Celebrating with Mary

Here is the audio of Sunday's sermon, "Celebrating with Mary," based on Luke 1:39-55. You can stream the audio below or download it here.

A Prayer for Peace

This time of year there is a lot of talk about peace. We read of angels praising God, saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” We sing of the birth of the “Prince of Peace.” And yet the on-the-ground reality can hardly be said to be peaceful. Our homes are chaotic as we decorate and shop and pack. Our jobs are more stressful as we try to cram in as much work as possible so we can enjoy a little time off. Our minds are bombarded with story after story that reinforces the notion that even if we have found a little peace in our own lives, our world knows no peace.

Throughout the Scriptures God’s people are constantly hoping for and working toward peace. Beyond human longing and effort, God, too, is working to establish peace. So it only seems appropriate for us to pray always for peace, but especially during this time when we celebrate the coming of the “Prince of Peace.”

Peace-loving and peace-making and peace-giving God,

We pray you would impart to us your love for peace.

We pray you would impart to us your commitment to making peace.

We pray you would impart to us your peace and to others your peace through us.

We pray your peace be with all whose lives are burdened with grief.

We pray your peace be with all whose lives are riddled with conflict.

We pray your peace be with all whose lives are weighed down with despair.

We pray your peace be with all whose lives are plagued by worry.

We pray you would help us remain ever grateful for the peace we receive.

We pray you would help us remain ever dedicated to making peace.

We pray you would help us remain ever aware of your desire for peace.

In the name of the Prince of Peace

Who, like you, is peace-loving

Who, like you, is peace-making

Who, like you, is peace-giving and, like us, is peace-receiving.

Amen.

A Consistent Ethic

Here is the audio of Sunday's sermon, "A Consistent Ethic," based on Luke 3:7-18. You can stream the audio below or download it here.

The Faithfulness of Doubt

If anyone knew well the story of God’s promising and providing a child to Abraham and Sarah it was Zechariah. He was, after all, a priest whose life calling it was to know the story of God’s relationship and interaction with Israel through the years. Not only would he have known the story, it seems reasonable to suspect he might have held the story close in hopes that what God did for Abraham and Sarah, God might also do for Zechariah and Elizabeth. The two couples were quite alike. Just as Abraham and Sarah were faithful and righteous people, so Luke tells us both Zechariah and Elizabeth “were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly.” But the more obvious commonality that makes me think Zechariah might have prized this story is the fact both couples, though faithful, were unable to conceive and give birth to a child.

It is not difficult to imagine that month after month, perhaps for several years, each time Zechariah and Elizabeth came face to face with the reality it would at least be another month until she could get pregnant, they would pray hopeful prayers: “God of Abraham and Sarah, who can create life even in the midst of lifeless wombs, grant us the blessing of raising a child to whom we might pass on our faith.”

But there’s only so much hope that can be drawn from a thousand year old story. And there’s only so many times one can pray the same desperate, pleading prayer, without growing tired and weary. So which of us can fault Zechariah for being rather skeptical when an angel appears and tells him Elizabeth will bear him a son? And yet, just as the angel declares, Elizabeth does indeed give birth to a son we know as John the Baptist.

I have occasionally heard well-meaning Christians respond to others’ doubts by suggesting greater familiarity with the stories of Scripture would prevent such doubts. The story of Zechariah, however, testifies to the fact that doubts will arise in the life of faith no matter how well one knows the story. Thankfully, what Scripture calls us to is not a doubt-free life, but a faithful life of growth toward maturity. Which is why I love the story of Zechariah. Because if a knowledgeable but skeptical priest can question God’s honesty only to sing a beautiful song of praise and raise a child who would prepare the way for the Lord, surely that gives us hope that our moments of greatest doubt are not discouraging signs of the death of our faith but reassuring signs of the life of our faith.

Patiently Preparing the Way

Here's the audio of Sunday's sermon, "Patiently Preparing the Way," based on Malachi 3:1-5 and Luke 3:1-6.

The Tension is Here

Here's the audio of "The Tension is Here" from November 29, based on Jeremiah 33:14-16 and Psalm 25:1-10.

