“Be not afraid.” I can’t help but wonder whether those words even began to slow the racing heartbeats of those shepherds, surprised out there in the wilderness that first Christmas.
It wasn’t that Shepherds, as a group, were generally a particularly fearful people. In fact, they almost certainly weren’t. The Bible reminds us that there were a great many predators, animal and human alike, that would prey upon the flocks. Indeed, when a cocky young shepherd boy named David is trying to convince King Saul that he (David that is) can go out and face down a 9’ giant named Goliath with just a sling and a few smooth rocks he argues that he has already faced down bears and lions to protect his father’s flocks. No, shepherds weren’t generally cowards. There’s even a word for those few shepherds who ran away and abandoned their flocks at the first sign of serious trouble - and that word is “unemployed.” It’s just that the one thing they’re not taught to deal with in shepherding school are angels who suddenly fill the sky, likely knocking the poor souls to the ground just by the intensity of the light that surrounds them - kind of like when your spouse comes into the bedroom at night and flips on the light, and you’ve already been laying there in the dark for a half hour or so - only more so. No, this was almost certainly the last thing they were expecting on that night. It’s important, I think, that the angels were wise enough to know how shocking, and how frightening, their appearance likely was. And so they led with those words of comfort and hope, “Be not afraid!”
And I can’t help but believe that these are words that we too need to hear - not just here but around the world - as 2008 draws to a close, because by all accounts it's been a tough year!
Economically, we're in a significant recession. Some of our nations largest banks and Wall Street brokerages have failed. The government has bailed out AIG (one of the largest insurance companies in the world), as well as several bank & mortgage companies. Most recently the auto manufacturers have been helped. Last month we lost 558,000 jobs in this country, at a time when most retailers are adding help for the Christmas rush. The state of Minnesota projects a budget shortfall that could exceed 4 billion dollars next year. Actually, some experts are saying the shortfall could be over 5 billion dollars, but what's a billion dollars between friends. Here in SE Minnesota and NE Iowa we've been hit hard too. Featherlite corporation in Cresco, Iowa, has instituted rolling layoffs and closed several building. Donaldson's (also in Cresco) has laid off so many people that folks hired on back in 2002 have been let go. They make air filters for tanks at Donaldson's. Who would have guessed that war is in a recession. And in Spring Grove, Minnesota, Northern Engraving is closing their factory that engraves nameplates for Chrysler because, well, they engrave nameplates for Chrysler!
The Stock market has experienced a significant “correction” as well. I was recently talking to a fellow who had been hoping to retire next year, but if he locks in his losses now he will receive about $20,000 less per year than he would have if he had retired earlier this year. It's been tough out there.
But there are those words again - Be not afraid! It’s enough to make you wonder if maybe angels don’t read the headlines!
And things aren't a lot better on the world scene. Last month security experts announced that Iran is expected to have a nuclear bomb in a year or less. If you think those shepherds were frightened on a Judean hillside 2000 years ago, imagine how the people of Israel must feel about the prospect of a nuclear Iran. And Russia has just announced that it will begin ramping up it’s production of nuclear weapons after years of reductions in a new arms race! In Africa Zimbabwe is falling apart, and so is the Republic of Congo. Cholera is raging in the southern part of Zimbabwe as well as in refugee camps in South Africa. It's tough out there. But there are those words again - Be not afraid! To which we might reply, “Why on earth not?”
Truth is, things weren’t a whole lot better 2000 years ago when the angelic songs & message first filled the night sky. Judea was a conquered state, chafing under the heel of the mighty Roman empire. Taxes were high. Indeed, it was the need to register for a census being taken for tax purposes that brought Joseph & Mary to Bethlehem in the first place. And the Romans were cruel overlords. They had a particularly heinous method of enforcing their will and power on a people, and it involved nailing people, alive, to a cross in full public view. Quite a message there.
In fact, if you think about it, there’s a lot about this account that must have been more than a little bit frightening for quite a few of the folks involved. Zachariah, and later Mary, have their own frightening encounters with angels. Mary in particular must have been just a little bit uneasy to hear Gabriel’s message that she will be “with child." Our Bibles generally translate her response to the angel as “How can this be…” but in the vernacular it would probably go something more like, “Are you nuts?!”
There must have been concern on Mary’s part, too, over Joseph’s response. Would he believe her or would he divorce her, leaving her alone, shamed, and vulnerable with a baby to care for?
And it must have been frightening too several months later during their approach to Bethlehem, as the couple searched for a place to stay even as Mary knew that her child was coming soon, and that she would be quite vulnerable!
No, the angelic visit to the shepherds was just the latest in a long line of potentially frightening encounters. And it begins, as the Bible so often does, with those soothing words of comfort. “Be not afraid.” To which again we might ask, “Well, why not, for goodness sake.”
Because, Isaiah might tell us, God is now with us. That's what the name "Immanuel" means. No matter how badly we may have screwed things up, God is with us. No matter how poor our choices have been, God is with us. No matter how far, and for how long, we have run from God, He’s still here, waiting with arms outstretched to welcome us home, prodigals that we are. God is with us. Because no matter what happens, or what goes wrong, we don’t face it alone anymore, and God is with us. Immanuel. God is with us. Be not afraid.
