a little help from my friends

I want to thank all of you that participated in this weeks message. Your comments helped to craft a sermon that reflected both the ideas of the religious community and those outside of it. I appreciate your help and in my opinion it went really well on Sunday. I didn't record this one, but I hope to have recordings available on a regular basis, in the near future. I am only ever as good as the people around me. Thanks to the internet, I am surrounded by all sorts of great and different people as well as the great people I am physically surrounded by. I will post this weeks scripture soon... but it is a tough one and I need to either figure it out or change it so I should have something posted later today or tomorrow. Thanks again everyone and keep up the good work!

A "Wii, Little Man"

Luke 19:1-10

19He entered Jericho and was passing through it. ²A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. ³He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. ⁴So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. ⁵When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” ⁶So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. ⁷All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” ⁸Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” ⁹Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”

• What we notice about Zacchaeus: 1. Seeking Jesus 2. Chief Tax Collector and rich 3. His size and the crowd kept him from seeing Jesus 4. He did what he had to do despite what anyone else tried to do to stop him 5. Welcomed Jesus 6. Took action, Participated 7. Realized that what was "his" was not really "his" 7. Did what he could to make up for his mistakes 8. Didn't just pay for his mistakes, but for the mistakes of other Tax Collectors by giving away half of what he had before even paying back those he wronged.
• Why is the Nintendo Wii so popular? Because of the participatory nature of it? Zacchaeus is an example to us because he "participated" and didn't just play church or play Christian. He was authentic and real. His actions prove this.
  
• Tax Collectors were mostly thieves and ripped people off regularly... a "chief tax collector" probably even more.
  
• The "crowd" keeps people from Jesus... how does the church "crowd" keep people from Jesus?
• Verse 10 "For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.” Is that what the church models? Is that what we are here for? Is that our goal? Or is it to "get something out of it" or to be comfortable. If church is not for the "lost" what is it for? Does the church "seek out" the lost and meet people where they are and give them something to "get out of it?"
  

Lectionary Blog for October 14th 2007

Luke 17:11-19

¹¹On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. ¹²As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, ¹³they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” ¹⁴When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean. ¹⁵Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. ¹⁶He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. ¹⁷Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? ¹⁸Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” ¹⁹Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”

We know we are supposed to reach out and take Jesus to the world. John Wesley said that we are changed when we serve others. This Gospel passage shows us how an "outsider" can show things that we can't see for ourselves. When we are around something all the time, we tend to not appreciate it. Bringing "outsiders" into our church can enlighten us to things that we take for granted or just ignore. This Samaritan man shows us how important outsiders are to God, to us and to the church. We can learn from those that aren't familiar... and should. How can we do this in our own lives every day?

Lectionary Blog for September 30th 2007

1 Timothy 6:6-19

⁶Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; ⁷for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; ⁸but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. ⁹But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. ¹¹But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. ¹²Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

¹³In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you ¹⁴to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵which he will bring about at the right time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords. ¹⁶It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. ¹⁷As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. ¹⁸They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, ¹⁹thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.

This goes along with the gospel reading for the week rather well. I think the Gospel is pretty clear about money and how we should not let it be too important to us. I don't think there is much of a contextual difference on this issue between the times that this was written and today. Money is what money was: security, status and comfort. If we are counting on our wealth to give us these things than we are not depending on God. It is difficult because we can easily use this as an excuse for poor stewardship because if money isn't important to us we can just blow it on whatever and then wonder why God isn't providing. We must be good stewards with what we have as well as depend on God for security, status and comfort.

We have many other idols besides money that we get these three things from and this is just as problematic. Just because we aren't rich, doesn't mean we aren't idolaters. When we fight about worship, it is an issue of comfort and security in a different way. It is so interesting to me how songs people are used to mean the most to them and touch them the most. I think sometimes we desire comfort so badly that we confuse it with being touched in a way that leads to progress. Being comfortable is important but it isn't going to make you better unless you use such comfort to be uncomfortable in new ways. Discomfort can lead to progress in many ways and we have a choice when we are uncomfortable... we can move forward into new comfort or back into old comfort. The more we do uncomfortable things the less uncomfortable they become and this allows us to "get out of the box" in different ways.

who' wants to get dirty with me?

Some things have been happening lately that have put me in a certain frame of mind. On Mondays they have all of the coaches press conferences on TV talking about Sundays game. This coupled with the fact that I've been playing basketball with the coaches and high school team during the off season has made me realize something. You know in the movies, when a coach takes some pitiful team and drives them to do better? This is what if feels like sometimes for Methodist Ministers recently. What struck me, is what the coaches in these movies do on a consistent basis: they recruit!

