Marley’s Prophetic Word

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Luke 16:19-31
“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’ He said, ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’ He said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

“Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatsoever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooge’s name was good upon ‘Change for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.”

And thus Dickens’ classic Christmas story, A Christmas Carol, begins. A story of hope; a story of preparation. Marley, as dreadful an apparition as he is, is the prophetic bearer of hope – your reclamation and salvation will be offered this night through three messengers. Will you listen? Will you heed their message?
A hope filled warning, if you will.

A hopeful warning is something we all need from time to time to show us that we have veered off the path. It is easy to see others who veer off the path God has for us in their lives – those who so blatantly live against God’s will and word.
Ebenezer Scrooge is easy enough. Charles Dickens sets him up as a foil, a character who represents us all. Yet in his eccentricities and oddities, we laugh at him and then rejoice to see such a scoundrel who is redeemed. What we fail to really see is how much of us is really in Scrooge.
We look at others and say – “They need preparation and salvation,” We can identify them easily!  But not so much ourselves.

A CNN story recently showed us what this kind of unrighteousness looks like – we easily identify it in others.
• In West Palm Beach, Fl. Three women had over $1,000 stolen from their cars in a Best Buy parking lot. They had camped out since Wednesday night to be first in line on Black Friday. One woman was quoted, “Just cruel, what they did. Just wicked.”
• In Wisconsin, a woman was arrested for cutting in line. Now you might say, that’s not so bad, right? This lady cut in front of several hundred shoppers – threatening to shoot each one if they didn’t let her in front of them. When interviewed by the police, the woman said, “I just wanted to get my daughter the toy she wanted for Christmas, which probably won’t be there after all these people go through the line.”

Ahhh, the spirit of Christmas.

That kind of unrighteousness is easy to spot and easy to agree upon. But, and I could be wrong, I don’t think these are our problems. No our problems for far more sinister because they are far more veiled and disguised. As a matter of fact, many of our sins are hidden to us because we are so desensitized and even complacent.
Do we even know what our problems are? Do we even know our own frailty and sin? Or are we too close to our own situation, unable to hear the prophetic words that call us to repent and prepare our hearts for Christ’s reclamation.

Charles Dickens uses Marley as the prophet who offers salvation to Scrooge. He literally is one who comes back from the grave to warn Scrooge as a symbol of God’s warning that already exists for us all in Scripture. Marley cries out to Scrooge:
“Oh! captive, bound, and double-ironed, not to know, that ages of incessant labor by immortal creatures, for this earth must pass into eternity before the good of which it is susceptible is all developed. Not to know that any Christian spirit working kindly in its little sphere, whatever it may be, will find its mortal life too short for its vast means of usefulness. Not to know that no space of regret can make amends for one life’s opportunity misused! Yet such was I! Oh! such was I!”

“That is no light part of my penance,” pursued Marley. “I am here to-night to warn you, that you have yet a chance and hope of escaping my fate. A chance and hope of my procuring, Ebenezer.”

Advent is a season of hope and preparation. Hope in that we celebrate the coming of Christ into the world – God with us, Emmanuel. Preparation, because whether or not we are willing to admit it we all have areas in our lives where we are living against God’s will – maybe we are unloving, maybe we are selfish, maybe we refuse to forgive someone, maybe we have hatred or revenge in our hearts, maybe we are afraid. So many ways that we close the door to the Holy Spirit, not just at Christmas – but every day. Advent is the season of hope and preparation – Christ has come into the world to set us free from all the powers and principalities that seek to restrain and bind us, the chains we forge in life. Advent calls us to a life of preparation – be ready, open your heart, see yourself clearly and be ready for God’s redemption.

This is why Advent is such a special and interesting season. The Scripture readings for Advent say nothing about a baby in a manger. Rather, the scriptures of Advent lead us to focus on the coming of Christ and the fullness of God’s kingdom. Advent is a season of hopeful preparation.