(adapted from tonight's Christmas Eve homily)
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
The Foolishness of God!
I love the story that Thomas Tewell, pastor of 5th St. Presbyterian Ch. In NYC tells of a little boy who had just been picked up by his mom after Sunday School had ended. Wanting to show interest in the things her child was doing she asked him what he had learned that day. And the little boy said, “Well, we learned about how Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt and across the Red Sea into the Promised Land. You know the story. After Pharaoh finally gives in and permit’s the Israelites to leave he had a change of heart and went after them with his armies. Meanwhile the Israelites got to the Red Sea and it was too deep to cross so Moses had the Israeli Corps of Engineers build a Pontoon Bridge and the people crossed to safety, but when Pharaoh and the Egyptians got there with their heavy tanks and trucks they got stuck in the mud, so Moses had the Israeli Air Force fly over and they bombed the Egyptians and wiped them out completely!” Well, the little boys mother was absolutely horrified and she said, “Is THAT what they taught you in Sunday School?” To which the little boy replied. “Well, not exactly. But if I told you what they really said you’d never believe it!”
Paul writes, “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength!”
Now Paul is talking here about the cross, and the apparent foolishness of God choosing to secure our salvation in such an obvious (in our minds) act of weakness and failure. But if you think about it, God works this way throughout the Scriptures!!
We see it in the story of Abraham & Sarah in Genesis, when God decides to begin His great movement in salvation history through a childless couple who, by rights, are too old to start a family but end up doing so anyway. Even the name given their son - he is called Isaac, which means “one who laughs”, hints at the absurdity of it all.
We see it in Judges 6 & 7, when Gideon is called by God to lead an army against the marauding Midianites. After testing God in an attempt to weasel out of this calling, Gideon starts out with 32,000 men, only to be told that’s too many. 22,000 are sent home - but that’s still too many. Another 9,700 are sent home, leaving 300 soldiers, and with that guerilla force God routs the Midianites! Even Jesus would appear to question that military logic in Luke 14:31-32
We see it in I Samuel 17, as a shepherd boy named David slays Goliath, the 9’ plus giant of the Philistines with a sling and a few smooth, round stones.
But most of all, we see God’s “foolishness” in the second chapter of LK’s gospel, and in the setting that He chooses to enter the world in! Ask any Madison Avenue trained PR man or woman. If you want to make a splash, you need to do it it in a way that will reach, and impress, as many people as possible - like buying ad time during the Super Bowl. But when God makes His grand entrance as one of us He comes as the child of a young couple who are so insignificant that they can't get a room in the sleepy village in the tiny, backwater nation where their child will be born. Can you imagine the King and Queen of just about any country being refused a room anywhere in their homeland? It's just foolishness.
But if you think about it, there are a couple of qualities that each of these persons had whom God had chosen to work through. While they may have been inititially confused, and even reluctant to act, in the end they all trusted God and obeyed. They weren't necessarily the brightest, or the biggest, or the strongest, or the richest or the most politically powerful! But they all, each in their own way, trusted God & allowed Him to accomplish His purposes through them!
In his book "The Peter Principle," Stan Toler writes: “I was a church planter at one time and felt impressed by the Lord to send $50 to some missionaries. When I shared with my wife what the Lord had laid on my heart, we took a look at our checkbook and found $54 in our balance. Not much room for error there. She said, ’Honey, I wasn’t raised quite like you, but I trust you and have faith in your stewardship commitments. Let’s do it.’ So I wrote the check and sent it to the Carters in Arizona, who were ministering to Native Americans in a small reservation village. Even though I knew it had been the right thing to do, I did begin to wonder how we were going to manage.
The next day I went to the Post Office, and amazed I picked up a letter from a student at Asbury Theological Seminary who had been one of my roommates at college. The letter read, ‘I just had you and Linda on my heart and felt impressed to write you. I’m enclosing a check for you, knowing you will probably put it in the offering plate next Sunday, but it is not for your church. It is for you.’ Fifty bucks!
When the check we sent arrived in Arizona, Doug Carter called immediately. ’Stan, your check just arrived. What timing! We had an appointment with the doctor for our daughter, Angie, but we had no money to pay the bill. I was just about to make the dreaded phone call to tell the doctor, but I paused to look at the mail first, and there it was. The Lord was right on schedule, wasn’t He?’”
Now I don't know how could God touch a poor church planter on the shoulder and say, ‘Send $50 to missionaries in Arizona,’ even though He knew the church planter needed it, and at the say time touch a student at Asbury Theological Seminary on the shoulder and say to him, ‘Send $50 to the Tolers’? Let’s just chalk it up to the foolishness of God, who works wonders through ordinary people like you and like me when we trust Him!
Paul writes, “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength!”
Now Paul is talking here about the cross, and the apparent foolishness of God choosing to secure our salvation in such an obvious (in our minds) act of weakness and failure. But if you think about it, God works this way throughout the Scriptures!!
