Failure to Offer Gratitude

This was in my email yesterday, from a ministry called SoundBytes:

Several years ago I offered the invocation for commencement exercises at a large state university.  I remember one unprogrammed event above everything else.  At a strategic point, the president of the university invited the graduating students to applaud their parents and spouses, in appreciation for helping them reach this wonderful day.  It was a moving moment.

The president might also have invited the students to applaud their professors and librarians, the authors of their textbooks and of journal articles, the people who preceded them in research, and the citizens whose taxes had paid most of the cost of their education.  It would be a long list -- and a gloomy one for any egotist who might have thought he or she was self-made.  Above all, the president could have invited the students to bow in gratitude to God, the Source of life, breath, health, and talent -- including the vast mines of talent that most of us never begin adequately to explore.

-- J. Ellsworth Kalas in If Experience Is Such a Good Teacher Why Do I Keep Repeating the Course?  

Yesterday my post was about celebrating joy.  Thanksgiving is one of the ways that we can celebrate the joy in our lives.  Can our failure to do that sometimes be related to what Kalas says in this quote?  Could it be that we are egoists who think we are self-made?  Are we afraid to offer thanksgiving because it is an admission of our dependence on other people?  Our dependence on God?

What in your life do you fail to offer gratitude for because you think it is your own accomplishment?

Celebration of Joy

Continuing on with my original thoughts about Luke 15, after I got distracted yesterday....

After the stage is set by the first two verses of Luke 15, Jesus tells three stories -- one is about a shepherd who lost one out of 99 sheep, the next is about a woman who lost a coin, and the third is the story of the Father and his two sons. All are about losing something that is precious and finding it again.  My study bible says that the celebration gives "expression to the magnitude and persistence of God's graciousness."

Have you noticed how each story ends?  Each story ends with a celebration.  That's my kind of story ending -- joy, in the discovery of what was lost.  We are left to wonder if the older son joins in the celebration or not.

Will we join in the celebration or not?  Do we celebration with joy in church?  Do we give expression to God's graciousness?  If we don't, how will we even recognize it?

Joy is a wonderful place for hope to spring forth.

Broken Boundaries

Today I read Luke 15.  It's a familiar chapter.  It begins with the Pharisees and scribes grumbling about the fact that Jesus welcomes sinners and eat with them.  This was a big deal.  According to my study bible, "What one eats and with whom one eats are key issues in drawing and maintaining socioreligious boundaries."  We get nervous when boundaries fall, don't we?

That idea wasn't what I started to write about this morning, but it does strike me as I look at it.  We do get nervous when boundaries fall.

I remember one Maudy Thursday years ago.  Our church, each Thursday, holds a service/meal called Common Grounds.  It started as a program for college students, but God changed it to a meal for homeless or marginally homeless people.  We get nervous when God breaks down boundaries.  On this particular Maudy Thursday, a meal was planned.  The entire church was invited to share a meal that evening -- the Sunday group, and the Common Grounds group, together.  One Sunday morning parishioner was heard to ask, "Are we supposed to sit with them and eat?"  She wasn't being mean -- she was just nervous, because God was breaking down boundaries.

We know how to function within our boundaries.  When the boundaries fall, we have to adapt, and change is hard.  I don't judge her, but I am aware that I have the same nervousness.  I like my boundaries, and I get nervous when God takes them down.

May we all take up the challenge of broken boundaries.

Dropsy

Today I read Chapter 14 of the book of Luke. The chapter starts with a description of the healing of a man with dropsy.  This is why I love Study Bibles.  The notes in my Bible (The New Interpreters' Study Bible) tell me that dropsy was the swelling of the body due to an excess of fluid --what we would call generalized edema.  In that time, it was used as a "metaphorical label for the greedy."  A person with dropsy would crave water in spite of the fact that their bodies were filled with fluid.  In this opening passage, Jesus heals a man with dropsy.

