So its idiot looking time. It wasn't Tom who showed up at the church the other day. It was apparently some new guy asking for money who wore almost an identical outfit.
Tom actually showed up this afternoon. I learned he likes grape soda.
I also learned that I shouldn't be so quick to think poorly of other people.
Phew. Big weight off my shoulders.
Oh, and thanks for the comment from the anon. person who commented. Its appreicated.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Ugh
Tom just came by the office and rang the doorbell. Jeff saw him and called him over to his office. I had just left Jeff's office from our weekly meeting and he told me his patience and wallet were running low with him. Well, I waited with Mary in her office for Tom to come over when he was done talking with Jeff. Apparently it was a quick meeting because when we weren't watching, he quickly left and didn't come. We only saw him as he rounded the corner of the church building. I don't know what they talked about. But I'm guessing that he isn't going to make it to church for dinner tonight.
This sucks.
I don't really blame Jeff, although I want to. But I think its something that is part of a larger problem within Christianity. If we can't solve the problem in a few steps and the person doesn't go away, then we are ill equipped to do anything else.
I have often wondered what gospel people read. What good news do we share with other people who come to us. How often do we fail to go out to the people that don't or can't ask? If being a pastor means only helping the people who attend worship on a regular basis, I don't want to do it.
Why is it so bloody hard to get other people on board for living our lives the way Jesus wants?
This sucks.
I don't really blame Jeff, although I want to. But I think its something that is part of a larger problem within Christianity. If we can't solve the problem in a few steps and the person doesn't go away, then we are ill equipped to do anything else.
I have often wondered what gospel people read. What good news do we share with other people who come to us. How often do we fail to go out to the people that don't or can't ask? If being a pastor means only helping the people who attend worship on a regular basis, I don't want to do it.
Why is it so bloody hard to get other people on board for living our lives the way Jesus wants?
Monday, February 18, 2008
Some thoughts...
Tom just came by the office tonight. I had just had finished a bible study on Matthew 13:10-17. I'm using this book named "Solo" which is the Message in lectio divina format. I decided to randomly open to a page, and the first one I went to was Matthew 5. If you don't know, those are the beattitudes... which I tend to shrug off as Matthew spritualizing something which wasn't meant to be. I prefer Luke 6 which is named "the sermon on the plain" (feel free to check my old blogs for my sermon on that passage) and I feel deals with what Jesus said in a very simple manner.
But during the bible study, there was a question that said, "...what insights has God given you in recent weeks as you have interacted with his message. What have those truths led you to do?"
A few weeks ago, the answer was to give up my belt. Today, the answer was to give up my jacket. Tom has apparently been harassed by some gentleman who is trying to take what little money Tom has to buy drugs. Now, I don't know if its true or not, but the end of the story is that Tom had his coat taken from him. Wow, way to kick a man when he's down. I don't know if its wrong of me as a pastor to hope someone goes to hell, but I'm pretty sure that taking a coat from a homeless man in the middle of winter is sufficient for a one way pass.
As we drove back from McDonalds, I couldn't help but think of the strange job I am preparing for. One where in the span of 10 days, I can be in a conference in Chicago, then spend time with a family who just lost their husband/father and the mother doesn't know how to tell her 3 children (while Jeff was with the mother, I spent time with the kids. They made me valentines which I posted on my door), to being in a bible study where a woman prayed outloud for the first time other than saying the Lord's Prayer, to having dinner with a homeless man. You sure don't get that doing a regular 9-5 job.
But during the bible study, there was a question that said, "...what insights has God given you in recent weeks as you have interacted with his message. What have those truths led you to do?"
A few weeks ago, the answer was to give up my belt. Today, the answer was to give up my jacket. Tom has apparently been harassed by some gentleman who is trying to take what little money Tom has to buy drugs. Now, I don't know if its true or not, but the end of the story is that Tom had his coat taken from him. Wow, way to kick a man when he's down. I don't know if its wrong of me as a pastor to hope someone goes to hell, but I'm pretty sure that taking a coat from a homeless man in the middle of winter is sufficient for a one way pass.
As we drove back from McDonalds, I couldn't help but think of the strange job I am preparing for. One where in the span of 10 days, I can be in a conference in Chicago, then spend time with a family who just lost their husband/father and the mother doesn't know how to tell her 3 children (while Jeff was with the mother, I spent time with the kids. They made me valentines which I posted on my door), to being in a bible study where a woman prayed outloud for the first time other than saying the Lord's Prayer, to having dinner with a homeless man. You sure don't get that doing a regular 9-5 job.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
"You anoint my head with oil..."
