Engage us

(This sermon is based on the following scripture verses, 1 Samuel 17: 37b-55a; 1 Timothy 4: 4-16; Matthew 15: 21-28)

When I was 14 years old, a student pastor came to my congregation and discipled me as to what it means to live life as a Christian in the world. We met on a weekly basis for almost a year, and I learned a lot about life, about ministry, about sharing things with a brother in Christ, things I might not normally share with just anyone. It was during that time that I first heard God calling me to ministry. For the next 3 years or so, I did a lot of work within my home congregation to see what it would mean to become a pastor within the Moravian church. Unfortunately what I had thought that it meant to be Christian was not true. I had thought that it meant being smart, being well educated, preaching a good sermon, go to a lot of meetings in order to keep the building well maintained. It was actually kind of fun to do this stuff, but it got old really quickly.

Then, when I was 18, I spent a year abroad in Sweden and other than Christmas Eve, did not spend a single day in church. It was great! I made tons of new friends, most of who did not go to church, spending lots of time outside in the summer, relaxing in the winter, just having a wonderful time. When I came back to the United States, I went right off to college, where I joined a fraternity and lots of clubs. There was so much good stuff going on in my life, and I didn’t miss going to church at all.

One day, I was driving around as a part of my internship when I saw a Moravian church. I hadn’t been in a church in over 3 years, and something made me go back. I’m not sure what made me go, other than God. But that really isn’t the point of me telling you this part of my life. I told you this because I want to highlight the first verse we read this morning from 1 Timothy. It states that everything God created is good.

Now, if you read the first 3 verses of the chapter, which I urge you to do, you might be compelled to say that I am taking this verse out of context, but I want to tell you that one of the reasons we lose a lot of young people in church today is directly related to the fact that we as the church do a poor job of telling our younger members that everything God created is good, and sometimes that includes things which the church fails to recognize. Sometimes the church as a whole tends to say that things like music are bad, or that perhaps certain types of food are bad, or even something like sex can be negative. As a teenager, when we realize that these things in and of themselves are not necessarily bad, but that the church tells us they are, the logical conclusion is to stop attending church. If you ever do decide to go this way, you are not alone. I certainly did it, as do so many other people in our generation. But the important thing we as youth must do is continue to bring positive things which we know God created into contact with the church, in order to broaden the influence we have in the world.

I have a question for the youth today. Did you notice that what the 3 scripture verses had in common? Any guesses? That’s right… they all have youth in them. Last weekend, I went to a conference with a wonderful speaker named Mark Yaconelli who works specifically with youth.
During his presentation, he told us what we needed as youth leaders to do to engage youth today with Christianity. Most of the time we as leaders and elders think that the simple fact of having a youth group means that you are sufficiently engaged. Unfortunately, that is not true. Instead, there are 4 things that we as pastors, teachers, elders and friends must do in order to engage you in the life of the church.

The first thing we need to engage you with is the sense of Wonder. Can you imagine the sense of wonder which David had as he faced Goliath? Heck, the whole army of Israel was captured by wonder. Here is a 9 foot tall man, which is about two feet taller than Yao Ming, covered head to toe in armor with a pretty serious looking sword. I imagine that young David pretty well understood what it means to stand in Wonder, especially with the sure knowledge that God was going to be with him as he defeated this monster of a man. Regrettably, as a young person in the world today, I think it is very difficult to be in awe of anything. We spend so much time in front of screens that things happening in the world rarely intrigue us as they should. Whenever we go somewhere, we are always in a rush, always hurrying, almost never stopping long enough to be in awe of the wonders around us.

Mark Yaconelli told a wonderful story about his four year old son Joshua, who realized that his father was always rushing him to the next place he had to be. Joshua wanted to stop and look at rocks or bugs or whatever else caught his eye. So one day they were sitting around at dinner when this little child told the family that he started a new club, called the Slow Club. He was the only member, but the members of the Slow Club were committed to doing nothing fast. Everything would be done slowly, being sure to take one’s time and to be in wonder of everything around it. Mark thought it was cute, but didn’t actually join his son’s club. He went around for years, continuing to do everything at a fast pace, just like he had always done. Then, one day when they were at a camp, when young Joshua was about 10 years old, the lunch bell rang and the whole camp started to run towards the dining hall. Mark tried to hurry his son, knowing that all the good food would be gone if they didn’t hurry up… But his son invited his father with a one day pass into the Slow Club. As they slowly walked to the mess hall together, they saw a pair of rabbits, they saw lizards sunning themselves by a pond, they took in the beauty of the world around them, and for the first time, Mark, who had always been rushing his son everywhere he needed to be, realized that his son was right, and that he needed to spend more time in Wonder of the things which God created. Ever since that one walk to lunch, I believe Mark has been a member of the Slow Club.