Luke is a wonderful writer.  In the sections that follow, he tells us about Jesus counseling dinner attendees to choose a place of low honor at a banquet instead of lusting after (my words) the places of honor and prestige at the table.  Jesus tells those gathered to invite the poor and marginalized to meals rather than those who can "return the favor."  He tells a story of a person having a great dinner.  All those he invited turned him down, so he angrily sends his servant to gather the outcast and bring them to the meal.  The chapter ends with Jesus discussing the cost of discipleship.

Are we like the man with dropsy?  Are we swollen with our need for prestige and power, and yet we crave it with an insatiable desire?  I think one of the messages of this passage is that Jesus stands ready to heal us -- to make us whole and well.  At the same time, he points to those who have nothing, and tells us to minister to them.  To take it even a step further, perhaps in this service, we will find our healing from Christ.

Afraid

I'm reading Philip Gulley's book, Home to Harmony.  In it is a story about Miriam and Ellis Hodge.  The Hodges live on a farm outside of town, and their routine was to only travel to the big city once a year, during December, to see the Christmas lights.

People would ask them why they went to see the Christmas lights in the daytime when the lights showed up better at night.  Ellis would say, "You won't catch me in the city at night.  No sirree.  Why, a fellow could get killed up there...So they'd go in the daytime and use their imaginations.

Can you imagine going into the city to see the lights but being so afraid that you would only go in the daytime?  Think how much they missed.  Think how beautiful lights are in the dark.

What do we miss because we are afraid?

Evangelist

Julieanne Kost was interviewed on the podcast Photofocus this month.  She has worked for Adobe since 1992 and now has the job of being a Principal Digital Imaging Evangelist for Lightroom and Photoshop.

The interviewer asked her to define what it means to be an evangelist.  Julieanne replied, "I think evangelism means that you are really excited, you are passionate, and you want to help other people and tell other people what you know."  She went on to say that she has access to the engineers who design Photoshop, and because of that has an understanding of how the system works, what the intention is -- she is an "insider" who then translates her knowledge to the rest of us.

It's interesting to me to see the word evangelist used by a non-faith based company, such as Adobe.  It's ironic (is it ironic?) that Julieanne gives such a great definition of the word, and I think we as Christians can learn about what it means to be an evangelist from her definition.

We are all called to the role of an evangelist.  What does that mean?  What are we called to do?  Are we really excited about Christianity?  I believe Julieanne has the opinion that Photoshop can change how one processes images -- how one brings them to life, and that Lightroom and Photoshop can transform the work that photographers do.  Do we feel the same way about Christianity?

Are we passionate?  Do we have a really passionate need to be an evangelist?

Do we <em>want</em> to tell other people about what we know?   Like Julieanne, we are insiders -- we have been taught about Christ, about the love of God.  Are we willing to share that?  Are we eager to translate it into a language that a non-believer would understand?

Are we convincing?

Judgment

Judgment.  I'm guilty of it.  I paste my own assumptions, my own prejudices, my own opinions onto what I see in front of me.

I was listening to "Stuff you missed in History Class" today.  It was a story about Elsa Lanchester (Wikipedia article and IMBd article. The introductory material about her parents is what caught my mind.  Her mother and father did not believe in marriage.  Read this quote from this site:

In 1895 Edith Lanchester (1871-1966) of 72 Este Road, Battersea, the well-educated daughter of a prosperous architect, told her family that, owing to the anti-woman marriage laws, she intended to cohabit with James Sullivan. She felt the wife's vow to obey the husband was immoral and did not wish to lose her independence.

Her father had her examined by a doctor, who drew up emergency commitment papers, under the British Lunacy Act of 1890.  Her family (father and brothers) kidnapped her, forced her into a carriage, bound her hand and foot, and took her to a lunatic asylum in Surrey.  Four days later, after James Sullivan pushed for an appeal, she was released.  You can read the press clipping here.

The cause listed on the commitment papers was "overeducation."  Silly, the ideas that some women get once they have started thinking (she says, sarcastically).

Judgment.  Her family thought that if she didn't want to get married, didn't believe in marriage, she must be crazy.

Do we judge people in the light of what we think is the norm?

Prophecy

Years ago, I was talking to someone in the lab where I worked.  We were discussing faith, and I said something about modern day prophets.  She said, taken aback, "You believe there can be prophets today?  There are no prophets today; the age of prophecy has come to a close."