I just arrived back at my office after a short plane ride back from Chicago. They conference saved the most interesting things for last, which is nice, as usually you hear everything they have to say in the first day, and the rest of the time, you go over what you can already figure out for youself.
First, during one of the breakout sessions, I decided to go to the more advanced church planters group, as I felt I had a decent handle on the sessions they were teaching for my own group. Instead, I went to a session on discipleship as a way of life. It was good because it taught us how to train disciples using Matthew 28:16-18.
The leader of the group said that there are 7 principals in discipleship as a way of life.
● Unity is in community
● Obedient life (teach to obey, not teach for knowledge)
● Vision of Jesus, assurance of faith
● Worship – Spirituality
● Doubt is human nature. (When Jesus was on the cross, he had two people next to him, one who doubted and one who believed. Those people are both within us.)
● Mutual Relationship
● The Word of God
I realize that this isn't as fleshed out as I would like it to be, but I plan on creating a program of sorts (while not having it be a formal program) which I will work on with a few people in my next church assignment. I look forward to seeing where this is going.
Then, right before our closing meal, we had a worship service. I had previously disliked the other worships because all of the songs we were singing were quite shallow theologically. Every single song we sang was about my relationship with Jesus, not once did we sing using the words "we" or "us". So I didn't have high expectations for this service.
Well, we had a wonderful message by one of the church planting directors, who preached about the 70 who were sent out by Jesus. That this moment was our fanfare, as we would recieve little out in the real world. Then, each of us who were new to the church planting mission were asked to stand, and while some leaders came around and anointed us with oil, others who have been out in the church planting field laid hands on us and prayed for the start of our ministry. It was extremely moving. So often in the church do I feel I am required to be the person who prays for others while no one prays for me.
Overall, I have found a renewed hope in inter-church dialogue and have felt called more and more to the church planting mission field. I don't know where I will end up, but I do know now, more than ever, that God has something big in store for me.
First, during one of the breakout sessions, I decided to go to the more advanced church planters group, as I felt I had a decent handle on the sessions they were teaching for my own group. Instead, I went to a session on discipleship as a way of life. It was good because it taught us how to train disciples using Matthew 28:16-18.
The leader of the group said that there are 7 principals in discipleship as a way of life.
● Unity is in community
● Obedient life (teach to obey, not teach for knowledge)
● Vision of Jesus, assurance of faith
● Worship – Spirituality
● Doubt is human nature. (When Jesus was on the cross, he had two people next to him, one who doubted and one who believed. Those people are both within us.)
● Mutual Relationship
● The Word of God
I realize that this isn't as fleshed out as I would like it to be, but I plan on creating a program of sorts (while not having it be a formal program) which I will work on with a few people in my next church assignment. I look forward to seeing where this is going.
Then, right before our closing meal, we had a worship service. I had previously disliked the other worships because all of the songs we were singing were quite shallow theologically. Every single song we sang was about my relationship with Jesus, not once did we sing using the words "we" or "us". So I didn't have high expectations for this service.
Well, we had a wonderful message by one of the church planting directors, who preached about the 70 who were sent out by Jesus. That this moment was our fanfare, as we would recieve little out in the real world. Then, each of us who were new to the church planting mission were asked to stand, and while some leaders came around and anointed us with oil, others who have been out in the church planting field laid hands on us and prayed for the start of our ministry. It was extremely moving. So often in the church do I feel I am required to be the person who prays for others while no one prays for me.
Overall, I have found a renewed hope in inter-church dialogue and have felt called more and more to the church planting mission field. I don't know where I will end up, but I do know now, more than ever, that God has something big in store for me.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Ready...Fire...Aim...
The Moravian director of church planting says that a good church planter lives by the motto, Ready, Fire, Aim. I like this motto, as it does not spend as much time aiming, but shoots, then aims before they fire again. They try, and if it works, they keep their aim where it is, if not, they are free to take a look at how close they came to what they were shooting at.
That being said, the past few weeks I have noticed in my own conversations with others, that I have been talking more and more about the Christ who is a revolutionary. I seek to be a disciple of the Jesus who calls us to leave everything we know and follow wherever he goes. The other side of the coin in the church is that it seems to be a pastor, one must be comfortable with evolutionary change.