The second thing we need to engage our youth in is a sense of heartbreak. Perhaps this seems to be a confusing quality which we should be exposing our young men and women to, but I will tell you today that it is probably the most important. In fact most parents do everything they can to avoid showing children that heartbreak is a part of what it means to be a Christian. But to engage a person in heartbreak does not mean to allow them to date and go through a bad break up. To have your heart break is to see the people which our world pushes to the margins. The gospels calls these people the poor, naked, hungry and thirsty. We must see the margins and empathize with them. Our heart must break at their condition, and we must see Christ in the people the world tells us are unworthy. The second part of engaging someone in heartbreak is to not simply to give money to those people, but to actively spend time with them, to spend part of your life’s journey on their own journey. Doing this leads to the third thing we must engage our youth in today.

We must be engaged in experiences of healing. The gospels are filled with stories of healing. We even read one of them today. A young girl was healed because of the faith of her mother. Healing can take on many forms. Sometimes it is made manifest in physical healing, sometimes spiritual. One of most profound ways an adult can engage their children in healing is through the act of forgiveness. I recently watched a movie on the Amish mothers of the girls who were killed in the school shooting. They immediately forgave the shooter who killed their young children. This is definitely a lesson we all can learn from, but those women, mothers of slain children, engaged the world in a lesson of healing. They knew they could not heal if they did not forgive. If our youth are not engaged in this, they will have a difficult time practicing it when they are leaders in the church.

The last thing we must engage our youth in is Freedom. By all accounts, Philadelphia is the birthplace of freedom, but I’m not speaking of political freedom, or the rights afforded to us in the constitution. Instead, we must be engaged with freedom in Christ. This is a different way of living which is very foreign to the world today. We must show each other that we do not live for ourselves, but for each other, because Christ lived for us.

If we listen to the words Paul wrote to Timothy, he said, “Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” I personally take freedom from the world a bit more radically than most. I love the book of Acts where we get a taste of how the first church lived, where they sold everything they had, worshipped daily, giving to those in need, and shared meals together. I wish I were brave enough to do something like that, but we can start by taking small steps of living free from the world and instead start living free in Christ. Perhaps it starts by getting rid cable TV, or perhaps it means having more meals as a family at home. However you wish to engage the young men and women in your life, showing them that there is a different way to live is extremely important.

Now, I want all the youth to stand up and face the rest of the congregation. I want you to repeat what I say to the people who promised to nurture you into Christian maturity when you were baptized.

Repeat after me:
Engage us/ in what it means/ to live life/ as followers of Jesus.
Engage us/ in the wonders of God/ and the beauty of the world.
Engage us/ in heartbreak./ Show us the margins of the world/ and how to love them.
Engage us/ in experiences of healing./ Showing us how to forgive/ people who have hurt us.
Engage us/ in freedom from the world/ and how to live a godly life.
Engage us/ please/ Engage us.



Amen.

Olympic Protests

I am fascinated by the way certain groups draw attention to their cause. Most recently, there have been protests during the Olympic torch relay. Apparently these protests have worked; because high powered political figures have either publically committed or are considering boycotting the opening ceremony. Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister of Great Britain has said he will not attend because of China’s stance on Tibet. George W. Bush is still thinking about missing the opening ceremony, but has said that he will attend the games in order to support the Americans who are competing.

I don’t know if China even cares about such things. Perhaps in a world where a subtle public shame technique is important, but everyone who has any training in political science knows that all politics are local and such small stunts are meaningless for real change. It is the equivalent of saying “I support the troops but not the war in Iraq.”

Instead, most coverage of this issue has put the athletes in the forefront of a political battle which they seem to dislike. Half of the athletes seem to have little to no knowledge of current affairs while the others who do pay attention don’t want politics to get in the way of their performance. I guess if I was a world class athlete, I might feel the same way, but since I’m not, I can’t.

It’s time for our athletes to stand up and say, “I know I’m one of the best swimmers/soccer players/softball players/runners/athletes in the world and I have a pretty good chance to show the world yet again that the country I come from allows me to perform at my best. Because of this, I cannot compete because the Olympics are not being held in a place where this is true for all of its citizens.”

When we come from countries which promote such high standards, we ought to live up to them, even if our politicians don’t. For many athletes, this is their one shot at greatness, and sadly, I think it is wasted by the fact that they are competing. By my theory, you’re pretty good if you even make it to the Olympics…but you’re the best if you can turn them down for what you know is right.

If you leave politics up to politicians, you fail to live in a democracy. The same goes for allowing politicians to dictate what happens to athletes. If there is a single athlete who chooses not to compete because of their beliefs…there may be hope for the system after all… but I wouldn’t bet on it.

