Pastor's Perspective, March

The Feeling of a Season

March is usually characterized for us by vacations, freakish weather, and basketball tournaments. Will it also be characterized for us by lent? Lent is a season when, guided by Jesus’ example of forty days in the wilderness, we adopt a spiritual discipline (such as fasting, as Jesus did) and struggle with the temptations which confront us. It is a season in life when some of us give up some element of our lives as a sacrificial discipline. Many of us examine ourselves and ask, as we did this past Ash Wednesday, “What do I want to burn away from my life? Some think of bad habits or luxuries we’ve grown too accustomed to, and decide to practice going without.

I’ve found that my Lenten disciplines are more effective and have the potential for long lasting change in my own behavior if I also think of some positive action or thought and replace the negative with the positive. When my mind turns to the old thought or practice I am asking God to help me abandon for at least a season of discipline, I’ve found it empowering to simply pray, “With your help God, I can….” Followed by the name of that thought or practice you are attempting to abstain from during Lent.

Also important is replacing the “time spent” typically on that previous thought or action, and fill it with time spent in devotion or practicing our discipleship. You have access to many ideas for spiritual disciplines on our linked websites on the church weblog www.morrisokumc.blogspot.com. If you’ve never been to the church website, give it a look

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel spoke of the Sabbath as a “cathedral in time.” I think this is a great way for us to imagine what we are doing with lent. We are tearing down the inner strip malls and brothels and building gardens and sanctuaries. Two of the groups within the church that have real potential for formative spiritual practice that creates a “cathedral in time” are the Covenant Discipleship group and the confirmation class.

Covenant Discipleship is a group of people who hold one another in “covenant accountability.” Each new group creates a new covenant around the four areas of worship, personal devotion, justice and compassion. A pilot group met every week from late 2007 until the end of 2008 to speak with one another about the covenant and how we had lived up to it or not. The process of sharing your struggles and victories with living your discipleship helps to strengthen it. If you are interested in participating in such a group, talk to Kim Davis, Donna Haggard, Shirley Miller, Nathan Mattox, Linda King, Karen Morris or Jackie Vaughn. We are looking expanding the gift of this ministry within the church.

Also embarking on a new course is at least five young people who will be exploring the life of faith and the story of our scriptures and tradition. They will be staying after church several Sundays to participate in discussions, mission trips, tours of other faiths’ houses of worship and even an outing to explore the caves at Devil’s Den State Park in Arkansas. During the first weekend of March, several of them will be attending a Confirmation retreat with youth from around the conference. I’m in charge of the final worship service, which is a real life experience of the Prodigal Son story (excluding the dissolute living, of course.) Be praying for Charlsey, Lee, Travis, Colby, and Rhoen, and if you know of any other 6^th-8^th graders who would like to participate in confirmation over the next 3 months, a list of our activities is (guess where!) The website!

Also at the church website, you’ll find a link to the “examen,” a prayer tradition from Ignatius, a man who rose to prominence as a fierce soldier, and turned away from that life to instead practice prayer and worship. His daily prayer of sharing with God (and a community) our greatest struggle and joy of the day guides many to a rich spiritual life. A good book about the examen that is very accessible (it even has cartoons) is Sleeping with Bread, by Dennis Linn and his family. I suggest it to you if you’re looking for a spiritual discipline.

I hope Lent is a cathedral in time for you. If you need any guidance in deepening your walk of faith, that is why I am here.

Ash Wednesday Service Tonight at 7pm

Come mark the beginning of Lent by being marked with the symbol of our mortality and Sin.  

Confirmation Retreat Registration

Hey parents and youth.  Things are shaping up for us to have a great confirmation class.  We'll kick things off with a retreat with many other youth from the area on March 6-7.  We'll leave the church at 4:15 on Friday and return here at 9:30pm on Saturday.  If you're going, we need a registration form as soon as possible.  Print it out here, then drop it by the parsonage or the office.  Call Nathan if you have any questions.  Thanks!  

Other dates for confirmation events can be found here.

Transfiguration Sunday Sermon: Out of the Shining of Remembered Days

Sermon Texts

Transfiguration gives us a template for worship

Important not to try and pitch our tents at one hallowed experience. 

He went downhill.  There is more to faith than having experiences.

 

My sermon today has basically been an adaptation from the Interpreter’s Bible Reflection of Halford E. Luccock

 

Transfiguration may remind us of what worship may mean—a shining hour, high and lifted up, when Jesus and his revelation of God are luminous from within, their own self authenticating evidene, with a glow such as no fuller on earth can supply. 

 

Life’s best hopes and highest aspirations are validated. A poet has written of old age and the “last song” he would make “out of the shining of remembered days.”  Worship may be this steady “shining of remembered days,” a sustaining power.

 

Paul, besides being scourged and imprisoned, remembered in Acts 26, “a light from heaven, brighter than the sun. shining around me, and hearing a voice.” 

 

Does worship have that sustaining power for us?  That despite the difficult periods of our lives be reminded of God’s presence and power?

 

Poem byu Eunice Tietjens,

But I shall go down from this airy place, this swift white peace,
  this stinging exultation.
And time will close about me, and my soul stir to the rhythm
  of the daily round.
Yet, having known, life will not press so close, and always I shall feel time
  ravel thin about me;
For once I stood
In the white windy presence of eternity.