I wish I knew how to juggle both Revolution and Evolution in a way which would best service others who seek to be Christ followers. They keep telling me that prayer is the most important aspect of church planting...perhaps it is time I started taking that to heart and made it more of a focus in my ministry.
That being said, the past few weeks I have noticed in my own conversations with others, that I have been talking more and more about the Christ who is a revolutionary. I seek to be a disciple of the Jesus who calls us to leave everything we know and follow wherever he goes. The other side of the coin in the church is that it seems to be a pastor, one must be comfortable with evolutionary change.
I wish I knew how to juggle both Revolution and Evolution in a way which would best service others who seek to be Christ followers. They keep telling me that prayer is the most important aspect of church planting...perhaps it is time I started taking that to heart and made it more of a focus in my ministry.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Church Planting Seminar in Chicago
Today was the first day of the church planting seminar put on by the ELCA. It wasn't particularly interesting as the church planting class I took in Ashland, Ohio.
Today we made sure we had a sure theological grounding to be a church planter. It turned out that most of the ELCA planters would one up each other on who had the dirtiest quote from Luther. Now, I am not one to shun cursing, but to think that people who don't preach the gospel ought to be run out of town and have dung thrown at them... thats a bit extreme. Back to the theological background. We did this exercise which had us think of positive theological statements for church planting. So many of the phrases that were offered up to the group were in "churchese" which is language only people who have grown up in the church would understand. I realize that I'm probably a decent offender when it comes to this, but in this setting, it became very evident that most of the people here were going to be planting churches for people who already have some church background.
Then, one gentleman offered this gem up to the group. When we were talking about what we as church planters are not, he said, "we are not people who's theology can be placed on a bumper sticker. Had you said this to me a few months ago, I would have agreed in full, but recently, I saw a bumper sticker put out by my collegue Suzanne's church http://www.thebarnlv.org/loading.html which simply states "Love Wins." which I just love. Now, I still have a strong distaste for hokey theology or cheesy statements which are a big part of Christian culture, but to say something like "Love Wins." is bad theology is just crazy. It seems to me that often we make theology so complex in order to never have to live it because we need to spend more time understanding it all. Something as simple as "Love Wins." makes a great bumper sticker as well as gives us little to learn and lots to do.
Other than that, the small group of Moravians have had some wonderful conversations with each other and the new director of church planting, Fred Lehr. Sometimes in our conversations over meals, it is quite clear to see how different our thinking is between the modern and post modern church, but I am happy that he is willing to engage in the conversation, as I have met other people in church leadership who simply dismiss the post modern movement.
Tomorrow will hopefully be more practical. We did get a paper to fill out which would help us create a 6 month plan, but as it will be at least 18 months before I get out into the church plant, I did not place a high priority on it just yet.
Today we made sure we had a sure theological grounding to be a church planter. It turned out that most of the ELCA planters would one up each other on who had the dirtiest quote from Luther. Now, I am not one to shun cursing, but to think that people who don't preach the gospel ought to be run out of town and have dung thrown at them... thats a bit extreme. Back to the theological background. We did this exercise which had us think of positive theological statements for church planting. So many of the phrases that were offered up to the group were in "churchese" which is language only people who have grown up in the church would understand. I realize that I'm probably a decent offender when it comes to this, but in this setting, it became very evident that most of the people here were going to be planting churches for people who already have some church background.
Then, one gentleman offered this gem up to the group. When we were talking about what we as church planters are not, he said, "we are not people who's theology can be placed on a bumper sticker. Had you said this to me a few months ago, I would have agreed in full, but recently, I saw a bumper sticker put out by my collegue Suzanne's church http://www.thebarnlv.org/loading.html which simply states "Love Wins." which I just love. Now, I still have a strong distaste for hokey theology or cheesy statements which are a big part of Christian culture, but to say something like "Love Wins." is bad theology is just crazy. It seems to me that often we make theology so complex in order to never have to live it because we need to spend more time understanding it all. Something as simple as "Love Wins." makes a great bumper sticker as well as gives us little to learn and lots to do.