We see it in the story of Abraham & Sarah in Genesis, when God decides to begin His great movement in salvation history through a childless couple who, by rights, are too old to start a family but end up doing so anyway. Even the name given their son - he is called Isaac, which means “one who laughs”, hints at the absurdity of it all.
We see it in Judges 6 & 7, when Gideon is called by God to lead an army against the marauding Midianites. After testing God in an attempt to weasel out of this calling, Gideon starts out with 32,000 men, only to be told that’s too many. 22,000 are sent home - but that’s still too many. Another 9,700 are sent home, leaving 300 soldiers, and with that guerilla force God routs the Midianites! Even Jesus would appear to question that military logic in Luke 14:31-32
We see it in I Samuel 17, as a shepherd boy named David slays Goliath, the 9’ plus giant of the Philistines with a sling and a few smooth, round stones.
But most of all, we see God’s “foolishness” in the second chapter of LK’s gospel, and in the setting that He chooses to enter the world in! Ask any Madison Avenue trained PR man or woman. If you want to make a splash, you need to do it it in a way that will reach, and impress, as many people as possible - like buying ad time during the Super Bowl. But when God makes His grand entrance as one of us He comes as the child of a young couple who are so insignificant that they can't get a room in the sleepy village in the tiny, backwater nation where their child will be born. Can you imagine the King and Queen of just about any country being refused a room anywhere in their homeland? It's just foolishness.
But if you think about it, there are a couple of qualities that each of these persons had whom God had chosen to work through. While they may have been inititially confused, and even reluctant to act, in the end they all trusted God and obeyed. They weren't necessarily the brightest, or the biggest, or the strongest, or the richest or the most politically powerful! But they all, each in their own way, trusted God & allowed Him to accomplish His purposes through them!
In his book "The Peter Principle," Stan Toler writes: “I was a church planter at one time and felt impressed by the Lord to send $50 to some missionaries. When I shared with my wife what the Lord had laid on my heart, we took a look at our checkbook and found $54 in our balance. Not much room for error there. She said, ’Honey, I wasn’t raised quite like you, but I trust you and have faith in your stewardship commitments. Let’s do it.’ So I wrote the check and sent it to the Carters in Arizona, who were ministering to Native Americans in a small reservation village. Even though I knew it had been the right thing to do, I did begin to wonder how we were going to manage.
The next day I went to the Post Office, and amazed I picked up a letter from a student at Asbury Theological Seminary who had been one of my roommates at college. The letter read, ‘I just had you and Linda on my heart and felt impressed to write you. I’m enclosing a check for you, knowing you will probably put it in the offering plate next Sunday, but it is not for your church. It is for you.’ Fifty bucks!
When the check we sent arrived in Arizona, Doug Carter called immediately. ’Stan, your check just arrived. What timing! We had an appointment with the doctor for our daughter, Angie, but we had no money to pay the bill. I was just about to make the dreaded phone call to tell the doctor, but I paused to look at the mail first, and there it was. The Lord was right on schedule, wasn’t He?’”
Now I don't know how could God touch a poor church planter on the shoulder and say, ‘Send $50 to missionaries in Arizona,’ even though He knew the church planter needed it, and at the say time touch a student at Asbury Theological Seminary on the shoulder and say to him, ‘Send $50 to the Tolers’? Let’s just chalk it up to the foolishness of God, who works wonders through ordinary people like you and like me when we trust Him!
Re-Claiming the Missional Nature of the Church!
In 1989 Phil Robinson adapted & directed a novel by W.P. Kinsella called Shoeless Joe into one of the most popular movies of all time. In it Kevin Costner plays Ray Kinsella, a novice farmer who is struggling with the disappointments of the past. Ray lives in rural Iowa with his wife, Annie, and their young daughter Karin. As the movie unfolds we learn that Ray’s now deceased father, John Kinsella, had loved baseball - particularly the Chicago White Sox, and Shoeless Joe Jackson, who was banned from baseball for his part in throwing the 1919 World Series. Heartbroken over what had happened to his favorite player, Ray’s father is described to us as someone who had simply been "worn down" by life.
The event that drives the movie takes place while Ray is walking through his corn field. He’s contemplating the past and his farms present financial struggles when he hears a voice whisper, "If you build it, he will come." In his mind he sees a baseball field in his cornfield, and he becomes convinced that he is supposed to construct a diamond there. Somehow he sells his wife on this plan, and in the midst of his corn fields the diamond becomes a reality. Those scenes were shot in Dyersville, Iowa. The movie, of course, was called “Field of Dreams.” In 1989 it grossed over 84 million dollars.
And it seems to me that for quite a long time now (decades actually) the promise that that voice makes to Ray has been pretty much the American Church’s approach to outreach. We look around to see where communities are growing, buy a lot, construct a building, schedule services and post a sign out front. I call it the “Field of Dreams” approach to doing Church - it’s the belief that “if you build it, they will come.” Now there’s a few more things that would usually happen, but you get the idea. Most of the time in the past when we constructed a new church building there was an expectation that people would simply come. And it worked - sort of - at least for awhile! It’s also sometimes called the “attractional” model for doing church, and it focuses heavily on the building and worship experience. In this model “church” is a place that people go to at a certain time or times, and Christian service is often described as the way members use their gifts and serve within the church walls, perhaps as musicians or Sunday School teachers. And that basic approach does work (sort of) when:
- the people in the surrounding culture resemble, and share the same basic values, as the folks in the Church.