The Impossible Dream?

Here's the audio of Sunday's sermon "The Impossible Dream?" based on John 17.

Who's Got My Back?

No one would have faulted him for being nervous. In fact, most probably would have expected him to be at least slightly unnerved. Yet when asked after pitching a masterful complete game in game one of the World Series whether he had been nervous, Cliff Lee responded quite matter-of-factly, “I really never have been nervous in the big leagues. This is what I’ve wanted to do my whole life; it’s what I enjoy doing. I put all the work in between starts . . . there’s no reason to be nervous if I did all the work. The game is the time to go out there and have fun . . . and trust your teammates and your skills.”

Listening to the interview, I was struck by Lee’s confidence. Confidence in the skills he had spent years practicing. Confidence in his teammates to have his back and cover his mistakes. Confidence in his coaching staff to provide strong leadership and appropriate guidance. In some ways, his confidence almost seemed absurd. He was, after all, pitching in the home of the greatest team in the history of baseball. He was surrounded by tens of thousands of screaming fans and dozens of reminders of the great players in history who had roughed up pitchers as good or better than he. He was going up against one of the most potent Yankee lineups in the last few decades. Yet during the game he looked so relaxed the commentators noted it was like he was throwing batting practice, not pitching the opening game of the World Series in which his team was the underdog.

It is interesting how often church people talk about the circumstances in which they find themselves living. If you listen closely you can hear all kinds of conversations about the devil’s well-chronicled history of success in convincing people to accomplish his purposes. You can hear all kinds of chatter about the hostile environment of people who seem to want Christians to fail and see dozens of reminders of those who have gone before who have been roughed up by evil. You can hear all kinds of short-sighted speculation about how it’s harder than ever to live a faithful life in these times.

It is altogether appropriate to have a healthy respect for your opponent. But there is a huge difference between worrying yourself into losing before you’ve even taken the field, deciding you’re likely to lose before you’ve even thrown the first pitch, and throwing yourself fully into practice and preparation, aligning with a team to watch your back and cover your mistakes, and submitting yourself to the leadership and guidance of a coaching staff. It seems to me as we enter into the Yankee Stadium of life we have no reason to be nervous. This is, after all, what we’ve spent so much time preparing for, and we have a wonderful team to support us and an unrivaled coaching staff to lead us and to guide us!

A Time for Thanksgiving

Here's the audio of Sunday's sermon, "A Time for Thanksgiving," based on Matthew 11.

An Infusion of the Holy

Here are two related quotes I rediscovered today in Eugene Peterson's outstanding book Tell It Slant: A Conversation on the Language of Jesus in His Stories and Prayers:

Jesus, equally at home in heaven and on earth, equally at home in his "Father's house" and in Joseph and Mary's house, used the same language--personal, metaphorical, particular, relational, local--wherever he happened to be, whether in the synagogue or out on the street, and with whomever he was talking to, whether a Samaritan or God. He didn't debase the holy into the secular; he infused the secular with the holy. (268)

I want to eliminate the bilingualism that we either grow up with or acquire along the way of growing up: one language for talking about God and the things of God, salvation, and Jesus, singing hymns and going to church; another language we become proficient in as we attend school, get jobs, play ball, go to dances, and buy potatoes and blue jeans. One language for religion and another for everything else, each with its own vocabulary and tone of voice. I want to break down the walls of partition that separate matters of God and prayer from matters of getting food on the table and making a living.(267)

Peterson's longing to eliminate bilingualism resonates deeply with me. However, what often results when we become aware of this discrepancy is the contrived usage of religious vocabulary in unnatural, attention-getting kinds of ways. It seems to me Peterson's aim is not to embolden Christians to wear their religious vocabulary on their conversational sleeves or wave it around like a flag. In addition to destroying communication with those who don't share our faith, such a practice would fail to heed Jesus' repeated reminders not to show off our faith. Rather, his aim is to guide us into an awareness that we are being shaped as whole beings into the likeness of Christ, including our capacity for using language. It is vital, therefore, that we exercise great care when utilizing this gift of language we've been given.