Other than that, the small group of Moravians have had some wonderful conversations with each other and the new director of church planting, Fred Lehr. Sometimes in our conversations over meals, it is quite clear to see how different our thinking is between the modern and post modern church, but I am happy that he is willing to engage in the conversation, as I have met other people in church leadership who simply dismiss the post modern movement.
Tomorrow will hopefully be more practical. We did get a paper to fill out which would help us create a 6 month plan, but as it will be at least 18 months before I get out into the church plant, I did not place a high priority on it just yet.
Monday, February 11, 2008
An Interesting Question
Its a warm 2 degrees here in Chicago today. Suzanne and I arrived around noon for a 3 day seminar for church planters. We got in, dropped off our luggage and went out for a walk to a local grocery store for lunch and for me to get tooth paste, as security found me trying to sneak more than 3.4oz of Crest onto the plane. I tried to argue that even though it was a 6oz. container, it was more than half gone. I might have pushed harder, but I quickly remembered that airport security could have me strip searched, and I quickly bid goodbye to my toothpaste.
Upon our return to the hotel, I found my roommate in the room. He is from India, but currently working in the middle of NJ. We talked about quite a bit in a short time. Family, faith, church planting. He was telling me of the struggles of the church in India when an interesting question came up.
He said that the Christians in India used to start schools, hospitals, or other ways of interacting with the community in order to do outreach/evangelism. Now-a-days, those institutions are being taken over by secular or by other faiths. So if the way which we as Christians used to show the love of Christ to others is not as accessable as it was in the past, what ways can we continue to show that love?
I think that'd be a neat question to have the people who read this blog answer.
Upon our return to the hotel, I found my roommate in the room. He is from India, but currently working in the middle of NJ. We talked about quite a bit in a short time. Family, faith, church planting. He was telling me of the struggles of the church in India when an interesting question came up.
He said that the Christians in India used to start schools, hospitals, or other ways of interacting with the community in order to do outreach/evangelism. Now-a-days, those institutions are being taken over by secular or by other faiths. So if the way which we as Christians used to show the love of Christ to others is not as accessable as it was in the past, what ways can we continue to show that love?
I think that'd be a neat question to have the people who read this blog answer.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
The Belt Off My Waist
I never answer the doorbell at the place where I'm staying. Living in the Catholic rectory has meant I don't get any visitors. But it was Ash Wednesday and I assumed that since none of the priests were in the house, I should probably answer the door and tell the person where to find them.
To my surprise, it was Tom, the homeless man who has been coming by. He was surprised to see me, as he was apparently looking for the priest. He had also come by my office that morning, looking to tell me that he didn't steal keys from the church, which apparently one of our members accused him of, but must have found them, as he didn't say anything to me. Well, he told me the story and asked if I had any work for him. It was almost 9 at night, to which the obvious answer was no. But as I stood there talking with him, I noticed something which I never had before about Tom. He was using a legnth of rope (one of those stringy but very tough pieces of rope you might find at a construction site) as a belt. While he was telling me his story about the keys, I quickly took off my belt (I'm glad he wasn't paying attention, because it might have looked a bit suspect) and gave it to him. He said he hadn't had a new belt in a long time. More years than he could remember.
I only own one belt, so I went out and bought a new one this morning. It took me an hour to get to the department store and back. And I was perfectly content to just let this story go untold. No one needs to know that I gave my belt to this guy, but yesterday, I felt that Ash Wednesday was just some silly holiday which we celebrate to show everyone else we are followers of Christ. I figured it had no biblical basis, and therefore, shouldn't be celebrated.
Then I remembered this prayer which I'm just going to assume most other Christians say every so often in corporate prayer. "We confess to you and to one another, and to the whole communion of saints in heaven and on earth, that we have sinned by our own fault in thought, word, and deed; by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart, mind and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven others as we have been forgiven."
Then when I got back to the office after buying a new belt, I told the story to Mary and another person in the office. Afterwards, she warned me about not getting scammed. Ugh. What person reads the gospels and worries about getting scammed? I think when we focus on not being scammed, we take our minds off of what we have left undone.
Maybe I would have given my belt anyway. I don't know if that prayer helped me remember or not, but I wish life were as simple as praying or preaching it and just having other people do it. That way, I wouldn't be the only one who does it because I'm paid to do so.