Community can change the world

My favourite part of the movie “the Matrix” is the part when Neo goes to see the Oracle. As he is waiting in her living room, he encounters a young child who is holding a spoon. The child has the spoon in one hand and appears to be making the spoon bend merely by using the powers of the mind. Neo stands a few feet away in sheer amazement. After completing lots of training, he realizes that he does not have the same capability that this young boy has. The child catches Neo staring. It seems that Neo is caught between two realities. One is that surely this must be a trick; while the other reality is that he knows that it is not, but doesn’t know how to explain it. The boy hands Neo the spoon and allows him to try. He stares at the spoon for a moment, concentrating really hard. Finally Neo gets the spoon to bend ever so slightly before it goes back to its original shape. The child smiles and tells him the secret. It is easy to bend the spoon however you like once you realize that there is no spoon. I’m pretty sure that this simple phrase is immediately lost on Neo, because it was spoken by a child, and in the other room, the Oracle, who was much more important than this child, was waiting. The interesting thing is that the oracle was the one who told him no, while the child gave him the answer to changing the world. Only when Neo realized that nothing in the world could hold him back was he truly able to master it.

Truly I tell you, the first Christians whom we read about in the book of Acts learned that when they no longer conformed to the ways of the world, the people of God grew in number every day. Nothing was able to control them once they realized this.

What made this community so different? The way that all the believers were together and having everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as they had need. Every day they met in the temple, they broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Surely this is different than what it was living in a hippie commune or having the state impose Communism upon the people. Instead, this was the people who feared and loved God coming together and realizing that there is no spoon. That if they lived a life that told the people around them that “the world” has nothing to offer, that there was no spoon, then the things of the world would be defeated.

For those of you who have gone to Mississippi, you know about what it means to experience a community inspired by God. Every day there is opportunity to gather together to worship, everyday there is an opportunity to work for something other than our own money, and I think, most importantly, the opportunity to eat meals together and enjoy each others company. As I’m sure anyone in this congregation will tell you who has been to Camp Victor, this intentional community is a world changing thing.

In fact, the earliest Moravians were intentionally living in this different community in the hopes to not live according to the values of the world, but instead wanted to live as if the Kingdom of God was present here on earth. During the time of Comenius, this community lived as part of the “hidden seed”. Unfortunately we do not have much information because they were persecuted for their beliefs, but I think we must believe that their community lived differently than others around them, because otherwise that small, hidden seed, would not have made it to Herrenhut. When they finally did make it Herrenhut, the Unitas Fratrum was able to live out this intentional community the way God desired. In fact, their community drew people from many other faith communities to the Moravians because they saw that the way they lived was very similar to the way the early Christians in the book of Acts lived. Unfortunately, all these different faith communities were at odds with each other as to truly live together. The community only thrived when they lived out this life AND they learned to put aside their differences and love each other.

The whole idea that we have to love each other is more about action than thought. The neighbors of First Moravian Church of Riverside must be able to see that we love each other and more importantly, we love them, which does not include them coming through our doors as the first step. They need to come to the realization that we are not living for ourselves, which is what our entire American culture preaches, but we are living for Christ, and thus we are living for each other because we know that Christ dwells in each of us.

I have no definite answer my friends, to how we go about making visible our community of love. All I do know is that Jesus said that we, his followers, are the salt of the earth and that we are the light of the world.

These two statements are the pinnacle of what it means to belong to the people which God has set apart. Starting with Abraham, God calls us to be separate, to live differently than the rest of the world thinks we should live. The rest of the Hebrew Scriptures are filled with stories of how we have fallen short of being the people God calls us to be. Then we finally get to the New Testament, and we find Jesus, the son of God who sets people apart to be Holy. Jesus spends his ministry telling those around him what it takes to be set apart, what it means to be holy, what it means to not be of the world.

It is an awesome undertaking which can be fulfilled in an infinite number of ways. The epistle lesson for today talks about how we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God so that we may declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness into God’s wonderful light. Because we have received this mercy from God, I do know that simply giving money to a charity or food to a food bank is not enough. Instead, we must dine with the poor and the hungry. Be in fellowship with those among us whom the world considers undesirable, even if it means personal or professional disgrace. Great is our reward in heaven when we are able to live out that calling.

We must be continuing to reflect on our own community within this congregation and look to see the impact we are making on the people around us. One of the great things about this congregation is the rich family context which has been built up for many years. The early Christians who we are looking to model this morning saw themselves as a family. “Family is the dominant social model as well as a metaphor which Jesus uses to engender a specific kind of behavior.”[1]

The family model for Christian community can be a difficult one to live within. There are two main problems to building this community. First is that there are really only two ways to gain entrance into a family. You can either be born into a family or marry into one. The second obstacle is when Jesus says that he came to set a son against his father, or a daughter against her mother (Matthew 10:34-37). This might make us think that Jesus is against family, but in fact, it is showing us that in order to really be a family of believers, we must put aside allegiance to our own family and build relationships which have Christ at the center, which is what any congregation should truly be. And yet, with Christ at the center of our family, we must do everything we can to love one another. If we chose to be nice in order not to hurt one’s feelings, we will continue to be shallow in both faith and in community. Loving each other sometimes saying things which hurt, which bring about frustration or struggle, but those times are when the Sprit grows in us, it deconstructs us and admonishes us, allowing for a deeper walk with God.