What might it look like today for us, like Jesus, to infuse the secular with the holy? Surely to take up this task is to recognize that all language occurs in the context of relationships and to begin by recognizing Christ has called us to a new way of engaging in all our relationships. What if we saw every interaction with a cashier, every moment spent in attendance at ballgames, every encounter with a fellow driver on the road, every conversation with an employee, as an opportunity to infuse the secular with the holy? God only knows.

Praying with the Revolutionary Rescuer

Here's the audio of Sunday's sermon, "Praying with the Revolutionary Rescuer," based on Matthew 6:9-13.

Paying The Cost To Be The Boss

Many years ago B.B. King recorded a song that would become a blues classic with its recurring refrain, “As long as I’m paying the bills, I’m paying the cost to be the boss.” Perhaps more accurately than any other song, “Paying the Cost” expresses a widely held sentiment in our society that by “paying the bills” one earns the right to be the boss.

It’s not difficult to comprehend the logic behind such a declaration, nor to be persuaded by it, for in many areas of our lives this is a very tangible reality. Moreover, many of us have experienced times when no clear decision-making structure was in place and an entire organization suffered because of a power struggle. Given the necessity of strong, decisive leadership and the ease of organizing along the lines of ability to “pay the bills,” many of us have grown quite comfortable with this approach to life.

Sometimes outcomes resulting from this approach to leadership are ideal. Unfortunately, however, we don’t have to look far to recognize the difficulties of such a philosophy. All too easily this organizational principle can become a fortress behind which abusive behavior is protected. A working spouse can oppress a stay-at-home spouse because he or she doesn’t work hard to pay the bills. A parent can manipulate children into all kinds of unhealthy or even inappropriate behavior by pointing to his or her bill-paying ability. A boss can coerce employees into compromising actions because as boss he or she is ultimately responsible for the success or failure of the company, not the lowly employee. A member of an organization can even try to force that organization’s leadership to submit to his or her agenda by threatening to withhold funds necessary for the organization’s financial stability.

Sadly these abuses are all too common among people who claim to follow Jesus. May God have mercy on us and forgive us for all the times we’ve tried to seize power. May we look to Christ to lead us into lives of service. And may the Holy Spirit teach us and shape us along the way.

Amen

For a few brief moments, it was as if time were standing still. It was lunchtime Thursday, and I was trying to catch up with a few more people before leaving Abilene to journey back to Hohenwald after my trip to ACU’s Summit. I was excited to catch up with an old friend and to hear about the changes that are just around the corner for him and his family. I was excited to share with him stories of friendships developed in my new surroundings. Perhaps most of all, I was excited we were going to be able to share one more fantastic meal at Harold’s Pit Bar-B-Q.

But it wasn’t the smell of the mesquite-smoked beef brisket as we walked through the door that seemed to cause time to stand still. Rather, it was the sound of owner Harold Christian’s voice stopping all conversations in their tracks by inviting everyone in the room to join him in a song and launching into the familiar refrain of the gospel spiritual, “Amen.”

Harold and Drucilla Christian

For a few moments, in the unlikeliest of places, it was as if we were standing on holy ground. The line stopped moving. Customers set their sandwiches down. Conversations ceased.

Sure there were some who didn’t sing along. Sure there were no conversion experiences. But that wasn’t the point. The point was that, for a moment, in that most ordinary place and time, Harold shared his faith, his foundation, with all who would listen in the way most natural for him: by using the beautiful, baritone voice God gave him.

Most of us aren’t going to interrupt a crowded restaurant by launching into songs. Indeed, most of us shouldn’t; God hasn’t placed us in a position like Harold’s or gifted us with that kind of voice. But Harold’s ability to allow his faith to permeate everything he does and to keep him grounded, even if it means sacrificing efficiency during the lunch rush, is an excellent example for us all. It is a picture of what it means to do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Here's a video of the scene that day.

Two People Went To Church...

Here's the audio of yesterday's sermon "Two People Went To Church..." based on Luke 18:9-14.

Who? Me?

Here's the audio of Sunday's sermon "Who? Me?" based on Luke 16:19-31.

