Ascension Thursday

Luke 24:44-53

Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you--that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled."Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.You are witnesses of these things.And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high." Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them.  While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.  And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.

When I was a young child there were really only two stores in my village where my mother could go to buy clothes.  My mother wasn't a shopper, which was good because I dreaded going to those stores.  One was owned by a family friend and I enjoyed visiting when she was around.  She would let me play in her office in the back - with all of her paperwork.  The other store owner wasn't so kid-friendly.  She had a few toys in a corner closet to entertain children while mothers shopped for clothes.  The toys were from a by-gone era, and they look much like the Soviet era toys that Petro Pyatichki plays with at his kindergarten.  When we would go to this store my mother would plop me down in the "toy room" and go shopping.  One time, after I picked up each toy and assessed which toy was the least broken, I picked a toy-car on a string that was only missing two tires and began running around the store with it.  I was afraid of getting caught, so when I saw one of the shopkeepers, I darted into the center of a round rack of clothes.  I was completely hidden by the circle of long dresses.  As I hid there, I apparently became quite tired and fell asleep.  I woke up to the sounds of my mother's panicked voice screaming my name as she ran out of the store to see which busy street I had run into.  At this point I became very scared and very alone.  My mother had left me alone in the scary store with the broken toys and the mean old women who worked there.  I was leaving my hiding space for fear of being caught by the old women who worked there.  The fact that my mother was also scared and panicking never entered my brain.  As my mother came back into the store to tell them that I wasn't on the street, I came running out from behind the clothes and hugged her knees.  It was so good to have my mother back, and I'm pretty sure she felt the same way about having me back as well.

Some of us have some attachment issues.  Some people don't like saying goodbye.  Every time I say goodbye to my elderly grandmother to return to Ukraine it gets harder and harder to see her fade in the distance as my mind entertains the very real possibility that it might be my last time to say goodbye.  Goodbyes are hard, and maybe the loss of a loved one or the reality of emigration makes this story a little bit unpleasant for us.            

As we finish out the semester, some of us are finishing out our educational careers.  A few of you are finishing up your fourth or fifth year as students.  You are looking forward to what is next in your life.  It's an exciting time - you've worked hard for many years for this accomplishment and you should be proud of yourself.  But this time is also confusing.  Many graduates don't know what they will do next.  Will they return home to live with their folks?  Will they be able to find a meaningful job in their field?  Is Chicken Hut hiring?

I love that the day of Ascension falls right around this time.  That's a nice little addition to our calendar.  Because the disciples had undergone so much stress and duress.  They had faced the execution of their leader.  They had rejoiced at his resurrection.  They had walked, talked, and once again shared meals with their teacher who had died and rose again as promised three days later.  And then, on this day - Jesus blesses them and returns back to heaven.  And the twelve, fully filled with all of God's goodness, are left to wonder the eternal question, "What's next?  Where do I go from here?  Is Chicken Hut hiring?"

Because these men could have returned to their ordinary.  They could have stepped back into the boats they had once stepped out of to walk on water.  Their hands which had counted out baskets full of leftovers after feeding thousands could go back to counting out the taxes owed.  They certainly could have returned to their 9-5 jobs and moved on with their lives.

But these men realized something on this Ascension Sunday.  They realized that Jesus was just as real and present with them after his return to heaven as he had been when he was eating fish with them on the beach.

And on this day, thousands of years later -  we must remember that Jesus is just as real and present with us as he was with the disciples.  Jesus is here.  He lives in our hearts.  He calms the storms of our lives and calls us to great things.

The ascension of Jesus is not a story of goodbye.  It's a story of trust and independence.

When I was young I was in speech therapy for years.  I couldn't say my S, Sh, Th, Ch, P, R, or L sounds.  My mom was the only person who could understand what I was trying to say. At first, I really hated being in speech therapy.  I fought every step of the way.  My teacher worked with me, letter by letter, sound by sound as she taught me how to form my mouth and where to place my tongue for every word.  I can remember repeating sounds after my teacher, just mimicking what she was saying - but as soon as I would leaver her classroom I would return to the easy way of doing things.  As long as she wasn't around to correct me or cheer me on I didn't need to put the extra effort into trying to say things correctly.  But my teacher was a very wise woman and one day she told me that our lessons would be ending.  If I wasn't willing to put in the extra effort outside of her class, then she shouldn't bother anymore.  But by this time I liked having class with her - I liked that I could be understood by adults if I needed to be.  I begged her to let me keep having classes - and she promised that if I put in some effort and she overheard me speaking correctly three times outside of the classroom that we could keep having classes.  For the next few weeks I used all of my energy to speak correctly and she spied on me from time to time.  She finally called me to her room to tell me that she had heard me speaking correctly and we could continue working on the last few mistakes I was making.

For years when I read the story of the ascension I didn't like the story.  I counted it as a sad story in the Bible.  I would read it and it would remind me of painful stories of goodbyes.  Finally, I understood that in this moment Jesus released the disciples into joyful obedience.  Up to this point Jesus had taught, healed, prayed, and performed the miracles.  The twelve had been passive observers or casual participants.  They relied on Jesus to do all the work and they enjoyed the great joy of being present for everything.