 

A life which has no transfigured hours of worship is poor, no matter how rich the furniture.

 

Mountain top experience. 

 

Science and biology attest to something actually happening in our brains when we are truly at worship or at prayer or meditation. 

We are given the ability to see beyond or within. 

 

However, this scripture also speaks about the danger implicit in every complete satisfaction.  Getting life pegged at that point. 

 

Think of the many areas in which the mood of Peter, when he said in effect “let’s stay here and build,” blocks the possibilities of life.

 

Always a tragedy when a person moves on everywhere else but leaves his religious thinking behind, pegs his spiritual experience at a point away back in the past.

 

A life which might have been a voyage of discovery is chained to a spot reached before any genuine exploration could really begin. 

 

Also is sometimes the result of a faith which has refused to grow, and so no longer is able to fit an expanding world of experience and need.

 

Sometimes underlies that penchant for “the way we’ve always done it.” 

 

It was good for Peter to have the experience, not good for him to try and prolong it.  He had to go on to new experiences of understanding and discipleship.  The voice said, “Listen to Him!”

 

((((( Take these words into your imagination.  Let them run freely over time and space.  Consider how many occasions there have been when the words “This is my beloved son, listen to him” have been and are the supreme wisdom. 

 

When a life looks out on the world in the early years, when it is choosing its goals and its way, its ambitions and aspirations, then listen to him who rejected the proffered kingdoms of this world for the larger kingdom of God.

 

Many years ago Rudyard Kipling gave an address at McGill University in Montreal. He said one striking thing which deserves to be remembered. Warning the students against an over-concern for money, or position, or glory, he said: “Some day you will meet a man who cares for none of these things. Then you will know how poor you are. 

 

When life goes into eclipse, when darkness covers the face of the sun, in sorrow and failure and despair, then listen to him who was a man of sorrows, and whose revelation of God brings the sustaining word of comfort and the enabling word of hope. 

 

When life waxes in might and gathers power or riches, when the siren song of self-indulgence are sounding, then listen to him who can save life from going to pieces. 

 

Raphael’s picture of the transfiguration.  Shows the strking contrast between the mountaintop and what awaits the disciples down the hill. Above, the beauty of that high vidsion; beow, tragic need and suffering, the impotence of the disciples, and the fruitless discussion about it. 

 

We commonly hear the phrase “going downhill” applied to a person in a condemning or pitying manner.  When we say someone is “going downhill” we mean that he has seen better days, that he is descending to an anti-climax. 

 

But there is a nobler sense of the words as well—the sense in which Jesus spent his whole life going downhill from the high and lonely places, where he held communion with God, to the level, crowded palaces of human need.

 

There are those who spend much of their time on the fine art of “going uphill,” climbing to some height of advantage, position, power, or wealth, and pay no attention at all to this much finer art, the art of going downhill.  It is the lifelong descent from the place of vision to the place of deed, from the hill of privilege to the plain of need. 

 

This is the trajectory of the life of our savior attested to in the Kenosis passage we read earlier.  It is a hymn from our earliest history, and means “emptiness” or “poured out.”  Jesus didn’t stop going downhill.  He went all the way down the hill through another uphill climb to Golgotha.  After dying on the cross, our creed states that he even descended into the land of the dead. 

 

We should glorify this man, because he went all the way downhill for the sake of us.  So that we may be lifted up and transfigured along with him.  

Ash Wednesday, Feb. 25 at 7pm

Come mark the beginning of Lent in worship.  At 7pm, we will gather for Ash Wednesday and the imposition of the ashes-which come from the burned palms of last year's Palm Sunday as a reminder of our frailty and mortality.  

Have you been to our new prayer chapel?

I've included some photos before of a project we are working on in the former storage room off the sanctuary.  Though it has been a pastor's office and a choir room in the past, the little room right off the sanctuary had been in use for a number of years as a storage area.  The worship committee felt the room was too pretty to "store stuff, " and began work on a prayer chapel.  Harvey Grundman made the altar for the room and recently cut a pew in half to use in the room, and we've made other additions to offer an area for prayer and contemplation.  Come in and read a copy of Alive Now, use the finger labyrinth, sit by the fountain, or kneel at the prie dieu and light a candle on the altar.  Each Sunday communion is available in the room, and during business hours, the chapel is open from an outside door for your use.   Our prayer is that the congregation finds the chapel to be an encouragement to observe a "cathedral in time."  Thanks to everyone who contributed to the project and who contributed to the memorials fund of the church.  We believe we have turned storage space into sacred space.  

Feb. 15 Sermon: Run, Christian Run

I'm sorry for those of you who like to listen to the sermon--I've had Ipod trouble lately. Once again, the sermon notes are all I can provide.

Texts: Isaiah 40: 28-31

1 Cor. 9: 24-27

 

Paul appealing to a culture steeped in athleticism.  Athenian and Isthmuthian games (which were played within 10 miles of Corinth, less than a year prior to when this letter was written.) 