This weekend, the men of this congregation went on a retreat and learned about family. We recalled times and relationships which were meaningful to us and almost everyone had a story of some sort of struggle between siblings. Because we are brothers and sisters in Christ, we must not think that everything we say must be “nice” because it hinders growth. I’m willing to guess that all of us at some point in our lives have been told the “truth in love”, even when it hurt. We must seek to do that more often, to be the community in love. “Community is the place where our limitations, our fears and our egoism are revealed to us. We discover our poverty and our weakness, our inability to get along with some people, our mental and emotional blocks, our affective or sexual disturbances, our seemingly insatiable desires, our frustrations and jealousies, our hatred and our wish to destroy. An experience in prayer and the experience of being loved and accepted in community, which has become a safe place for us, allows us to gradually accept ourselves as we are, with our wounds and all the monsters. We are broken, but we are loved. We can grow to greater openness and compassion; we have a mission.”[2]

That mission is to show the world that there is no spoon. The spoon in this case our individuality in which we attempt to exist. Once we realize that our individuality does not exist, but our love is show in the way that we love each other. When this community becomes greater than our individuality, we are a force that will change the world. Amen.

[1] Joseph Hellerman. The Ancient Church as Family (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001) pg 70.
[2] Jean Vanier, Community and Growth, 2nd Ed. (New York: Paulist Press, 1989) pg 26-27.

Another Tom Visit...

Tom came by this afternoon in seemingly high spirits. He believes he has found some decent part-time work. He came in and we chatted for about 30 minutes. It is especially interesting that now he no longer simply complains about his own life, but he asks me about mine and seems genuinely interested. I told him about my struggles with the ordination review committee and he told me that in his book, I'm already ordained. That comment really makes me happy. If only we had a couple theologically trained homeless people on the committee, we'd be golden.

Tom also told me that he has acquired a few more misdemenor tickets for loitering, jay-walking, and riding the train without a ticket. Tickets which I doubt I could get on my own. Would a cop give me a ticket for asking for money outside of a WaWa? Would they fine me for hopping a median of a highway? Would they give me a ticket for riding the train with an unpunched ticket? Or would I simply get warnings because of me being middle class?

I think on one of my days off sometime soon, I'm going to ride the train all day and see what happens. Or perhaps I will someday have the courage to beg for money to see how I'm treated. I need to first work up the guts to do it to see what happens. I don't know if I'd ever actually get sent to jail for it, but who knows... its a hard thing to overcome pride.

New Sins!!! Thank you Catholics!

The Catholic church is an interesting beast. All this talk over what is a sin and what isn't... but this news article came from the BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7287071.stm today and I found it interesting.

Apparently some Archbishop has taken up the task of moderninzing the list of what sin is.

The original 7 deadly sins are

• Pride
• Envy
• Gluttony
• Lust
• Anger
• Greed
• Sloth

While these are still things we should not do, this Archbishop has added to the list. I like some of them...

• Enviromental pollution
• Genetic manipulation
• Accumulating excessive wealth
• Inflicting poverty
• Drug trafficking and consumption
• Morally debatable experiments
• Violation of fundamental rights of human nature.

Now, I've read two articles on this and already seen a few jokes about the current Pope being a former Nazi youth, especially in the area of "morally debatable experiments and a violation of fundamental rights of human nature" But all that aside, I like the way that these new sins are headed. I find that unlike the original 7 deadly sins, these are sins of corporation. It means that I commit sin by both driving a car on my own, but also as a population, we add to pollution by not pushing for the strictest/highest standards for a car's mpg.

So a question to the 5 or so people that actually read this blog... which of the newest "sins" do you find most intersting and why?

Romans 8:1-11 Sermon

I’m sure that most of us here today have done what I did when I first listened to the text from Romans. I scratched my head, thought that Paul really wasn’t kidding when he said he was bad with words, and got to thinking that the point of this passage was that because of God sending the Holy Spirit, Christ now lives in us who are his followers. This isn’t exactly new knowledge to those of us who have been going to church most of their lives.

There is that song most of us learned at camp or in VBS called I’ve got the joy joy joy joy, down in my heart. Well, I’m not going to serenade you with the rest of the song, but the third verse talks about us having the love of Jesus in our hearts. Because we are able to quickly understand this so quickly and from such a young age, it seems to me that the older we get, the farther away we go from actually living it out.

