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Journey Through The Desert: Who Are You?

2010-02-28T19:36:00.007-05:00

Who are you?

If you’re South Korea's Kim Yu-na, then you are also “Queen Yu-na,” and perhaps rightly so, given that Thursday night she scored 228.56 points, winning a gold medal and beating dthe previous world record by more than 18 points – a world record held by Queen Yu-na, who is a mere 19 years old.

Who are you?

If you’re Jeret “Speedy” Peterson, it’s a bit more complicated.

Part of his identity is wrapped up in a pretzel-like maneuver called the Hurricane that he does while soaring some 50 feet in the air on skis. It netted him a silver medal Thursday night.

But four years ago he was the guy who finished seventh at the Olympics in Turin, got into a street fight and was sent home.

He was also the man who watched a friend commit suicide in front of him; a victim of sexual abuse; an abuser of alcohol who fought depression and thoughts of suicide; and someone who lost his 5-year-old sister to a drunken driver.

Speedy Peterson, who prior to Thursday night was defined by triumph and tragedy, is at this point at the pinnacle of triumph for him, having won the silver medal: Peterson says he may even retire the Hurricane.

At 28, it seems he is ready to embrace a new identity: The overcomer.

Listen to what he told a reporter for The Associated Press, as tears streamed down his face:

“I know that a lot of people go through a lot of things in their life, and I just want them to realize they can overcome anything. There's light at the end of the tunnel and mine was silver and I love it.” ("Peterson lands a Hurricane, wins a silver," Eddie Pells, The Associated Press; February 26, 2010)

Who are you?

If you’re Nicodemus in today’s text (John 3:1-17) , you come into the story as a Pharisee. You’re a teacher of the law. You’re a member of the Jewish religious leadership; the Sanhedrin. The name Pharisee means “the separated one,” because Pharisees “were those who had separated themselves form all ordinary life in order to keep every detail of the law of the scribes.”

It’s believed there were never more than 6,000 of them. ("The Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of Vol. 1," 1975, William Barclay, Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, Ky.; pp120-124)

If your name is Nicodemus, you weave your way in and out of the Gospel according to St. John.
In the 3rd chapter of John, you come to Jesus slinking through the dark of night, but affirming Jesus by saying, “Rabbi, we all know you’re a teacher straight from God. No one could do all the God-pointing, God-revealing acts you do if God weren’t in on it.” (Most Scripture citations are from Eugene Peterson's "The Message." Exceptions are from The Revised Standard Version)
“Jesus said, ‘You’re absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it’s not possible to see what I’m pointing to — to God’s kingdom.’”

And then Nicodemus — the Pharisee, the teacher, the religious leader — engages Jesus in this wonderful discussion about childbirth, when the Rabbi is talking about something totally different.

He’s talking about spiritual rebirth, not physical rebirth.

The last words we get from Nicodemus are, “What do you mean by this? How does this happen?
Jesus replies, “You’re a respected teacher of Israel and you don’t know these basics?”

Who are you, Nicodemus?And that’s the last we hear from Nicodemus … that is, until the 7th chapter of John. Turn on over to Chapter 7, verse 45, if you like.

In between this Chapter 3 discussion about physical and spiritual rebirth with Nicodemus and Chapter 7, Jesus has fed 5,000, walked on water, and explained, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

He tells his disciples, "no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father."

And some of them leave him.

Some in the crowds identify Jesus as a “good man.” But others are saying, “No, he is deceiving the crowd.”

“Who are you, Jesus?”

And the possibilities of his identity are thrown about:

“This is really the prophet.”

“This is the Messiah.”

“No, he’s merely a Galilean.”

And many call for his arrest.

Then here, in Chapter 7, Nicodemus the teacher of the Law becomes the defender:

“Does our Law decide about a man’s guilt without first listening to him and finding out what he is doing?”

And then the chief priests and Pharisees ask Nicodemus, in effect, ‘who are you’:

“Surely you’re not also from Galilee, are you?”

Who are you, Nicodemus?

Let’s move to John 19, because that’s where Nicodemus surfaces again.

Jesus has been crucified.

He’s said, “It is finished.”

And Scripture says, “Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”

The soldiers have pierced his side.

Look at verses 38-42.

It would seem that along the way, throughout this journey that we find in the Gospel According to St. John, Nicodemus moves from the seeker in the dark of night, to a disciple who dared to be seen in the daylight.

"Who am I?” Nicodemus now answers, “I’m a disciple who loved my Lord, and I’m here to pay tribute to him.”

Incidentally: We only find Nicodemus in the Gospel according to Saint John.

This man is found in no other Gospel record by name.

There’s another man in Scripture who comes to Jesus.

We find him in Mark 10:46-52.

He’s generally referred to as Blind Bartemaeus and he’s a beggar sitting by the roadside.

Jesus and his disciples are leaving Jericho and Bartemaeus heard it was Jesus who was passing.

And the blind man shouts out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

But the story says, “Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more louder.”

To the people around him, Bartemaeus’ identity lay in the fact that he was a blind beggar.
Bartemaeus was anxious, because he had heard of hope.

He wanted a different identity.

The people around him tried to hold him down by telling him to be quiet, but he shouted all the louder.

How many times do we have people in our lives — even family and friends — who pull us back when we try to get to Jesus?

If you are struggling with something, and you’re trying to overcome it — to get well, to break the bonds of some sort of addiction, some besetting sin — don’t you know that there will be people in your life who need you to continue to struggle, to be “sick.”

Maybe it’s because if you’re sick, it makes them feel better about themselves.

Amen?

Some people need you to match a negative profile — “always the bad boy, always the bad girl, the wild child.”

There are sick family systems that need someone in the family to be the “bad one.”

The bad sister; the bad brother; the bad seed.

And so they send those messages, and you’ll have to pardon me, here, but these the words some people use:

“You’re no good."

“You’re a no good husband."

'“You’re a no good friend."

“You’re a no good wife … son … daughter.”

You hear these messages … these lies … and you’re stuck …

("Tuesdays With Beebes.")

What we believe about ourselves, and what we believe about our relationship to God truly defines who we are.'

And this is one of those yes-and-no statements.

Yes, from an orthodox Christian perspective, in that our relationship to God is defined by our relationship to Jesus Christ.

This is classic atonement theology: We’re separated from God because of our sin, but Christ paid the price for that sin through His death on the cross. Our acceptance of that makes us “at one” with God.

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ gives us the certainty that he lives, and that we, too, will live in eternity with God.

When we have a healthy understanding of this theology, it has a transforming effect on our life and what we believe about our self.

Granted, there are some sick-puppy preachers, teachers and churches out there who promote some unhealthy understandings and that, too, impacts what we believe about our self if we are in such an environment.

But what we believe about ourselves may not truly define who are. The reason: We are have a relationship with God even when we have not accepted Christ. Like Nicodemus, you may ask, “How can that be?”

Well, it’s not the same two-way relationship as when we have accepted Christ, but it’s a relationship nonetheless. Because God shows God's love for us even before we “know” God.

This is a classic Wesleyan understanding of grace.

God pursues us like a smitten lover, seeking to shower us with a reckless, furious love before we even know God. God is constantly knocking on the door, desperately wanting us to open up our hearts to God’s loving grace and a transformed life.

If in our cognitive self we believe we are no good, it does not negate the truth that our identity is still a loved child of God.

We've merely let someone, or some thing, steal our understanding of the true identity.

If you’re that “bad seed,” it may well be that it’s something that has been imposed on you. It’s your activity; not your identity!

If you’re in that sort of family system, and you come to Jesus, and you get well; if you were blind, but now you see; all hell can break loose in that family because of your wellness. ("Tuesdays With Beebes.")

And so, Blind Bartemaeus shouts all the louder, and Jesus heard him.

Why?

Because God always hears the cry.

And so, Jesus called him, asking, “What do you want me to do for you?”

Blind Bartemaeus says, “My teacher, let me see again.”

“Go; your faith has made you well.”

Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

Who are you?

“I am no longer blind Bartemaeus; I am now the seeing disciple.

Who are you?

“I am no longer just Nicodemus the Pharisee; I am now a learned disciple.
Which raises the question, “Who are you?”

Come forward and pick up a promise in the desert.

Maybe you’ll find a new identity in Christ.

The Prayer of the Black Eyed Peas

2010-01-18T14:33:00.012-05:00

Somewhere in the cosmos there is an unwritten law of nature that says along about the 12th or 13th year of a child’s life, the adolescent must choose a style of music that irritates the parents.

In the 1950s and 1960s, it was rock ‘n’ roll, a style of music that was loud with sometimes suggestive, drug-fueled, raucus lyrics. It was something of a combination of urban blues, country and gospel music, with roots that can actually be found as early as the 1920s … the, uh, “Roaring 20s.” (Thanks, Wikipedia, for that synopsis.)

Everybody from FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover to psychologists were being quoted as saying rock 'n' roll was "corrupting" our youth. ("Those Crazy Rockin' Teenagers.")

Some of us cut our teeth on rock ‘n’ roll and couldn’t understand what all of the fuss was about … until we became parents, too, and our own children entered into those pre-teen and teen-age years.

We, however, decided that we wouldn’t be like our parents. We’d give our kids’ music a chance and not be arbitrarily condemning.

Incidentally, last August, on the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, the Pew Research Center released a poll on the so-called generation gap. Its conclusion was that while young and old are still not on the same page, the "the differences seem not to matter anymore."

And as for music, The Associated Press story on the Pew study says this: "Rock rules across generations, and the Beatles are high on the list of every age group's favorite musicians."

When it comes to the music scene, maybe giving new styles of music a chance helped. After all, wasn’t it John Lennon and Yoko Ono who sang, “All we are saying, is ‘give peace a chance.’”

In the Trexler household, our kids grew up with different styles of music: Pop, rock, country, contemporary Christian. Still, we had this rule: If you wanted to listen to something different, something new, then mom and/or dad had to listen to it, too.