 

Paul was writing to an audience who had sports on the brain.  I’m not just interested in looking at what this passage says, but also how it is said.  Paul appeals to the culture.  He knows what they find compelling, and he uses that language to describe the good news. 

 

Coming soon will be the NFL draft.  This could be an equivalent metaphor.  Darren McFadden blew them away at last year’s combine (where scouts from NFL teams examine a player)  4.3 40 yard dash.  What was he competing for?  Millions of dollars. 

 

Maybe not what we would compare to a crown of glory, but definitely is perishable.  Especially when you consider he ended up picked by the Raiders, which is owned and dominated by a crazy man.  As he found out this year, plagued by injuries and on a team that fired its coach midseason, that glory if fleeting. 

 

Running the race as though you will win.  Not because there is only one prize to be had.  Paul distinguishes between an athletic race and the spiritual quest in that way.  But, he admires the athlete’s model of self-control. 

 

Reading “Outliers” The story of Success, by Malcolm Gladwell.  He says in the book that in study after study, those who show virtuoso talent in one area have one thing in common: they have all practiced around 10,000 hours to get to that point. 

 

We must train hard because we have been given the chance to live the life of discipleship.  There are those in the world who desperately want to express their faith but are kept from doing so by repressive governments or cultures of exclusion. 

 

Scene from Rudy—he struggles to make ends meet in order to get into Notre Dame.  Tries for 2 years in jr. college across the street improving his grades.  Finally makes the practice squad, which the coaches describe as, those people " who will never have a chance to dress for a game and who we don't care get hurt. "

 

Would we approach our faith life with less determination and focus?  If we have only one opportunity to “play the game,” are we just going to go out there and kick the grass? 

 This is what underlies Paul’s advice to the Corinthians. 

One big thing that just happened in sporting world is signing day.  Futures of football programs are speculated and prognosticated based on what high school seniors will receive the 25 or so scholarships to play football at different schools. 

 

Number of stars, better the prospect.  Here’s some good news for us—God wants all of us on the team. God give us all a scholarship called grace.   Now we should earn the scholarship we’ve been given. 

 

You know how a team plays better on its own court?  The players know that the crowd is just waiting to cheer them on, so they want to give them something to cheer about.  Our faith community should be like that. 

 

Cheer each other on in this faith journey.  Express yourself to others—let someone know that they’ve inspired you or encouraged you.  

Feb. 8 Sermon: I gotta be me.

No ipod again, only notes.

1 Cor and Mark

I gotta be me. Sammy Davis Jr.

Do we? Paul here speaks about taking on the characteristics of others in order to be able to relate to them.

We privlilege our cult of our own personality to the extent that we might think, “be true to who you really are” is part of the gospel.

This is half true. We are so thoroughly bought by a culture that tries to sell us every reason in the book as to why “who we are” isn’t good enough.

Consumer empire. Difficulty of realizing who we are and being true to who we are.

In a very real sense, God can’t use us until we know who we are and are willing to be true and honest to ourselves and others about that.

Part of what it means to confess that we are a sinner. That we are lacking. That we aren’t self made or self realized. We need rescuing.

Not the end of the road though. Paul is telling us there is something beyond that. It is putting the self aside for the purpose of something greater.

Paul says he’s willing to “become a Jew, so that the Jews.” He is a Jew, is he not?

There is one greater than us, and there is a purpose greater than our own “self realization.” This is where self-help and new age fall short.

Struggle with “being who I am,” and “being all things to all people.” Why—so the good news can be shared.

Perhaps this a gift of the iteneracy. You aren’t served by folks who are just like you are.

King of the Hill, Methodist pastor is from Iowa or something. Obvious that she’s different than the culture. We need to know that that kind of setup is helpful to the Gospel.

Talk about how I’ve had to stretch and learn about my context. How is God calling you to stretch the boundaries of your own personality?

The gospel, the power of God, always encounters and engages people where they are, where they live, in their social matrix. Inevitably, the gospel moves them and changes them, but it always comes to them, engages them, and nourishes them from that very point, as and where they are.

What is the Gospel to you? What is the good news of Jesus Christ? What meaning does that have for you?

Now, think about someone who you think needs to hear that message. That’s an easy way to share the Gospel because you’re just sharing with someone else the way that you hear God calling you.

What does Paul mean by “Gospel” the Corinthians:

Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.

Notice that in Mark, just when Jesus seems to be hitting his stride and casting out demons right and left, he goes out into the wilderness for some prayer and solitude, and when his disciples come to him with the message that everyone is searching for him, Jesus says they need to carry on and find other places to spread the message.

Casting out demons was a fine way to spread the good news in one area, but we find Jesus up to other things in other places.

Paul mixes the imagery of being a slave for Christ and being free in Christ because both are true, and because some of us need to hear words of freedom while others need to hear words of tighter binds.

Obviously, Romans 1.1-5 (which proclaims Jesus as resurrected Lord) and Romans 1.16-17 (which proclaims what happens to those who acknowledge Christ as Lord when they hear the gospel, the good news, of his resurrection and exaltation over all) fit together like hand and glove. There should be no tension between them. But it is helpful to notice how they fit together. Putting it roughly, Romans 1.1-5 tells us the content of the Gospel and Romans 1.16, 17 tells us the effect of believing the Gospel.