To my surprise, it was Tom, the homeless man who has been coming by. He was surprised to see me, as he was apparently looking for the priest. He had also come by my office that morning, looking to tell me that he didn't steal keys from the church, which apparently one of our members accused him of, but must have found them, as he didn't say anything to me. Well, he told me the story and asked if I had any work for him. It was almost 9 at night, to which the obvious answer was no. But as I stood there talking with him, I noticed something which I never had before about Tom. He was using a legnth of rope (one of those stringy but very tough pieces of rope you might find at a construction site) as a belt. While he was telling me his story about the keys, I quickly took off my belt (I'm glad he wasn't paying attention, because it might have looked a bit suspect) and gave it to him. He said he hadn't had a new belt in a long time. More years than he could remember.
I only own one belt, so I went out and bought a new one this morning. It took me an hour to get to the department store and back. And I was perfectly content to just let this story go untold. No one needs to know that I gave my belt to this guy, but yesterday, I felt that Ash Wednesday was just some silly holiday which we celebrate to show everyone else we are followers of Christ. I figured it had no biblical basis, and therefore, shouldn't be celebrated.
Then I remembered this prayer which I'm just going to assume most other Christians say every so often in corporate prayer. "We confess to you and to one another, and to the whole communion of saints in heaven and on earth, that we have sinned by our own fault in thought, word, and deed; by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart, mind and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven others as we have been forgiven."
Then when I got back to the office after buying a new belt, I told the story to Mary and another person in the office. Afterwards, she warned me about not getting scammed. Ugh. What person reads the gospels and worries about getting scammed? I think when we focus on not being scammed, we take our minds off of what we have left undone.
Maybe I would have given my belt anyway. I don't know if that prayer helped me remember or not, but I wish life were as simple as praying or preaching it and just having other people do it. That way, I wouldn't be the only one who does it because I'm paid to do so.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Super Sunday
As far as weeks go, this is certainly a Super one. Tonight is the Super bowl, and Tuesday was upgraded this year from Super Tuesday to Super Duper Tuesday. With all of the excitement, it’s hard to focus on the ordinary, mundane aspects of life. This isn’t always a bad thing, but when we equate elections and football with things that are super, we lose sight of those things which are really extra ordinary.
If you paid attention to the bulletin today, you will notice two things are different. The first is that each bulletin has a name tag in it. If you haven’t done so already, I would like to invite you to put it on. The second thing that is different is that we did not have a time to greet one another. I specifically removed it from its normal place in order that now when you stand up to greet one another, you might do so with new eyes; that when you look at the person whom you are greeting this morning, you see Jesus.
So now, I invite you all to stand up and greet each other.
Let me read to you the story of Jesus Transfiguration.
“Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
Up until this point, Peter, James and John, and I’m sure the rest of the disciples thought of Jesus as just an ordinary guy who had some great thoughts on how to live life. Yes, there were some impressive miracles in there, but this was the point in which Jesus which changed these three men’s lives. They finally realized that Jesus was the Son of God. It is something which we tend to take for granted. We all just assume that Jesus is the Son of God. It isn’t exactly a startling statement to make to a bunch of believers. The opposite is true today though. So often we seem to forget that Jesus was a regular person.
I gave you all nametags today because we need to begin to see Jesus in the ordinary, non Super days of our life.
On Friday, there was a man waiting in the hallway of Hahle hall when I arrived. He needed money for the train. He had been here a few months before when his wife kicked him out of the house. This time, he had come to collect his things, which wasn’t much. Everything he had was in a bag not much bigger than this. I gave him the money he needed for his train ticket, and as I was walking him out the door, he asked if we had an extra umbrella, as you will remember that it was raining quite heavily on Friday. Well, I took him into the sanctuary and went to the umbrella rack and let him have his pick. So if someone notices that their umbrella is no longer there, please speak to me, I owe you a new one.
Well, I got back to my office and a friend from college happened to call me. I told him the story I just told you, but when I got to the part about this man asking for money, he couldn’t help but ask, “Well, what did you do?”
The answer is, of course I gave him the money. Now, I have to admit that I do such things for a purely selfish reason. I can’t even tell you this mans name because I forgot it just a few seconds after he told it to me, but I gave it to him because I saw Jesus and someday, when I am dead, I will stand in front of the Transfigured Christ and be called to account for my actions. I want Jesus to say to me, thank you giving me money for the train. Thank you for sharing a meal with me at McDonalds when I came to you homeless and out of jail. Thank you for caring about the people I care about, the people who are not considered Super, but plain, ordinary people who need a little help.