I can understand that her faith tells her that, and I can respect that, but I disagree with it.

Think of a friend you have.  How well do you know that friend?  Can you predict what that friend will do?  Is that friend's opinion and words important enough to you that you listen and remember what he/she tells you?  If asked, could you repeat it?  Could you tell someone what a friend will do?

Can we be that close to God?  Can we know God so well -- or well enough -- that we can predict what God might do?  Can we listen well enough for God to understand what God is telling us?  Can we witness to that, though our faith?  Can we be recipients of grace enough to have that kind of relationship and witness?

I think we can.  And I think that kind of witness is prophecy.

Have you ever been praying, and known that your prayer was unnecessary, because God had already done, or decided to do, what you were asking?  Have you ever been encouraging someone and instead of saying, "I hope God will be with you on this journey," you felt compelled to say, "I know God will be with you on this journey?"  Prophecy can provide comfort in a time of trial.

I pray we can all get that close to God, and I know God will come that close to us.

Too Real

Can you tell that a like to listen to podcasts?  This morning I was listening to "Stuff you missed in history class."  The co-hosts were talking about the story of Sweeny Todd.  Why does the story grab people?  It's about a gruesome murderer, killing people while they are vulnerable, and then having them baked up in pies.  Why would we listen to that kind of story?  The co-hosts talked about how we feel disconnected from a plot such as that -- while we admit in quiet, almost delicious, whispers, that it could happen, the majority of us have never known anyone to whom this has happened.  It has a sense of unreality.

Whether that is true or not, it brought to mind, for me, how uncomfortable I get when I'm watching a movie in which skyscrapers are struck by something -- be it monster, alien machine or airplane -- and explode, collapsing to the ground.  There should be a disconnect -- monsters don't walk around large cities, whacking buildings, and alien machines have never landed.  But I am not disconnected.  I've seen buildings fall, and that touch with reality makes that kind of plot point too real -- too uncomfortable.  It could be I am not their target audience.  In 2001, my younger son was 5 -- he's now 17.  I think he remembers 9/11, but I'm not sure anyone younger would.

Would a person older than me -- an 80 year old, for example -- be troubled by the reality of a Nazi-like plot element in a movie?  Or an aerial invasion of an island, with planes destroying large ships? They've seen it; they know it can be real.

These are just my thoughts for today.

Expectations

One of my favorite images
from vacation this year.

Because I am a nerd (and I am happy to be one), I was reading a book about typography called Thinking with Type  by Ellen Lupton.  I do some design work with my job, and I thought I needed to learn more about typography.  While reading, I found this paragraph:

The impatience of the digital reader arises from culture, not from the essential character of display technologies.  Users of websites have different expectations than users of print.  They expect to feel "productive," not contemplative.  They expect to be in search mode, not processing mode.  Users also expect to be disappointed, distracted and delayed by false leads.  The cultural habits of the the screen are driving changes in design for print, while at the same time affirming print's role as a place where extended reading can still occur.

So, why would I bring this up?  I think it has implications for church leaders.

1. What does it mean for a church that those who use the internet often are in "search" mode?  I think that's good news.  I think if people are willing to search and seek, then that creates a good habit for seekers in the church.  We have to adapt to that, and offer those who are seeking an outlet to do that.
2. What does it mean for churches who are trying to reach the unchurched?  I think we have to be adaptive, the way modern media is adaptive.  We need to know our "fish" and look for them with the right "nets."
3. People want to feel productive.  That's wonderful news.  The Church can offer so many ways to be productive in service.  I think people want to make  a difference, and we need to offer ways to help them make a difference.
4. People still see print as the place for extended reading.  Wouldn't this be considered good news for those who are in Christian Education?  People are still willing to read for extended periods of time.  It's not their attention span that has changed.

I think my take home message from this quote, when I thought about it in light of the Church, is that we need to stop trying to do what we have always done, and adapt what we do to reach people.

Investing in God's Work

In Joe's sermon today, he said, "We cannot place our money in God's hands, but we can invest in God's work."