But no more - as Jesus clears up all the confusion in their minds, he blesses them and he sends them off on their way.  Now they are the ones who will teach, preach, heal, feed, and perform miracles.  They have grown in their faith - they are no longer just students but they must now be teachers as well.

The fear and anguish that the disciples felt when they lost Jesus to death on a cross is replaced by a great and powerful sense of purpose as he ascends to heaven.  This is not a story of loss - this is a story of bold empowerment.

My mother's great agony so many years ago as she ran out of the clothing store to search for her little boy who she thought was playing in the streets is replaced by her pride and joy as she sends me overseas for years at a time.

As Jesus ascends into heaven the images that form in our heads are images of long, sad goodbyes.  But this is a joyous moment.  This is commencement ceremony after long years of study, this is the trust and joy of a great mentor as he places real responsibilites in your hand.

You are witnesses of these things.

You see the ways that God is present with us.  You see people's lives being changed for the better.  You see people believing in God for the first time.  You see all the ministries that happen here at the Molod' do Isusa student center.

If you come here to Pilgrims on Thursday nights you see the efforts of a great group of people.  Our leadership team works to keep this ministry going.  They work behind the scenes to make sure that our music is great, that our English Club opens the doors for new people to enter and feel comfortable in this space, that our social events bring us together and help make us a community - they keep the student center clean and they make sure that things work together to make this place better.  Our leadership team does a wonderful job of welcoming young people from all different Christian backgrounds and even students who don't believe anything.  Our leadership team works to make a difference in their lives.

Our leadership team is open to new people stepping up to serve.   We are actively searching for the next group of students who will work to make this student center all that God dreams it to be.  We are looking for who will help keep this place open and welcoming to all.    

Would you be willing to step up?  Would you be willing to work behind the scenes or so step up infront of students and model what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ?

When Jesus sends his disciples out into the world he calls them to do great things -  But he promises that he will be with them until the very end of time.  This scripture passage ends "they were continually in the temple praising God."  But that's not how this story ends.  After they were clothed with power from on high, these men left the temple.  They went out into the world and they changed it.  Two thousand years later we are the result of men who fearlessly left the temple and went to all corners of the world to teach and preach about Jesus.

This story doesn't end with them and it doesn't end with us.  The people who learn of the goodness of God from us will go on to share God's goodness with others.  As Jesus moves back to his place in heaven, his triumphant call resounds across the whole earth - That all the world may know, will you follow Christ wherever he calls?        

"For me, the Social Principles of the Methodist Church have been as much a description of our history, as a prod for my future actions. We can find direction, if we look to the church's call to strengthen families and renew our schools and encourage policies that enable each child to have a chance to fulfill his or her God-given potential.
Now, it is not easy to do that. I don't think it ever has been. I believe if one looks back, not only into the Bible, but certainly since then, and reads the stories of John and Charles Wesley and looks to other church leaders in the last century, we know that acting on our faith is never easy. And it is often a test of our own resolve as much as anything else. I think of the stories that I heard even as a child of John Wesley preaching to people who did not want to hear him. There was that one memorable story of where they were throwing whiskey bottles at him. And I think to myself, how many of us, myself included, would even go into places now where we were likely to be the object of thrown whiskey bottles? Not many of us. And in part what we have to confront is our own willingness to take the blessings we have and take them into a world that is complex, often turns away, and may even be hostile.
But just look at the tradition we come from. We continue in this church to answer John Wesley's call to provide for the educational health and spiritual needs of children. We can be proud that our church has been a leader in the fight to improve the quality of education, promote parental responsibility, curb smoking among young people, expand comprehensive health care, strengthen marriages, and help people of all kinds of backgrounds. I'm heartened by the work I see being done in the communities of Shalom Initiative, where individual churches and churches in union are looking to transform just four city blocks in some instance.
But taking that responsibility on, being there one-on-one with people unlike ourselves, often. Letting people hear the message of the gospel as well as the example of our works. We'll do more to change lives than any program that could passed by any legislative body." 

- Hillary Rodham Clinton, addressing the 1996 General Conference of the United Methodist Church. 

I think you should read Bishop Will Willimon's recent article on General Conference.  It's a good read.  It's honest and it's something that informed people should read.

Will Willimon (as well as most of the bishop's elected in the Southeast Jurisdiction!) is an example of a bishop who took a substantial pay cut to assume the office of bishop.  This fact would surprise you if you knew how much money bishops make.  I think that the takeaway fact should simply be the fact that men and women are willing to take a pay-cut to be bishop.  It's a little thing, certainly, but perhaps if we lowered the annual salary of bishops significantly we would save substantial amounts of money and perhaps lose the interest of a few people who aren't really called to the office.  We could fund travel, living arrangements, pension, and health insurance and then simply provide a cost-of-living stipend for our bishops and we would probably attract the right people for the job.  We could even give bishops a ceiling and allow them to set their own individual salary based on the needs of their family.  

But this is not a post against our bishops.  I love most of the bishops I know personally.  I think that God calls some people to be bishops - and I support when those people actively "run for" or seek out the office of bishop.  I have much stronger support for people who actively work to get someone else elected bishop.