I’m going to read to you again the last 3 verses of today’s lesson, but this time from The Message.

But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won't know what we're talking about.

But for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells - even though you still experience all the limitations of sin - you yourself experience life on God's terms.

It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's!

I especially like the last sentence. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ’s! That’s a big statement to live with. When Christ’s spirit lives in us, we will be alive in the same way. We must no longer think of ourselves as individuals, but realize that we are only important because of our relations with others. Because if Christ had not had others around him at all times, if it were not for the sins of others, Christ would not have needed to be. If this is the case, I think we must begin to act as Jesus acted.

A few weeks ago, we heard Jeff preach about the difference between living as Christ has already been resurrected or simply waiting for Jesus to return. We must do more than mentally reflect on that idea everyday… Instead, we must act out that idea every day we are alive in Christ.
With that in mind, we must all do our part to think of the things which we truly admire most about Christ and act upon them. When Jesus said that we will do greater things than he did himself, we must really believe in that and make every attempt to act upon that belief.
As you ponder the thing that you might do in your life because Christ lives in you, I’m going to share with you what it is I hope to do. Some of you I’ve told about this already, but now I think I’m finally able to go about doing it.

The thing I admire most about Jesus was the fact that he was able to meet people and invite himself into their home for a meal. The fellowship that happened around the table, the sharing of stories, the whole idea that Jesus forced hospitality has always amazed me. It was reinforced to me a couple of times this week, which is why I’m bringing it forward to you today. The first way was in my studying for this message, when one of the authors I read said that “renewal in Christ is not simply an individual affair. In fact, it is not primarily an individual affair at all. It is a matter of renewal through membership in a new community.”[1]

The second way this was reinforced to me this week was by one of my favourite authors and preachers. Many of you may remember the video we watched during our stewardship campaign by Rob Bell. I was finishing his latest book when he ended with a story about how he always noticed that Jesus was always at someone else’s house, sharing a meal, drinking their wine, laughing and telling stories. Because of this, Rob Bell attempts to invite people over to his home to do this same thing.

Unfortunately for me, I am unable to have people over to the place where I am currently residing, and have yet to really figure out a way to still have a meal and good conversation with most of you. Well, I realized that my hope in doing this would not be fulfilled unless I let the Christ who lives within me do the talking. With that being said, over the next 16 weeks, I really want to come over to your house and have a meal with you. I’ll give you more information in the bulletin about this once Easter is over, but I want you to keep it in the back of your mind. I think it will be an exciting way for us all to practice the things we are going to be focusing on this year, Evangelism, Hospitality, and Healing.

There is another main point in this story that must be brought to our attention. It is the concept of forgiveness and freedom in Christ. It comes from the first two verses of Romans 8, which talks about there being no condemnation for those who are in Christ.

There is a story of a man who has lived in a small town his whole life. He had grown up in a church that preached hell, fire and brimstone. He stopped attending church once his parents no longer forced him to go. He lived out most of his adult life trying to do the best he could, although there were apparently some things that he was not particularly fond of. One day he drove by a local church which hung a banner which simply said, “No Condemnation.” The man continued to drive by that sign everyday going to and from work, he passed by it every time he went to the grocery store, every time he went to pick up his kids from school. He didn’t believe it. The church always condemns someone. They always have someone to blame. He continued to drive by that sign every day, and every time he passed it, he felt angry, because it was not what he experienced as a young man.

One week, this man had a particularly rough time. His boss had chewed him out over some small misunderstandings, his ex-wife called him complaining about late child support, and his current significant other called to say that his current relationship wasn’t going anywhere, so she was going somewhere else. As he drove past the church at the end of that week, he saw the sign that said “No Condemnation” in a new light, with new hope.

When Sunday morning came around, he snuck into the back of the church a few minutes after the service began. Unfortunately for him, the last pew on both sides was filled, so he had to sit on the end of the fourth row from the back. As he watched, he saw this man all dressed in black lead the service while some people sang, some people read, some people did very little of either, but that everyone spoke the bold text in the liturgy.