I recently preached from Luke where Jesus talks about God needing to know who's on God's team and that you can't do this thing halfway. Now we visit people... don't get me wrong, I'm sure all pastors visit people when they are sick and when they are in need of something, but what if we made "recruiting visits?" I don't mean bringing a coffee cup with the church's picture on it to somebody that visits, but to really find out who's gonna be on the team and who's not. Here's what I'm gonna do: I'm gonna start visiting "key" people in the church and taking the "new member" packet with me and finding out who's really on board. Then I'm gonna have a game plan for the week, just like the coaches do. I've always wanted to be a coach, so here's my chance... no more office work, no more fluff, it's time to get down and dirty!

Forgetting our opinions

I am sitting in a coffee shop and there is an older lady sitting at a table next to me talking to what I am guessing is her mother. One or both of them have a hard time hearing so they talk fairly loud... so I am overhearing more than I probably want. I am just about to jam out to some tunes, but before I do, I heard something very funny that turned profound. The older lady, (I'm guessing mother) said, "I forgot my opinion about that..." I laughed to myself at first and then felt bad for her. But as I sit her thinking, maybe that is a really good idea! What if we just forgot our opinions and reconstructed them over and over again! We stick to what we think so much, we miss a lot! I'm going to work on forgetting my opinion!

An organic lectionary Blog

Jeremiah 18:1-11

18The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2“Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” 3So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him. 5Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 7At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, 8but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it. 9And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, 10but if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will change my mind about the good that I had intended to do to it.

11Now, therefore, say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus says the Lord: Look, I am a potter shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, all of you from your evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.


so my new thing is to try to read scripture organically! This is going to be slow going for a bit, but bear with me as I try to exegete the text in a post-rational way!

Potters- what do they do? They form, they create, they mold, they shape, they spin a pot they transform clay into a pot

clay- what does it feel like? mushy, soft, flexible, potential, gross, messy, dirty, stains your hands, pretty worthless, controlled, helpless

sight- lump into beautiful, useful pot

sound - hmmm?

touch - formation

smell - kinda gross, then smell goes away

taste - don't think this is applicable

The main sense I am getting at the moment is how we are like clay and we are easily manipulated by whatever hands are on us. The difference is that as human beings, we have a choice of who our potter is going to be. We can be molded and shaped and transformed by God, or we can be shaped by something else, or we can just sit there like a lump of clay!

Wednesday with Len Sweet

Here are some things I've been learning and thinking about these past couple of days:

* We did this really cool activity getting to know Len and him getting to know us. We used out name to identify ourselves as a brand and then we told some of our intangible assets. 65-75% of the total value of Fortune 500 companies is intangible (which is an unbelievable statistic) so we used that model. After we named these things about ourselves, we went around the room and named them about one another. It was very moving and affective, even though we had only known one another for 2 days.


* A new friend of mine went with me to a jazz club and we checked out this jam session that these guys were doing and it was amazing. We went to a punk rock show after that... I love Portland!!! This one band was called "Hostile Combover" and they weren't that good, but come on... that is one of the best band names ever! The next band totally rocked!!! They were called "Hope is Noise" and they are from Ireland... they are really good! This is seriously the coolest city I have ever been in...

OT Lectionary Blog for 8/26/07

Jeremiah 1:4-10

1:4 Now the word of the LORD came to me saying,

1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."

1:6 Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy."

1:7 But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a boy'; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you,

1:8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD."

1:9 Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me, "Now I have put my words in your mouth.

1:10 See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."

We are afraid... as pastors, we are afraid to let people know where we stand; we are afraid to say something that someone else might disagree with; we are "supposed" to be neutral on political issues etc. Now, I'm not saying we should preach politics from the pulpit, I disdain that and won't even get into it now, but why can't I help with a campaign or put a bumper sticker on my car? Do we, as pastors, really feel like we are so important that we can't have an opinion of our own without necessarily speaking for God. I know God is a Ralph Nader fan ; -) but if he doesn't run this time, do I just need to be quiet about it. I am still mulling this over.

Jeremiah was afraid too, and he is having a lot of responsibility put on his shoulders here! What does it mean to have God's words put inside of you? I know that when I preach, I rarely think about what I am saying, it is somehow on a more subconscious level. That's the only way I can explain it. I'm not saying that God is speaking instead of me, but when I get into that kind of "trance" (I guess) I feel like God can use me better than when I am controlling every word. This is the best way that I experience this type of thing. It is important to let ourselves go, not to take ourselves too seriously, and to enjoy God, enjoy life, and enjoy revolutionizing the world with God's Kingdom!

