step groups that meet at all hours of the day and night all around town. There are wonderful treatment facilities at hand.
When you get really thirsty, come talk to me. Only the Holy Spirit can ever satisfy. That's the good news I have to share today.
Are you thirsty? For what or for whom do you thirst?
When I first started in ministry, I didn't know very much. I was thirsty for knowledge. I would find myself talking with a family in the church, and things were fitting together right. I was confused. One person would be overfunctioning, rescuing everything and everybody. One would be quiet. One would be acting out. All would defer to one person as if they were afraid of him or her.
It wasn't until my third year out of seminary, when I was taking a course on chemical addictions and family systems, that things started to make sense. I took this course at Austin Community College with a bunch of recovering alcoholics. We read books together. We attended lectures together. I found out that alcoholism is a family disease. No one becomes an alcoholic by himself or herself. There are "enablers" around the alcoholic who all play their roles to help the alcoholic continue in their relationship with the chemical. I found out that denial and blame are two key signs of addiction. "I don't have a problem.....he is the problem, she is the problem...work is the problem.." I found out the drug always works...I don't mean to pick on just alcohol, it could be food, or sex, or gambling or work. The drug works on the reptilian part of our brains. It produces a feeling, a high, but we always come down lower from the high. Then we need more of the drug to achieve the high. We sink lower. There is a downward spiral. This is where shame comes in. We feel so out of control.
I was frustrated in class. All of my other classmates were in recovery programs. I wasn't. One night I said, "Listen, I don't get how I can ever help any body on drugs. I don't have a problem with alcohol. I don't even drink." One of the old alkies asked, "Have you ever been sick?" "Well, yes, of course!" "Well, we have a disease called alcoholism. We didn't ask to get it. It is progressive. But there is a treatment for it."
I found out that I could work with people who were addicted. When I was in one of those confusing family situations, I learned to start asking the question, "What role does alcohol or other drugs play in your family?"
Almost every time, people would reflect and say, "Oh, yeah, we do have a problem." I found out that the drug addiction was only 10% of the problem, but it was the first 10%. We couldn't get to the other 90% until we got rid of the fog, the miscommunication, the dysfunction of the drug.
Are you thirsty today? For what or for whom do you thirst?
We Methodists began as abstainers from alcohol. The Methodists were a reform movement within the Anglican Church in the 1700's. At that time the common working person's drug of choice was gin. It was cheap and plentiful. There was a saying at that time, "you can get drunk for a 1/2 penny, dead drunk for a penny." So the Methodists saw a problem with alcoholism. They were against hard liquor.
Where did grape juice come from, like we use at communion? There was a communion steward, one who prepares the communion elements, named Thomas Welch. He was a dentist. One time when he prepared the bread and wine for communion, a friend of his got started on a bender by drinking the wine at communion. Dr. Welch was determined to find an alternative. He took some crushed grapes and pasteurized them to keep them from fermenting. He made non-fermented grape sweet juice. I bet you have had Welch's grape juice. It rapidly caught on in the late 1800's and began to be used by Methodists and other denominations.
I saw an article in the Austin American-Statesman about a new church in Ft. Worth that billed itself as a Pub Church, complete with craft beer. This was not a Methodist Church. It was Lutheran. We continue to this day using grape juice, not wine.
Wine is found all through the Bible. Water purity was unreliable. Water was often mixed with wine. There are positive verses that talk about wine gladdening the heart. There are verses that caution about overindulging and having wine make a mockery of us. Jesus came eating and drinking the Gospel stories say. Wine was a part of the Last Supper.
On the day of Pentecost, the on-lookers couldn't understand what was going on. They thought that those who had been filled by the Holy Spirit had been filled with distilled spirits. "They're drunk," they accused. Peter and the others said, "No, they are filled with something better, the Spirit of God."
Are you thirsty? For what or for whom do you thirst?
M. Scott Peck calls alcoholism the sacred disease. We try to fill up on spirit when only Holy Spirit will satisfy. He calls all of our substitutes "Cheap grace." All the treatment programs of which I am aware are spiritually based. They have admit that we are powerless over the drug and that we need a higher power to save us.
The Holy Spirit can fill us and save us. It looks like Kevin's story ( go to our website YouTube channel to hear his testimony). Kevin just celebrated his first birthday of sobriety. It is like going from death to life.
Why am I talking about this today? I once had a member of my church in San Saba who said, "I found Jesus and salvation in AA (alcoholics anonymous). The church was afraid to address my disease." I am not afraid to talk about it, as it is one of the most pervasive issues around.
Let me do a little math with you. We have just over 800 members here. Some 62% of Methodists drink. That means 500 of us drink in this congregation. Ten percent of those who drink have a problem with alcohol. That means 50 of us have a problem.
Some of you have had the courage to talk with me about your disease. I try to work with the motivated people in families to get help. Thankfully, there are all kinds of resources nearby. We have an Al-Anon group that meets here on Fridays at noon for family members or friends of those who have problems with alcohol. There are 12 step groups that meet at all hours of the day and night all around town. There are wonderful treatment facilities at hand.
When you get really thirsty, come talk to me. Only the Holy Spirit can ever satisfy. That's the good news I have to share today.
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