What does it mean to invest in something?  I think of the vows we take as members of the United Methodist Church.  We promise to give of our time, our talents, our gifts, our service and our witness.  All of that is investing.

We invest in God's work when we listen to God's people.  We invest in God's work when we pack a box for Samaritan's Purse.  We invest in God's work when we give time to teach a child or hug a friend or carry a burden.  We invest in God's work when we feel the pain of another and are moved to offer help.

Offering our money, our faith, our trust, our emotions, our time -- all are investments in God's work.

The Need of Grace

I wrote yesterday about God's unreasonable grace.  Why does God offer such grace without us taking a single step to earn it?

God gives it to us because God loves us. Because God loves us, God desires for us to be forgiven, to be healed, to be made whole. Because God knows us, God knows that known of that - healing, forgiveness, wholeness, holiness - is within our reach.

We cannot, on our own, become what God desires us to be. God knows we need grace.  God knows that all that God desires for us is impossible without grace, so God makes the impossible, possible.

Before grace can sanctify, before grace can justify, it must come before.  Grace precedes us.  All that God wants for us has already been done.  Grace is prevenient.

Why?  Because God knew it was necessary.

Unreasonable Grace

One of the theme's of Joe's sermon today was that God is unreasonable.  He based his premise on Ephesians 1:1-8.  If you read through that passage, you will find all of the ways that God is unreasonable.

God grants us forgiveness, wholeness, healing, and adopts us as children -- without any reason.  We don't have to prove ourselves worthy, or that we obey God's laws, or that we helped with vacation Bible school or taught Sunday school or baked a casserole for the potluck.  These gifts of grace are ours for no reason at all.

I wonder if it wouldn't make more parenting sense if God said, "Do all of these things, and I will bless you with wonders you cannot even imagine."  It seems that would be good motivation.

And yet, just as we love our children, from the moment we know of their existence, God loves us. God grants us untold graces.  It is unreasonable, and yet it is God's way.

God cannot be other than what God is.  And so, our faithfulness is a response to God's faithfulness. Our love is a response to God's love.  The grace we offer is a response to the grace we have received.  And it is never the other way around.

It is unreasonable.

Seasons of Love, 5

Seasons of Love, Sermon part 5

One more question.  What happens if we don’t do it?  What God is calling us to do isn’t easy.  It takes commitment.  Maybe suffering, if Paul is right in his letter to Timothy.  What if we choose not to live a life of faith?

I was in a conference last week.  One of the leaders said that a webpage communicates 24 hours a day, every day, globally.  I think we all get that.  Not to push the analogy too far, but we are like web pages.  We communicate by the way we live our lives, by what we say, by what we do, 24 hours a day, every day.  People are watching us, and their faith is being shaped by what we do.  For better or for worse.  So, the question we must answer is not, “Will I teach others about God?”  The question we must answer is, “What will they learn from me?”

What will other people learn from the way you live your life?  Will they learn about God’s grace and love?   Or not?

What will happen if we do not do the work of an evangelist, keep the message alive, do a thorough job as God’s servant?  I don’t think God has another plan.  This has been entrusted by an ever faithful God into our hands.  This isn’t about the survival of the church or whether this building will be here in 100 years.  It’s much more important – will other people know about Christ?  Will they experience what we know?  Will they know God?  Or not?

The youth sang a song last called Seasons of Love.  It’s from the Broadway show Rent.  Too bad they aren’t up here to sing it this week – you’ll have to listen to the words as I read them:

How do you measure the life of a woman or a man?
In truths that she learned
Or in times that he cried
In bridges he burned
Or the way that she died
It's time now, to sing out
Though the story never ends
Let's celebrate
Remember a year in the life of friends
Remember the love
Remember the love.  Remember the truth of God’s love that you have been taught.  Remember the people who have shaped your faith and brought you to this point.  Remember, most of all, that it is our job to continue the legacy of faith.

How will you live your life?  Will you say yes to God?  In 25 years, will someone be able to say, “My faith was shaped and my life was changed” because of something you did?  Something you said?  An invitation you offered?  A hand you extended?

What difference will you make for God?