The coming of Christ was the fulfillment of the hope of humanity. Each year at Advent, we focus once again on preparing our hearts for the coming of Christ – for the reality of hope. And while we understand that Christ and the message of Christmas are not for one season of the year, this is the time we anticipate a hopeful yearning that Christ will come again to us and reclaim our lives and our souls.

That is why in this passage in Luke, we find not the poor man who needs salvation, but the rich man who needs a message of hope and reclamation. While the poor and needy are all around us at Christmas (and every time of the year), I think we would be remiss if we declared that only the poor need Christ at Christmas. The danger for those of us who are rich in this world (both in spirit and resources) is that we often miss the message of salvation altogether – relying on our own means and sufficiency rather than on the hope and grace of God.

Advent lifts up the prophets of Isaiah and John the Baptist to call us with their prophetic voice to hear the message of salvation and reclamation. Be careful, lest you think you don’t need to heed the prophet’s call.

Isaiah 40:3-9 says “A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever. Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”

Dickens writes, “The fireplace was an old one, built by some Dutch merchant long ago, and paved all round with quaint Dutch tiles, designed to illustrate the Scriptures. There were Cains and Abels, Pharaoh’s daughters; Queens of Sheba, Angelic messengers descending through the air on clouds like feather-beds, Abrahams, Belshazzars, Apostles putting off to sea in butter-boats, hundreds of figures to attract his thoughts; and yet that face of Marley, seven years dead, came like the ancient Prophet’s rod, and swallowed up the whole. If each smooth tile had been a blank at first, with power to shape some picture on its surface from the disjointed fragments of his thoughts, there would have been a copy of old Marley’s head on every one.”

In Advent, we will hear again the call of the prophets. They will visit us each week and cry out to us to open our eyes to the world around us!

It is the prophetic voice that has been given to us to call us to heed God’s word for our lives and our salvation. Do we hear? Do we heed?  Think on these questions as we move forward the next three weeks:  Are there chains of the past, decisions or actions, that bind and enslave you?  Do we know where true joy and happiness if found in the present?  When confronted with who we really are, will we withdraw, engage, or embrace?

Sabbath and Multitasking

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Multitasking is a word that has taken on new life in the last 20 years with the advent of computers and smart phones that run multiple programs at once.  When I first started in ministry in 1993, the church office computer was still running MS-DOS for our word processing with floppy disks (talk about feeling old).  While I would never want to go back to those days, I remember that it took a little while to set my word processing up and get started.  The idea that I would switch to another program before I was finished was crazy.  The only thing that interrupted me was the telephone.

This morning as I write this, I am working on a PC that has 5 open programs running at the same time while my iPhone is on speakerphone attending a Board of Trustees meeting for Magnolia Manor.  My iPhone alert just went off as I write telling me not to forget to call a church member when I finish.  I am literally doing 5 things at the same time.  (Whether I am effective at those things is up for debate).

Recently, I read an article on Forbes.com (here) that discussed the pros and cons of multitasking vs. unitasking.  The truth is we are more focused and productive when we are focused on one thing at a time…but that is not the world we live in.  We all struggle to slow down and focus on the things that matter.

In his book, Jewish Renewal, Rabbi Michael Lerner says that anyone who sets out to engage in a disciplined practice of Sabbath can expect a rough ride for a couple of years at least. This is because Sabbath involves pleasure, rest, freedom and slowness, none of which comes naturally to us with in our culture with our technology.  Most of us are so sold on speed, so invested in productivity, so convinced that multitasking is the way of life that stopping for one whole day can feel at first like a kind of death.

Personally, when I work I am glad to be able to multitask.  The problem is this multitasking mentality is hard to break out of on my days of Sabbath.  I find myself on the golf course or with my family or alone in reflection on my day off replying to text messages and emails.  I convince myself “just one text/email more and I will be finished” or “this one is very important”.

What would my Sabbath look like if I could totally unplug?  What would people think if they couldn’t get in touch with me as fast as they think they should?  What happens if it takes me three hours to return a text message?  All of these worries wage war against the practice of Sabbath.