Infomercial Jesus

Donald Miller has quite a way with words. These, in particular, caught my attention this morning as I was finishing his latest page-turner, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life:

Growing up in church, we were taught that Jesus was the answer to all our problems.... But the idea that Jesus will make everything better is a lie. It's basically biblical theology translated into the language of infomercials. The truth is, the apostles never really promise Jesus is going to make everything better here on earth. Can you imagine an infomercial with Paul, testifying to the amazing product of Jesus, saying that he once had power and authority, and since he tried Jesus he's been moved from prison to prison, beaten, and routinely bitten by snakes? I don't think many people would be buying that product. Peter couldn't do any better. He was crucified upside down, by some reports. Stephen was stoned outside the city gates. John, supposedly, was boiled in oil. It's hard to imagine how a religion steeped in so much pain and sacrifice turned into a promise for earthly euphoria. (203-204)

It's one thing to recognize the truthfulness of these words. It's quite another to allow them to critique our own expressions of faith and practice of ministry.

• How do we honor this truth when ease and comfort are among society's ultimate values?
• How do we honor the true Christ when the primary hope of many Christians for future generations is that they be excited about church or Jesus, thus leading to the praise and exaltation of Infomercial Jesus?
• How do we honor the Servant who prays "Not my will but yours" in a made-to-order world in which we've made Jesus into a product pitch-person selling a customizable, made-to-order version of himself?

Surely our attentiveness to the stories of Jesus about the good Samaritan, a selfish older brother, a persistent and dedicated gardener, and others has helped us see that one of these things just doesn't belong here: ThighMaster, Salad Shooter, Awesome Auger, ShamWow!, Jesus.

May the Holy Spirit root out any desire we have for Infomercial Jesus and draw us nearer to the One who willingly lays down his life for others!

Urgent!

Here's the audio of yesterday's sermon, "Urgent," based on Luke 16:1-9.

A Common Vocation

One of the challenges we face as people of faith is not disconnecting faith from life. In Christianity Beyond Belief: Following Jesus for the Sake of Others, Todd Hunter observes the tendency we have of associating the notion of vocation solely with whatever it is we do with our lives, especially our career or job. In my experience Christians often seem to have been left with the impression that whatever they do in their various everyday roles has little or nothing to do with their faith. The ability to live out faith is thus restricted to one's private devotional life or one's participation in the activities of the community of faith. While these are certainly appropriate ways of living out one's faith, I think these words from Hunter are a helpful reminder that we can live out faith by doing whatever we do all in the name of the Lord Jesus:

Vocation or calling is about much more than what we do. It is one person--God--calling to another person--me. Cooperating with God, growing in him for the sake of others, is our singular vocation, no matter what we do to get a paycheck. We are principally called to God and his purposes. Fix this in your imagination--following Jesus is our special function--and the rest will fall into place. It becomes our self-conscious identity. We can live this vision out as school teachers, police officers, business partners, actors, managers or construction workers. Life suddenly pops with meaning, power and adventure. This--cooperating with God--is why we were created. (53)

In your roles as teachers or accountants, truck drivers or doctors, stay-at-home parents or retirees, how does your faith give meaning to your ordinary routines and activities?

Jesus the Storyteller

These words jumped out at me this afternoon as I re-read portions of Eugene Peterson's outstanding book Tell It Slant: A Conversation on the Language of Jesus in His Stories and Prayers:

Storytellers invite participation. Storytellers make us aware of the way things are, not just aware as spectators but aware so that we can get in on this world of wonders.... Jesus does not tell stories in order to illustrate large 'truths' about God and salvation, the devil and damnation.... Jesus tells stories, not to inform or explain or define, but to get us actively in on the ways and will of God in the homes and neighborhoods and workplaces where we spend our time.

Nothing is more rudely dismissive of Jesus than to treat him as a Sunday school teacher who shows up on Sundays to teach us about God and how to stay out of trouble. If that is the role we assign to Jesus, we will badly misunderstand who he is and what he is about. He is calling us to follow and join him in the work of salvation's eternal life being carried out right now.... (134-135)

What might happen if we were to take seriously Jesus the storyteller, who calls us into involvement in the unfolding story of God's work in the world?