I think our bishops should be chosen in a variety of ways.  Elections are good and democratic, but they fail us terribly in some significant ways.  Do we really think that God is only calling beautiful, tall, likeable people to the office of bishop?  Do we really believe that the only people God wishes to lead the church are politicians who can answer questions without answering questions?

The biggest problem with our bishops is that they are all basically the same.  The are cut from the same piece of cloth.  I think that my former boss, Sharon Schwab, would make a fantastic bishop.  She gets things done, she likes people, she cares about small churches, she genuinely works to keep churches and clergy happy, she is a phenomenal preacher, and she is unelectable.  Sharon's just not going to win any popularity contest anytime soon.  She tells people the truth, she is honest and gives an honest answer, she cares about making disciples more than members.  She doesn't really give a whoop about institutions or institutional security.  These are all things that make her an incredible district superintendent and are all things that would make her an incredible bishop as well.

Perhaps if we reduced the salaries for bishops we would have the means to hire more of them - and perhaps the additional ones could be chosen in a different fashion.  Perhaps a group of laity could choose a group of candidates and we could just pull straws - the short straws becomes a bishop.

What if when electing bishops we didn't get to see them.  What if we just had the statistical reports from each church they served.  What if episcopal candidates had to spend a year preaching revival sermons every week around the jurisdiction before the election.  What if it was written into the contract that following your time as a bishop you were required to serve a small, rural congregation at part time pay?

The motion for a set-aside bishop would have certainly passed if it had been a volunteer position without a salary.

I guess what I'm getting at is that we are so focused on WHO will be bishop that we never stop to think about HOW we choose those people.  We all agree that our system is broken - but few are willing to consider out-of-the box solutions.                

Sunday School

Bill Beatty blogged a question about Sunday School and it's long term sustainability - and here's my answer.

When we address aspects of our church that were once effective but no longer pack a punch; I find that it is best to try to identify the felt need that created a vacuum which the effective aspect filled.  Sunday Schools started popping up to address the social injustice of uneducated children working long hours in the mills in England.  Children were not receiving a proper education and were forced to work in factories under terrible conditions. Christians worked to improve their lives by providing educational opportunities.

In America today, education is a mandatory, well-oiled machine.  When children come to Sunday School, they only learn about the Bible.  The other subjects are covered by "regular" school.  While many of our schools are failing our children, the majority are excellent institutions.  Churches are even stepping up to work alongside schools in mentoring and after-school programs.

Sunday School originally filled two purposes.  It was outreach and it was social justice.  Sadly, our children's Sunday Schools generally fall under the category of "nurture or education."  They are for "our" kids.  I know of churches that have fired talented children's directors for bringing in too many undesirable children - of course the reason given was that their children "weren't learning anything new."

Perhaps the questions should not be "will Sunday School survive?" but, rather, "Can we find something that will function as outreach and social justice for the children in our communities?"    

The after-school and mentoring programs are an answer to this call.  But, many churches have a difficult time finding people who care about children and have the time and resources to commit to afternoon sessions.  But, what about a focus on music?  I don't just mean a kid's choir - but what if we picked up the slack as school districts slash spending on art and music education.  What if we created Sunday programs that taught music theory to children.  We could teach them to read music, to sing parts, to play instruments, to learn to conduct choirs and orchestras.  In many churches, a comprehensive music program could improve the quality of life for kids in the neighborhood as well as improve Sunday morning worship for everyone involved.

When I attended New Day Church in the Bronx, it was a joy to watch a young lady (younger than I!) coordinate the worship under the direction of her mentor, Jorge Lockward.  She was giving voice lessons, helping with chords, writing innovative liturgy for worship, and giving hope to an even younger generation of kids in the church.  She gave a voice to the voiceless in her urban neighborhood.  It was pretty awesome to watch - it would revolutionize our church if we could bring it to scale.

I think that if our leaders were free to give the resources, time, and energy to a new venture that we already spend on Sunday School that we could find any number of felt needs for our churches to address.

Any ideas?      

I have walked up or down 50 flights of stairs today.  I am exhausted.

I am working on registration, and it seems that no one is ever in the office they are supposed to be in.  The paperwork just feels overwhelming.

While we have notaries in the states - they are a rarely used oddity.  Here they are a way of life.

Have you ever seen a TV show or a movie that showed a foreigner from Africa experiencing moving cars for the first time?  The way they show the savage reacting largely at the sight of one car after another?

That's the way I feel here with paperwork.  It's just not something that is part of our culture and it mystifies and amazes me.  Every time I have to get something notarized, stamped, signed, and sealed (literally dozens of times some months - in triplicate) my eyes get wide as I see the papers zooming past me.  

Six months after.

In October of 2011 I was one of 700 protesters arrested as part of the Occupy protest movement. It was the first mass arrest and would be followed by almost 6000 more arrests across the country. I spent six hours in a small holding cell with 150 other protesters while the patient police officers performed their half of the civic duty.

In November I had my court date. The court agreed to drop the charges after a six month period in which I did not get re-arrested in New York state. Today the charges will be dropped and my official record will be cleared.

I wanted to spend a few moments reflecting on the movement and on the experience of being arrested while protesting.



I don't believe that I was arrested before most of my High School classmates. I still don't believe that I was arrested.