Gospel Lectionary Blog for 8/26/07

Luke 13:10-17 (New International Version)

New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

A Crippled Woman Healed on the Sabbath

10On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 11and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, "Woman, you are set free from your infirmity." 13Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.

14Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, "There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath."

15The Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Doesn't each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? 16Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?"

17When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.

How do we put rules and schedules before people and God? The always "anal" Pharisees are at Jesus again, because he put the woman higher on his priority list than the rules of the church. I wonder how much we put rules, both written and unwritten, above people, above the church, and even above God. My younger brother is writing a journal about breaking social norms. He is going to break norms and write down people's reaction and how he felt at the time. This should prove to be a very interesting undertaking. It's funny how much we are used to some things and how much of our comfort and security lies in these things. I wonder if we put more of our comfort and security in God, maybe little things, like rules, wouldn't bother us as much... or at all!

The other thing that strikes me about this is how bold Jesus is. He is around the Pharisees, he knows how they are going to react, and he still does what he thinks is right... or in his case, I guess he knows it's right! As pastors and as Christians we seem to care more what people think than what is right. Somehow, the gospel has turned into making everyone like us, or keeping everyone happy instead of revolutionizing the world with God's infinite love!

"Rocky Balboa"

So I watched "Rocky Balboa" today and this line hit me pretty hard, so I thought i'd share...

Rocky Balboa: The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place It will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me or nobody is going to hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit, it is about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much can you take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!

Lectionary Contemplation for August 19th

Luke 12:49-56

Not Peace but Division

49“I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! 51Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. 52From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. 53They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother–in–law against daughter–in–law and daughter–in–law against mother–in–law.”

Interpreting the Times

54He said to the crowd: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘It's going to rain,’ and it does. 55And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It's going to be hot,’ and it is. 56Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don't know how to interpret this present time?

1. We pay attention to a lot of different things in our lives. We check the weather, we check the stock market, we check the box scores from last night's game (the Yankees lost btw, : ( What if we paid attention to what God was doing as much as we paid attention to these things? God is at work all around us whether we are a part of it or not! This is a very humbling thought! I like to think that God's work needs to be done in this world, so I better get busy... but it's not about me. I should feel more honored, I should feel more humbled, I should feel more in awe about participating in God's action for the transformation of the world!

2. This passage makes me uncomfortable because I guess, in a way, I really do believe that Jesus did come, does come, to bring peace on earth. I can't quite put my finger on exactly why I believe this at the moment, but I can think of tons of ways that Jesus did bring people together and still does bring people together! Jesus preached peace, and Jesus acted to create peace. Why would he say what he says in verse 51? What does he mean? Why does it bother me so much?

3. Of course, since the NIV uses the word "baptism," this got me thinking about baptism. This is a huge point of dissension between denominations that I deal with fairly often. I was visiting "The Bridge" church in Phoenix a few weeks ago and they had a few baptisms. Now, "The Bridge" is associated with the Baptist Church (and it is very cool btw) so the sermon on baptism and the theology surrounding it, was of course different than mine. This is what I learned from this wonderful experience: I think that baptism is a tool that God gives us to use. It doesn't "mean" exactly one thing, it is God being present through water and the Spirit to symbolize and transform in different ways. The Ancient Jews used baptism as a conversion experience, John the Baptist used it as a sign of repentance, Baptists use it as a sign to symbolize a commitment to Christ (what John Wesley would call "justifying grace"), United Methodists use it as a sign of all of these things and more. Jesus is using the term to refer to God marking him and being present in the Crucifixion. I think it matters how we use baptism, more than whether we roll the dice correctly and decide EXACTLY what baptism "means."

Who do we push away?

Although this sign is fake, I will never ceased to be amazed and disturbed by people that have had these kinds of things said to them, whether implicitly or explicitly. It seems that over and over again, people tell me stories about experiences they have had in church where they were condemned for one reason or another. When I hear these stories, I am not surprised that many churches and many denominations are getting smaller. Whether we are the ones inciting the bigotry not, we are certainly paying for the actions of others on a large scale.

I'm sure this is totally irreverant somehow, but... check it out anyway!

This is one of the funniest things I have seen in a long time!!!

Gilbert Arenas

I love this guy... This comes from the Wizards Star Gilbert Arenas' blog and he makes a good point I think. This cracks me up!