When you look around this room, and when you leave this worship today, I hope that you see everyone wearing a name tag that says “Hello, my name is Jesus.” Care for each other in that manner. Go home from here and read a gospel before getting ready for the football game. Realize that when people saw Jesus, they invited him into their homes for a meal. Realize that when people saw Jesus, they wanted to hear his story. Realize that when people touched Jesus, they expected to be healed
Then, realize that when you see other people, you need to see Jesus in them and invite them into your home for a meal. Realize that when you see other people, you want to know their life story and be a part of it. Realize that when you touch other people as Jesus, you can expect some aspect of life to be healed.
This is what we need to intentionally start doing my brothers and sisters. Too often we fail to see Jesus in the people around us. The people who are lonely and seeking companionship. We need to look at each other and say I want to share my story with you, because that’s what happened when Jesus was around other people. If we do not make an active effort to see those around us as Jesus, there is very little point in understanding Jesus to be the Christ, for you cannot have one without the other.
If you paid attention to the bulletin today, you will notice two things are different. The first is that each bulletin has a name tag in it. If you haven’t done so already, I would like to invite you to put it on. The second thing that is different is that we did not have a time to greet one another. I specifically removed it from its normal place in order that now when you stand up to greet one another, you might do so with new eyes; that when you look at the person whom you are greeting this morning, you see Jesus.
So now, I invite you all to stand up and greet each other.
Let me read to you the story of Jesus Transfiguration.
“Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
Up until this point, Peter, James and John, and I’m sure the rest of the disciples thought of Jesus as just an ordinary guy who had some great thoughts on how to live life. Yes, there were some impressive miracles in there, but this was the point in which Jesus which changed these three men’s lives. They finally realized that Jesus was the Son of God. It is something which we tend to take for granted. We all just assume that Jesus is the Son of God. It isn’t exactly a startling statement to make to a bunch of believers. The opposite is true today though. So often we seem to forget that Jesus was a regular person.
I gave you all nametags today because we need to begin to see Jesus in the ordinary, non Super days of our life.
On Friday, there was a man waiting in the hallway of Hahle hall when I arrived. He needed money for the train. He had been here a few months before when his wife kicked him out of the house. This time, he had come to collect his things, which wasn’t much. Everything he had was in a bag not much bigger than this. I gave him the money he needed for his train ticket, and as I was walking him out the door, he asked if we had an extra umbrella, as you will remember that it was raining quite heavily on Friday. Well, I took him into the sanctuary and went to the umbrella rack and let him have his pick. So if someone notices that their umbrella is no longer there, please speak to me, I owe you a new one.
Well, I got back to my office and a friend from college happened to call me. I told him the story I just told you, but when I got to the part about this man asking for money, he couldn’t help but ask, “Well, what did you do?”
The answer is, of course I gave him the money. Now, I have to admit that I do such things for a purely selfish reason. I can’t even tell you this mans name because I forgot it just a few seconds after he told it to me, but I gave it to him because I saw Jesus and someday, when I am dead, I will stand in front of the Transfigured Christ and be called to account for my actions. I want Jesus to say to me, thank you giving me money for the train. Thank you for sharing a meal with me at McDonalds when I came to you homeless and out of jail. Thank you for caring about the people I care about, the people who are not considered Super, but plain, ordinary people who need a little help.
When you look around this room, and when you leave this worship today, I hope that you see everyone wearing a name tag that says “Hello, my name is Jesus.” Care for each other in that manner. Go home from here and read a gospel before getting ready for the football game. Realize that when people saw Jesus, they invited him into their homes for a meal. Realize that when people saw Jesus, they wanted to hear his story. Realize that when people touched Jesus, they expected to be healed
Then, realize that when you see other people, you need to see Jesus in them and invite them into your home for a meal. Realize that when you see other people, you want to know their life story and be a part of it. Realize that when you touch other people as Jesus, you can expect some aspect of life to be healed.
This is what we need to intentionally start doing my brothers and sisters. Too often we fail to see Jesus in the people around us. The people who are lonely and seeking companionship. We need to look at each other and say I want to share my story with you, because that’s what happened when Jesus was around other people. If we do not make an active effort to see those around us as Jesus, there is very little point in understanding Jesus to be the Christ, for you cannot have one without the other.
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