Seasons of Love, 4

Seasons of Love, sermon, continued...

Do the work of an evangelist, keep the message alive, do a thorough job as God’s servant.  How do we do that?  Where do we start?  What do we do?  Many questions.  Today, I want to focus on three of them.
…..
First, who is called?  The list of people who have influenced my faith journey was chosen strategically.  If you’ll notice, it included people who were retired, and people who were working.  It included older people and youth, people who were just starting life, and people who were nearing the end of life.  We are the laity.  We are the people of God, and this is our calling.  This is our job.  Whoever we are – it is the work of all of us.   There is no “get out of ministry free” card.  Who is called?  You.  Me.

Next, how do we know what to do?

Mary / Marv read a passage from Luke this morning.  Jesus is telling a parable of an unjust judge and a persistent woman.  Picture it for a moment – this is how I see it.  The judge is in his home, probably hiding from everyone, but especially from this woman, who keeps bothering him.  She comes to his door.  And knocks.  And knocks.  And knocks.  “Grant me justice.”  He finally gives her what she wants so that she’ll leave him alone.  I’m sure none of us have ever had THAT kind of experience.  Right.  Any of us who have children have had just that kind of experience.  Does that mean God is like an unjust judge?  No.  We are like the unjust judge, and we listen to our children.  How much more will God listen to God’s children?  So, pray.  Talk to God about what God is leading you to do.  Do it persistently.

Margit Ernst-Habib wrote that God is so persistently in love with us…”we can be sure that God hears our prayers, our crying day and night, even though we may not see any results yet.  God has not forgotten us; God will not delay long in helping.”  I think the Holy Spirit in us may be in some ways like that widow, urging us to pray, pushing us to connect with God, unmercifully moving us to persistent prayer.  God is listening.  We should pray, remembering that part of prayer is listening for God.  Do we believe that?  Then we should pray as if we do.  I believe that through our prayers we will learn where God wants us to go, what God wants us to do, who God wants us to reach.

How else do we learn where God is leading us?

If I had read the few verses in 2 Timothy that lead up to the passage from the 4th chapter, then you would have heard this (again from The Message):  “Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another – showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way.  Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.”  We don’t just study scripture to learn what it says.  God uses God’s word to shape us, to change us, to transform us.  A.J. Jacobs said, “It (the Bible) is so true that it will read you.”  From our study, we will be equipped and shaped to do the work of God, and to know what that work should be.

We pray, we study, and what else?  We show up.  I still remember Betsy Warren saying that in a sermon.  How do we function as the body of Christ?  We show up.  We go where God’s sends us.  Here, to worship, learn, and gain strength in fellowship.  Out from here, to be the church.  We show up.

How was it that Coe Marsh was able to have such a profound effect on my faith?  I imagine she prayed about what she was called to do.  I know she studied, because she demonstrated it when we asked her about the 23rd Psalm.  And she said yes, going where God was sending her – on a bus trip across the entire country with 30 or so youth, into a classroom with two very young, inexperienced teachers of the Bible to share her love of God, her love of children, and her love for us.

Seasons of Love, 3

Seasons of Love, sermon continued...

As I mentioned before, if I were to provide you with an exhaustive list of all those people who have influenced my faith journey, we would be here long past lunch, but I do want to share a few of them with you.

I first came to this church as a junior in high school at the invitation of my friend, Lora Traxler.  Because of her, I found the church that God was calling me to be a part of, and I’ve found a church family here.  Rev. Chuck Echols was my teacher in a Bethel teachers’ class, and he told me that I was going to teach.  He didn’t really give me a choice, he just arranged for me to be a substitute Sunday school teacher.  I was scared to death, but I loved it.  From him, I learned that I am a teacher.  I watched Jim Ray serve others through this church.  I don’t serve the way he did, AT ALL, but at least from him, I have an example of what service should be like.  In 2005, Jeff Taylor invited me to preach for Laity Sunday.  Again, I was scared; I actually refused to call it preaching.  I called it “giving a talk.”  From the experience, I learned that God will walk with through whatever God calls me to do.  From the experience, I learned that I can preach, with God’s help.  Steve sponsored me on my Walk to Emmaus, and from that, my life was changed.  When you encounter Christ, face to face, that’s what happens.  Since that time, I have been a part of an Emmaus small group – an accountability group – called a reunion group.  All of the women in that group have encouraged me and prayed for me, but I especially want to mention Theo Tippet.  She was a member of our group, and from her I learned how to live as a faithful Christian through your death.