Finally in the liturgy, it came to the point where everyone was confessing. “We confess that we have done wrong.” And the man said to himself, A HA! I knew it…here it comes…the condemnation I knew the church has always had. The liturgy continued… “We have done wrong, lived for ourselves, turned from our neighbors, refused to help others, ignored the pain of the world.” The anticipation in the man was killing him. He waited for the words of his old preacher about those people who have done wrong going to hell. He waited for the preacher to say that only the good people who fully follow will go to heaven. He waited for those words, because once he heard them, he was going to get up and leave…

But he never heard those words, because the next words out were the words of Romans chapter 8. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” The divine intention for Christ's church is NO condemnation. NO condemnation of either the self, or the other. For St. Paul, the church is the place where the world, as God intends it to be, is accessible to humankind. The church reveals the world as it has been transformed by the Cross of Christ. The world where there is no condemnation. Here the prodigal child of God is always welcomed home--no questions asked. Here we celebrate the grace and mercy of God made known to us in Christ Jesus. A grace that knows no boundaries. A mercy that has no restrictions. A love that always includes, never excludes.[2]

I wish I knew the ending to the story of the man I just told you about, but I don’t know it. What I do know is that we must write the ending because Christ lives in us. Christ moves in us. Christ has our being in us. And because of that, we must not have any condemnation in our hearts. We must live as if forgiveness is real and it must be taken seriously. Amen.

[1] Paul Achtemeier. “Interpretation: A Bible-Commentary for Teaching and Preaching: Romans. John Knox Press, Louisville. 1985. Pg 135.
[2] The Rev. Sid Burgess. Sermon entitled “Bama Bubba” preached on October 8, 2000. Available online at: http://www.day1.net/index.php5?view=transcripts&tid=209

UniMix!

I lead our Wednesday night service today. This season of Lent we have been going over the Lord's Prayer and today's topic was "Give us this day our Daily Bread". Having just completed this years 30 hour famine sponsored by World Vision (http://www.wvi.org/wvi/wviweb.nsf/) I thought it would be neat to speak a bit about what millions of starving people eat every day. In the 30 hour famine leadership guide, it has a recipe for something called UniMix, which is as follows.

40% Beans -- mashed. (I used 4 cans of Navy Beans)
30% Corn meal. (I used 3 cans)
10% Vegatable Oil (1 can)
10% Sugar (1 can)
10% Powered Milk (1 can)
Add water as necessary till it has an oatmeal/porridge like consistancy.

I then divided it up into 2 oz containers and gave them out to taste during a part of the liturgy. One person got up out of the pews to drink some water. I must admit that it doesn't taste very good. Heck, even the recipe says it isn't going to taste like what we are used to. A bunch of people made excuses for not eating it. Others just said they weren't up for that type of adventure.

All in all, I think we do a poor job of asking God to provide us with what we need on a daily basis. We really don't want to be in unity with our brothers and sisters in Africa because it would mean giving up a lifestyle we have grown comfortable with.

One of the questions that was asked today is "How do we go about giving up the things we don't really need?" I don't have an answer really, but I do remember a quote I read recently, although I don't remember who said it. It was, "it is far easier to give things up in big steps than small ones." I don't know how much truth there is in that statement, but I think you have to try it to find out.

Conclusion

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.

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?

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.

"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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Kiva.org

The Ooze is one of the websites I check out on a daily basis. It is usually filled with interesting conversation, although one fellow did say the following: "Hey underdog... i saw your blog. Let me just say that before you write or type one more word in your blog. That you have have become completely utterly irrelevant. Go sprinkle some water on a baby. peace."

Either way, I figure if I'm annoying in such a wonderful way, I'm doing my job. But I came across a wonderful article on Kiva.org, which provides microloans to a wide number of people all throughout the world. But I think the best part of it is that once the people you have donated money to repay the loan, you get your money back to reinvest in someone elses future.

So far I've donated to the following people.

The Mshikamano Group, which is 4 carpenters in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. $50

Luisa Luaao who runs a grocery store in Samoa. $25
and Serita Papalii who makes and sells pancakes in her village in Samoa. $25

Its a worthy cause to donate to. Be sure to check it out.

Unity Sermon 2008

Let us pray: God of faith, God of hope, God of Love, we come before you this evening in a way in which we do not normally worship you. Keep our ears, eyes and hearts open to your message for each and every one of us, that we might grow closer to you, and to our neighbor next to us. In Jesus name we pray.

This is a unique service for many Christians to attend. Unity in worship is a concept in which we sometimes pay lip service to, yet we rarely do things as a community of believers which makes a large impact on the rest of those around us. Luckily, today in the little town of Riverside, we have at least 5 major faith communities which have enough sense to come together, put aside our normal style of worship and join in praise and adoration of a loving God.

I need everyone here today to do me a favor. You see, I am still a seminary student and because of that, there is always a little bit of fear in ordained clergy that I might get too heretical in what I preach. So I need you to watch all the clergy up front here to see if they nod in agreement with my theological statement or if they hang their heads in disgust.

God does not change. God is the same forever and ever. From the Alpha to the Omega. God is immovable, steadfast, and without end. Our God is eternal, from everlasting to everlasting.
Ok, give me a thumbs up if they seemed to be in agreement, a thumbs down if they were disgusted, or a wavy hand to let me know if they tried to appear as stoic as possible. Ok thank you. I wanted to get the theological test out of the way so we could get to the theme of today’s service.