Dinner with Jesus

Here's the audio of yesterday's sermon, "Dinner with Jesus," based on Luke 14:1-14.

One More Year: God and Manure

Yesterday was a day of celebration for our congregation. Each year in August we have a homecoming assembly, when we celebrate God's work in and through our congregation. Yesterday marked 113 years of worship and ministry for our church. I am thankful to have had the chance yesterday to meet many former members who are a part of the legacy of our congregation, but who have moved on to other places.

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Here are the thoughts I shared in my bulletin article regarding homecoming.

What a wonderful joy it is to be able to gather together today as God’s people. This day, which we have designated “homecoming,” affords us the opportunity to join together with God’s people to celebrate the past, present, and future.

We celebrate God’s work in and through this congregation for 113 years. It is a joy to welcome back many who have worshipped with us through the years and have moved on to other locations. Though we are separated from some by many miles, we celebrate the unbreakable bond we share in Jesus. While the faces and songs and building may have changed, the gospel entrusted to us is the same.

We celebrate God’s work in and through this congregation today. We celebrate the parents in our congregation whose commitment to Christ flows into a commitment to raising their children intentionally and thoughtfully, and who have worked toward such a goal by participating in a parenting class this summer. We celebrate the work of Hohenwald Christian Counseling. Due to the increase in clients seeking counseling from a Christian perspective, AGAPE will be sending a graduate counseling student as an intern with Paula Wiemers. We celebrate the lives of faithful witness being lived by our members, who in their daily routines allow Christ’s light to shine through them, whatever they do.

We celebrate with anticipation God’s work in and through this congregation in the future. We wonder how God will call us to serve our neighbors here in Lewis County. We wonder who will join us in that service. We wonder how God will work to unite followers of Jesus who have a tendency to divide. We wonder and we hope and we pray, all the while celebrating God’s promise to carry on to completion what has been started.

We celebrate with anticipation the day in which the renewal of all creation will be complete, the moment when that which began on the day of creation is fulfilled in the day of re-creation. We anticipate that day when humanity’s selfish destruction of God’s creation is eclipsed by the new heavens and the new earth, when God’s people from past, present, and future, from Jerusalem, Rome, Hohenwald, and everywhere in between, are united together in the presence of God. Today we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face!

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Lastly, here is the audio of my sermon, "One More Year: God and Manure," based on Luke 13:1-9.

The Righting of Rights

Here's the audio of yesterday's sermon, "The Righting of Rights," based on Luke 12:13-21.

The Silence of God

I’ll never forget the firestorm of controversy among many of my well-meaning Christian friends when Garth Brooks released his chart-topping single, “Unanswered Prayers.” “How could he say such a thing?” they asked. “Doesn’t he know there is no such thing as an unanswered prayer? Sometimes God just says, ‘No!’ I can’t believe he’d suggest God just doesn’t answer.”

It’s amazing how sometimes we’re so anxious to correct someone’s theology that we completely miss the point of what he or she is saying. Because the truth of the matter is, “Unanswered Prayers” was not intended to be a theological argument that God doesn’t answer prayers. Instead, the notion of unanswered prayers is reflective of the feelings so many have had at one time or another in life. We’ve asked and nothing’s been given to us. We’ve sought and we’ve found nothing. We’ve knocked and the door hasn’t been opened. It feels as though all we’ve been given by God is the silent treatment. These are the deep-down heart cries of one who feels (or felt) wronged by God.

The unfortunate truth is many of us are just as uncomfortable with cries of protest to God as we are the notion of unanswered prayers. In spite of the fact scripture is full of examples of people protesting what they feel are wrongs committed by God, we find ourselves jumping to God’s defense, as if God needs a defense team of amateur lawyers.

I wonder what might happen if instead of attempting to correct the finer points of another’s theology or jumping to God’s defense, we instead allowed ourselves to be vulnerable and share our own doubts. What if we shocked the world by acknowledging that sometimes all we experience in response to prayer is the silence of God? What if we told them of a man after God’s own heart who felt abandoned by God, or the Word made flesh who felt forsaken by God, or a suffering apostle who felt neglected by God? Could it be that opportunities for argumentation might be transformed into opportunities for spiritual friendship? Could it be that situations with the potential for conflict might be transformed into situations with the potential for conversion? Could it be that chances to correct others might be transformed into chances to love others? Could it be that the greatest opportunities for ministry occur in the face of the experience of the silence of God?