After reflection, I discovered that what I am doing is multitasking my Sabbath.  I really should be unitasking my Sabbath to experience it as God commands.  How can I really experience God, pleasure, rest, freedom and slowness when I multitask Sabbath?

It may be time for me to die to some of the technological crutches that tie me to my need for productivity.  It may be time to rededicate myself to Sabbath.

Sabbath and Billable Hours

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Many people who move to settle on St. Simons Island from the North are drawn by more than the beauty of this place.  They continually refer to the style and quality of life…the way we relate to one another…how we spend time getting to know one another and how we are willing to “move a little slower” in all things.  I don’t know if there is any science behind it, but I’m just anecdotally sharing what I hear on a regular basis.

But even in the good ‘ole South, I am continually struck by how many people are struggling in life with stress, relationships, time, and spirituality and how few people associate their ordeals with the lack of understanding and keeping Sabbath.  The church doesn’t do a good job teaching or modeling about Sabbath.  I just thought I’d share a few reflections from an article I read this morning.

Dorothy Bass, in her article Christian Formation In and For Sabbath Rest, writes, “most contemporary Americans are caught in an alternative set of practices for living in time that affects many dimensions of their lives…although we have been taught we should use time well, it now feels to many people like time is using them…”  She continues quoting from The Overworked American by Juliet Schor, “recent research has confirmed that on average Americans work more hours than those in any other developed country, in spite of large increases in productivity during recent decades…Americans have chosen to take the economic surplus that immense productivity provides not in time but in more and more consumer goods.”  Simply put, we could have more time if we chose to cash in our productivity towards it.  Instead, we cash it in for money and more stuff.

Bass also references the poet Noelle Oxenhandler in a stimulating image that should call us all to reflect on our need for Sabbath rest.  Our 24/7/365 way of life can be seen most clearly in two institutions that exist in every town, lit by the same “shrill, twenty-four hour light, the doors that never shut, the windowless air, and a counter or front desl manned by the same rotation of pale clerks with their free-floating body clocks.”  The two are the 7-Eleven and the emergency room.  Oxenhandler continues, “What does it mean that the 7-Eleven and the emergency room are atmospherically similar?  The emergency room is a necessity…but a Pop-Tart and a six pack of Coke in the middle of the night?  We have come to believe that convenience is a necessity…our own definition of a world in order is one in which all goods and services are always immediately available.”

Finally, another resource Bass calls upon is Cathleen Kaveny, a professor of law and humanities at Notre Dame.  Kaveny explores the logic of a system that shapes both work life and the self-understanding of lawyers: billable hours.  The world-view of billable hours teaches five lessons: “(1) human time is not intrinsically valuable but rather a worth only so far as it is productive; (2) human time is first and foremost a commodity with an identifiable monetary value; (3) every hour is financially equivalent and thus worth the same amount as every other hour, regardless of claims from family or tradition that mark some hours as especially precious ones; (4) lawyers live in an endless, colorless present; and (5) they are therefore unable to participate fully with loved ones who live by other patterns, and so become increasingly isolated from community.”  I would argue that this self-understanding is also true for all of us who evaluate work and productivity in “man or woman hours”…equating a monetary value for our time.

For all of us, how we organize and understand time creates for us a framework for our entire lives and all our relationships…including our relationship with God.

Wisdom For Our Families

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This past Sunday at Wesley, we spend some time exploring what Proverbs has to share with our families.  A few thoughts for children and parents:

Wisdom for Children
Proverbs 13:1 says, “A wise child loves discipline, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.”

Maybe I’ve just never met any wise children because I don’t know of any who love discipline.  The reality is the word “discipline” is always associated with punishment in our culture.  But in the Bible, the word “discipline” means more.  Discipline and disciple contain the same root.  To discipline a child is to teach them and to mentor them.  I’ve learned more from teaching and mentoring than from punishment.