After all, monitoring media is merely responsible parenting.

Most of the time it was bubble gum music … stuff like Boyz 2 Men.

But then hip-hop came on the scene.

My instant reaction was … “Yeck.”

Working in the media, it wasn’t long before I was thoroughly educated on the negative aspects of that music. Now, lest you think I’m narrow-minded about this, there’s a lot of rock ‘n’ roll that I would have kept away from my kids as well.

According to one account, hip-hop culture was birthed in the early 1970s by African American and Latino youth living in the economically depressed South Bronx. The music was revolutionary in its exposure of social problems like drug abuse, racism and gang violence in their neighborhoods. But somewhere along the way, as often happens, the revolution gave way to capitalism. The music became more about getting more money, getting more sex, getting more drugs and the resulting violence.

As recently as 2008, a University of Washington psychologist noted the growing exploitational nature of hip-hop music:

“Black girls are not seeing positive images of who they are and what they can be,” said Carolyn West, associate professor of psychology and the study of prevention of violence at the University of Washington. “Looking at the sexual imagery really impacts on the functioning of teenage girls.” …

“What's changed over time is the greater sexualization of hip-hop. Initially, it started off as a revolutionary form of music. Now, large corporations produce images that sell, and there is a blatant link between hip-hop and pornography,’ Dr. West said.

“When young black women listen to lyrics and watch images that promote sexual conduct, they take on the persona that is illustrated in the music and treat themselves as sexual objects.

“It sets the foundation for future victimization and causes teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases,” Dr. West said.

When David starting listening to hip-hop while in high school, I took time to listen as well. If I remember correctly, it was a bit more tame as opposed to today’s hip-hop, but I still kept an ear on it.

I really didn’t like that driving, repetitive back-beat bass and drum and would tell him, in true 1950s and ‘60s parental fashion, “I don’t want to hear it coming down the hall.”

One day, David told me he was writing a paper on the life of Tupac Shakur, a rapper who was killed in 1996; in fact, it was not long after Shakur was killed in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas that David decided to write his paper.

As a teenager, David was informed enough to be able to tell me the back-story of the hip-hop music industry with its labels like “Death Row Records,” “Flesh Bone Incorporated” and “Gangsta Advisory.”

Royalties were big; and greed was rampant.

Violence would sometimes erupt.

So, we sat down on the Internet and started reading about Shakur and we came across some of his poetry. Check this one out:

“Did you hear about the rose that grew
from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature’s law is wrong it
learned to walk without having feet.
Funny it seems, but by keeping it's dreams,
it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete
when no one else ever cared.”

We read that poem together; I looked at my son and said, “David, this guy was an artist. He had talent, but he sold out to the money and the violence … and it got him killed.”

That was probably a lesson to my son, but it was also a lesson to me: Don’t judge an artist by one song or a group of songs, or you may miss a relevant message.

I’m not alone in this parental lesson.

Chuck Cerny is a friend of mine who happens to be a General Sessions judge in Knoxville. He’s also part of the Great Smoky Mountain Emmaus Community.

He served on this last men’s walk with me and gave a talk on changing our world through exercising our Christian beliefs.

Chuck had a similar story concerning his son, Chase, and hip-hop music. Chuck said they were riding down the road and he was getting a taste of The Black Eyed Peas, a hip-hop band that formed in Los Angeles in 1995.

Chuck and Chase had a deal: Chase would start a song, and if Chuck decided it was too risqué for some reason, Chase would have to fast-forward through it.

“You need to fast-forward this song, Chase,” Chuck would say, maybe explaining why.

Chase would start another song; they’d listen for a bit, and then Chuck would say, “Naw, Chase, you need to move past that one, too.”

Chuck said this went on for a few songs and then it came one that he continued to listen to … and at some point, tears started streaming down his face.

“What’s wrong, Dad? Do I need to fast-forward this one?”

Chuck said, “No, Chase, that one is OK.”

Now, all I am saying, as we listen to Chuck’s song and watch this video … well, rap may not be your thing, either, but give Peas a chance.

Take a few minutes and check out the video, "Where is the Love."

“People killin', people dyin'
Children hurt and you hear them cryin'
Can you practice what you preach
And would you turn the other cheek
Father, Father, Father help us
Send some guidance from above
'Cause people got me, got me questionin'
Where is the love (Love)
Where is the love (The love)
Where is the love (The love)
Where is the love The love, the love” 

In Isaiah 62, we find the people of Israel returning from exile, living and worshiping in the midst of ruins. They are hungry, discouraged and desolate, crying out, "We are God's chosen. How did this happen to us? Why are you silent, God? Where is the love?"

And the prophet Isaiah comes forth, saying, “For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until her vindication shines out like the dawn, and her salvation like a burning torch.”

Israel will be given a new name: “You will be called Hephzibah (which means, “My Delight is in Her”) and your land Beaulah,” which means “Married.”

“As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.”

Where is the love?

There is the love.

There is the love.

Isaiah speaks words of encouragement, not discouragement to the broken peoiple.

Zion will be Yahweh's treasure, “a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.”

“Where is the love?” cries Israel.

“There is the love,” says Isaiah.

This is extravagant love poured out upon Israel, the bride.

It’s the same sort of extravagant love that Jesus lays out at the wedding in Cana after the vino dried up. Mary tells Jesus to do something about it, but the Messiah hesitates, saying, "My hour has not yet come."

But mom presses on, and Jesus relents. Still, he doesn't mix up a vat of Boone's Farm, but top shelf wine, lovingly pressed together and poured out for others.

Where is the love?

There is the love.

In a matter of weeks, we will remember that in his final hour Jesus again offered up wine during a final meal with his friends, sharing words that undoubtedly left them puzzled:

“Take, eat; this is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

“Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

And within 24 hours of speaking those words, the Savior of the world would pour out the last drops of wine in his body.

Where is the love?

There is the love.

Jesus poured out his life for us, calling us to pour out our lives for others.

Where is the love?

When the ground started shaking in a poverty-stricken island nation, among the tens of thousands who perished, and likely even more who were injured, were those in the family of Christ who were giving themselves for others.

Where is the love?

There is the love.

Broken and poured out amidst the concrete ruins of Port-au-Prince.

And continuing to be broken and poured out as the body of Christ mobilizes in the midst of chaos and ruins.

“I don't know how much longer we can hold out,” Dee Leahy told an AP reporter. Leahy is a lay missionary from St. Louis who was working with nuns handing out provisions from their small stockpile. “We need food, we need medical supplies, we need medicine, we need vitamins and we need painkillers. And we need it urgently.”

Where is the love?

There is the love … as the church responds with prayers, gifts and presence.

Thankfully, the positive response of the church to this great crisis has overshadowed the comments of one TV preacher who reportedly said Haiti has been “cursed” because of a “pact with the devil” in its history.

Truly disappointing words … words that inspire choruses such as …

“People killin', people dyin'
Children hurt and you hear them cryin'
Can you practice what you preach
And would you turn the other cheek …
Where is the love (Love)
Where is the love (The love)
Where is the love (The love)”

If we’re going to be extremists, let us not be extremists in the form of TV evangelists or Midwestern anti-homosexual preachers who protest at the graves of our fallen soldiers, claiming these things are the wrath of God.

Let us be "extremists of love."

If the church is going to be a prophetic voice – which the church is, indeed, called to be – let it be a prophetic voice calling each of us to acts of mercy, love, compassion, and justice.

If we do this extravagantly, we lessen the chance that the world will question of us, “Where is the love?” but instead point to us, once again, and say as in the days of the early church, “There is the love.”

Where is the love?

There is the love!

On April 16, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. was jailed in Birmingham, Alabama, for taking part in civil rights demonstrations.

While there, King wrote a letter using newsprint and scraps of paper. His audience was intended to be eight prominent Alabama clergymen who had urged King to cease his program of nonviolent resistance.

The audience eventually became the world.

King writes:

“Was not Jesus an extremist for love: ‘Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.’

“Was not Amos an extremist for justice: ‘Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.’

“Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: ‘I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.’

“Was not Martin Luther an extremist: ‘Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God.’

“And John Bunyan: ‘I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience.’

“And Abraham Lincoln: ‘This nation cannot survive half slave and half free.’

“And Thomas Jefferson: ‘We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal ...”

“So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love?

People killin', people dyin'
Children hurt and you hear them cryin'
Can you practice what you preach
And would you turn the other cheek
Father, Father, Father help us
Send some guidance from above
'Cause people got me, got me questionin'
Where is the love (Love)
Where is the love (The love)
Where is the love (The love)
Where is the love
The love, the love …

Where is the love, church?

The love is here, in this community of faith.

And it is there, digging through the rubble of Haiti, pouring out water, pouring out their lives for others.

And it is here, on The Lord's Table ...

Be-loved of the Father ...

2010-01-10T22:43:00.004-05:00

The story goes that on June 16, 2004, David Goldman said goodbye to his son, Sean, at Newark Airport, not knowing that it would be the last time he would see the boy for years. It was the beginning of an international child abduction case.

By nearly all accounts, David Goldman was a caring, loving father. The outcome, though more than six years in the making, was that father and son were reunited on Christmas Eve 2009.

In the midst of that journey, David Godlman told NBC News, “Every day that I’m missing my son, and my son is missing me, is nothing sort of a tragedy.”

Any one who followed this story at all, even the greatest cynic, would know that

Sean is the beloved of his father, David Goldman.

It was seen in the eyes of the father.

And it was heard in his words.

“I love you Sean. I love you. I love you.”

As I was preparing for Baptism of the Lord Sunday, I was struck by the words of one of my favorite conteporary theologians, the late Henri J.M. Nouwen, who was a spiritual member of a community of people with mental disabilities. In his message, “The Life of the Beloved,” Nouwen says he “learned a lot from people with disabilities about what it means to be the beloved.”