Here's a video of the song that inspired these reflections: "The Silence of God" by Andrew Peterson.

What experience have you had with the silence of God?

The Redemption of Perverted Prayer

Here's the audio of yesterday's sermon, "The Redemption of Perverted Prayer," based on Luke 11:1-13.

Nobody's Business?

One of the common ways people pass time is to play what I call the “Desert Island Game.” The idea is to pose a question to a group about what they couldn’t live without were they to find themselves stranded on a desert island. I must admit I’m not a huge fan of the game; I’d prefer not to have to make such choices. But if I were forced to choose just one type of music I could listen to while stranded on a desert island, it would probably be the blues. There’s something about the honesty of the lyrics and the dynamics of the music that surpasses most other music.

What fascinates me is the schizophrenic attitude at the heart of blues music. On the one hand, blues is, at its core, a means of opening oneself up, of revealing one’s inner turmoil to anyone who will hear. Often the songs give voice to cries of deep hurt or to shouts of protest. As such, they serve to invite others into those stories, and to take action of some kind as a result, whether reaching out to the narrator to comfort or rescue, or to join in the narrator’s cries. On the other hand, however, there’s a deeply ingrained notion of privacy inherent in many blues standards. Perhaps no song represents this better than “Ain’t Nobody’s Business,” which has been recorded by numerous artists, including B.B. King, Willie Nelson, Jonny Lang, and Susan Tedeschi. The song's chorus, which repeatedly declares, “Ain’t nobody’s business what I do,” serves to build walls between the singer and the audience. The incoherence of these two sentiments is quite clear: you can’t invite people into your mess and then tell them to stay out.

While we may not all enjoy listening to the blues, the incoherence of these two sentiments reflects with incredible accuracy the incoherence in many of our own lives. We want to pour out our cries of hurt and shouts of protest to God, but we don’t want God getting involved in our business. We want to pour out our cries of hurt and shouts of protest to our brothers and sisters in our community of faith, but we don’t want them getting involved in our business. Whether it’s Jesus telling the woman caught in adultery to leave sin behind her, or Paul encouraging the loyal yokefellow in Philippi to intervene in the dispute between Euodia and Syntyche, or James instructing his audience to confess their sins to each other and pray for each other, the witness of Scripture is clear: our lives are not to be closed off from God and from others, but open that God through the Spirit and through others can work to transform us to be like Christ. May we never allow our culture’s obsession with privacy to keep us from Christ-like openness to God and to each other.

I wonder: what concrete steps can we take to be more open to God and to each other?

Jesus and Fine Print

Here's the audio of yesterday's sermon, "Jesus and Fine Print," based on Luke 10:25-37.

This time, I believe I've figured out how to enable downloads, so that if you'd like to download the mp3 instead of streaming it, you can do so. Just click on the divShare logo and a new browser tab will open with a download link.

In reflecting on the challenge issued by Jesus in this text, "Go and do likewise," I wonder: In what ways have you witnessed others living into Jesus' call, and in what ways are you trying to live into it?

The Death and Resurrection of Language

In addition to posting bulletin articles to prompt discussion, I've decided to post sermons from time to time.

Here is yesterday's, "The Death and Resurrection of Language."

Eugene Peterson is one of the major influences on my thinking about language and about scripture. Those who are familiar with some of his writings, especially his Spiritual Theology series, will see the evidence of the impression his work has made on my life and ministry in this sermon and many others.

Today is the Day

Here's my bulletin article from a couple weeks ago.

There is a strange dynamic at work in each of our lives, one that has become so second-nature to us that we often fail to notice the way in which it shapes us. Make no mistake about it, however, we humans cannot escape the fact we were created to be bound by time.