One of my favorite stories to model this is the story of the farmer and his son.  One summer, the farmer took his son out to teach him how to plant rows of beans in their family garden.  It was a large garden and there were many, long rows.  The farmer modeled the distance between planting the beans, how many beans to put in each hole and how to cover them up.  After a row or two, the father gave the beans to his son and and left him to complete the field on his own – hoping to teach him the value of hard work and careful planting.  As the day went on and the temperature went up, the rows seemed longer and longer.  The son began putting fewer beans in each hole and the spacing grew wider.  Finally as the son was about 2/3 finished, he walked off the side of the field and dumped the rest of the beans along the pine trees near the field.  He was done.

A few weeks later, the father told his son, “Come with me.”  As they walked out to the field, the boy saw the first row of beans coming up nice and even, but as they passed more rows, the beans became more sporadic and farther apart.   Finally, the father and his son stood at the pine trees and there on the ground were bean sprouts coming up everywhere.  The son knew he had been found out and was ready for his punishment.  The father simply looked to his son and say, “Son, I am disappointed.  But I hope this will teach you a valuable lesson about life.”  The son asked, “What lesson, Pa?”  The father replied, “The beans always come up, son…the beans always come up.”

Proverbs 6:23 – 20 says, “My child, keep your father’s commandment, and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. Bind them upon your heart always; tie them around your neck. When you walk, they will lead you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you. For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life.”

Let’s pray that our children will long to be mentored by Godly parents.

Wisdom for Parents
Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way they should go, and when they are old, they will not depart from it.”  This is a conditional proverb.  Parents should never abdicate their responsibility to raise up their children.

I heard some great advice given to a Wesley member the day her daughter was born.  The advice came from the Rev. Dr. Wright Culpepper, a former pastor of Wesley.  When she asked Wright how they did such a great job raising their children he simply said, “So many people spend so much time going to everything their child does when they are young.  Then, when they reach middle school and high school, they stop participating thinking they don’t need it or they want to do more for themselves.  We found that those are the years you need to be MORE involved in everything.  When they grow up, they won’t remember that you went to their dance or ballgame when they were 7 years old.  But they will remember that you went when they were 15, 16, and 17.”  Wise advice to stay involved in our children’s lives.

Here are a few tips regarding raising children that I have found helpful:

  1. make sure what you ask of your child is reasonable and they are capable of accomplishing it
  2. always speak to your child as you would be spoken to – never talk down to them, demean them, or belittle them – your words are life and death to their spirits whether you realize it or not
  3. be firm and specific when you discuss things which your children
  4. allow for negotiation and flexibility which builds your child’s social skills
  5. let them experience the consequences of their behavior – if they never have to face the consequences of their behavior when they are young, they will never face them when they grow old
  6. consequences should come immediately, relate to the rule broken, and move on quickly to move on to positive feedback
  7. make sure your expectations for your children are appropriate to their age

Remember, the most important things you pass on to your children are a loving household and the gift of faith.  Don’t ever underestimate the power of a home filled with love.  As Proverbs 15:17 says, “Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred.”

In a New Church…Now What?

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Today (June 12, to be exact), clergy across South Georgia are moving to their new appointments (churches).  I am blessed to be reappointed to Wesley United Methodist Church at Frederica for my fifth year!  I am looking forward to many more years together with the great people in this wonderful church, but alas, the purpose of this post is not to praise Wesley.  This post is to help those who may be moving to a new appointment.  While I haven’t moved as often as others, I have moved to two churches that were in difficult transition periods.  In each of those, we experienced success.  The most important thing I learned is get started well and manage expectations.  Hopefully, these two lessons will be helpful for you.