Others, regardless of their differences from us, deserve to be given the Gospel in whatever way they might understand it. They deserve it because they are children of God.

Ben Harper, Power of the Gospel, (Fr. Fight for Your Mind, )

It will make a weak man mighty.
It will make a mighty man fall.
It will fill your heart and hands or leave you with nothing at all.
It's the eyes for the blind and legs for the lame.
It is the love for hate and pride for shame.

That's the power of the gospel.
That's the power of the gospel.
That's the power of the mighty, mighty power.
That's the power of the gospel, well.
That's the power of...

Gospel on the water,
Gospel on the land.
The gospel in every woman,
And the gospel in every man.
Gospel in the garden,
Gospel in the trees.
The gospel that's inside of you,
Gospel inside of me.

That's the power of the gospel.
That's the power of the gospel.
That's the power of the mighty power.
That's the power of...
That's the power of the gospel.

In the hour of richness,
In the hour of need.
For all of creation comes from the gospel seed.
And you may leave tomorrow and you may leave today,
But you've got to have, got to have the gospel when you start out on your way.

Feb. 1 Sermon, "To Eat or Not to Eat, Is that the Question?"

Sorry no ipod today. I messed up. But here are notes for your edification.

Texts: Psalm and 1 Corinthians

Speak about going home sophomore year.
Interesting class on the hist of Islamic middle east
Encounter with

A little learning is a dangerous thing. Sophomore: wise fool.

Don’t care what you know till they know that you care

Freedom of being known. Family knows us as we really are. Facebook, friend of mine had a video of her dad dancing around like a fool to the “King of the Hill” theme song. Freedom of being yourself when you are known for who you are.

For Paul the definitive knowing is God’s knowing of us, which, if love for God is properly in place (cf. Deut 6:5), will result in our being known, in our receiving God’s love in a way that not only claims us for God but also engages us in love toward others (cf. 13:9, 12).

Although the word does not appear in this context, grace is at issue here. It is not what believers know that sets them right with God and gives them to one another. The flow never runs that way for Paul. God’s freely given, unmerited love claims the believers and establishes them. It is a delicate matter in Paul’s understanding. One does not come to know God as many Greeks had assumed. Rather, one is known by God (Gal 4:9).

All proper knowing proceeds from God and acknowledges that God’s knowing precedes and grounds what believers know. God’s knowing establishes, constitutes (cf. Exod 33:12, 17) believers, who then must caution themselves that their knowing is derivative and that what they know should function as a guide to love rather than as an index of status and rank.

Love is not just a sentiment, not just a feeling, not merely a sort of disposition. Love works; it acts; it does things; and the chief thing it does is to edify, build up, cause growth in each of the persons who engages in it and who is engaged by it.

Love transforms circumstances and people. The loved one is never again the same; the one who loves is never again the same. Love is thus a transaction but not a bartering; it is not susceptible to bargaining. Love, once under way, takes on a life of its own; like the grace on which it is built, it surprises. Love restores, love enlarges, and love makes whole. Most often that is what happens with love. But love is not a magic wand; love can be spurned and rejected; and sometimes love elicits its nearest of kin, hatred.

an arrogance which idolizes one’s own perspective on the world.
Today that arrogance is on display regarding the interactions of the Corinthians around the decision to eat meat. Though Paul is inclined to agree with the opinion of those who eat meat sacrificed to idols, he thoroughly disapproves of their attitude. So instead of taking the opportunity to take the side of the “leanrned,” he reprimands them. He hones them. Tries to give them the humility that comes with true knowledge.
In his letter Paul resorted to the Corinthians’ own language about the strong and the weak, turning it on its head, saying that those who presumed themselves strong in fact revealed themselves to be weak, reminding them that God chose the weak and the foolish to shame the strong and wise. He Went on to criticize the Corinthians for their opinionated quarrelsomeness, their slippery morality, their unwarranted boasting. They exasperated him by turning the Lord’s Supper into a series of private parties at which some people gorged themselves and became drunk while others got nothing to eat.
And yet it was to these people, to this divisive and anxious fellowship, that Paul wrote one of the most eloquent reflections on what love is, and what it is not. Paul understood that in Corinth the spiritual pride of comprehension had supplanted the leadership of love.

Jan 25 Sermon: Paul's Family Values

Sermon Texts: Psalm and Corinthians

One of the things I have noticed about churches and people looking for churches is that “family values” seems to occupy a place of prime importance.

Many seem to think that the pastor’s message, the Sunday school curriculum, the programming, and everything else should adhere to this nebulous social concept that we have that some things are full of family values, and other things are not.

Are family values actually lived, or are they just views, platforms. Do we care more about how one lives a married life, or how one theoretically defines marriage?

Marriage, I’d say is one of those family values. Mourning, of course is the expression of valuing your family, so I’d say it is a family value too. The accumulation and responsible use of money is a family value.

There are tons of churches which offer meaningful programming and entertaining topical sermons on these issues. Churches that approach ministry in this way are lauded for their practicality and worthwhile messages.

So, I wonder how Paul would fit into one of these immensely practical churches offering money management classes and marriage enrichment small groups with his odd advice to the Corinthians church. This requires a little digging into the context.