Pray without ceasing.

There are so many ways to view this passage. We can view this passage as a way in which we attempt to make everything we do a prayer, to try and see through God’s eyes every moment. Some might view this passage and think they need to become a priest or monk or a nun and spend their day worshipping God. Or perhaps you try to pray without ceasing by noticing the holy in everything. Be it seeing Jesus in the homeless person on the street or the dandelion growing up in the cracks of a sidewalk.

There is another way to pray without ceasing. There are many groups who hold 24/7 prayer watches. My own denomination did it for 100 years in Germany, and only stopped because of war. In fact, there is a group in England which heard of the Moravian 100 years of continuous prayer and decided to start one of their own, which was great, except for the fact that when he started advertising it, he would mention that our denomination had died, because he assumed once we stopped praying, we no longer existed.

While both of these are good ways to improve your prayer life, I’m not terribly concerned with them on this day of unity. Remember how I stated earlier that God doesn’t change. That is still true, but our God is all about change, and that vehicle of change is prayer. When we pray, we are asking for a change in the way things are! and we are asking for things to change in a way which we know we cannot do on our own. When we pray, we are saying that we know our own knowledge about the situation is limited and we need the help of the Holy Spirit to change us, to change the situation, to change others thoughts, to interact with the world in such a way that God’s will is made manifest. Paul’s challenge, in my view, to always be joyful, to pray without ceasing, to give thanks in all circumstances, as it is Gods will for us in Christ Jesus is a challenge for us to seek change and to be followers of that change, no matter where it takes us in life.

Prayer as agent of change is probably not something most of us think about when we gather at a service for Christian unity. Change tends to create disunity rather than bringing God’s people together. Normally when we think of change, we create groups which separate us. I’m sure that most of us can recall a time in our churches where change has caused one group to be upset with another, or has two groups to form a third group who didn’t like either option. An experience of change creates both unity and disunity.

The question we must ask ourselves, as a diverse group of believers in Jesus Christ, is, if it is our experiences which create both unity and disunity, what then can we seek which only promotes unity? The answer, I believe, comes from one of my favourite theologians.

Deitrich Bonhoeffer says that it is not experience that binds us together, but faith.[1] He continues by saying “God has acted and wants to act upon us all, this we see in faith as God’s greatest gift, this makes us glad and happy, but it also makes us ready to forego all such experiences when God at times does not grant them.”[2]

The gospel lesson we read today reinforces this fact. When Jesus is praying for all believers, it is not that they will all have the same experience, but that all who believe, all who have faith, will be one. If, then, it is faith that is to be the theme of our prayer of change, we must seek Gods will with the knowledge that we will receive an answer which might differ from everything our previous experience has led us to believe.

To me, this is an exciting concept. There is beauty in the uncertainty of how God will respond to our prayer. We must always be in prayer in order that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven, with the knowledge that most of the time, that prayer means we must change our own ways in order to be in line with God’s plan. It started with Abraham, whom God asked to change everything he ever knew, to leave his country in order to bless the generations which would follow him. It continued when Jesus called his disciples, some were fishing in their boats, others were collecting taxes, but when Jesus called, they changed what they thought they would be doing for the rest of their life to follow. John 17 is Jesus’ final prayer for his followers, he prays for change in our hearts, that God will be in us as God is in Christ… the only thing left for us to do is continue to ask for that change.

Let us close in prayer: Eternal God, we share a long history and living witness with many who are like us and many more who are not. Help us to recognize our brothers and sisters and the countless ways which you bless us all. Change our hearts to your will. Give us hands and feet which will gladly become callused because of our faith in your wisdom. Sharpen our eyes to see need in our neighbor. Make us delighted listeners of the stories of your majesty. And above all, continue to be steadfast in patience, as so often we fail to do these things which we ask for. In Jesus name, Amen.

[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer. “Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community.” Translated by John W. Doberstein. Harper & Row Publishers. 1954. Pg 39.
[2] Ibid

What do you want?!?!

The Bible that I read for my own personal devotion is a New International Version. I tell you this because it is the version from which I start reading the scripture, and when I first read it, a question Jesus asks has stuck in my head all week. I tried to block it out and think of something else to preach on, but I haven’t been very successful. I’ve been sick all week with what others have named the “Katrina Cough” and because of that, I’ve tried to weasel out of writing what God wanted me to say. I have twice tried to rewrite a sermon I had given 2 years ago, but just yesterday morning, I went to a small discussion group in a Baptist church and suddenly realized what the Spirit wanted me to say.