First, be careful what you change.  I do not subscribe to the school of thought that you don’t change anything the first year.  I do not believe that is a good strategy or shows good leadership.  The better course is to find the things that need to be changed that produce small wins for you and the congregation.  These changes should be needed changes that help you gain support among the stakeholders.  You may see some things YOU want to change, but they may strike at the identity of the congregation (whether healthy or not).  You need time and trust to deal with larger, more complex changes.  How do you know which is which?  Conduct a series of home meetings and invite every member of your church (active and inactive).  Set the groups up by neighborhoods or based on convenient time slots.  Break up the advocacy groups (a Sunday school class, or interest group).  Let them meet with those outside their regular group.  If you serve a small congregation, you can do this one on one.  Ask them the following:  “What are the strengths of this church?”  “What are the areas of growth?” (Notice I didn’t say weakness).  And, “If money were no object and we could not fail, what one thing would you like to see our church do?”  Collect all the answers, pray, listen, discern, read context…only then target areas where change is needed.  The complex stuff can wait until you show you are one of them and not just some outsider or hired hand.  One piece of advice I always heeded…don’t let worship be one of the first things you change.  The worship service is a key formative part of their identity…to change that before you understand the meaning of why they do what they do is…well, not very smart.

Second, let the leadership of the church assist you in determining your priorities as pastor.  News flash…you can’t do everything.  And you certainly can’t do everything well (even though some of us think we can).  You need to determine your priorities each year and you need input from the church leadership as you determine them.  I was given this list by my mentor Dr. Jim Jackson, Senior Minister of Chapelwood UMC in Houston, Texas.  I have used it regularly and found it very helpful.  There are 12 categories.  Produce a sheet with the 12 and hand out to your Staff Parish Committee, or other leadership groups, and ask them to rank them 1 to 12 according to the way they think their pastor should use their time – 1 is most important, 12 least important.  The list is (in no particular order).

  1. Worship Planning and Preaching – planning and leading worship, sermons, etc.
  2. Teaching and Discipling – teaching bible studies, confirmation, new member classes, study courses, Sunday school, etc.
  3. Counseling – provide guidance for individuals, couples, families, be involved in their lives, decisions, and crises
  4. Visiting and Care Giving – visiting from house to house, calling on members, hospital visitation, shut in visitation
  5. Evangelizing/Church Growth – reaching new people in community for Christ, bring them into church, introduce them to discipleship,
  6. Consensus Building/Fundraising – resolve conflict in church, build harmony, focus on stewardship and raising budget, paying off debt
  7. Administration & Communication – working with staff and key laity to develop plans and programs that reach members and the community, programming of church
  8. Staff Supervision & Mentoring – serving as “head of staff”, being point person in developing staff responsibilities, select, supervise, and develop staff
  9. Family Leader – cultivate a model family life, inspire church and community
  10. Personal Spiritual Development – engage in spiritual disciplines, prayer, bible study, spiritual leadership
  11. Community Leader – serve as church’s representative in the community, face of church, civic involvement
  12. Denominational Leader – participate in United Methodism beyond local church, district, conference, jurisdictional and general level

After your leadership ranks the categories, determine the top five.  After a time of prayer and discernment, try your best to make the top five your top priorities for time and energy during the first year.  The others areas should not be neglected, but you need to remember that what you like to do and what the people of the church feel you need to do should be balanced together.  All of these things are worthy and good.  This is all about managing expectations.

Remember, if you want to conduct deeper change in any congregation, you have to earn trust and that takes time…along with making good decisions.  These things simply help you get started well.  My prayer is that all the new pastors will be blessed in their new appointments and that God will work in wonderful ways through you and through the church!

South Georgia Annual Conference Recap

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I just returned from the South Georgia Annual Conference in Macon, Georgia.  Each year, almost 1,000 delegates of the United Methodist Churches in South Georgia gather to worship, study, and order the work of the conference.  Conference begins with opening worship on Sunday night and concludes with a time of worship and sending forth on Tuesday afternoon as the Bishop “fixes” the appointments of all clergy.