Paul believed that the second coming of Christ would happen at any moment, as evidenced by this scripture—so being the pressing nature of the apocalypse, Paul encouraged his disciples to focus on the relationship with God over all else.
Trying to help them “will the one thing” as Kierkegaard says.

Not nec. Bad things that compete with our dedication to God. Good things do too. (Nooma) Can we “will the one thing?”Psalm says “For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation.
2He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall never be shaken.
“God alone” I don’t think Paul was down on the relationships that people have in life. But he was aware of the fact that all these other things take time, and time spent addressing all the other needs first leaves little time for our relationship with the one “in whom we live and move and have our being.”
We need a re-orienting. Paul says to the Romans, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Make the time to acknowledge God’s presence. Be here in worship, be in prayer or devotion or worship on a regular basis. Put first things first, then all else will fall into place.
When we first place our trust and faith and hope in God, and we nurture that relationship with time and attention, then the other concerns we have can flow out of that relationship with God. We’ll find that we don’t feel hurried, we don’t feel stretched and pushed and obligated and guilted into doing things. We’ll find, that like Jesus, we are able to press on toward that “one thing” that God intends for us: life—and life abundant! 02

Confirmation Dates to Remember

Feb. 20: Deadline for Retreat Registration

March 6-7: Confirmation Retreat at Camp Egan

March 22: After church-2pm (Pizza included) “TheMethod to our Methodism.”

April 5: After Church-5pm: Operation Understanding

April 19: Lunch and work at homeless shelter: end 3pm

May 3: After church till 2pm-“What you don’t know about the Bible could fill a book.”

May 23: Hiking/Caving at Devil’s Den, Arkansas

May 31: Pentecost and Confirmation Sunday!

Jan 18 Sermon: Nazareth and Toad Suck

Sermon Texts:
Epiphany 2B Corinthians and John



Sermon Notes
Christ from Hicksville

Growing up in Arkadelphia, we always looked down our noses at folks from Gurdon. It just sounds like a place to make fun of, doesn’t it? The po-dunkness of the town just flows from the guttural sounding names of some towns in South Arkansas, where I’m from. Gurdon, Dierks (pronounced Durks), Smackover, Fordyce. We used to make fun of the guys who would date girls from Gurdon. Nothing good comes from Gurdon.

Those towns who tried to name themselves something more glorious usually fall short of the grandiosity of the namesake. There is a London, Tokio (yes, spelled that way), Hollywood, and yes even Paris in Arkansas. .. and London, Hollywood, Tokyo, and Paris they are not.

Some towns are blatantly honest about their place in life. Ashdown was right next to a paper mill, and I suppose it was about the right distance and direction from the plant that it was indeed where the Ash comes down. “Cotton Plant” is Jonny Cash’s hometown, and is aptly described by its name. Even our largest city capitol is a humble “Little Rock.”

Early in my hometown’s history, the name was briefly considered to be changed from Arkadelphia to Athens to attract another university. (Arkadelphia has two: OBU and HSU). I suppose the population of Ark. Did think of our little town as a seat of education, like that namesake. But, they stuck with the name that inexplicably elicits laughter from others.

Maybe we as high falutin as we thought we were. No doubt residents of nearby and more significant Hot Springs looked down their noses at us.

But you know what I mean about these little towns? Perhaps you came, or even come from one. Perhaps that’s how folks think about Morris. Or perhaps that’s how we think of other little settlements around here. Ther’s always somewhere smaller and less significant and more laughable. Unless of course you are in Booger Holler, AR. That’s right down the road from Toad Suck.

Canonical gospels all have nothing positive to say about Nazareth, other than it was the home of Jesus.

They try to kill Jesus by throwing him off a cliff, they aren’t able to receive the ministry of Jesus’ ministry. He said himself, a prophet isn’t accepted in his own hometown. Not until Jesus has died and resurrected that his own family begins to believe his Gospel.

Nazareth is either small and insignificant, or it is disreputable because of the religious practices of those northerners.

In Judea, Nazareth and Galilee in general is thought to be a step down from Judah. Judea is where the temple is, after all. The north had more influence from the Assyrian Empire. It was a less “holy” place. Nothing good could come from Nazareth. Nazereth held no cultural significance to Judaism.

Are you willing to accept this Christ who comes from nowheresville? Or, even a disreputable place? It is not what Nathanael observes about Jesus that saves him. According to Nathanael, he doesn’t expect much of this Jesus guy if he comes from Nazareth.

However, it is that encounter with Christ and finding that though he thinks he knows Jesus, Jesus really knows him. Now that is where Nathanael begins his discipleship.

In a sense, Nathanael goes from expecting nothing of Jesus to being wowed by his foreknowledge of his whereabouts to being told, “you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”

That’s what happens when we bow to the truth that great things can come from what we think are insignificant sources. That’s the truth of the nativity. That’s the truth of the incarnation.

God’s mystery and miracle can even come from places like Toad Suck, AR. If we live inside this truth not because we have seen proof, but because God is God—then we are living lives of discipleship.

Even those moments or occasions that we think are insignificant and boring can contain the precious jewel of enlightenment.