I was in missionary training camp, just a few days away from being commissioned as a missionary for the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries when I marched. I grew up in a conservative family in a small town in rural Western Pennsylvania. I come from the mountains. Good people don't protest - and they certainly don't get arrested.

I am thankful to come from a religious tradition with a long history of social action and engagement. Methodists fought for the rights of women and children. We ended child labor in Europe and fought against slavery. Our opposition to alcohol brought about prohibition (hey, some causes are winners - and some not so much so!). We believe in a more just society - and we are willing to take to the streets to accomplish that.

Historically, we have marched long before the causes became popular in the public opinion. Some of our southern United Methodist clergy lost all credibility with their all-white congregations by marching with their African American brothers and sisters. Dr. Dorothy Height sat beside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr when he shared his dream for America. We are a people who stand up to be counted long before it is politically profitable.

I don't agree with everything that the Occupy movement stands for. We are misunderstood, misrepresented, and missing the crucial voices of age, wisdom, and racial diversity.

But make no mistake: the central rallying cry for a more fair economy and for the hyper-rich to have less control of the government will not go away. When our encampment at Zuccotti Park was dismantled, the ideas and the people behind them did not die.

Our current economy is no longer sustainable.

As Christians, we are called to think about the economy in a different way than our secular friends. The housing bubble bust should have had little to no effect on the American Christian community. We are taught to neither borrow nor lend for profit. We are called to live simple, sparse lives and to give the rest away. If our houses are large; they should be filled with people in need of a place to stay. If American Christians chose to live in the economy Jesus painted for us it would be our strongest witness to a changed and different life.

It breaks my heart to see brothers and sisters in Christ believing the lies of the news cycle. When I see friends going into tremendous debt because a guest bedroom and office are "needs" I literally cry. We work for things that we don't need instead of working in the name of Christ. It's terribly sad.

We envy the rich. We want to be them. We genuinely don't care how immoral they are or what actions they had to do to get to the top - we still keep them as role models.

A hooker who sells sex for enough money to feed and house her children is disgusting - but a bank executive who cheats, lies, and tricks his way to the top is a role model. This makes me think that Christians need to spend some time studying sin and the way that some sins are worse and require more condemnation than others (hint: they aren't and they don't!). Why do we revile the woman who sins to earn enough to live and exemplify the one who sins to earn enough for another Porsche?

We learn to step over and ignore the homeless and to stop and allow Mercedes to have the right of way. The world would be a lot better if we learned to do the opposite.

The Occupy movement changed the national conversation for a few weeks. Hopefully those of us involved in the movement will continue to challenge people to think about the concepts of wealth, poverty, salary, education, globalization, etc. These issues will shape the world we live in - and we owe it to the world to be aware and educated in these subjects.

I believe in a better future. That is the reason that I had no qualms about being arrested and the reason that there is only joy in my heart regarding the incident. But, perhaps more importantly than that, I believe that God calls us to live into and create a better future.

Mark 5:1-20 

They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!” Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.” And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area. A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned. Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man—and told about the pigs as well. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region. As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.

I keep coming back to this story for reasons that I can't quite explain.  This is a strange story.  We love heartwarming stories - we love hearing pleasant stories.  We like the image of Jesus teaching on a hillside as the children and baby lambs gather around.

We aren't quite so comfortable with Jesus negotiating with demons and crazy people.  But, maybe we need to be.


Our scripture today finds us getting out of the boat with Jesus. Jesus had just finished up giving some difficult teachings to a large crowd and decides that they should cross to the other side of the lake. In the boat, while Jesus sleeps, a tremendous storm appears and terrifies the disciples. Jesus calls out to the wind and the sea is calmed. And now, safely on the other side, we happily step out of the boat - we are just glad that it's over.

This is where things get interesting. Jesus doesn't say why they should cross the lake. He doesn't give any specifics to his disciples. There had been a large crowd, it had been a stressful day and on other occasions Jesus and the twelve had slipped away to the other side of the lake to find some peace, quite, and rest. This is probably the conclusion that the disciples had made. They were going to rest and relax.

As they step out of the boat - ready for some restful quite time - a crazy man appears from the cemetery.

My family went to the big city a few times when I was a child. It was my first time encountering homeless people. I saw their unwashed, dirty hands and their swollen faces. My mother took my hand and began to drag me forward as I stopped to look at the rags they were wearing and to try and read their hand-written cardboard signs. My mother dragged me forward and scolded me saying, "It's not polite to stare."

It didn't seem very polite to just keep walking either. I couldn't believe that my mom and dad would walk past them without doing anything to help them. We were good people. We helped people. Why weren't we helping these people.

I apologized and kept walking. Soon, I learned to step over the homeless - and to ignore them completely. As I got older and traveled internationally I eventually learned to ignore even the children who were homeless. I learned the responses that my culture demanded. [They shouldn't be so lazy. They are just drunks. There are social programs - they choose to be homeless. They probably make a good living with all of the money people give them.]

We don't know much about this man. I love stories that leave us with more questions than answers. It says, "  They could no longer bind him."  So we know there was a "they" - there were people who cared about him enough to try and protect him from himself. He lived in the tombs. He was one of the dead - although he could walk and talk, he counted himself as one of the dead.  Night and day he would cry out and cut himself with rocks - his life couldn't get any worse.