One of the most sacred times of conference is the service of commissioning and ordination on Monday night.  During this service, the candidates for ordained ministry are commissioned (the first step toward ordination after the completion of seminary) or ordained (the final step, which occurs two years after seminary graduation, completion of probationary time, and passing written/oral exams).  This year was special for Wesley United Methodist Church at Frederica because one of our own, the Rev. Bill Culpepper (you may officially call him Rev.!) was commissioned during the service.  His family was present and many from Wesley watched the live streaming online.

The biggest item of business was the discussion on whether or not to reduce the number of districts in our conference.  We currently have 9 districts with a district superintendent in each district.  A study committee brought information to look at the possibility of 9, 7, or 6 districts in South Georgia.  After debate, the Annual Conference voted to reduce to 6 districts beginning June 2014.  What does this mean?  Why make this decision?  In my opinion, there are two major rationales.

First, the biggest reason most people cited was the cost savings.  By reducing to 6 districts, the grand total of savings in the conference budget will be $550,291 (see page 22 of district study report, corrected from $537,529).  This savings will reduce the conference budget approximately $225,000 in 2014, and the full $550,000 in 2015.  For the local church, this MAY mean less apportionments.  For me, its not so much about the local church’s share of apportionments as it is about the big picture conference budget…which consistently finishes in the red each year, dipping into conference reserves each year.

Second, and the most important reason for me, is that moving to 6 districts will (hopefully!) force us to do things differently.  We’ve had 9 districts since the South Georgia Conference received our own Bishop in 1988.  Bishop King reminds us that since 1988 we have lost membership every year.  Our connectionalism has deteriorated, membership has dropped, and apportionment payment has declined.  The current system of 9 districts do not hurt us, but it is obviously not helping.  By reducing, as many other conferences have done, we are now forced to think more strategically about how to engage in mission at a conference, district and local level.  My hope is to see an effective Conference Core Leadership Team working with a District Leadership Team to assist the local churches in mission and ministry. Our best and brightest clergy and laity need to be a part of this.  Our strongest churches need to step up and participate. Churches, clergy, and laity should take an active leadership role within their districts and the conference.  Unfortunately, we have a very “top-down” structure in South Georgia which disenfranchises the voices and the leadership at the district and local level.  This must change if we are to be successful.

Let’s pray that some innovative steps are taken. I talked with a lot of clergy and laity in Macon who are ready and willing to help in this new direction.  I hope they are called upon.

 

Staying Put at the Tower of Babel

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Read Genesis 11:1-9

In our lives we are all faced with decisions about who we are, what we do, and what we want to leave behind. Whenever we are confronted with the thought that one day we may be gone, or changed, or old, or ineffective, we wonder, “How will people remember us?” “What will we have accomplished in life?”

This is why the story  of the Tower of Babel is appropriate both for Pentecost and for Graduate Sunday. The passage calls us to examine our reason for doing what we do. It exposes the underlying cause for building monuments (to ourselves or to others). But even more importantly, the passage reveals to us how to face the future with peace in our heart, living God’s plan for us.

God’s decision for humanity was that they should spread abroad throughout the earth. But humanity stayed together for their safety and protection and self-preservation. They felt that venturing forth across the earth was dangerous.
So they did what they wanted, which was not what God wanted. This made them feel secure. They lived together and built a monument as a testimony to the power of living together. Is that a bad thing??

It wasn’t that building the tower was wrong. It was their disobedience to God’s sending forth to spread out across the land. And as they grew comfortable together, not venturing out, they grew arrogant, rebellious, and prideful.  As my 12th grade history teacher, Mrs. Kellett used to say, “the civilization grew fat and happy.”  And so in their moment of yawning and wondering about life, they built a tower. The problem was disobedience. God sent them abroad to impact the world, but they stayed in one place and just tried to build something big…rather than be something big.

These people could not conceive of blessing and security coming as a result of being sent out into the world, even though God commanded it. They felt most secure when they were living close together. They saw the future as brighter when they could leave a monument to their success.

But God said, no…I want you to venture out…take risks…populate the earth…depend on me…not on your own strength.