One notion of Zen philosophy that really attracted me to that practice is that mindfulness or a settled sense of letting things “be” is often best practiced by being attentive to those mundane practices like doing the dishes or sweeping the floor.
These tasks, which we would probably say, “well, what kind of significant moment could come out of doing the dishes?” hold the keys to enlightenment, because if we find value in the “boring stuff,” then we will be less likely to grow unfazed by the truly “brilliant stuff.” Some people drive the Pacific Coast Highway every day—a highway which most of us would be truly astounded by and shouting “woah, look at that!” at every twist and turn. And some people who have grown accustomed to it probably don’t really see it anymore.

Paul writes to the Corinthians about having the same kind of open mind about the importance of our bodies.

People in the time of Jesus and after (and even now) have a fairly dim view of our bodily life. After all, our bodily life is fragile and corrupted. Our bodies get old and broken and they eventually fail us.

Cheap understanding of value of body—led some to use prostitutes.

Our body is the temple of God. Can anything good come of the body? Our bodies are infused by the Holy Breath of God. Living itself is a miracle. When we cheapen the value of our bodies by following their every urge and inclination, we forget that we are not our own. We belong to God.

God can use any humble vessel or place to bring about significant change. The author of the universe if the author of every part of the universe, and none of it is insignificant. Every sparrow, every hair on our head is numbered. Even Gurdon is the dwelling place of God.

Roof before and after

Thanks to a generous gift from the Goodman family, we were able to able to put on a new roof. What a witness for stewardship! The parish was inspired, and eighty percent of our 2009 budget was raised in our first (ever or in a really long time) pledge campaign. Praise God for the gifts!

Jan 11, 2009 Sermon: Living Water/ Water Living

Stuff from Christian Century Article by Yamada:

“I am haunted by waters.” Last words of Norman Maclean’s novel, A River Runs through it.

Waters haunt all of us who profess the Christian faith. They haunt the human imagination. Rightly so, our bodies are made up of water. If we are prevented from drinking, we will die. If the land is prevented from drinking, we will die.

As some of you may remember, if the land goes without water, the wind can whip the dust into giant clouds of destruction and alter the lives of millions.

Water will play a central role in the coming decades or centuries. When it is said that fresh water will become a commodity like oil, available to a decreasing percentage of Earth’s population, and yet the seas are forecasted to rise and displace billions of people. Humans will have a dual relationship with water in the 21st century. We will desperately need it, and it will inundate us.

Water: metaphor in ancient literature for chaos, leviathan. Also a metaphor for the necessity of life. We are brought into this world through the water of a womb. God’s people come through the waters of the Red sea and the Jordan.

Remember playing with water table at Mid America Museum.
Visit to grand canyon.

Shaped by water metaphor with the grand canyon. Letting our life be eroded by God’s presence and activity. You can tell which stones have not been in the stream for very long. River stone is round and smooth. Foreign stone would be angled and rough.

Didache: what it is, what kind of advice it has about the baptismal waters. It should be flowing.
Perhaps this is one reason why—it reminds us that water is living, and the waters of baptism should be let loose on our lives.

The song we sang earlier has that one line that is so interesting: come Holy Spirit, aid us to keep the vows we make; this very day invade us, and every bondage break. Come give our lives direction, the gift we covet most: to share the resurrection that leads to Pentecost.

How do the waters of baptism “invade” us? They invade our lives. They invade our plans.

They have dual meaning to us as well. Paul speaks about “dying” in the waters of baptism. The act of immersion very illustarates this notion of drowning in the water. In a very real way, we do drown.

The waters of baptism drown that aspect of us that we have been deceived into believing: that we can make it on our own, or that we aren’t worth spit, or that we’re too lost and too far gone to ever come back.

Yes, baptism is s symbol of the death of those ideas about ourselves and the “putting on” of a new identity—that of a child of God.

Early Christians, take off clothes, go down into water, come out and put new clothing on and stomp on the old clothes.

Pouring water over our head—reminds us that the waters of baptism erode our souls. They shape us into the beautiful landmarks that God would have us be.

God making skipping stones


Scientists say the main reason we have life on earth is water.

God agrees.

Jan 4 2009 Sermon, Covenant Renewal Sunday

Scriptures: Deuteronomy 31: 9-13
Jeremiah 31-31-34

Christmas 1b sermon, Dec. 28, 2008, My adopted sister

Sermon Text this week was Isaiah and Galatians.

No notes today (I wrote in the car on notecards) But the gist of the sermon is that Paul's "meaning of Christmas" is that we are adopted through the birth of Christ. When we baptize (as we did this day) we celebrate this truth that we are adopted children of God as one human family. My daughter is my adopted sister.
Listen below if you wish

Dec. 21: Advent 4a sermon: I sing because I'm happy

Sermon Text: The two Luke passages: Annunciation and Magnificat

Sorry I didn't record today. Forgot! Here's the notes to give you an idea of what was said. (It was our Cantata.)

Lot’s of singing today. Probably the most appropriate way to prepare for Christmas. It’s what we find Mary and Elizabeth are shown doing. They are carrying the light and the witness to the light within their bodies—and what does it do to them? Fills their lungs with songs of praise.