There Are No Such Thing as Shark Attacks

I know this is random, but I just want to clear this up for people out there.

There are these things called shark attacks, but there is no such thing as a shark attack. I have never seen a real shark attack.

I know you’re making a weird face as you’re reading this. OK people, a shark attack is not what we see on TV and what people portray it as.

We’re humans. We live on land.

Sharks live in water.

So if you’re swimming in the water and a shark bites you, that’s called trespassing. That is called trespassing. That is not a shark attack.

A shark attack is if you’re chilling at home, sitting on your couch, and a shark comes in and bites you; now that’s a shark attack. Now, if you’re chilling in the water, that is called invasion of space. So I have never heard of a shark attack.

When I see on the news where it’s like, “There have been 10 shark attacks,” I’m like, “Hey, for real?! They’re just running around? Sharks are walking now, huh! We live on the land, we don’t live underwater.”

Man Church

I have been looking with some colleagues, at this idea of a "man church" that is springing up. In this "church," men over 18 seek to take back church because it, as well as clergy, has become too feminized. I read something today that might shed some light on this idea. I wonder if this is just another modern vs. post-modern reaction. Heath White writes in Post-Modernism 101, "the modern era emphasized reason at the expense of qualities like emotion and intuition, and the reason/emotion dichotomy was often thought to be embodied in the distinction between the sexes--men more rational, women more emotional--so that men were the preferred gender. In contrast, the post-modern era has seen a reaction against this tendency to exalt reason and denigrate women." I wonder if this shift is at least part of what is causing reactions like the "man church."

Putting the "fun" in funeral

I have a funeral coming up and I have been trying to think of some creative ways to make it a little different from usual. The last funeral I did, I tried doing some of it in second person. It was interesting and I really liked it for that specific occasion. If anyone has anything they have done or like to do on a regular basis that is a little different... please share!

License to Wed

So I was watching the movie "License to Wed" the other day and something occurred to me. It was a pretty funny movie, although kinda cheezy as you might expect. The thing that got me was that this minister pretty much dedicated an entire three weeks to this one couple as if there was no other responsibilities that he had in the church. Now, I know this was just a movie but I really think that some people think this is the way things should be. It's funny how some people in the church see pastors and think they don't have anything else going on or any life outside of the church, or even outside of their lives. I try to always make people feel special, like they are the only ones that I am dealing with at any given moment... and I guess that takes on a reality of its own sometimes. This movie helped put that in perspective for me and I noticed things about this issue that I hadn't noticed before! It's a funny film, I recommend it!

Getting older, or hmmm?

I am the speaker for a Junior High Camp as we speak and I have been thinking a lot about Youth Ministry. I was a Youth Minister for 10 or 12 years and I can remember amazing experiences where God reached Youth through me and reached me through them. I spoke at a Senior High camp a couple of weeks ago and through all of these experiences, I am wondering what changed in me through the last 5 years or so. God is still doing amazing things in and through young people all around me, but it is so much harder to relate to younger people for me recently. At first I thought it was age, but I see a bunch of people that are quite a bit older than me that seem to reach kids effortlessly. So, I sit here today and wonder if I am not being as inclusive as I implore others to be, or why it seems so difficult all of a sudden to really connect with Youth.

My boy, McLaren... wisdom on a tough issue

Brian McLaren makes some good points here. This kind of attitude can help heal a hurting church, in my opinion!

I hesitate in answering "the homosexual question" not because I'm a cowardly flip-flopper who wants to tickle ears, but because I am a pastor, and pastors have learned from Jesus that there is more to answering a question than being right or even honest: we must also be . . . pastoral. That means understanding the question beneath the question, the need or fear or hope or assumption that motivates the question.

We pastors want to frame our answer around that need; we want to fit in with the Holy Spirit's work in that person's life at that particular moment. To put it biblically, we want to be sure our answers are "seasoned with salt" and appropriate to "the need of the moment" (Col. 4; Eph. 4).

Most of the emerging leaders I know share my agony over this question. We fear that the whole issue has been manipulated far more than we realize by political parties seeking to shave percentage points off their opponent's constituency. We see whatever we say get sucked into a vortex of politicized culture-wars rhetoric--and we're pastors, evangelists, church-planters, and disciple-makers, not political culture warriors. Those who bring us honest questions are people we are trying to care for in Christ's name, not cultural enemies we're trying to vanquish.

he concludes...

Welcome to our world. Being "right" isn't enough. We also need to be wise. And loving. And patient. Perhaps nothing short of that should "seem good to the Holy Spirit and us."