As Jesus gets out of the boat, this man sees him and runs and bows before him.  Now - this next part - the whole "Jesus casts out demons" thing is where we get a little uncomfortable.  Trust me - I'm super uncomfortable preaching about it.  But, noticeably, Jesus doesn't seem uncomfortable in this situation.  Jesus confronts the demons directly.  He casts them out - and chooses to cast them into a herd of pigs.  Two-thousand pigs, now filled with a legion of demons, run into the lake to die.

This story is crazy and unimaginable - and we haven't even come to the interesting part.

At this point the man - the man who had been known by all of his community as "the demon possessed man" - is in his right mind.  He returns to the way he had been before the evil spirits had entered him.  He dressed himself in proper clothes and sits down.

Jesus and this man sit down and begin to speak.  I wish that every single conversation Jesus had was written down.  We don't know what they talked about - but it probably wasn't the weather.  Jesus had freed this man.  He had given this man his life back.  He had been all but dead - nothing could be worse in his life and suddenly Jesus shows up and his life is back to normal.  Everything is the way it was.

When the 2000 pigs killed themselves the people who were responsible for watching over the pigs went running into town to tell everyone what happened.  Now, in a small town - this is the kind of thing that, for whatever reason, tends to interest people.  So the town returns with these men and they find the crazy demon possessed man sitting next to Jesus having a normal conversation.

And of course - seeing this great miracle they welcome Jesus into their town with open arms and celebrate that this man has been made well.

Wait ... is that right?  Let's read this scripture one more time to make sure we've understood everything.

They were afraid.  They had learned to ignore this man and his screaming.  It became normal for them to send men to try and tie him down with chains - and to pay not attention when he broke the irons and chains and began to cut himself.  Everyone knew where he was and what was wrong and no one cared anymore.

And now, this man sits before them made well - and they are afraid.  They are afraid in ways that the demons never made them afraid.  They fear for themselves.  They fear for all that they consider normal.

They don't ask questions.  They don't try and piece everything together.  They ask Jesus to get back in the boat and to leave their town.

The demons - the legion of demons inside of this man - they have no option but to listen and do exactly as Jesus commands.  The people on the other hand - they have the choice of listening and responding to the words of Jesus or asking him to get back in the boat and leave their town immediately. 

This is a sermon about peace and rest.  This man whose life had been nothing but torture and torment had been made well - he was given peace and was able to rest for the first time.  But this is also an invitation.

And Jesus comes to this place - to our very room - and offers that all may be made well.  Everything could be different - the demons of poverty, racism, hatred, alcoholism, and sin could be cast out.  We could be made well.  And yet we find ourselves too often saying to Jesus, "Why don't you go ahead and get back in that boat and leave this place. 

I used to be angry all the time.  I don't mean that I would get angry sometimes.  I was always angry.  I hated everyone around me and wished they were dead.  I wished I was dead.  Sometimes I would get so angry that I would just start shaking from anger.  There are still holes in the room I grew up in where I punched or kicked through the wall when I was angry.  I would cuss and scream at people I was angry with.

Now, to those here who don't know me well ... I'm not an angry person anymore.  It is a rare occasion when I get angry enough to raise my voice a little bit.  After I decided to welcome Jesus' invitation for a new life - the whole idea of being angry just seemed silly to me.

Jesus comes this day offering the peace that passes all understanding - and it is choice to accept that great peace or to ask him to leave us alone.
    



       

Many of us find ourselves in great turmoil this day. Our lives are busy. Eurocup has reduced our semester from a gentle walk through the park into an endurance run. There aren't enough days. Our finals and credits and state exams all run into each other like a train derailment. We have more exams than friends and even those of us who are not students feel the push and pull of this world.

And in that dark garden that morning, Mary approaches the gardener. Now - I fully sympathize with Mary. I hate approaching strangers here in Ukraine to ask for directions or help. I know it's going to be an awkward encounter as they try to understand my accent and as I try to understand the words they speak to me. I can imagine the thoughts going through Mary's head as she asks the most awkward question ever, "Excuse me, have you seen the body of my dead friend?"

When I was an exchange student in Russia I lived with an older woman who was still a member of the communist party and an avowed athiest. On Easter Sunday we traveled to Moscow together. In the train she began telling me her favorite story from childhood. Her grandmother used to tell her the old slavic story of a brave and fearless leader. He was leading his tribe through a dark and lonely forest. He knew exactly where they were going and knew exactly when they would get to the safety of their destination. As the night went on they burned through all of their torches and had nothing left to light to show the path to safety. The people became terrified in the darkness and began to lose trust in their leader. They began going off in their own ways and being eaten by wolves and killed by the other dangers of the forest. The leader, in a final act of sacrifice and determination reached into his own chest and pulled out his own heart. He lit it on fire held it up as a final torch. It lit the way through the final steps of the forest and into the safety of their destination. As they entered the safe and bright place the leader fell over in exhaustion and died.

Lena looked into my eyes that Easter morning and said, "I have always wanted to follow such a man. And you Christians believe that that man is your Jesus of Nazareth. When I repent, I will repent sincerely."