I like this idea of carrying Jesus. I can’t know what it is like to carry a baby, but I can know what it is like to carry the baby Jesus. This is the one gestation that we men have the opportunity to experience.

Lara always said that she carried Julianna way high and than she carried Wesley. That got me thinking about how we all have the individual gift of carrying Christ in different ways.

Where do you carry Christ? Do you depend on Christ to guide your decisions? Do you feel the Spirit’s involvement in the decisions you make? Do you approach personal and family decisions with periods of prayer, or even fasting?

Do you carry Christ up high in your lungs, where you feel the Christ child just kicking at your diaphragm trying to urge you to say something? Do you feel compelled to speak the good news of the gospel?

Do you carry Christ in your heart, stirring you to act on behalf of those in our midst who are hungry, tired, put down, and abused?

Do you carry Christ in your mind, enchanting you with new ideas and inspiring the wisdom that pushes us into new ways of knowing Christ?

No matter where your “center of gravity,” I believe it is part of our role as creatures of God to carry Christ in our throats, singing the praises of God. It doesn’t matter if we think we have good voices or not. We sing because we’re happy. We sing because the one who comes in a manger comes to set us free.

Amen.

Dec. 14 sermon, Advent 3B, "It ain't me babe."

Texts: Isaiah and John

Sermon Notes: One of my Christmas memories is looking at Christmas lights with my family. I remember fondly having to be herded into the minivan with my sister at my mom’s insistence to preserve this tradition, and the two of us mocking her with synchronized overly enthusiastic “ooooooohs,” and “aaaaaaaaahs” from the back seat when we would see a house with only the most half-hearted attempt at lighting up the house (if you’d like an example of a half hearted attempt, check out my front porch.)


Today’s scripture tells us that John the Baptist came to testify to the “Light” and that he himself is not the light. What would our fiery John the Baptist think of the light display?

There is one line in that passage that leaped out at me this week as he is there being interrogated by the Pharisees: “I am not.” It reminds me of Bob Dylan’s great song, “It ain’t me babe.”

It seems the interesting thing about JB in this text from John’s Gospel is that he is pretty clear about who he is and who he is not. And maybe we are to learn something from JB’s insistence that he is not the Messiah.

Maybe we are to learn to say that about ourselves. Now, of course we don’t think we are Messiah’s…but there is something in JB’s reaction that is helpful. When asked, he quickly points the attention away from himself and toward the One coming – Jesus. And Jesus did this too. He almost always points attention away from himself and toward God or toward the needs and issues of others – to testify to something much greater!
You know, I bet if we were all honest with ourselves for a moment, I expect most of us might have the notion that religion is about the fulfillment of our hopes. We hope to find peace for our anxious lives, help for the journey.

So we come to church hoping that the music, the scripture and preaching will meet our needs whatever they may be – to have our cup filled to overflowing. We hope to hear interesting sermons that we can use for our lives. If we were all completely honest…most of the time…we come to church for pretty selfish reasons. But that’s understandable, and I don’t think God is angry about our natural aptitude toward self interest.

But, bear with me a moment to say that Advent is often a lesson in humility. It is actually one of the greatest times in the life of our Christian faith where we can say – “It’s not about us…it’s about Jesus”. Because that is what we are supposed to be doing – PREPARING for something much bigger than us! We are reminded in Advent that this is actually the shape of our discipleship – to be the body of Christ in the here and now and point to the way or “testify to the light and love” that is Jesus Christ.

But, we still tend to get caught up in the “maybe it’s about us” idea. In church – we want to have our cups filled; get our own spiritual house or everything in our lives in perfect order to be a good disciple. Friends, while there is real truth in that and we do need to make sure we are in good shape spiritually – we can’t wait forever either – gosh we may never get to a place of perfect order. Because the truth also really is – IT IS IN NO WAY ABOUT US! We must claim as JB did – “No…it’s not me, but it is my job to testify and point the way”.
the hub-bud of Christmas preparation – both in the church and personally with all the shopping and preparations are certainly makes it easy to be “all about us”. We make ourselves absolutely crazy this time of year with stuff, stuff and more stuff that we pile on – in the church we are so busy we can’t even see straight and at home is a frenzy too.

We stay so busy with all the things we think we have to do or need to do or should be doing. And you know what – I just can’t imagine that our Savior who came into this world so humbly, lived as a servant, walked around the desert in sandals intended for us to make the season of his birth so complicated and hectic. He would probably say to us … “get over yourselves”

To juxtapose this mentality with what I see some of you doing, especially this week. We have a group within the church that should be celebrated. Who were involved in a flurry of activity and shopping, but it was for the benefit of others.

It was those who participated in the Angel tree project and brought Christmas gifts to 44 people in our community who would have trouble making ends meet. These are the kinds of gifts that do reflect the gifts of the magi. Giving to glorify God. Taking the attention off ourselves and doing it to testify to the light. Many of you participated in this—thank you.

Also, the gift without any request for recognition of the funds that paid for the reroofing. Isn’t it beautiful! We’re set now for another 30 years, thanks to that gift.