Mark Twain once said, “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

We are called to trust in God. To listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit. To not become complacent, fat and happy, but to heed God’s call to spread out across the world to impact the world for God.  We do this not for ourselves and our own lasting memories…but to be a part of God’s plan of salvation and grace to a world in need.
We are not being called to be everyone else. We are called to be ourselves. The selves God created us to be.

“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.” ~e.e. cummings, 1955

Here for a Reason…

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Read Acts 16:9-15

As Luke tells the story of the birth of the Christian church, he wants to make two things clear. The sharing of the Gospel to the Gentiles is something approved by the Spirit and by the Jerusalem Church. The vision we read about today is God’s approval for mission to Macedonia.

There are two great lessons here:

First, God Calls Us to Listen to the Spirit……
What do you do when you are stymied in life? When things just seem shut to you? How you answer this question tells us a lot about you. I think the general advice we receive from the culture is to press forward with determination and break through on our own. After all, we can’t let little obstacles get in our path, can we? We know that those who achieve most are often the most determined and focused, and so the “lesson” seems to be that when obstacles arise, keep going. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard TV preachers say, “You’ve got to turn those stumbling blocks into stepping stones!!”

But that’s not the message God gives Paul. When Paul was blocked, he stopped and listened. When you get blocked or stymied, you might try one more time to see what’s what, but if blocked again, then it’s time to listen. We are so busy trying to overcome everything that we never stop, pray and listen.  A lot of the time we don’t listen because we are afraid. We think, ‘if I really took some time to listen to where God is leading me, what kind of life would I be led to?’ Take Paul here as a guide and spend more time listening than proclaiming; more time in developing ears that hear.

Second, God Calls Us to Look for Opportunities….
Paul went into Macedonia and sought out the people who would be receptive. Paul’s experience in mission illustrates for us how useful it is not only to be spiritually attuned to the world around us but also to be practically-minded.  In the passage, Paul goes to where the seekers gather.  He was strategic.  And we find, as in this case, that God opens a way where we only thought there may have been opposition.

I will tell you that since I arrived at Wesley United Methodist Church at Frederica in 2009, we’ve accomplished a lot.  But all along the way I have to tell you that I have  done a lot of prayerful listening. I have been listening to the Spirit and waiting for the clear, unifying vision God has for us. What I have found as I talk to so many of you is this:  Some of us have a clear vision for God’s work in the world around you and you have been at work. Others of us know Wesley should be engaged in mission, but it hasn’t always been clear enough to motivate at an organizational level. Others of you, as you have shared with me honestly, are having a hard time listening to the Spirit and seeing the opportunities because of the debt of the church. I can understand all three of these responses.

Retiring the debt has been a top priority for us since 2009, which is why we have made such wonderful progress. What gives me great hope and excitement is this: If we can rally to pay down our debt by $3.3 million in 4 years, just image what this church can do out of debt with a clear and compelling vision from God for this community and world?

I am excited for our future. I hope you can see that God is working among us. When this debt is no longer a limitation, I truly believe God will open the floodgates toward transforming our community.

The Word of Distress: “I Thirst”

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John 19:28-29
28After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty.”29A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth.

Of all the words spoken on the cross that day, these words were the only ones where Jesus seemed to focus on his person alone. All others last words of Christ on the cross were focused on others – either those present or to God his Father.
It was as if at the lowest point in his life, abased to the lowest levels, his soul takes center stage and while Jesus’ humanity seems to take center stage, it is at this very moment that the divinity of the Messiah is made known. The divinity of Jesus was never more real and present than when Jesus was most fully human. The divinity of Jesus was never more real and present than when Jesus was most fully human.

We have been walking through these last words of Christ on the cross the past few weeks.

First he forgives directly the soldiers who mock, beat, and nailed his battered body to the cross, but we learned that forgiveness extends to all of us for whom this cruel at was necessitated, Jews and Gentiles alike. And it also means we are to forgive.