- new families are constantly moving into the neighborhood where the church is located.
- at least a significant minority of those relocated families are looking for a new church home.
- when a local congregations worship service is vibrant enough, and the members are welcoming enough, to retain at least some of those families who may visit on any given Sunday.
But that approach doesn’t work when:
- the core values held by the surrounding culture (particularly younger generations) no longer reflect those of the longtime members of the church.
- an area has large numbers of young people who have grown up apart from the church, and so sense no need to look for one.
- an area is declining in population and its schools are shrinking.
- very few new families are relocating to that area.
- a church building is located inconveniently out of the way.
- the members of a local congregation are, for whatever reason, unable or unwilling to really welcome and embrace new people.
In other words, the “Field of Dreams” model for doing church is a terribly limited, insular model, and it’s deficiencies become increasingly glaring the more the culture around the Church changes.
But there’s another problem with that model - and that is that far too often it fails to live out the radical faith that Jesus called His followers to in the gospels, particularly at the end of MT 25! In verses 31-46 Jesus offers his listeners a parable about the end times, when the nations are gathered before the throne of God and judged. There they will be separated, we learn, on his left and right like sheep and goats. The sheep (on the right) will be there because during their lives they fed Jesus when he was hungry, gave him a cup of water when he was thirsty, clothed him when he was naked, and visited him when he was sick or imprisoned, while the goats (on his left) are there because they failed to do these same things.
A fascinating twist to the story is that neither the “sheep” or the “goats” are aware of those times when they saw Jesus in these states and did or not respond to his need. His answer to them ought to be instructive to the Church. “To the extent that you did these things (or failed) to the least of these you did so (or failed to do so) to Me.“
I'm convinced that the central thrust of the Christian Life was never intended to revolve around a building, a structure - but rather around the radical way that we are called to love and care for those around us.
In the movie “Sister Act” Whoopi Goldberg plays a Las Vegas Lounge singer who witnesses a mob murder. In order to keep her safe so she can testify the authorities disguise her as a Catholic Nun and place her in an inner city convent. Now the neighborhood around this Convent is so crime ridden that there are bars on the windows and a high steel fence surrounding the building, with the gate only opened and closed briefly to admit a few souls to Mass. But the convent cannot contain Whoopi’s character. Soon the fence is taken down and the Sisters are out on the street talking to the teens, playing jump rope with the younger children and generally transforming the neighborhood! And we’re like that in the Church sometimes, hunkering down within our buildings while the world outside changes in ways that frighten us. But the central thrust of the Christian Life was never intended to revolve around a building, a structure - but rather around the radical way that we are called to love and care for those around us. Indeed, someone has noted that the goats are not condemned for doing bad things but for doing nothing.
At the very end of Matthew’s gospel we find a commission that, for centuries, has been the Church’s rationale for outreach and evangelism. In these parting words to His disciples Jesus doesn’t instruct them to return to their home villages, construct a nice building, hire a talented organist and erect a sign inviting folks to come. Rather He sends them out to ends of the earth where they are to make disciples, baptize, and teach. It’s time for us to once again reclaim the missional nature of the Church!
(Excerpted from a sermon on November 23rd)
The event that drives the movie takes place while Ray is walking through his corn field. He’s contemplating the past and his farms present financial struggles when he hears a voice whisper, "If you build it, he will come." In his mind he sees a baseball field in his cornfield, and he becomes convinced that he is supposed to construct a diamond there. Somehow he sells his wife on this plan, and in the midst of his corn fields the diamond becomes a reality. Those scenes were shot in Dyersville, Iowa. The movie, of course, was called “Field of Dreams.” In 1989 it grossed over 84 million dollars.
And it seems to me that for quite a long time now (decades actually) the promise that that voice makes to Ray has been pretty much the American Church’s approach to outreach. We look around to see where communities are growing, buy a lot, construct a building, schedule services and post a sign out front. I call it the “Field of Dreams” approach to doing Church - it’s the belief that “if you build it, they will come.” Now there’s a few more things that would usually happen, but you get the idea. Most of the time in the past when we constructed a new church building there was an expectation that people would simply come. And it worked - sort of - at least for awhile! It’s also sometimes called the “attractional” model for doing church, and it focuses heavily on the building and worship experience. In this model “church” is a place that people go to at a certain time or times, and Christian service is often described as the way members use their gifts and serve within the church walls, perhaps as musicians or Sunday School teachers. And that basic approach does work (sort of) when:
- the people in the surrounding culture resemble, and share the same basic values, as the folks in the Church.
- new families are constantly moving into the neighborhood where the church is located.
- at least a significant minority of those relocated families are looking for a new church home.