And Jesus - whom we have known for so many years, stands before us and we simply can't tell who he is. We hear the stories of our childhood and do not realize until we are adults that those stories were about Jesus. We see the teacher or the classmate and we make small talk - but we do not notice that it is Jesus standing before us. He is the gardener that we question. He is no longer dead - He has risen.

Христос Воскрес! ВОІСТИНУ ВОСКРЕС

These are not merely words. This is who we are. As John Paul II said, "We are an Easter people and Hallelujah is our cry."

When the world is ready to take us down, and when the world hates us so much and rears its ugly head; What is our cry?

Do we shout and complain about how bad the world is or do we cry Hallelujah - He is risen. As an Easter people, every day is a celebration. Even the terrible ones. Even the exam ones. Even the bad news ones. Hallelujah is our cry.

My failures are substantial and you can count the number of whip marks on Jesus back that I am responsible for - but still this day; in my weak and human voice I can still cry out Hallelujah, He is Risen. Because we are an Easter people.



And we can stand up against all the evil in this world and we can point to that empty tomb and cry out - do you see that he is risen? Do you see the empty tomb?

And we can stand up against all the evil in our hearts and we can point to that empty tomb and cry out - do you see that he is risen? Do you see the empty tomb?

We have walked this path with Jesus - we have climbed the hill with him, we have stood at the cross with him, and we have stilled in the tomb with him. And we rise with him.

We watched as they stripped our king of his robes and mocked him. We watched as they placed a crown of thorns on our king. And with our king we have triumphed over death and the grave.

The last time I was in Ukraine I followed from afar as my best friend from college slowly succumbed to cancer. I thought that when he died that I would be devastated. I thought that it would crush me to lose someone so close and to be so far away. And when he died I was certainly sad - but more than that my heart was filled with peace. Is this all that death can do? Can it only take us out of the pain and suffering of our daily lives and release us into eternal glory in heaven? Is that the death that we spend billions of dollars to evade? Oh Death, where is thou sting?

We celebrate that our King has won the victory over death. We celebrate who our King is and what he has accomplished.

That's my King.

Laity

All of the power rests in the hands of the laity.

As we begin our comical romp through legislative exercise known as General Conference, I would like for everyone to close their eyes and repeat this simple mantra. (You can pray it if that's more in line with your theology.)

All of the power rests in the hands of the laity.

Our Bishops will not save the church, our General Agencies will not save the church, our pastors will not save the church, and our other layers of administration will not save the church.

God wants to save the church. My heart rests easy in this knowledge. I have seen the Holy Spirit sweep across congregations of the United Methodist church and have witnessed the manifold ways that Jesus uses (even the bureaucracy of!) the United Methodist church. I believe that Bishops, District Superintendents, Pastors, and the rest of the professionally religious want to save the church. Although the shrinking numbers has created a lot of burn-out, a large majority of the men and women I have worked with in the church are desperate to turn things around.

So - that leaves the laity. The good intentioned, undervalued, unsung heroes in the pews.

Here are some thoughts for and about laity - and how we (yes, I'm technically a lay person!)can change our beloved denomination.

1. Love your pastor.

Whether you have a good, bad, black, white, male, female, tall, short, friendly, awkward, charismatic, or dull pastor. Love your pastor. The attitude that new pastors must survive their first weeks in a new congregation is caustic for all involved. Not only do pastors and their families suffer tremendously - but the congregation spends time deciding if they like what God has for them or not. This is idiotic. We believe in an itinerant system. God calls pastors. The Bishops and District Superintendents discern God's will for all of the churches in their area. They assign pastors as God directs. If you want your pastor to pass a beauty contest before coming to your church - please choose any of the other denominations who choose to pick pastors in that fashion.

You will find it very hard to hate someone you have prayed over every day.

2. We must find something to fill the void left by the United Methodist Women.

Let's get very honest. The United Methodist Women was created to give bored housewives something to do all day while their husbands worked. Not only did it give them something to do - it gave their lives purpose and meaning. They were changing the world through international mission and making mean Jell-O salads. They drove the mission and ministry of the United Methodist church. They were involved so strongly that they felt a sense of ownership and pride in the ministries of the United Methodist Church.

Today, the young women who should be filling these over-sized shoes left by the last generation are pursuing promising careers in law, medicine, politics, and a whole host of other fields. One of our United Methodist women almost became president a few years ago. Women who stay home, generally, choose to stay home. The United Methodist Women was created to solve a problem - and that problem just simply doesn't exist anymore (and I'm certain that there are fascinating article about how the UMW literally worked itself out of a job). As much as I would love to see a new generation of young women take up that mantle - it's just not going to happen.

So we need to find a problem the world has and create a solution. One possibility might be the 8% of Americans who are currently unemployed. Instead of sitting at home all day - perhaps the United Methodist church could join in ministry with them and help them find meaning and purpose for their lives while they work to find employment. We could have volunteer positions where people spend 8 hours a day visiting the shut-ins, gardening around the church, writing letters to new families in the community. The currently unemployed could earn a good reference, a new community, and a sense of meaning and purpose. The church could earn unimaginable benefits.

3. We must return to our roots. The United Methodist church is rooted in the lives of the poor. We were the church who would accept the people that no one else would accept. We were the church that spoke out against the evils that created and sustained poverty. We cried out against the evils of alcohol because the families of alcoholics were crippled by a lack of food and finances as money poured down his gullet. We screeched against labor conditions which left providers in the graves in their thirties.