“Many of the people that I live with hear voices that tell them that they are no good, that they are a problem, that they are a burden, that they are a failure. They hear a voice that keeps saying, ‘If you want to be loved, you had better prove that you are worth loving. You must show it.’

“But what I would like to say is that the spiritual life is a life in which you gradually learn to listen to a voice that says something else, that says, ‘You are the beloved and on you my favor rests.’”

As baptized children of God, we need to embrace our belovedness, for as co-heirs with Jesus Christ, we, too, are the beloved.

Nouwen reminds us that it is only in embracing our own uniqueness, our blessedness, and our own brokenness that we can bless others in their brokenness.

In a thank-you statement released on Christmas Eve following the reuniting with his son, Sean, David wrote:

“Please know that my love and the rest of Sean's family's love for him knows no boundaries and we will go to the ends of the Earth to protect him and shower him with every ounce of love that we have.”

That’s what God longs to do for God’s be-loved: To shower us with his unending love that knows no height, nor width, nor depth.

Grace and peace ...

How would you introduce Jesus Christ as King?

2009-11-22T22:32:00.003-05:00

With today being Christ the King Sunday, the question placed before us is this: How can we have any understanding of what it means to claim Christ is King in our lives when we live in a Western democracy without any idea of what it means to live under a monarchy?

In some ancient cultures, kings were seen as divine, or at least serving as agents of the divine. You lived with the understanding that you were in complete surrender to the king. In Western democracies, we do not serve our elected leadership; in fact, quite the contrary. Our elected leaders serve at our will, and if they do not serve us well, we vote them out.

Perhaps the closest thing we have to royalty today are celebrities, which could explain the following introduction of Jesus by Steve Harvey, one of "The Original Kings of Comedy." Harvey is a professed Christian and appears to close his show with the following:

Certainly there will be some who claim Harvey's introduction is irreverant, but the crowd appears to "get it": The One who is coming up next is worthy of far greater exaltation and praise than is given to the various "kings" in the cult of celebrity; for instance, "The King of Pop," "The King of Rock," "King of the Hill" and "The King of Queens." But given our lack of understanding, it may be that this is the closest some of us can get to introducing the King of Kings and Lord of Lords to a hurting and wanting world.

So, let us seek a more perfect direction. Let us seek to introduce Jesus as King through our participation in building the Kingdom of God -- through acts of mercy, compassion, grace and love.

'The Baptism of Rhodyjane' ...

2009-09-19T18:06:00.002-04:00

Last Sunday, I went to a river baptism connected to my Moms church, Roan Mountain United Methodist, and penned a column about it. There is also a video, but the date at the end of the video is wrong. It should read Sept. 13, but the video editor and I both missed it until it hit the larger computer screen. We've uploaded a corrected version, but for some reason the errant version is showing most of the time.

Oh, well. Maybe it'll straighten out at some point.

Here are short links to the column, photo gallery and video:

Photo gallery of "The Baptism of Rhodyjane": http://tr.im/rhodyjane_photos

Faith Today column of "The Baptism of Rhodyjane" with links to photos
and video: http://tr.im/rhodyjane_column

Grace and peace ...

We nurture Christians in training ...

2009-09-02T21:19:00.006-04:00

In the Trexler household, you ate one vegetable for every year you were alive — even when you tried to convince Mom and Dad that the veggies would be the death of you.

But veggies are your best friends.

Here's a list of the top 10 reasons, according to The American Institute for Cancer Research, why you should sign the treaty of leafy health and incorporate veggies into your diet:

Keep Trim
Prevent Heart Disease
Control Diabetes
Avoid Diverticulosis
Reduce the Risk of Certain Types of Cancer
Prevent Stroke and Other Diseases and Illnesses
Bring Blood Pressure Down
Lower Risk of Adult Blindness
Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth
Pure Pleasure

But you know, and I know, that for some adults eating veggies goes entirely against their natures.

We know a man who will not eat anything green.

Despite the nurturing aspect of vegetables, it’s entirely against his nature.

Despite the nurture, it went against his nature.

Two of my favorite subjects in college were sociology and psychology.

One of the common debates among students of psychology and sociology is “nature vs. nurture.” The debate concerns the relative importance of a person’s innate qualities (their nature, which can have biological factors involved) versus their personal experiences (their nurture) in determining or causing individual differences in physical and behavioral traits.

On the nurture side is the view that humans acquire all, or almost all, of their behavioral traits from “nurture.” The extreme of this is we are all born with a “blank slate” and our environment forms our behavioral traits.

Many now agree with psychologist Donal Hebb that our behavioral patterns are molded by a mixture of nurture and nature.

The story goes that a journalist once asked Hebb which contributes more to our personality, nature or nurture. The psychologist is said to have replied, “Which contributes more to the area of a rectangle, its length or its width?”

While nature and nurture can and do work together to influence our behavior, in the Christian tradition we often speak of the “sin nature.”

The Articles of Religion of the Methodist Church says this about Original or Birth Sin”:

Article VII: Of Original or Birth Sin
“Original sin standeth not in the following of Adam (as the Pelagians do vainly talk), but it is the corruption of the nature of every man, that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and of his own nature inclined to evil, and that continually.”

The Confession of Faith of The Evangelical United Brethren Church, which is the sister church we merged with in 1968, puts it this way:

Article VII: Sin and Free Will
“We believe man is fallen from righteousness and, apart from the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, is destitute of holiness and inclined to evil. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. In his own strength, without divine grace, man cannot do good works pleasing and acceptable to God. We believe, however, man influenced and empowered by the Holy Spirit is responsible in freedom to exercise his will for good.”

In the Christian tradition, we refer to this as “The Fall,” which was the result of Adam’s disobedience.

In his book, "United Methodist Doctrine: The Extreme Center," Bishop Scott J. Jones (2002, Abingdon Press, Nashville; pp51-53) notes the doctrine of The Fall “is the foundation of the whole way of salvation.

“If humanity is not fallen, then there is no occasion for this work in the heart, this ‘renewal of the spirit of our mind.’”

He goes on to explain that John Wesley refers to the doctrine of original sin as the “general ground of the whole doctrine of justification,” of justifying grace. It is, Jones says, an essential doctrine of Christianity; it is understood as the loss of the image of God; and it is a disease that requires the healing of our soul.

Wesley says the atoning application of Jesus Christ, the Great Physician, is the therapy we need for our soul.

It is the nurture that cures the nature.

And this is important as it relates to community because God lives in community: The Community of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

We were made in the image of God, built for community, before The Fall, which created a nature that is counter to community. Our nature is self-centered.

Our nature is, “It’s all about me,” rather than, “It’s all about thee.”

But when we come to Christ, we are again in community with God.

And when we are in community with God, we become God-centered.

And when we are in community with one another, we become other centered.

We nurture one another and are, in turn, nurtured.

And this is an important aspect of what life is like here at Green Meadow United Methodist Church, a.k.a. “The Meadow.

Because, here once again, is our mission statement:

“Our mission is to be an open gathering place to nurture Christians in training who, equipped by the Holy Spirit, go into the world and share the light of Jesus Christ.”

Because I’m a word person and, more importantly, we need to be able to explain what we mean by the statement, we began dissecting it last week.

We started with:

“Our mission is to be an open gathering place …”

And here’s how we broke it down:

We gather and are open to Scripture.

We gather and are open to God.

We gather and are open to others.

Now, if you haven’t already picked up on it, we’re at that next chunk of text in this statement:
“To nurture Christians in training …”

We gather and we nurture.

We gather others into the Body of Christ, nurturing them and helping them -- and ourselves -- to become living, growing disciples of Jesus Christ.

We do this to equip the body for ministry and mission in the world so that through the transformed lives of this community of faith, our community would be transformed.

John Wesley knew the importance of community and accountability in the Methodist movement. He started a network of “class meetings, societies and bands” for spiritual formation, biblical reflection and care-giving.

We have one adult small group and are looking at starting another.

We do this to be a part of the nurturing community of faith. We do this, as Paul says in Ephesians 4:13, with the hopes of attaining to “the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. So we are no longer children, tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, but rather we would grow up in every way into him who is the head, even Christ Jesus.”

But as important as it is — and it is of the utmost importance — biblical teaching isn’t all of what it means to nurture one another.

We nurture one another as we provide a space of healing.

We nurture one another with faith, hope and love.

We nurture one another as we help one another grow as the Body of Christ.

In preparing for this message, I sent out an e-mail to the church, asking for those who were willing to share with me the ways they have been “nurtured” during your time at Green Meadow United Methodist Church.

Here are some of the replies:

“Buzz, I have given your question a lot of thought and I have decided that the way I have been nurtured the most at Green Meadow is learning how to have fun as a Christian. I have found out that I did not have to give up my sense of humor or my zaniness to be part of the flock. I have also learned that the flock openly acknowledges their own imperfections and accepts others as they are. I think that is a rarity that should be celebrated.”

I think that is summed up with something called “unconditional love,” and it is indeed to be celebrated …

Here’s another:

“When I was tired, mentally, physically, emotionally, you took me in. You gave me room and time to rest. The first Sunday (and the second) when Elizabeth joined me so that I wouldn't have to sit alone, I was surprised. It was a warm comforting gesture and one that I would not have expected. Green Meadow was almost immediately “family.” I didn't have to want to be part of the family because you welcomed me in. I was never on the outside. I rested in your love until I was able to begin being a part of the work of the church. I want to be part of everything that you do, and I feel as if I can never ever do enough. The Meadow is the only place in my life I have ever tithed — it is the only place I have ever felt that God's work came first.”

And another …

“It is hard for me to express all the ways Green Meadow Church has influenced my life. I felt welcome from the first time I walked in the door. I have been in church some where since I was 5 years old, but never in a place where I felt so much at home. … (She goes on to say that when she was widowed) “I was left with learning how to manage my life without him and I needed an anchor that I found in the people at Green Meadow. I found strength to go on when things were difficult and knowledge in the selected Scripture that gave me direction. I have seen how willing everyone is to invite others to to be a part of the mission work that is so much a part of the church. … I know my life has become richer because of my association with these wonderful people I call my best ever friends.”