And that my friends, is the real meaning of Jesus coming into the world to walk among us and for this time of Advent preparation. In this passage of John’s Gospel, a much needed humility is worked out by focusing on Jesus – the LIGHT to which JB and John the Witness were sent to testify! We are not the light, but we do indeed point to the light that enlightens our lives and hearts
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What are you hoping for today? I think John is just asking us to have an open heart. Later in this Gospel, Jesus says more about who He is, but right now at the beginning before we meet Him, John simply introduces Jesus as the LIGHT, while saying he is only a witness – to testify to the light. Because in this busy wonderful season, it doesn’t really matter who has the biggest and brightest light display in the neighborhood. We, like John must be clear about who we are – people called to testify to the love of Christ.

Because as Bob Dylan said, “You say you’re lookin for someone:
Never weak but always strong,
To protect you an' defend you
Whether you are right or wrong,
Someone to open each and every door,
Someone who will die for you an' more,
But it ain’t me, babe.

And during this season, it is about the one who is. Let’s take the focus off ourselves and turn attention toward the one who saves us from ourselves.

Amen.

advent 2 sermon, dec 7, the wilderness

texts: isaiah and mark


notes

A way in the wilderness.
Salvation traditionally comes from the wilderness.

Moses, Elijah, and David all had to flee to the wilderness (Exod 2:15; 1 Sam 23:14; 1 Kgs 19:3-4). Likewise, Jesus will emerge from the wilderness to begin preaching the good news and will return there several times (Mark 1:35, 45; 6:31-32, 35; 8:4).61

Where is the wilderness for you? Is the wilderness a safe place or a dangerous place? The Greek God of the wilderness was Pan, the little guy with goat legs, remember. You know what word we get from Pan? Panic!

Story about getting wilderness survival merit badge. Made a shelter in the crook of a fallen tree. Had no food, so we caught a frog and boiled it to eat—(think we just ended up boiling the frog and then being grossed out.).

In the end, our boy scout leaders (who got to bring a tent) surprised us with birthday cake for one of the boys who was spending his birthday on the outing. Spent the night cold and jumpy about the things that might be crawling on me in that little nook.

The wilderness is a place that can be dangerous. Perhaps that’s one reason our salvation begins in the wilderness.

The text from Isaiah says “In the wilderness prepare a way for the Lord.” Interesting that the quotation marks are found around the whole sentence, including “in the wilderness,” in Mark’s use of the same verse from Isaiah, he locates the voice in the wilderness saying ……
You would probably have similar stories about the literal wilderness, but what about our metaphorical wildernesses? Those places and times and life experiences that make us feel uneasy, uncomfortable?

Some would say life in the current economy is a wilderness. We are on edge. We are watching representatives from the auto industry begging for money from the government. Things don’t look good. The prevailing wisdom is that we are one or two wrong moves away from a financial depression!

In this “wilderness” how do we heed John’s call to “prepare a way for the Lord?” How do we “make strait the paths for him?”

Bud Reeves, a minister in Hot Springs, wrote in a recent article of the Arkansas United Methodist, that “tithing creates in us a sense of peace and security” amidst a crumbling economy. Tithing helps us straiten out our own priorities, our own “way.”

This is one way we find hope and promise in the wilderness. If you feel the panic of a world of economic instability, put your trust in God’s activity. How literally and physically put our “trust” in God? We can tithe.

During the Holidays, when everything around us says we should be feeling nostalgic and happy and loving, some of us suffer from grief, and stress, and relational discord.

These are also wilderness experiences. These are situations that make us panicked, and angry, and uneasy. Be assured today that it is in these times of wilderness that God’s power can be most effective in changing your life.
When we are feeling good and happy, we tend to put our confidence in ourselves. When we are stripped of these feelings, we are usually more ready to put our trust in God.

If this season holds the wilderness of grief and pain for you for a loss you have suffered, you can find God’s presence in the loving arms of a community ready to help you bear that weight. You can find hope in the strategies and coping resources available to you tonight at the Griefshare “surviving the holidays” event.

If this season holds for you the wilderness of a stressed marriage, perhaps there you will find a renewed commitment to the covenant of marriage in the truth that love is not just a feeling, love is an act of will. Ask for God’s transforming fire to enliven your marriage with passion and dedication.

If the prospect of buying the perfect gift for your loved ones, attending four parties in three weeks, and travelling to two states in the quest to find that holiday cheer instead leaves you in the wilderness of stress—ask God to help you recognize the peace of the Christ child amidst the chaos of a Bethlehem under siege.

Take heart that Mary and Joseph struggled from similar difficulties, and couldn’t even find a place to stay. So God led them to a stable, where the hope of the world could be born. God works in unexpected ways—attune your senses to God’s path.

All of these wildernesses can be traversed with God’s renewing power. John baptized with water for the forgiveness of sins. He proclaimed that one would come after him who would baptize with the refining fire of the Holy Spirit. A baptism that In Peterson’s words, “would change us from the inside-out.”

.We believe this meal we have available every week, this table of communion, is fuel for that fire. The more steady the flame, the stronger the light to guide our way in this wilderness.

You see, it’s a change in us that gives us a straight path through the wilderness. Circumstances may change, but if we are changed and renewed from the inside out, we can make it through anything

give presence

what does this video inspire you to do?