Next he promises a dying penitent rest and peace and paradise. He had not broken faith with his Father despite the suffering, for this thief had heard him call God Father and the thief heard him forgive those who ill treated him. The dying thief saw Christ and responded humbly.

Jesus fulfils his familial duties by entrusting his mother to the disciple whom he loved. He gives his mother a son in place of the one that is being lost that day, for even on that cross he was still her child. This is only the second time Jesus calls his mother woman- at his first miracle and at this his final miracle. The word of relationship calls puts us in God’s care and calls us to care for one another.
He cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” echoing Psalm 22 when he feels the weight of sin on himself and the heaviness calls him to lament. He is the obedient servant of the Lord, sensing the loss and suffering of the world on his shoulders. His cry was your cry.

And then he returns to focus on his body and his suffering and cries out; “I Thirst”. The Living Water says this, the one who announces that all who thirst may come and drink freely of himself.

Maybe we can join him in his thirst, at least in thirsting after righteousness, justice and peace this Easter season, but in our bodies, the place of our conscious acts, in our bodies, the place we share with others intimately or otherwise and in a way that translates into fullness of life for other bodies.

The Big Three: Money, Sex, and Power

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I Corinthians 9:24-27
24Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. 25Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one. 26So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; 27but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified

Most of us are overwhelmingly focused on the tasks we have to accomplish each and every day. Last week on Tuesday morning with a bunch of guys at breakfast, I was sharing with them an app I have on my iPad where I keep all my notebooks. The first one I go to every do is the To Do book. I create my To Do list. If I don’t, I will forget something (in addition to the many things I forget to put on my list.) But you see, part of the problem with our out of control lives is this To Do list. We are more focused in our lives on what we have TO DO, then who we are working TO BE. A friend of mine recently asked me if I have ever made a TO BE list instead of a TO DO list. He told me, if you let the TO BE list guide you, you will find your life transformed.  Why is it we spend more time focusing on what we need to do instead of focusing on who we are? Thomas Merton once said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” This is so true.

Three human needs have the capacity to destroy any one of us if we don’t spend time in examining our lives: money, sex, and power. It is no wonder early monastic communities established three vows for those called to religious leadership: poverty, chastity (celibacy), and obedience. These vows were severe protective measures to guard against the fatal compulsion of these three needs. While the early monastics approached these three human needs with vows of denial, that is not the only way to bring them under control.  During the Reformation in the 16th century, the leaders of the church stressed a more positive response to deal with the Big Three: faithful stewardship, covenantal love, and self-giving service as healthy responses to these three temptations. Rather than deny the needs, they sought to control, direct, and redeem them. This new understanding in Christian faith saw money, sex, and power not as evil in and of themselves, what matters is how they are used in our lives. This is why self-examination is so important in managing our out of control lives. Instead of just going, we need to figure out what makes us go.  Over time the church’s view toward money, sex, and power shifted as the role of each in society was changing.

The modern era has sought to make peace with money, sex, and power. It seems that many of us believe we are immune to the dangers of each one. But the truth is, they still have the power to destroy families and lives if they remain unchecked.
I’ve shared stories before of how the BIG THREE can destroy lives. We’ve seen it in our own families. Most of the time, I have found that what leads us to fall to their power is that we never really spent time examining what makes us tick. We never spent time on our TO BE list.

Paul talks here about bringing his body under control and how important it is. We must know that money, sex, and power have the ability to cloud our judgment, corrode our values, and capture our will leading us to behave in ways that are irresponsible.

Where does the search for begin? You and I need to look for individuals who have demonstrated the inner capacity to deal creatively with money, sex, and power in their lives. In Christian tradition, we have called these people spiritual guides, mentors, abbas, or ammas (fathers or mothers).  They come alongside us, with our permission, and become “ruthlessly compassionate truthtellers”.  We can’t overcome the power of the Big Three alone.  We need someone to help us – to guide us.  Will you find someone to come alongside you?  To help you TO BE the person God created you to be?