Today our churches are solidly middle class and the social issues that tend to surface most often are social issues that effect our privileged existence. We don't seem to care what the minimum wage is.

As laity, we must reach out across the economic divide. One of my favorite families came to church after incessant bothering by an older neighbor. She was well to do and they struggled to make ends meet. But she insisted that those kids go to church and to church they go. Now, those kids go to visit her in the nursing home. She didn't start a charity to help the kids - she loved them and wanted the best for them.

4. Redefine Leadership

Why does leadership in the church revolve around service to a committee? Why do pastors get to do all the fun ministry? Young leaders in the church need to be put in instantly visible positions of leadership and service. They need to be in hospital rooms visiting the sick, outside of churches greeting new guests, and out in the streets serving food to the homeless in their own communities.

Young servants in the church need a good place to serve. As laity, it's our job to help them find a good and healthy fit.

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All the power rests in the hands of the laity.

God is calling all of us to move forward. This is a new day and the church will not be saved by those being paid to save the church. Our denomination will only thrive if the laity step forward and accept a new challenge.

I've been journaling a lot this week. I don't have a computer with me - so I just use an internet cafe from time to time. My English ability is diminishing the longer I live overseas. It's really painful and I can sense that my use of my first language is less vivid and engaging than it used to be.

I feel that I should probably work on blogging more. When I'm back in Ukraine I might try to blog every day for 30 days straight. Part of me feels that my thoughts aren't important (which didn't seem to stop me from writing when I was in college!) and part of me feels that I need to write just to stay sharp.




For the first time, I read today of the "White Marches." After John Paul II had been shot, millions of Polish citizens dressed in white and rushed to the city-center of Krakow to pray for their Pope.

While many wide-eyed, uninformed Americans hope that the next Pope will be US born - I honestly can't imagine our people making such a show of affection for any current leader in the Catholic church in America. Karol Józef Wojtyła saved the Polish people in many ways. His election as Bishop saved the Catholic church in Eastern Europe. His bold actions helped many Christians embrace anew the Catholic Church.

Spiritual leadership is essential. As the United Methodist church moves toward General Conference, one piece of legislation has been given the unfortunate moniker of promoting a "United Methodist Pope." We have a tremendous number of bishops in the UMC, and with few exceptions, it seems that none of them are terribly effective at what they are called to do.

This isn't their fault. It's the fault of the system. It would be interesting see a chart that examined the number of days a Bishop spent in his or her Episcopal area compared to days spent outside of it. Most of our Bishops spend an incredible amount of time in the air. They move from meeting to meeting, from speaking engagement to conference, from office to mission trip. It would be interesting to see the above mentioned chart compared to growth in the Episcopal area they serve.

I would be willing to put forward a guess that the Bishops who spent the most time "on the ground" in their Episcopal area managed to grow the local churches most efficiently.

Every Bishop should be part of a church planting team in the Episcopal area they serve. They should feel the pavement under their feet and meet the people they are ministering with.

It seems to me that our most effective spiritual leaders are those with a compelling personal narrative. The Bishop who has overcome adversity, worked to begin new ministries, or fearlessly stood up for an unpopular cause tend to be the Bishops that can encourage clergy to rally to the cause of their call.

When electing new Bishops - and even in finding a possible "United Methodist Pope" we must look for men and women who have served God fearlessly and well - and not for a popular CEO personality with lots of Skymiles.

The sermon I want to preach

[I love this theme, but sadly, will not be able to preach this sermon. I will be out of the country working on acquiring my visa so I can come back to Ukraine and be able to preach.]

Food is important to every culture. When we think of a culture - we almost immediately think about the food that they eat. Who would the Japanese be without Sushi? The Italians without pizza and pasta? Americans without cheeseburgers and fries? Ukrainians without Vereniki and Hrechka.

We eat for many reasons: for comfort, sustenance, and tradition.

Think about the last great holiday you celebrated and imagine it without the food. Food brings people together.

And throughout the history of religion, fasting from food has been part of religion. In the Jewish faith, fasting was connected with a deep longing and desire to hear from God. In Christianity it holds a similar place. Why do we fast?

(Allow some time for responses)

It's interesting that when we want to draw closer to other people we feast - and when we want to draw closer to God we fast.

Those who have fought for social justice have often fasted. Ghandi fasted for long periods of time and so did Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., giving something up gives you more time and energy to focus on something more important. It proves a point to those around you and it often makes people sit up and pay attention.

I fasted once for over a week. It was a wonderful time for me, spiritually. But, every time someone asked me if I was hungry, or why I wasn't eating - I was super ready to explain my fast and why I was on it. I just couldn't wait to talk about myself.

This was the situations that many believers found themselves in during the time of Isaiah. They were fasting to get God's attention - but, man, were they ever ready for the attention of the people around them.

When they would fast they would make a huge procession out of it. They would throw a pity party, look hungry and tired all the time, (look tired and slump about for a bit) and complain constantly about how hungry their devotion was making them.

Their anger came from the fact that they were doing such a good job being martyrs, but they were the ones holding the gun. And, after all the parades in their honor to honor God - they couldn't figure out why God wasn't answering their prayers.