There were many other things that were said about this church, but I wanted you to get the sense of what is of great importance: This sense of community.

We nurture one another through the study of Scripture, being open to one another’s views and theologies.

We nurture one another through the breaking of bread — whether it be the sharing of someone’s herb gardens, or friendship bread, or breakfast, BBQ, or — of huge importance — the Lord’s Supper.

We nurture one another by the sharing of burdens, through prayer and visitation.

And there are times when we have to carry one another along, because the journey here at Green Meadow is not a solo journey.

Of all people, your pastor is most aware of that.

For you have often carried me in ways that a family carries one another:

In prayer, and through a year of chemotherapy.

Through the many ways in which you exhort me, and lift me up, just when I need it -- and I know you do it for each other.

Not too long ago Donna sort of watched a war movie with me. Most of the time I have to watch guy movies alone, but this time she went along — sort of. She worked on some other stuff while the movie was running. The movie was “We Were Soldiers Once … and Young.” It is based on a true story about the first time U.S. forces formally met the Vietnamese army on the battlefield.

What you are about to see is a deleted scene from the movie that takes place back in the states at the Protestant chapel on the base from which the 7th Infantry, First Division, had been deployed in November 1965 to Vietnam.

This scene depicts the families (mostly the wives) of the soldiers, who are in church days after their husbands have gone off to war.

One of the young wives is introduced by the pastor and is to sing the Offertory.

This, sisters and brothers, is a sign of community carrying each other along.

The woman who first picked up after the singer faltered is the wife of the commander of the division, and soon the other wives, and then the entire congregation are singing.

This is a wonderful illustration of how, when we are afraid, or unsure of our faith, or under some extreme trial, the faith community sustains us, and reminds us of the faith that we, by ourselves, may not be able to articulate or even access.

Sisters and brothers, we the Body of Christ are called to be the solid rock for one another, giving each other food for the faith … and strength for the journey.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Grace and peace ...

What will you find in The Meadow?

2009-09-01T08:16:00.004-04:00

Author and illustrator Anne Hunter uses a series of books to educate young readers about nature while they are learning to read.

Books such as “Possum and the Peeper” and “What’s in the Tide Pool,” “What’s In The Pond?” and “What’s Under the Log?” all of which seek to satisfy the curiosity of young readers who are just itching to stretch their imagination and cognitive legs.

While I was perusing her titles, this is the one that really caught my interest: “What’s In The Meadow?”

I tried to find this book at Barnes and Noble and Borders, but discovered that you have to order it online.

In the reviews, I found that Anne Hunter talks about and illustrates 10 creatures that can be found in The Meadow, but I have to settle for only knowing about five of those creatures:
Meadowlarks, spittlebugs, fireflies, eastern moles, and woolybear caterpillars — who can not only be found in meadows, but for some reason like to cross East Tennessee roads. Incidentally, the wooly bear caterpillar carries a bit of Appalachian folklore. Once they arrive on the scene, folks like me check out the color to see what sort of winter we’re going to have. I know it’s superstition, but it’s nonetheless fun.

So, now you know what’s in The Meadow — or, at least five of the 10 creatures.

But what if someone came up to you and asked, “What’s Green Meadow United Methodist Church all about?

“What’s your purpose?

“What’s your mission?”

And as we all know, there are some sisters and brothers who just call us The Meadow — thanks to the Web site — Green Meadow Church of God and Meadow United Methodist Church notwithstanding.

So, “What’s In The Meadow?”

Well, if we did a little more than scratch our heads, some of us might remember this:

“Our mission is to be an open gathering place to nurture Christians in training who, equipped by the Holy Spirit, go into the world and share the light of Jesus Christ.”

Well, that’s a mouthful, and what does it really mean?

It’s broken down this way:

Our mission is to be an open gathering place …
Our mission is to nurture Christians in training …
We are equipped by the Holy Spirit to engage this mission …
Our mission is to go into the world and share the light of Jesus Christ.

Having broken it down for a series of messages, I’ll try to encapsulate each in blog form in the future.

Grace and peace ….

Taking time to consider the path

2009-07-02T08:14:00.005-04:00

I have a difficult time shutting down.

Earlier in my journalism career, I couldn't go out of town on vacation without picking up copies of out-of-town newspapers and watching broadcast news. I changed that habit sometime in the mid-1990s because it seemed I was always wondering, "Did we play that story correctly back in Maryville? Did we miss it entirely?" In short, I wasn't shutting down work; therefore, I wasn't truly on vacation. I wasn't taking a sabbath. So, nowadays, I try not to engage in the news while on vacation or sabbath.

My first vacation following the entry into pastoral ministry was sort of that way as well. We went to Folley Beach, South Carolina, and I spent the greater part of vacation preparing worship experiences. I was totally out of balance.

Since coming to The Meadow in April 2002, I have pretty much held it in balance when it comes to my time away; however, the church is never far from my mind. So at some point I find myself walking the beach and praying, "Lord, where is it you want us to go? What can I do at Green Meadow to help us become the church you have called us to be? Where do we go next?"

I do not see that as a failure to shut down, but to come out of my time away with a clearer vision and plan to move this ministry forward for Christ. The reality is this: I can not shut down who I am as your pastor, as a disciple of Jesus Christ, nor do I want to shut it down.

I'm not doing grunt work while I am a way, it's Spirit work.

A few weeks ago I asked that you be in prayer this summer for where God wants us to go next. I think God has given me the vision for where he wants me to lead next, but I want you to continue in prayer with me that God would sharpen that vision.

This morning, I read the following from The Call 2, the online version of the Holston Conference's newspaper. Here's a short URL to reach it: http://tr.im/thecall. The Bishop recounts a portion from Madeleine Albright's book that deals with the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, and a call that Tom Burnett made from Flight 93. Burnett said, "I know we're going to die, but some of us are going to do something about it." When I read the following, this vision of where to lead next took a bit of shape:

Since that awful morning, the memory of their heroism has inspired us. It should also instruct us. The reason is that when you think about it, “I know we’re going to die,” is a wholly unremarkable statement. Each of us could on any day say the same. It is Burnett’s next words that were both matter-of-fact and electrifying.“Some of us are going to do something about it.”

In focusing on mission and being open to doing church in a different way, we have moved beyond the mentality of a small church looking to merely survive. Nor are we in the mode of asking the district superintendent to "just leave us alone and let us die in peace." (Believe it or not, a former district superintendent shared the latter experience of having been told that by a church's leadership.)

Some churches have taken the attitude of, "I know we're going to die. Just leave us alone and let us die in peace." Ever since coming to The Meadow, the Spirit has been moving us ... and I believe we have been following. In finding creative ways to be in mission, we have taken what is the road less traveled by a church with 20 to 25 on an average Sunday worship.

I believe God has presented us with another point in our journey where the paths diverge. Pray with me that our path is made clear. It may again emerge as the road less traveled. If so, we can again trust that the power of God's Holy Spirit will propel us and sustain us along way.

Grace, peace and love ...

2009-06-29T10:27:00.002-04:00

I was doing daily offices at Mission St. Clare and noted that today is the day when the Church commemorates the martyrdom of Peter and Paul.

Peter confessed "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God!" and is believed to have been crucified upside down.

Paul reached a point in his ministry where he proclaimed "To live is Christ, to die is gain." He is said to have been beheaded.

Are we ready and able to count the cost of following Christ? It is not likely that we in the Western Church face crucifixion or beheading; in fact, the road is generally pretty smooth. Most of the time it costs us nothing to follow Christ.

Perhaps there is power in costly discipleship ...

Grace and peace.

The end of a tough week for celebrities ...

2009-06-26T07:38:00.003-04:00

The superstition in the cult of celebrity is that death comes in threes. This week, it seemed to play out with the deaths of Ed McMahon, Farah Fawcett and Michael Jackson.

As a Boomer, I'm still trying to get my head around the news. As a Christian, I stopped for daily offices at Mission St. Clare and was presented with these words from a 17th century poet, Baron Friedrich R. L. von Canitz:

Wake my soul with all things living
thanks be giving to the Source of life and day
Sunlight comes and gone confusion,
night's illusion, like the starlight
fades away.

All your hopeful plans confessing
ask for blessing on that good which you would do
but if you should need correction, ask direction
pray for purpose
clear and new.

Cry for help, when griefs assail you,
good friends fail you, life seems hopeless, death appears.
One whose child knew deep affliction,
crucifixion,
ever waits to dry your tears.

Wake my soul with all things living
thanks be giving to the Source of life and day
Sunlight comes and gone confusion,
night's illusion, like the starlight
fades away.

Thank you, God, for this day in which to serve you. I thank you that I know I am yours, and you know what this day holds for me. Cleanse me of any thing that would hinder the work of your Holy Spirit in my life. Use me to touch someone in your name today. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

And then the Spirit fell ...

2009-06-16T22:31:00.008-04:00

I had read Adam Hamilton's book "Leading Beyond the Walls" as part of an evangelism class. I believe it was two or three years ago.

So it was that I was prepared for this afternoon's session at Holston Annual Conference at Lake Junaluska, N.C. I had even shared some of that book with the community of faith that worships at The Meadow, during worship as well as a Sunday morning small group that one of my congregants leads. I included some of the questions it raised, on behalf of the church as well as those we seek to reach:

Would it matter to the commuity if your church was not here?
What do you say to someone who asks, "Why do I need Jesus Christ?"
What do you say to someone who asks, "Why do I need the Church?"
What do you say to someone who asks, "Why do I need this church?"

Still, even though I was familiar with some of the material, there was much offered this afternoon that sent my head spinning with challenges and possibilities for the Green Meadow community of faith.