As we do with other aspects of life, we have become quite proficient at dissecting the notion of time so that what is at times unmanageable can be spoken of and thought about in manageable ways using manageable terms. Our consciousness as people is shaped profoundly by such notions, particularly past, present, and future. In some ways this is extremely important. If we are incapable of distinguishing between past and present or present and future or past and future, we lose our ability to function rationally.

At times, however, the segmenting of time into these three categories can be dangerous, if not destructive. This is particularly true when we think about these categories generally instead of specifically. The past easily crystallizes into a set of bad circumstances and flawed decisions to be avoided at all costs instead of a complex combination of positive and negative circumstances and good and bad decisions. The future easily becomes something of which we are afraid because nothing is certain or for which we long because we have everything planned out, instead of a complex combination of uncertainty and certainty of hopeful and discouraging developments.

Unfortunately most of our time spent thinking about the present is not really thinking about the present at all, it is merely longing for a return to the past or longing for an escape to the future. I suppose this is why so many of us wake up discontent not just on occasion, but frequently, always longing to return to a treasured experience or to fast-forward to some imagined scene of bliss.

If, however, our faith is anything more to us than an insurance policy or a social status symbol, we cannot settle for such attitudes and behavior. Instead, we join with the Psalmist today and every day in proclaiming with our words and our lives, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice today and be glad!"

What's your reaction? Do you find yourself longing for the past or living for the future, rather than embracing the present?

Mistaken

Here's today's bulletin article:

Every one of us spends a great deal of time and energy worrying about identity. For many of us one of the more frequent questions we ask ourselves is, “How will it look if…?” Or perhaps the question is, “What will he or she or they think about me if…?” We worry about the clothes we wear, the kind of vehicle we drive, the place we live, what we read, what we watch, and how each of these affects our identity and others’ perceptions of us.

None of these are bad questions in and of themselves. In fact, many of them can be quite helpful in guiding our reflection on the image we project to others. Moreover, the questions flow out of a healthy recognition that the universe does not orbit around us. It is possible, however, that questions originating in an awareness we are not the center of the universe can give way to constant worry about appearances that becomes very self-centered.

While there are times it is appropriate to ask questions about how others perceive us, I wonder if a better question wouldn’t be “Do people see Jesus when they see me?” This transforms our self-centered questions into Jesus-centered questions.

One of my favorite singer-songwriters, Warren Barfield, expresses this sentiment in a positive manner in his song, "Mistaken":

“‘Til everyone I talk to hears his voice, and everything I touch feels the warmth of His hand. ‘Til everyone I meet sees Jesus in me. This is all I want to be. I want to be mistaken for Jesus.

“May He touch with my hands, see through my eyes. May he speak through my lips, live through my life.

“I want to be mistaken for Jesus.”

I hope and pray that whatever we do, wherever we go, with whomever we interact, we’ll be mistaken for Jesus.

Here's a video from YouTube of Warren singing the entire song.

Growing in Community

As Christians we are called to be apprentices of Jesus, walking alongside Him, observing Him in action, listening to Him speak, and joining in when the time is right. Just as Jesus gathered multiple apprentices around him to live out their faith in community, so we must live out our faith in community. It is my hope that this blog will serve as another means of engagement in the communal life of faith and that as a result of whatever conversations may arise, we may each become more faithful apprentices of Jesus.

Much of my time as a minister is spent speaking or writing. Unfortunately, our traditional environment has tended to limit, if not prevent, opportunities for dialogue. Bulletin articles, sermons, and classes often become one way streets, with traffic always flowing from minister to congregation. My hope is that this blog will serve to open up another lane for traffic in the opposite direction.

Not only that, but many of us aren't able to engage each other in conversation when we are gathered together. We need open lanes between each other as well.

One of the ways in which I hope to open these lanes is by posting my weekly bulletin articles. This will allow people in the congregation I serve, as well as others, to enter into conversations about apprenticeship. Since apprenticeship is an everyday kind of lifestyle which takes place in the ordinariness of life, I'll share observations and reflections on the ups and downs and ins and outs of the journey.

I invite you to join in the conversation and hope that through our interaction, we might learn from each other, as together we explore what it means to be apprentices of Jesus.