The version that we read from the pulpit, the New Revised Standard Version has in verse 38 Jesus asking “What are you looking for?” It is so philosophical. That question makes me sense that Jesus already knew the answer of these two men. It feels as if Jesus can just turn around and look into someone’s soul. That isn’t such a bad view of Jesus, but my translation has Jesus asking a different question with a different edge to it.

Let me set up the story again for you. The day before, Jesus had just been baptized by John. John knew then and there that this was the Lamb of God. He had seen this dove descend upon Jesus after the baptism and heard God’s voice reaffirm this thought. This was certainly an exciting day. The very next day, Jesus was passing by John, apparently all alone, when John the Baptist saw him and told two of his own disciples, “Look, the Lamb of God!” With those five words, the two disciples of John left him and began to follow Jesus. In my version, it doesn’t say how long it was, but eventually Jesus turned around, saw them following and asked “What do you want?!?!?”

When I read this question, it does not penetrate the soul like in the NRSV. It’s rough, it’s got an edge. It’s blunt. Jesus even seems a little annoyed that these two people are following him around. What do you want? He asks… let me answer your questions and leave me alone. It seems pretty clear that John the Baptist knew what Jesus was all about, but Jesus didn’t quite know himself just yet.

They didn’t ask Jesus a religious question. They didn’t ask about salvation, justice, politics, love or hate, right or wrong. They simply wanted to know where he was staying. Jesus still doesn’t give an exact answer… his reply is “come and you will see” There is no, meet me at the corner of Washington and Bridgeboro later in the evening. Just come, and they spent the day with Jesus.
The best part of this story is its blandness. The gospel writer does not record anything really special happening on this day. None of the conversation that happened the rest of the day made it into the gospel. Just the few sentences I just told you about. To me, the remarkable thing happens is the day after the two disciples spent the day with Jesus. Andrew is so excited about this man they call Jesus that the first thing he does is find his brother Peter and tells him that they have found the Messiah, they have found the Christ.

My original intent was to preach the rest of this sermon on evangelism. I hoped that I would get others excited about the workshop that was supposed to start yesterday but nobody signed up for. I wanted to be energetic about what we had just learned; how we were practicing to be like Andrew and tell our friends and family that we too have found the Messiah. Unfortunately I cannot go in that direction this morning, but it does allow me to think a bit more freely about something else. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

He is the perfect character to discuss in relation to today’s Gospel story. Many people tend to equate Dr. King to Jesus. He was such a revolutionary leader, he inspired, he lead, he dreamed. But I don’t see this preacher playing the role of Jesus. I see him in the role of Andrew. I imagine that one day, God asked Martin, “What do you want?!?!” and he replied, “where are you staying?” Jesus then answered back, “Come and you will see.”

And so Dr. King followed where Jesus was going. He followed the God of Israel who called to let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never failing stream (Amos 5:24). He followed the man from Nazareth to bring healing to the disenfranchised. He followed the Holy Spirit who gave power to the multitude to do mighty works in Jesus name.

When Jesus asks the question, “What do you want?!?!” What will we answer? Will we be put off by his tone? Will we decide to meet up with him sometime in the future, but not follow right away? Or will we seek where Jesus is staying and follow him no matter where he goes? Within each of us lies the potential to be like Andrew, to be like Dr. King. Unfortunately, we tend to say we love God but pick a funny way to show it. Rarely do we share with enthusiasm that we have found the Christ and we have chosen to follow his teachings. Rarely do we stop following the path we wanted to take on our own and take up the new path which God leads us down together. If we do not do the rare thing, if we do not come and see where Jesus is going, we will continue to find it difficult to tell others that we have found the Christ. We will see sharing where Christ is going as a chore instead of a gift.

Dr. King saw Jesus’ question of” What Do You Want?!?!” as a gift. I want to go where you want to go. I want to see what you see. I want what you want. I want to follow, and I want everyone else to know that I’m doing it.

Mississippi ~ Day 1

Today was the first day of actual work here in Mississippi. We are staying in Ocean Springs at Camp Victor, which is a very nice facility for 212 people to sleep and eat while they do work. As far as the work goes, we're in a town thats fun to say, but I can't even begin to spell. Maybe I'll try and take some pictures next time I'm out. We only got to work a half day today due to a bit of the Lutheran team leader not knowing what he's talking about. He said there would be stuff for us to do, but instead, we got to fill in holes with dirt and level out the ground. It was good to do, but not really needed. Then the cement truck arrived and we got to help pour concrete into large columns. Once that was done, we had no more work to do, so we went out to Biloxi in order to see the 3 houses that the Moravians financed and built in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity. We expected the completed houses to have residents, but they did not seem to have any. Apparently the Habitat project manager did not use very good quality materials, as we could notice a lot of mistakes. I hope who ever moves into those houses finds them to be good, because they will not make it through the next big hurricane. Such is life I guess.

More to come in the next few days.