Tonight, his words concerning preaching and worship were even more thought-provoking and challenging, but they were also somewhat convicting -- to use some religious-speak. I thought it was just my normal tendencies toward self-flagellation for wanting to do more in terms of ministry but feeling constrained by time and my other full-time vocation. Still, he was teaching -- nay, preaching -- on what has long been my most favorite and most studied aspect of ministry: Worship. And it was as if I were a grade-schooler sitting at the feet of a teacher and learning for the first time.

Quite honestly, it was most disconcerting and nearly disturbing. I was asking myself, "This is not the first time I considered some of this. When did I forget these things? Have I been going through the motions on some Sundays?"

Hamilton turned it over to the Bishop and I followed the writer and preacher out to the book-signing table where I purchased a long-overdue Christmas gift for my brother-in-law, as well as a couple of books for myself before returning to the auditorium. Trinity UMC's praise band was already into the final worship set. I joined the rest of the congregation in a moving time of worship in music.

When it ended, we were all packing up to leave when Bishop Swanson stepped out in the Spirit, offering pastors the opportunity for prayerful reflection upon the teaching we had received before leaving Stuart Auditorium. He called Trinity's praise leader back to the keyboards and asked her to play softly as he made the invitation. One by one, an untold number of pastors moved to the front, some kneeling and others standing, possibily joined by some lay people. The Bishop prayed and -- believe me, I do not use this phrase lightly -- in my humble opinion the Holy Spirit fell.

It's hard to guess what was happening to others, but when I opened my eyes and moved out of the crowd it was obvious many were moved in one fashion or another. For me it was a powerful moment that I intend to reflect prayerfully upon for the remainder of tonight and likely for some time.

It may be a turning point in this ministry I am engaged in for the sake of Jesus Christ and the transformation of the community in which I serve.

At least, that is my prayer.

Will it be your prayer as well?

Grace ... and peace.

Remembering the Rev. Ray Robinson ...

2009-03-22T08:02:00.006-04:00

We were at The Meadow taking part in a fairly extensive work day with other Meadow folk and volunteers with Family Promise of Blount County when Carol Green told me Ray Robinson was in critical condition at UT Hospital. I learned later that Ray had died.

I knew of the Rev. Ray Robinson long before I met him. He was held in high regard by longtime members of Middlebrook Pike UMC in Knoxville, which was my home church for more than 15 years. Ray served that church from 1965-69, the church's history records it as "a time when we needed a boost."

The history, some of which I still have on my hard drive, goes on to say this:

"It was as if we had 'bottomed out' into a low plateau of enthusiasm, interest and church growth. The Rev. Robinson got the church 're-organized and re-vitalized.'

"Fellowship dinners were started; a newsletter, the 'Messenger,' was published; the old Hammond organ was replaced with a new and larger one; landscape improvements were made; and our first pictorial directory was completed.

"Attendance and programs increased as a new feeling of spiritual alertness permeated the congregation. Plans for a new education building came into focus."

After Ray retired, his charge was at Maryville First UMC. He knew of my connection to Middlebrook as well as of my work at The (Maryville) Daily Times. He would occasionally take me to task about something he didn't care for in the newspaper -- never in a mean way, but in a challenging way.

I'm guessing that was the way he served at Middlebrook, as well as his other pastorates: Challenging disciples to move forward for the Kingdom.

Please pray for his wife Jane, daughters Anne and Joy and their families, as well as for the many friends and family members who are affected by his passing.

Grace and peace ...

Steven Doyal sermon on hate ...

2009-01-19T08:54:00.003-05:00

"Smoldering Cauldron" is absolutely one of the most concise, resounding messages on hate I have read. On this day of historic note, and the day before another historic moment, it would do everyone well to read it and take it to heart.

Grace and peace,
Buzz

Christmas: When Love Came to Town

2008-12-30T19:59:00.004-05:00

The story goes that a boy and his dad were walking through the woods one day when they came upon some ants working furiously to clear a path, but didn’t seem to be getting anywhere.

The bod and his dad watched the ants work for a long time. At some point, the boy looked at his dad and said, “You know, Dad, if I could become one of them for a short time, I could help them.”

God loved Creation so much, that he injected himself into Creation as Jesus the Christ. C.S. Lewis writes, “He loved us not because we were lovable, but because He is love.”

That is essential for us to understand: God is love, and because Jesus Christ was God incarnate, Christ was love. And because Christ has risen, Christ is love.

English poet Christina Georgina Rosetti penned a number of poems, including two that have found their place as hymns in the United Methodist Hymnal: “In the Bleak Midwinter,” and “Love Came Down at Christmas.”

In her poem, “Love Came Down at Christmas,” Rosetti writes:

"Love came down at Christmas, love all lovely, love divine.

"Love was born at Christmas — star and angels gave the sign.

“Worship we the Godhead, love incarnate, love divine.

“Worship we our Jesus — what shall be our sacred sign?”

When I think of that song today, I think of a song that U2’s Bono and blues legend B.B. King once teamed up to perform: “When Love Comes to Town.” Here’s a taste of the lyrics:

"I was there when they crucified my Lord.

"I held the scabbard when the soldier drew his sword.

"I threw the dice when they pierced his side.

"But I’ve seen love conquer the great divide.

"When love comes to town, I’m gonna catch that train.

"When love comes to town, I’m gonna catch that flame.

"Maybe I was wrong to ever let you down, but I did what I did before love came to town."

Because love came to town in the God-man Jesus Christ, the world has never been the same.

Because love came to town, a handful of disciples followed an itinerant preacher, and the world was turned upside down.

Because love came to town, the hungry have been fed.

Because love came to town, the naked have been clothed.

Because love came to town, the imprisoned have been visited.

Because love came to town, we have been challenged to love our enemies — and given the power of the Holy Spirit with which to do so.

Because love came to town, this community of faith has embraced teen moms and given them an opportunity to build a better life for the children they have brought into this world.

Because love came to town, several communities of faith in Blount County have joined together to shelter homeless families in a new organization called Family Promise of Blount County.

Because love came to town, workers recently banded together to help put food on the table, gas in the tanks, and a few gifts under the trees of colleagues who have been laid off.

I dare say that when love comes to town in your heart, you look at Christmas as something far more meaningful than the change of celestial seasons. You may even see it as an incarnational event that has transformed your life. I know I do.

When we think of the baby Jesus, lying in a manger, we think of love. Yes, love came to Bethlehem town: Love was eventually rejected; love was beaten; love was crucified on a cross; and love was buried in a borrowed tomb — but love rose again.

And because love came to town, my sins, your sins, have been forgiven.

Green Meadow United Methodist Church has a place in cyberspace, it’s called TheMeadow.org.

I couldn’t help but put the U2 and B.B. King video performance of “Love Comes to Town” on our church’s Web site as we lead up to the Christmas Eve worship experience. (I’ve since moved on to another video, but you can find the U2-B.B. King performance on YouTube.)

During that video rendition, Bono says, “B.B. King not only invented the blues, he’s got a cure for the blues.”

To which B.B. responds, “Yes, my cure for the blues tonight is love.”

“I said my cure for the blues tonight is love. Is there love in the house tonight? Is there love in the house enough tonight to make you want to help somebody? Is there love enough tonight to not make you want to hurt anybody?

“Then … there’s love … in the house tonight.”

"I was there when they crucified my Lord.

"I held the scabbard when the soldier drew his sword.

"I threw the dice when they pierced his side.

"But I’ve seen love conquer the great divide."

The divide between us and God has been bridged through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. The great gulf of death has been conquered by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

“Love came down at Christmas, love all lovely, love divine.

“Love was born at Christmas — star and angels gave the sign."

It’s my prayer that love will come to town in your heart in 2009.

Grace and peace ...

Christmas and Conspiracy in The Meadow

2008-12-25T22:53:00.005-05:00

As I began worship services for Advent at Green Meadow UMC, I stumbled upon the Advent Conspiracy. I led off with a worship experience with a Conspiracy theme, and introduced the congregation to the idea of an Advent where we sought to Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More and Love All -- the idea behind the Advent Conspiracy.

As we moved through Advent, I believe we actually did those very things:

The Wednesday before the 1st Sunday in Advent, The Meadow conducted a charge conference where the community agreed to formalize our cooperative mission with Family Promise of Blount County, which includes renovations for the purpose of housing the day center under a lease agreement to be negotiated by the trustees of Green Meadow and Family Promise of Blount County.

On the 1st Sunday in Advent, the community held its annual benefit auction and dinner, raising about $1,400, with half going to help with renovations for Family Promise of Blount County Family Day Center, and the other half going to School of Hope.

The community of faith at Green Meadow contributed just under $200 out of $1,500 that was raised to provide for families whose bread winners had been laid off by a local company. (Pastor Buzz and Donna made deliveries to eight families, ranging from Rutledge to Niota.)

The Rev. James R. Green led worship on two Sundays in Advent, allowing Pastor Buzz to attend to daughter Elizabeth's graduation and relocation.

To be sure, this was a different season of Advent and Christmas. And while I believe it was unintentional, for we were merely living out life as a community of faith, the people of The Meadow lived out the Advent Conspiracy: Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More and Love All.

Grace and peace ...

Family Promise of Blount County coming to The Meadow!

2008-12-05T09:25:00.006-05:00

Grace and peace to you in this season of Advent!

While not in the most timely manner, it is with great joy that I report to you the results of the December 3, 2008, called Charge Conference at Green Meadow. The community of faith was in one accord with the following:

To formalize our cooperative mission with Family Promise of Blount County, which includes renovations for the purpose of housing the day center under a lease agreement to be negotiated by the trustees of Green Meadow and Family Promise of Blount County.

What that means is we at Green Meadow and Family Promise of Blount County can now begin the work of raising $17,000 to prepare our church to be the Family Day Center for homeless families. The families will stay in one of 13 host churches during the night, coming to Green Meadow during the day.