- when a local congregations worship service is vibrant enough, and the members are welcoming enough, to retain at least some of those families who may visit on any given Sunday.
But that approach doesn’t work when:
- the core values held by the surrounding culture (particularly younger generations) no longer reflect those of the longtime members of the church.
- an area has large numbers of young people who have grown up apart from the church, and so sense no need to look for one.
- an area is declining in population and its schools are shrinking.
- very few new families are relocating to that area.
- a church building is located inconveniently out of the way.
- the members of a local congregation are, for whatever reason, unable or unwilling to really welcome and embrace new people.
In other words, the “Field of Dreams” model for doing church is a terribly limited, insular model, and it’s deficiencies become increasingly glaring the more the culture around the Church changes.
But there’s another problem with that model - and that is that far too often it fails to live out the radical faith that Jesus called His followers to in the gospels, particularly at the end of MT 25! In verses 31-46 Jesus offers his listeners a parable about the end times, when the nations are gathered before the throne of God and judged. There they will be separated, we learn, on his left and right like sheep and goats. The sheep (on the right) will be there because during their lives they fed Jesus when he was hungry, gave him a cup of water when he was thirsty, clothed him when he was naked, and visited him when he was sick or imprisoned, while the goats (on his left) are there because they failed to do these same things.
A fascinating twist to the story is that neither the “sheep” or the “goats” are aware of those times when they saw Jesus in these states and did or not respond to his need. His answer to them ought to be instructive to the Church. “To the extent that you did these things (or failed) to the least of these you did so (or failed to do so) to Me.“
I'm convinced that the central thrust of the Christian Life was never intended to revolve around a building, a structure - but rather around the radical way that we are called to love and care for those around us.
In the movie “Sister Act” Whoopi Goldberg plays a Las Vegas Lounge singer who witnesses a mob murder. In order to keep her safe so she can testify the authorities disguise her as a Catholic Nun and place her in an inner city convent. Now the neighborhood around this Convent is so crime ridden that there are bars on the windows and a high steel fence surrounding the building, with the gate only opened and closed briefly to admit a few souls to Mass. But the convent cannot contain Whoopi’s character. Soon the fence is taken down and the Sisters are out on the street talking to the teens, playing jump rope with the younger children and generally transforming the neighborhood! And we’re like that in the Church sometimes, hunkering down within our buildings while the world outside changes in ways that frighten us. But the central thrust of the Christian Life was never intended to revolve around a building, a structure - but rather around the radical way that we are called to love and care for those around us. Indeed, someone has noted that the goats are not condemned for doing bad things but for doing nothing.
At the very end of Matthew’s gospel we find a commission that, for centuries, has been the Church’s rationale for outreach and evangelism. In these parting words to His disciples Jesus doesn’t instruct them to return to their home villages, construct a nice building, hire a talented organist and erect a sign inviting folks to come. Rather He sends them out to ends of the earth where they are to make disciples, baptize, and teach. It’s time for us to once again reclaim the missional nature of the Church!
(Excerpted from a sermon on November 23rd)
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Requiem for a church!
The Christmas cards are coming in at a pretty good clip now, from parts near and far away, reminding us again of how many folks have wondered in and out of our lives over the years, and of what each one has meant to us. Some are merely signed, others contain a brief note of greeting, while still others are accompanied by the ubiquitous annual letter updating friends and family of the events of the past year.
Frankly, I enjoy getting these updates. Life has just become too busy to be able to keep up with all those we care about, and while these letters can never substitute for the intimacy of moments spent together, at least they allow us to catch up with one another.
But one letter, received from a dear member of one of our former congregations in Illinois, has proven to be bittersweet. While it contained the usual information on their family, it also sought to fill us in on some of the news in our former churches. We were delighted to learn that a food pantry that my wife helped launch over 23 years ago was still operating. To be sure it’s having it’s struggles, especially with the demand on it’s services of late, but it’s still in place. It’s nice to know that ones time and efforts have made a difference. But other news was not so welcome, for we also learned that one of our former congregations will be closing it’s doors after this Christmas!
The Scotville UMC is a small but beautifully maintained white building that sits one block off the town square. When I served there attendance averaged in the low twenties, mostly women and children. It wasn’t that they were all widows. Some were, but the rest were married to men who were Masons, and in that community they seemed to think that the Masons were an adequate substitute for church. There was no running water in the building in the mid-80’s, and the restroom facilities consisted of a two seat outhouse in back, but that didn’t stop the ladies from serving a huge turkey dinner every fall as a major fundraiser. Jugs of water were hauled in from home, heated on the stove, and some of the best food I’ve ever had in a church basement was served there! “City” water service came to the town in the late-eighties, and the church hooked on and put in a bathroom. They also added central air, again just after I left! They were proud of their building, and the congregation was a supportive community for one another and those in need around them.
But Scotville has been afflicted with the same population trends that have hit other rural areas. Their school closed decades ago. Young folks have gone off to college and not returned. The aging population (around 200 when we were there over twenty years ago) was down to 136 as of July of 2007. Declining numbers, as well as rising costs to heat and maintain the building and pay for pastoral coverage, all conspired together to help the remaining members make a difficult choice.