So, what are we called to do?  Paul says to Timothy in verse 5:  “As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.”  Those are pretty heavy words for something that can bring such joy.  Listen to the same verse from Eugene Peterson’s The Message:  “But you – keep your eye on what you’re doing; accept the hard times along with the good; keep the message alive; do a thorough job as God’s servant.”

Wow, what a calling.

Seasons of Love, 2

Seasons of Love, sermon continued.  

Listen to these words from the second book of Timothy, chapter 4, verses 1-5.

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you:  proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching.  For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires,  and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths.  As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.

The letters to Timothy may have been written by Paul to his younger companion in ministry, Timothy, or by someone writing in his name to a later generation about the responsibility of transmitting Paul’s theological legacy with care and accuracy.  Either way, I think it speaks to us.  We have been entrusted with passing along the legacy of Christianity.  We are called by God to spread the Good News, and to do it with persistence and patience.  If not by us, then how does the faith move from one generation to the next?

Listen to the second verse again:  “I solemnly urge you:  proclaim the message: be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke and encourage with the utmost patience in teaching.”

Take a moment – consider and remember who have been your teachers. Who has brought you to the place where you stand in faith?  Remember them.

Seasons of Love, Part 1

The next few posts will be from my Laity Day Sermon, based on 2 Timothy 4:1-5:

Many, many….many years ago, I was a youth in this church.  If you’ve been around longer than me, then you remember the summer tour trips the youth would take.  We would work to prepare a musical, and for a week in the summer, we would sing our way from church to church and back home again.  Each evening would be a performance in a different host church, and then we would spend the night with church members, getting up the next morning, loading up the bus to do it again.

I learned a lot on those trips.  I learned about cooperation and teamwork.  I learned about radical hospitality.  I learned what a fernel is, and how heavy they are, and I learned about how God can infiltrate a task, so that the entire week would be filled with wonder and laughter.

My senior year, the trip was changed to include a week long mission project in El Paso, Texas.  We sang our way to Texas, spent the week teaching what I would call a vacation Bible school, and then sang our way back.  I think those two weeks helped to shape my understanding of what Church is.  Church is everyone at home, all of you, supporting what the youth were doing – in effect, going in mission with us by sending us.  Church is working together to plan and prepare worship services for the churches where we would perform and lessons for children we would encounter in Texas.  Church is reaching out beyond our doors to bring the word of Christ to other people.    I was so blessed to have that experience, and to encounter the people I did during those times.  Truthfully, it helped shape my faith and my understanding of God and the Body of Christ.  As a parent, I’m grateful that Joe planned a mission trip for the youth group this past summer, so that Josh could share in that kind of experience.

There were many adults who made our trip in the summer of 1982 possible, and I could spend my whole time this morning listing them all, but I want to highlight one person in particular.  Before we went to Texas, I didn’t know Coe Marsh.  She and her husband John traveled with us, and worked with us during those two weeks.  I never asked her why she and John took their time to do what they did.  I imagine they did it because God called them, and they answered.  The Marshes were members of our church, retired, and I am still amazed that they said yes to being part of a youth trip.  It couldn’t have been easy.  Those trips were fun, but they were not easy.  Leading youth is not easy.

I remember that Chris Wood and I were paired to teach a Bible study class that week in Texas.  We were in the classroom, and we wanted to share Psalm 23 with the kids, but neither one of us had a bible.  (Don’t ask me why: I don’t know).  Coe was able to, from memory, write down the psalm and then to reword it so that children would understand it.  I don’t know if the children we were teaching remember anything about that, but I remember it – I remember that Coe knew the Psalm by heart.  I remember that she gave of her time and gifts to go into mission with us.  She and John made a lasting impact on me and on my faith