There is lots of work left to be done, but this is an important step in the birthing of Family Promise of Blount County, and the life of Green Meadow as a missional community. May God continue to bless both communities as we seek to serve Jesus Christ by serving the least, the last and the lost. If you would like to give specifically to the Family Promise mission, please make the check out the Green Meadow, noting "Family Promise" on the memo line.

A stewardship note: In addition to our ongoing budget needs, we are in need of "extra-mile" giving as we seek to meet our obligations as a connectional United Methodist Church (that means our apportionments, which total nearly $11,000 this year). If you would like to write a check above your regular giving specifically for our apportionments, please note that on the memo line.

A missional note: Community Food Connection is barely keeping up with the growing number of hungry people in Blount County. Be sure to bring your peanut butter this Sunday, as well as any other "extra" food you may have on hand.

Grace and peace ...

Lamenting dropped signals and lost connections …

2008-11-22T22:24:00.007-05:00

There’s a funny AT&T commercial on television these days.

Apparently some poor consumer is being dragged by police from his friend’s home. His “cell phone” (which looks just like the consumer) explains that that his friend said he could use the house, but just as he was getting the alarm code, his cellular signal “dropped” and he lost the connection.

I know something about “dropped signals” and lost connections, because I have a confession to make: I’m one of those people you hate on the highway. Yes, I use my cellular phone while driving.

I know, I know: It’s not safe, but I have about a 20-minute commute from my office at The Daily Times to my home in West Knoxville. I tend to use that time to call my mother at Ripshin, or someone else who comes to mind. If I don’t make the call when I think about it, I may forget before I get home!

I do this so often that I know exactly where the dropped-signal points are encountered by Sprint users. As the handcuffed cell phone user in the AT&T ad can attest, losing a connection can have disastrous consequences -- for cell phone users, as well as Christians.

God created us to live in community and when believers fall out of community -- i.e., when they fail to gather in worship, mission and discipleship with their community of faith -- it impacts ministry, as well as the believer's spiritual life.

Dropped signals and lost connections are sometimes a part of life, but they don't have to be a permanent occurrence.

After nearly seven years of journeying with God’s people in The Meadow, I am grateful to have experienced faith, hope and love in this small community. I am convinced that God is calling this community of faith to journey the path of existing solely for the benefit of the “others” in our midst, to share with those who are on the verge of losing hope the words of Jeremiah 29:11:

“For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.”

It's never too late to reconnect.

Grace and peace …

Choose Wisely

2008-11-09T21:24:00.010-05:00

“Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
Joshua 24:15

As I was reading these words the day after we elected Barack Obama — and I say, “we,” because it was our political process — there is a scene from an Indiana Jones movie that sprung into my mind’s eye. You may have seen the movie, “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.”

Toward the end of the movie, Jones meets the ancient Knight Templar who guards the “Holy Grail.” Christian legend maintains the Holy Grail was the cup used by Jesus during the Last Supper and it is said to possess miraculous powers. The root of the legend is a 12th century writing in which Joseph of Arimathea is given the Holy Grail by an apparition of Jesus. The cup is finds its way to Great Britain.

Later writers pen accounts where Joseph used the Grail to catch Christ’s blood while interring him and that in Britain he founded a line of guardians to keep it safe.

And then we have King Arthur’s search for the Grail and so on, and so on, until finally we come to Steven Spielberg’s adaptation where Indiana’s search for the Holy Grail has ended in this room filled with many choices of chalices: gold cups, platinum, silver, terra cotta and wood.

The Knight Templar tells Indiana, "You must choose, but choose wisely, for as the real grail brings eternal life, the false grail brings death.”

But Indiana isn’t the only one searching for the Holy Grail, of course, as there's a bad guy involved.

The bad guy comes in, looks around, and spots a glittering golden cup.

"Truly the cup of a king," he says, and drinks from it.

Shortly afterward, he goes through this metamorphic transformation to a nearly mummified figure before turning to dust.

The Knight Templar looks at Indiana and the bad guy's female companion and simply says, "He chose poorly."

Indiana spies a wooden cup, and says, "The cup of a Gallilean carpenter."

Still, he has that trademark Harrison Ford look of fear before he drinks from the cup.

"You chose wisely," says the knight.

He chose wisely.

We’ve just come off a week where tens of millions of people across USAmerica stepped into the voting booth and made a number of choices, one of which was the choice of who will lead this nation for the next four years.

I put in about 12 to 14 hours on Election Day.

I arose, went to Bluegrass School and voted. It took me about 30 minutes and, for some reason, I got the sense that there was a different feel at the polling place.

Since I was working election night, I went home and was prepared to get to work on this morning’s service, but all I could think about was election coverage. We were actually doing some live video feeds over the Internet, so I decided to go in early to make sure we were on task.

I went to the Post Office and then stopped by a coffee shop. The only way to put it is this: There was an air of jubilation, and no one had to tell me that these were Barack Obama supporters. The discernment came through loud and clear.

I knew then that the day was going to be different.

Many of us saw the crowd at Grant Park in Chicago when President-elect Obama gave his victory — some would say his inaugural — address Tuesday night.

There were tears of joy.

There were hope-filled eyes, and certainly hopeful hearts.

There were, actually, in some cases, expressions of worship.

It’s safe to say that millions of people have invested a great deal of emotion, a great deal of hope, in this one man, Barack Obama.

In campaigning for the presidency, Obama's laid out his reasons for such hope:

An end to our involvement in Iraq, having all troops removed within 16 months.

The lifting up of those on the lower rungs of the economic ladder, bringing them to the middle class.

Providing accessible, affordable coverage for all, and reducing health care costs for families.

And more.

The hopes, the dreams were cast … and USAmerica made its choice.

And now, President-elect Barack Obama has begun making his own choices as to how he will fulfill the hopes, the dreams of the millions of voters who put him in office.

Will he be able to do that?

Well, New York Governor Mario Cuomo puts it this way: “You campaign in poetry, but you govern in prose.”

It seems that, once they get to Washington, even the most humble and well-meaning public servant finds his or herself corrupted or influenced by corrupted forces. Too often, they end up making choices that are counter to the hopes, the dreams they promised when campaigning.

Because the basic choice is this: They must choose each day whom they will serve: Will they serve the gods of special interest, the god of self-interest, the gods of political dogma, or … well, I was going to say “the voters," but it occurs to me that Obama, and the nation, would be better off if the interests of God were served first.

Joshua is talking to the people of Israel at Schechem, in what appears to be a convocation, presenting themselves before God. We only read part of it, but what Joshua does is go through a review of Israel’s past on the part of God. We know this because Joshua uses the phrase, “Thus says the Lord …” When we read that, we know serious business is ahead. And the serious business begins at Verse 14.

This is a serious choice.

This is not, “Do I have decaf or regular?”

This is not, “Do I want special-sauce-lettuce-cheese-pickle-onion-on-a-sesame-seed bun … or do I want them to hold the onion?”

This is not, “Do I want to watch Indiana Jones tonight, or do I want to watch a chick-flick??

This is not even, “Do I vote for Barack Obama, or do I vote for John McCain … or Chuck Baldwin … or Bob Bar … or Charles Jay … or Cynthia McKinney … or Brian Moore … or Ralph Nader … or maybe I should write in Pastor Buzz …”

We get consumed with choices … even the choice of what church we attend.

“Do I want the rituals of Episcopalian, or do I want the passionate worship of the Pentecostals?”

There’s this scene in C.S. Lewis’ “The Screwtape Letters” where the devil Screwtape happily discerns, “Now, this is an achievement. They’re busy all the time making choices about things that don’t matter. We’ve got them now. They’re terminally distracted.”

But this choice that Joshua sets before the people is not one of those choices … decisions that have no eternal consequence.

This is a choice about what god the people will serve.

He says, in effect, “The time has come for you to make up your mind about who you’re going to serve. Which way are you going to go? Are you going to the left, or to the right, or are you just going to get off of the highway all together?”

“Are you going to serve those worthless gods of those who came before you, or are you going to fear the one true God?

“Will you give yourself totally over to him in worship?

“Will you get rid of the gods that your ancestors handed down to you?

“Will you choose to worship God?

“Now, you may not want to, but you’ve to decide right here. Right now.

“This ain’t no time to play around.

“If you decide you can’t, that it’s a bad thing to worship God, then choose a god you would rather serve — but do it today.

“Choose the god of your political party, or the god of the empire, or the god of self-interest.
“But as for me … as for my house, my family, we will worship Yaweh. We will worship God.”

Sisters and brothers, we all face that choice, of standing at the crossroads of faith and having to make the ultimate decision.

You’ve got to put something old down, in order to pick something new up.

There were a lot of nasty e-mails floating around ahead of the election.

One of those was that Barack Obama was Muslim.

There was a January interview with Christianity Today in which Obama addressed that particular rumor. Here is what he said:

“I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life. But most importantly, I believe in the example that Jesus set by feeding the hungry and healing the sick and always prioritizing the least of these over the powerful. I didn't ‘fall out in church’ as they say, but there was a very strong awakening in me of the importance of these issues in my life. I didn't want to walk alone on this journey. Accepting Jesus Christ in my life has been a powerful guide for my conduct and my values and my ideals.”

He will, indeed, face many choices in the coming four years.

And regardless of political affiliation, President-elect Barack Obama and our nation needs fervent, heartfelt prayer that the decisions made in regards to those choices will be made with God in mind.

“Choose this day whom you will serve,” because our decisions matter —particularly because we do not know the full impact of those decisions.

And so, in this morning’s text, the people of Israel rise up and say, “We will never turn away from God! Never! We’d never reject God for other things, for other gods! He’s our God!”

Then Joshua said, “Naw, you can’t do it. You don’t have it in you to worship God. He’s a holy God. He’s a jealous God. He won’t put up with your shenanigans. When you desert him for other things, for other gods, he’ll rub you out."

But the people were insistent: “No! No! We worship God!"

And so, Joshua relented: “OK, you are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to worship God. So be it.”