I trust that this is sad news for those of us who pastored in Scotville. It’s painful enough for me to approve the closing of a church at Annual Conference even when I have never served there, but the personal tie makes it that much more difficult. Still, in the midst of this loss I hold on to the conviction that while a local congregation may shutter its doors and windows, it lives on in the lives it has touched. Young people who grew up there, and who learned of Jesus from faithful Sunday School teachers and pastors, are passing that same faith on to others in new churches now. One of the last times I was back one young man who had grown up in that congregation was wrestling with a call to the pastoral ministry. I never heard whether he went on to seminary or not, but if he did that congregations love and care will continue in his ministry as well!
And I can’t help but think that it’s like that for us too. In the end our real “worth” won’t be measured by the size of the estate we leave behind, the notoriety we've achieved, or the things we've accomplished, but by the people we’ve touched and the lives that have been enriched by our love.
Frankly, I enjoy getting these updates. Life has just become too busy to be able to keep up with all those we care about, and while these letters can never substitute for the intimacy of moments spent together, at least they allow us to catch up with one another.
But one letter, received from a dear member of one of our former congregations in Illinois, has proven to be bittersweet. While it contained the usual information on their family, it also sought to fill us in on some of the news in our former churches. We were delighted to learn that a food pantry that my wife helped launch over 23 years ago was still operating. To be sure it’s having it’s struggles, especially with the demand on it’s services of late, but it’s still in place. It’s nice to know that ones time and efforts have made a difference. But other news was not so welcome, for we also learned that one of our former congregations will be closing it’s doors after this Christmas!
The Scotville UMC is a small but beautifully maintained white building that sits one block off the town square. When I served there attendance averaged in the low twenties, mostly women and children. It wasn’t that they were all widows. Some were, but the rest were married to men who were Masons, and in that community they seemed to think that the Masons were an adequate substitute for church. There was no running water in the building in the mid-80’s, and the restroom facilities consisted of a two seat outhouse in back, but that didn’t stop the ladies from serving a huge turkey dinner every fall as a major fundraiser. Jugs of water were hauled in from home, heated on the stove, and some of the best food I’ve ever had in a church basement was served there! “City” water service came to the town in the late-eighties, and the church hooked on and put in a bathroom. They also added central air, again just after I left! They were proud of their building, and the congregation was a supportive community for one another and those in need around them.
But Scotville has been afflicted with the same population trends that have hit other rural areas. Their school closed decades ago. Young folks have gone off to college and not returned. The aging population (around 200 when we were there over twenty years ago) was down to 136 as of July of 2007. Declining numbers, as well as rising costs to heat and maintain the building and pay for pastoral coverage, all conspired together to help the remaining members make a difficult choice.
I trust that this is sad news for those of us who pastored in Scotville. It’s painful enough for me to approve the closing of a church at Annual Conference even when I have never served there, but the personal tie makes it that much more difficult. Still, in the midst of this loss I hold on to the conviction that while a local congregation may shutter its doors and windows, it lives on in the lives it has touched. Young people who grew up there, and who learned of Jesus from faithful Sunday School teachers and pastors, are passing that same faith on to others in new churches now. One of the last times I was back one young man who had grown up in that congregation was wrestling with a call to the pastoral ministry. I never heard whether he went on to seminary or not, but if he did that congregations love and care will continue in his ministry as well!
And I can’t help but think that it’s like that for us too. In the end our real “worth” won’t be measured by the size of the estate we leave behind, the notoriety we've achieved, or the things we've accomplished, but by the people we’ve touched and the lives that have been enriched by our love.
Friday, December 12, 2008
In One Ear & Out the Other!
The Rochester Post-Bulletin is the local daily newspaper in our area. It arrives in the afternoon, so for over twenty years now we’ve had to forgo that delicious experience of perusing the paper over a cup of coffee and a piece of toast in the morning. I suppose we could just save the P/B until the next morning, but with the internet by the time the paper reaches our home it already seems like old news. They’re constantly changing it too, making it smaller and condensing much of the material into the shorter “bullets” that appear necessary in order to hold our attention today.
One of their recent changes was to begin including a joke on the inside of the front page of its weekday edition. Generally they’re the type that, when I tell them, my wife rolls her eyes and groans. A month or so ago their joke was about three men - a preacher, a doctor, and an undertaker - who were out deer hunting (a timely subject in our area). It happened that all three saw a large buck and fired at the same time, and it went down. As you might imagine they began arguing amongst themselves over who’s shot had taken the buck, and they were still engaged in heated disagreement when a DNR officer arrived on the scene. After learning of their dilemma he offered to check the deer over to see if he could learn who’s shot had felled it. When he was through he reported back that the minister had shot it. When the other two asked how he had come to that conclusion, the official said he could tell because the slug had gone in one ear and out the other.