And they said, “We are witnesses. So be it."

And so, the decision was made.

But it didn’t last.

We read later that the people of Israel were not content with having God lead them, they demanded a king so they could “be like the nations.”

It appears the people weren’t content to live with their own choice; they wanted to rely on someone else’s choices.

In some manner or fashion, sometimes in ways we do not even recognize at the moment, we make decisions that reflect whether we have chosen to serve the Lord, or not serve the Lord.

We face the call of “choose this day whom you will serve.”

Joshua reminds us that we owe all that we are, all that we have, and all that we will be, to the God who brought us where we are today.

We must put away the many other gods that keep us from following the one true God.

We must cast aside decisions and choices that distract us from making decisions and choices that matter.

In the Parable of the 10 Bridesmaids, found in Matthew 25, we read that five of the women chose not to take oil with them. They grew drowsy and fell asleep. When the bridegroom came, they were not ready.

They chose poorly.

In that same parable, five of the bridesmaids took oil in jars along with the lamps. They grew drowsy and fell asleep. But when the bridegroom came, they were read to come out and meet him.

They chose wisely.

We were given a few cups to choose from in this presidential election, and we pray that we have chosen wisely.

But that was not the greatest decision that we face.

The greatest decision that each of us faces is this:

“Whom will you serve?”

“Choose this day …”

None of us wants to come to the end of our days and, as with the five foolish bridesmaids, hear the Lord say, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.”

Grace and peace ...

Gecko Judgment

2008-10-21T10:00:00.018-04:00

One thing you’ve got to say about Hollywood: It never misses a moment to capitalize on a current event -- even if that current event is the result of Americans paying the price of capitalism running amuck.

In September, we saw several large U.S.-based financial institutions fail, merge, and otherwise instill a lack of confidence. It wasn’t as if business journal prophets had not warned of these things to come, mostly pointing to sub-prime mortgage issues.

But they were like Old Testament prophets standing on the wall, shouting, “Woe! Woe! Woe!” Or, maybe it was “Whoah, Whoah, Whoah!” as in “Stop! Stop! Stop! You’re heading for a train wreck!”

But then, the train wreck came: Large financial institutions began to fall, and the wave rolled across the ocean, and moved around the world. Governments have now stepped in to help lay a little track, hoping to get the global economy back on track.

In the midst of all of this misery, Hollywood is moving forward on a sequel to the 1987 film, “Wall Street,” the 1987 film directed by Oliver Stone.

In that movie, Charlie Sheen plays an ambitious young stockbroker named Bud Fox. His idol is an unscrupulous corporate raider, played by Michael Douglas, whose character is given the unlikely name of Gordon Gekko.

Gekko is idolized by Bud Fox, whose father, Carl, is played by Martin Sheen. Carl is a maintenance worker at a small struggling airline, Bluestar. Bud gives Gekko some inside information on Bluestar that can make a stock trade profitable, while saving the company in the process. Gekko uses Bud to get more inside information, including concessions from the labor unions, and then decides to cannibalize the company -- selling off its assets and leaving the employees out of work.

The iconic line that Gekko offers in the film is this: “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good.” (These days it's difficult to tell whether life imitates art, or whether art imitates life.)

It's beautifully ironic that the greedy bloodsucker in the film “Wall Street” is named “Gekko.” While spelled differently, a "gecko" is a lizard found in warm climates around the world. There are about 2,000 species worldwide, with some unique characeristics:

All but one of the species lacks eyelids.
As a defense mechanism, they expel a foul-smelling material and feces.
Some species change color to blend in with their environment.

Gecko is seems an appropriate mascot for the lizards of Wall Street.

"Greed," the Gecko says, "is good."

Chameleons that excrete foul-smelling substances.

I think Amos knew something about Geckos.

Amos was an 8th century layman prophet -- not one of those professional preachers -- from the southern kingdom of Judah. He was a sheep and fruit farmer of sorts who had the audacity to go into the northern kingdom of Israel and preach.

He starts out with a roar, proclaiming words of judgment against Israel's enemies for atrocities committed in war. You can just hear the crowds yelling, “Right on! Preach it brother! Don’t hold back! Let ’em have it with both barrels.”

But then, Amos turns to his own homeland, Judah, the southern kingdom, and proclaims God's judgment -- not because of war crimes, but because of idolatry and a failure to follow the Lord.

And he turns turns to Israel, the northern kingdom, citing crimes of violence -- not the violence of wars against nations, but violence against the poor:

"Thus says the LORD: 'For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals — those who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and turn aside the way of the afflicted; a man and his father go in to the same maiden, so that my holy name is profaned; they lay themselves down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge, and in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined.'” (Amos 2:6-8)

Amos is taking aim at the Geckos of Jerusalem, for systematically ripping off the poor.

Are not the Geckos of Wall Street doing the same today?

I wonder how God will judge us?

What we see today is that Gecko CEOS have left homebuyers, many of whom were led astray through suspect loan instruments, out on the street. Their hope for living the American Dream blinded their eyes to the fact that they simply could not afford that dream, and seeking it would actually lead them into a nightmare.

The Geckos have taken the sandals and cloaks of the poor and middle class to some golden temple of an offshore bank account, sitting on island sands while they drink!

In the Old Testament, God set His people apart to be salt and light for the world, not vinegar and bitter herbs.

I believe God had a similar plan for this nation.

Somewhere along the way, I believe we have forgotten the missio dei -- the mission of God -- given to USAmerica, or maybe we never fully embraced that mission to begin with.

Maybe, like Columbus, who considered himself God’s light-bearer of the Gospel to the New World, the prospect of getting rich got in our way.

I wonder how God will judge us?

Maybe He already is ...

Almighty God, in our desire for comfort and security, we often trample over others as we dash for the train that we believe will carry us to the American dream.

As we run for that train, O Lord, slow us down so that we might see others who have likewise fallen along the way.

Lead us through your Holy Spirit to not be afraid to reach down and lift someone else up ... even if it causes us to miss the train.

For in that way, we will become salt and light to your world.

In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Grace and peace ...

It's 5 o'clock somewhere ...

2008-09-21T14:28:00.005-04:00

Now, I’m not whining, but I’ve got to tell you, sisters and brothers, it’s been a tough week for me.

At The Daily Times, we had that 126-page section to get out because it was scheduled to run today. (As it turns out, it will be inserted into the Tuesday, Sept. 23, edition.)

We had a folder break on the press. A folder is a mechanism that trims the paper and folds the sections. What that means is we couldn’t run the press until it got fixed. So, one night, we had to have the paper printed in Sevierville.

I managed to escape the worst of that deal … but, people were still coming to me expecting answers.

And I did my best …

Then, we had Charge Conference at Green Meadow United Methodist Church — which, truth be told, was actually a high point in the week for me.

On Friday, I had to take a vacation day to move Elizabeth into an apartment in Johnson City — a second-floor apartment, mind you.

But we survived that, too.

In the midst of all of that, I was working on this message.

Now, as we say in the newsroom, the work flow for worship goes something like this:

Once I decide on the Scripture, I look for words and phrases to jump out a me as I seek to discern, “What’s the message, here?”

When that hits me, I think about the imagery.

I love this text, and have spoken about it before in the terms of “The 11^th Hour,” that being the time when the last workers were hired.

So, I did this quick image and was pretty much satisfied … that is, until the obvious hit me: The 11^th hour was not 11 o’clock in the text, it was 5 o’clock, for that was the 11^th hour in the Jewish custom and culture.

So, I reworked the image to look like this.

Well, that didn’t set right with me either, to have “the 11^th hour” and the hands being on the 5 o’clock hour.”

By then, it was about the 11^th hour for me — that being 11 or 11:30 p.m. — and I was getting a bit exasperated, so I just went to bed.

As I lay there with the text running through my head, the title of an Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffet song hit me and I turned to Donna and said, “It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere.”

If you're not familiar with the song, go to YouTube.

The lyrics go something like this:

The sun is hot and that ol' clock is movin' slow

And so am I

Workday passes like molassas in wintertime

But it's July

Gettin' paid by the hour and older by the minute

My boss just pushed me over the limit

I'd like to call him somethin'

But think I'll just call it a day

Pour me somethin' tall and strong

Make it a hurricane before I go insane

It's only half past twelve, but I don't care

It's five o'clock somewhere

Now, as you can tell, that’s pretty much a drinkin’ song.

But I’m not promoting alcohol, here.

Even though I don’t think having a glass of wine, or a beer, or whatever beverage you prefer, is a sin for most people.

I don’t drink anymore. As they say in the hills of Upper East Tennessee, I was once “bad to drink.”

So, in my case, it would be a sin, because I know where God brought me from, and I know where that one glass would eventually lead.

I never drank one of anything in my life.

I’m sort of like another country and western song -- which I could have written but Blake Shelton beat me to it -- that says, “The More I Drink, the More I Drink.”

So, I just don’t … drink, that is.

But there’s something about that song — “It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere” — that appeals to me that is outside of the obvious alcohol references.

Hang with me, now.

Today’s text, Matthew 20:1-16, is sometimes referred to as The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard.

This is a story about God's radical grace, where everyone will receive the same reward. In the vineyard, first equals last, last equals first.

The story goes that there was once a great debate in heaven as to who was the greatest monument of God's grace.

The stories were told, one after another, as those who had been redeemed described in lurid detail the sin from which Christ had delivered them.

The competition was tough, but one old fellow seemed to be winning out. There didn’t seem to be a sin that this old guy hadn’t committed. And then he related how he came to Christ on his deathbed.

But then a woman stepped up and told of how she had come to Christ as a child and had followed him all the days of her life.

When the vote was taken, it was not one who had lifted up from the miry pit who was seen as the greatest testimony to grace, but the woman who had walked with Christ all of her days.

That’s a pretty good story.

But what’s the problem here?

It doesn't match what Jesus says in Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard.