That joke reminds me of a conversation my mother-in-law once had with our oldest son when he was only about four years old or so. She was up visiting us from Texas shortly after we had moved to our first appointment, a three-point United Methodist circuit, and she was asking him about our church next door. When he informed her that was his church she asked him if his dad also went there. He replied in the affirmative, and she pressed further to see if he understood that I was the church’s pastor. “What does your dad do there?” she asked. And with the certainty that sometimes accompanies childhood he said “Oh, he stands up in front and talks to himself.”
To tell you the truth, I feel that way sometimes (for that matter, I felt that way quite a bit while raising that aforementioned son ;-)). I feel that way when I repeat Jesus’ words on the need to forgive and still find people nursing grudges like a tall, cool drink. I feel that way when I lift up Jesus’ admonition about laying up our treasures in heaven and then see folks drooling over new cars, lavish houses, and large salaries. I feel that way when we study Jesus’ answer to the lawyer, that the greatest commandments are to love God with all that we have and love our neighbor as ourselves, and then hear folks rationalize that their neighbor really doesn’t deserve help because, after all, he got himself in this predicament in the first place. I feel that way when I talk about really trusting God and then watch us trust pretty much everything and anything else first. And I feel that way when we study Jesus’ passionate model for prayer and then we run off and pray just enough to coat what are really our decisions and our plans with a thin veneer of religiosity.
In one ear and out the other. Maybe words are a little like taking a set of darts out to the garage and randomly throwing them at things. We’d likely find that they would only stick in the softer items. Perhaps some words can only stick in a heart and mind prepared by the Holy Spirit. If that’s so, may ours be softened this Christmas season.
One of their recent changes was to begin including a joke on the inside of the front page of its weekday edition. Generally they’re the type that, when I tell them, my wife rolls her eyes and groans. A month or so ago their joke was about three men - a preacher, a doctor, and an undertaker - who were out deer hunting (a timely subject in our area). It happened that all three saw a large buck and fired at the same time, and it went down. As you might imagine they began arguing amongst themselves over who’s shot had taken the buck, and they were still engaged in heated disagreement when a DNR officer arrived on the scene. After learning of their dilemma he offered to check the deer over to see if he could learn who’s shot had felled it. When he was through he reported back that the minister had shot it. When the other two asked how he had come to that conclusion, the official said he could tell because the slug had gone in one ear and out the other.
That joke reminds me of a conversation my mother-in-law once had with our oldest son when he was only about four years old or so. She was up visiting us from Texas shortly after we had moved to our first appointment, a three-point United Methodist circuit, and she was asking him about our church next door. When he informed her that was his church she asked him if his dad also went there. He replied in the affirmative, and she pressed further to see if he understood that I was the church’s pastor. “What does your dad do there?” she asked. And with the certainty that sometimes accompanies childhood he said “Oh, he stands up in front and talks to himself.”
To tell you the truth, I feel that way sometimes (for that matter, I felt that way quite a bit while raising that aforementioned son ;-)). I feel that way when I repeat Jesus’ words on the need to forgive and still find people nursing grudges like a tall, cool drink. I feel that way when I lift up Jesus’ admonition about laying up our treasures in heaven and then see folks drooling over new cars, lavish houses, and large salaries. I feel that way when we study Jesus’ answer to the lawyer, that the greatest commandments are to love God with all that we have and love our neighbor as ourselves, and then hear folks rationalize that their neighbor really doesn’t deserve help because, after all, he got himself in this predicament in the first place. I feel that way when I talk about really trusting God and then watch us trust pretty much everything and anything else first. And I feel that way when we study Jesus’ passionate model for prayer and then we run off and pray just enough to coat what are really our decisions and our plans with a thin veneer of religiosity.
In one ear and out the other. Maybe words are a little like taking a set of darts out to the garage and randomly throwing them at things. We’d likely find that they would only stick in the softer items. Perhaps some words can only stick in a heart and mind prepared by the Holy Spirit. If that’s so, may ours be softened this Christmas season.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Book Review of “The Shack”
A few months ago I started seeing references to a new book that folks were insisting was a “must read.” Now, I have a lot of books recommended to me, and I love to read. From time to time folks even give me books they think I’ll like. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to read them all.
But this book was being pushed by folks I admire, people I respect as deep thinkers in the Church. Oh, there might be a caveat here or there concerning some small theological point they questioned, but overwhelmingly they all loved this work. The book was William Young’s new fiction novel, “The Shack.” And so a month ago I read the first chapter online (you can find it at www.theshackbook.com ). Last weekend I found it at our local library and finished it today. Frankly, the reviews didn’t do it justice.
Now, I don’t want to give the plot away. Suffice it to say that it is the story of a man who has been wounded by his past who encounters God at an old shack that holds particularly gruesome memories for him. The encounter proves to be transformational.
If you’ve ever wondered whether or not God is good, read this book. If you’ve ever wondered whether or not God loves you (or how much) read this book. If you’ve ever wondered what you were created to be or how you were created to live, than read this book! Even if you're not asking any of these questions (or dozens more) it will leave you craving after the presence of God. Oh, and one more thing. Read this book!