But that’s the way we view the gift of grace.

But the reality of Scripture is this: The economy of God’s grace says what?

First equals last; last equals first.

In the Kingdom of God, everyone receives the same reward regardless of how much work they have done.

Thank God in the upside down economy of God's grace that “It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere" and the reward is the same.

Somewhere, perhaps even as you read this, there is likely someone who is coming to Christ in his or her last hour. In so doing, they’re going to get the same measure of grace, the same reward, as the person who walked with Christ all of their days.

Look at your watch, it says ____.

But it’s 5 o’clock somewhere.

It’s 5 o’clock somewhere, and that believer will arrive at the same destination as the rest of us believers.

But we never know the hour we will depart.

Know that whether you are in the third hour, the sixth hour, or the 11^th hour, the same blood of Christ covers your sins.

But consider this: You may be in the latter hour … the 11^th hour … do not let it quickly pass you by.

You’re standing in the marketplace and the master is calling to you: "Why are you standing here all day long? Go, and work in my vineyard."

Grace and peace ...

David Crowder and pick-up sticks ...

2008-07-17T09:07:00.004-04:00

I'm on a lot of e-mail lists. How I got on some of them is beyond me. Fortunately, I do not get a lot of what I would call spam as a result of being on those lists. Call it God's cybergrace.

Today I got an e-mail from Catalyst, which appears to be some sort of Christian media site. The e-mail included a link to a column written by David Crowder, whom I interviewed in 2006. He's a pretty sharp guy, I might add. He took the conversation in a way that had me off-balance.

In the column, Crowder notes that he and his wife live in an economically depressed part of Waco, Texas. That in itself is interesting, given that he probably makes oodles of money from record sales. Few Christian music"stars" (feels funny even writing that) truly find a way to identify with the least, the last and the lost. But what's also interesting about this column is that it concerns a conversation he had with the homeless guy who drops by to pick up sticks in David's yard, hoping to earn a few bucks along the way.

Check it out.

Grace and peace ...

Media in worship at The Meadow

2008-07-02T07:56:00.015-04:00

Those who worship at The Meadow on Sunday mornings know that digital media is part of the liturgy used in our experience. The visual mediums could be still imagery, video imagery, or a mixture of the two.

More often than not, the experience starts with Scripture and a theme, such as with "Kudzu Christianity: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly." The text was Isaiah 5:1-7, a portion of "The Song of the Unfruitful Vineyard." Many summers we travel south to Florida for a week's vacation. Along the way there are untold acres of kudzu. We see it around East Tennessee. For the most part, it is an unfruitful vine, but some creative Southerners have uncovered various ways of making it fruitful. Thus the image of kudzu ...

There are times when still imagery is just not enough. Maybe it's a song that comes into my head and I begin to think of that song in a spiritual context. It could be a contemporary Christian song, a rock song, or even country music. While I have my favorites, there are very few genres that I can not appreciate in some way.

I have not yet purchased a digital video camera and analog-to-video is too cumbersome and time-consuming for me. So, many of my self-created videos are still imagery set to music. I began doing this with PowerPoint and a script in 1996. Today, given that I have not yet been able to afford a Mac, I use Windows Movie Maker.

Following a tornadic rampage earlier this year that killed nearly 60, I was struck by the stories of survival and created a video for worship, using news images and the music of Casting Crowns, "Praise You In The Storm." I would show it here, but there is the possibility of copyright infringement since this is not "a house of worship or other religious assembly." A good reference for what is allowed under the Copyright Law of 1976 is "Handbook for Multisensory Worship" (c 1999 Ginghamsburg Church). Which begs the question: How do those folks on YouTube get away with all of those copyrighted images floating across their pages?

As a bivocational pastor, it is difficult to create the experience that you pray will help people experience God. There is the issue of time, but there is also the issue of resources -- particularly if you are serving a small church, such as The Meadow, where resources are scarce. Large churches often have teams of people who are either paid staff or are drawn from a large pool of engineers. In a small church, neither of those resources exist to a great degree -- that is, money for staff and a large pool of volunteers. Because of that, I long ago decided to draw upon a number of resources so that we in The Meadow can fully experience God's revealing Word:

It starts with The Word

Sometimes I use the Lectionary, which allows me to use a variety of worship planning resources, such as the United Methodist Church's General Board of Discipleship worship site, TextWeek, and Desperate Preacher, and ESermons, the latter of which is a paid subscription site. (I chose that one to subscribe to because Len Sweet, one of my favorite contemporary theologians, has material on that site. My congregation would readily recognize his name, as well as Brian McLaren, Henri Nouwen and Rob Bell.)

Sometimes God leads me to another Scripture, in which case I search for a theme or metaphor within the text. Slowly reading and looking for words and phrases that jump off the page and into my spirit. I then look to commentaries, such as those within the New Interpreter's Bible, "The New Daily Study Bible" series, or other commentaries.

Then, there are times when something I am reading will strike a chord. That is what happened with Donald Miller's "Blue Like Jazz." I was reading that book in the summer of 2005 and one chapter led me to create a worship experience entitled "Christian Belief is Like Penguin Sex." It was around the same time that "March of the Penguins" debuted, which certainly made it timely. It also provided much needed imagery, thanks to marketing materials. (Again, I would show the imagery here, but there is that copyright law ...

Movies and music also draw me to certain themes. The no-brainer movie theme of the past few years has been the "Chronicles of Narnia" series. I have yet to see the "Prince Caspian" release, but like many pastors I built a series of worship experiences on the former movie. The not-so-obvious movie that I built a message upon was "The Shawshank Redemption." It was a great study of hope during Advent one year. Music has spawned a number of ideas, with songs like Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A Changin'" and Brooks and Dunn's "Red Dirt Road."

In short, I believe God is open to creative liturgy and uses a great deal of pop culture to get his message across.

I'll close with a few suggested resources for visual liturgy:

Sermon Spice: www.sermonspice.com
Lumicon: www.lumicon.com
The work of the People: www.twop.
Jonny Baker Blog: jonnybaker.blogs.com

Grace and peace ...

Out of the miry clay ...

2008-06-21T07:50:00.003-04:00

“You show me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

Psalm 16:11

In summer 1985, Donna gave birth to Elizabeth and David was almost 3½ years old. Just months before, God put me on the path of salvation. As the psalmist wrote in Psalm 40:2, “He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.”

God had taken me out of the “miry clay.” He showed me the path of life, and in God’s presence I found “fullness of joy.”

The Newsboys’ “Devotion” comes to mind:

“You found me
in a shallow grave
You dragged (called) me out from beneath it all
You healed (touched) me
saved me
in the nick of time
Your perfect time”

As I have found, walking with God for more than two decades now, there is more pleasure in walking with God than all that Babylon has to offer.

And no eye has seen the pleasures that God has for us in the world beyond.

Grace and peace ...

Holy Conferencing and a confession ...

2008-06-10T10:52:00.025-04:00

The Rev. Randy Frye talks to Holston's United Methodists
about Holy Conferencing in Tuesday morning's session at Lake Junaluska.

The Holy Spirit is moving during this annual conference of Holston's United Methodists at Lake Junaluska, N.C., and it could be that we don't know quite what to do with this movement. The reason: It's not moving in the way that we would normally expect.

It's not because of the music.

It's not due to the preaching.

The Holy Spirit is moving through an introduction to "Holy Conferencing," and the arrival of God's Spirit in this manner is not something we are used to greeting; in fact, that is quite the point: We -- or, at least, I -- have not been hospitable to the Spirit of God in this matter.

The Rev. Randy Frye just finished a moving presentation on "Working Together in the United Methodist Way," in which he asked, "How do diverse people, worshipping one Lord, navigate through our differences in order to fulfill one singular mission ... to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world?" Frye suggested the following guidelines in calling us to practice Holy Conferencing:

Every person is a child of God.
As you patiently listen and observe the behavior of others, be open to the possiblity that God can change the views of any or all parties in the discuss. (And that means me, too.)
Listen patiently before formulating responses.
Strive to understand the experience out of which others have arrived at their views.
Be careful in how you express personal offense at differing opinions. Otherwise, dialogue may be inhibited.
Accurately reflect the views of others when speaking. This is especially important when you disagree with that position.
Avoid using inflammatory words, derogatory names, or an excited and angry voice.
Avoid making generalizations about individuals and groups.
Make use of facilitators and mediators.
Remember that people are defined, ultimately by their relationship with God ... not by the flaws we discover, or think we discover, in their views and actions.

As I listened to Randy, "my heart was strangely warmed." Yet, I also was convicted in that I am aware of the many times I have not practiced Holy Conferencing. I have:

Failed to treat every person as a child of God.
Stood firm on what I perceived to be biblical ground, not realizing that the propositions I claimed as truth may not be truth at all, but merely the opinions of man concerning God's Truth.
Failed to listen patiently before formulating opinions. Too often when appearing to listen to someone, or even when reading another person's words, I have found myself thinking, "Oh, they're coming from (whatever) point of view ..." The first time I became fully aware of such a practice was when reading Brian McLaren's "A Generous Orthodoxy." For the first time in my recollection, when I found myself heading down that path I would put the book down until I got over that train of thought.
Failed to consider another person's experience through which their views were formed.
Neglected to be careful of my words when reacting to someone else's opinion.
Intentionally or inadvertently "spun" someone else's views to buttress my own position.
Used inflammatory, or at least highly charged, words and emotions to drive home a point.
Made generalizations concerning individuals and groups.
Forgotten, or ignored the fact, that people are ultimately defined by their relationship with God.

Forgive me, O God, for my careless and hurtful words.

Forgive me for not accurately and fully presenting Christ to the world. Allow me to rise with newness of heart, and newness of Spirit, fully open to the move of your Holy Spirit as I offer Christ to the world. This is my confession, and I repent of the way I have hurt others and damaged the reputation of Christ and His Church in the world.

Thank you, O God, for your grace .

Amen.