But this book was being pushed by folks I admire, people I respect as deep thinkers in the Church. Oh, there might be a caveat here or there concerning some small theological point they questioned, but overwhelmingly they all loved this work. The book was William Young’s new fiction novel, “The Shack.” And so a month ago I read the first chapter online (you can find it at www.theshackbook.com ). Last weekend I found it at our local library and finished it today. Frankly, the reviews didn’t do it justice.
Now, I don’t want to give the plot away. Suffice it to say that it is the story of a man who has been wounded by his past who encounters God at an old shack that holds particularly gruesome memories for him. The encounter proves to be transformational.
If you’ve ever wondered whether or not God is good, read this book. If you’ve ever wondered whether or not God loves you (or how much) read this book. If you’ve ever wondered what you were created to be or how you were created to live, than read this book! Even if you're not asking any of these questions (or dozens more) it will leave you craving after the presence of God. Oh, and one more thing. Read this book!
And God Came Down
A few years ago one of our mares had an early August foal. That’s actually two or three months later than you’d ideally like a mare to give birth. We thought she had been bred quite a bit earlier than she was - if we had known she hadn’t settled earlier we would have pulled her out of the pasture with our stallion. But that didn’t happen, and so in the wee hours of the morning of August 6th - and it was cold & damp most of that month - we were awakened by the sound of the mares squeals. Because this was her first foal, and out of concern that she might be having difficulties foaling, I figured I better get out and make sure she was alright. I could tell by the direction of the noise that she had crossed the stream and was in the high grass, so I headed out that way and sure enough there she was, her foal already on the ground. Unfortunately as I drew closer the mare became nervous and decided it was time to head back across the stream. Now that wouldn’t have been a problem if she’d chosen to cross in one of the areas where the stream bed sloped more gently on both sides. But she decided to cross in one of the steeper places where her foal, once in the water, couldn’t climb back up the other bank!
And that’s where the problem began. I was pretty sure that if I left the two alone the foal would never get out. Our stream is spring fed, and it’s cold even in the summertime, and I knew the foal would chill quickly. But every time I started to get close the mare would become frantic and the foal would head into even deeper water. I must have spent close to half an hour in the stream myself, soaking wet, with the mare flashing back and forth, before I finally got the foal out safely without getting myself kicked in the process - actually, she might have gotten me in the head with a hoof. It would sure explain a lot.
Anyway, there was one point in the middle of that whole mess where I remember thinking to myself how frustrating it was that I couldn’t get that mare and her foal to understand that I was only there to help - if they would let me. And maybe it’s a sign that I’ve been a preacher for too long - or maybe God was whispering in my ear - but the very next thought that popped into my mind was this: I wonder how often God feels the same way about us - about you, and about me.
Now throughout that ordeal there was an intriguing side story taking place less than twenty yards away. You see, we still have the dam of this young mare who had just had her 1st foal, and the two mares are practically inseparable. And while I was trying to get close enough to fish the new foal out of the water, the older mare was standing guard on the other side of the stream, attempting to block the pathway down so that my wife couldn’t approach from that side. And that, I suppose, was my answer. If I could just have become a horse I might have been able to more easily communicate my intent - but of course I couldn’t do that.
But the scriptures tell us that was God was bound by no such restrictions. And so God considered our need, and counted the cost, and then came down. Emmanuel, God with us, for you, and for me. That we might understand, that we might know what God is really like, that we might embrace the life He offers us, and truly live both now and eternally. All of that, and more, John captures with those simple words. “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” And so God came down.
(excerpted from a Cowboy Church message December 3rd, 2008)
And that’s where the problem began. I was pretty sure that if I left the two alone the foal would never get out. Our stream is spring fed, and it’s cold even in the summertime, and I knew the foal would chill quickly. But every time I started to get close the mare would become frantic and the foal would head into even deeper water. I must have spent close to half an hour in the stream myself, soaking wet, with the mare flashing back and forth, before I finally got the foal out safely without getting myself kicked in the process - actually, she might have gotten me in the head with a hoof. It would sure explain a lot.
Anyway, there was one point in the middle of that whole mess where I remember thinking to myself how frustrating it was that I couldn’t get that mare and her foal to understand that I was only there to help - if they would let me. And maybe it’s a sign that I’ve been a preacher for too long - or maybe God was whispering in my ear - but the very next thought that popped into my mind was this: I wonder how often God feels the same way about us - about you, and about me.
Now throughout that ordeal there was an intriguing side story taking place less than twenty yards away. You see, we still have the dam of this young mare who had just had her 1st foal, and the two mares are practically inseparable. And while I was trying to get close enough to fish the new foal out of the water, the older mare was standing guard on the other side of the stream, attempting to block the pathway down so that my wife couldn’t approach from that side. And that, I suppose, was my answer. If I could just have become a horse I might have been able to more easily communicate my intent - but of course I couldn’t do that.
But the scriptures tell us that was God was bound by no such restrictions. And so God considered our need, and counted the cost, and then came down. Emmanuel, God with us, for you, and for me. That we might understand, that we might know what God is really like, that we might embrace the life He offers us, and truly live both now and eternally. All of that, and more, John captures with those simple words. “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” And so God came down.
(excerpted from a Cowboy Church message December 3rd, 2008)
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