[At this point we will read Isaiah 58]

Fasting without the right heart and intent is like playing soccer without the soccer ball. You can dress up in soccer uniforms and run around the field so people can see you - but you'll never win. There's nothing to win.

Without the right heart and motivation, fasting is pointless. Don't get us wrong. We would never discourage you from observing the fast. We think that this is hugely important - in fact, we think that a fast is so important that we want to make sure we are doing it right.

One of my professors was reading the Bible with his wife when they stumbled on this chapter. Now, they were missionaries who had planted churches in the Phillipines and they had both grown up in Christian homes - so, obviously, they had read this chapter of the Bible before. But, when they read this together, they were amazed. They were so convicted about the way they had fasted in the past. They were middle aged and lived in a large house. All of their children had grown up and they had an empty room. They began praying for the opportunity to have a true fast.

When we fast with the right heart we are able to see that there is so much more to be done than simply refusing food or Facebook. God wants us to draw closer to him by drawing closer to other people. God's desire is that we would share in great communion with one another. When we have a true fast, we connect with God by connecting with God's littlest - the poor and the brokenhearted.

That day my professor got a phone call. His son was a pastor in the city and knew of a woman who was being beaten by her boyfriend and needed a place to hide. The woman was an illegal immigrant, of a different religion, and truly had no place to go. My professor and his wife welcomed her into their home and celebrated a true fast as they helped this woman put her life back together.


What amazes me is that Christians feel they are powerless. "Well, I'll pray about that." has come to mean, "Sorry that there's no hope and things aren't going to improve." Have we read the same Bible? Have we read the stories of Moses parting the red sea, of Esther saving her people, of Jesus and Peter and Paul raising the dead back to life? We worship the same God and God is still able. With a third of the world population claiming to be Christian – we could knock out every curable disease, we could end extreme forms of poverty, we could bring the dead back to life by building hospitals in every village and training doctors, teachers, and pastors.

We might be a small community of believers. We might "just be students" and just live on government scholarship or much less. But, if we chose to live the true fast this Lent we could change this city. We could help people see who God really is and how much God really loves them.


Whenlive out the True Fast, we choose to live in a radical way in pursuit of God.

Why do we study and why do we work? We are taught to live our lives in the pursuit of comfort. Is this the reason that God has created us?

John Piper, an American pastor wrote, "Don’t waste your life on the American dream of retirement. But live recklessly for the one who died for our sins in his thirties." We read the Bible verses about the lilies of the field and the birds of the air and it amazes me the ability we have acquired to smile, nod, and move on with our pursuits to accumulate more stuff and make more money. The same amazement I feel when I step over a homeless man – that my culture has so effectively convinced me to believe that they are not real people or at least they are not worth my time or energy. They are “in God’s hands” but we forget that we are God’s hands and feet. The homeless among us our are responsibility. In the True Fast of Isaiah 58 we learn that God calls us to rethink the way we live and the pursuits of our heart.

We could work for the Kingdom of God. Or we could choose to continue working to build up our own empire. The question is "will you choose to live these words out and follow Christ to the cross, to celebrate the True Fast in the same way that Jesus did?"

[Read Isaiah 58 a second time while playing the into for "Lead me to the cross"

The final sermon in a series on the book of Revelation: Fearless.

Revelation 19:6-10 - David serve communion

"Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure"- for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

And the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb."

And he said to me, "These are the true words of God." Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, "You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God." For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."


I graduated from University at the worst possible time anyone could graduate. We were at the very top of the recession and there were no jobs for graduates to have. My best friend from High School had studied at a better school, had focused on her classes much more than I did, and had already sent out hundreds of job applications with no success. She had been interviewed dozens of times - but she hadn't received a single job offer.

My degree was in Ethnology - a field so unemployable that most Americans don't even know what Ethnology is. I would have had a better job of finding a job if my degree had been in underwater basket weaving (knitting seven sacks of barley cotton) or English Philology. I think many of you understand where I'm coming from.

It was April and I still hadn't applied for a single job. I don't really know what I was thinking at the time. I had never applied for a job before - they had just come to me in the past. I was talking with a friend one day when I finally realized that I was absolutely terrified. I genuinely considered purchasing a trailer and just living on the road until I got a job offer. I could see myself holding a sign that read: "Degree in Ethnology. Will work for food."

I was immobilized by fear. I couldn't think straight, I couldn't act, and I was certain that things wouldn't get any better. I would begin to think about my future options and I would become so overwhelmed that I would shut down.

We are not captive to our fears, but rather we are set free by the promises God has made to his children. We have much to rejoice over.

I decided that I needed to lower my expectations. I probably wouldn't start at my dream job the day after graduation. I probably wouldn't make much money and I would probably have to delay my dream of being financially independent from my parents. I needed to realize that everything would work out. I began thanking God every morning that everything would work out and that I was part of God's great plan for the world.

This freed me for joyful obedience. I wasn't in a prison of my own fears - I was free to follow God's plan for my life. Things fell together and I signed up for a volunteer position with a tiny cost of living stipend. I lived on less and lived frugally and was able to save up enough money to come and volunteer here. You've been able to watch the rest of that story play out in my life. Every day I am so thankful to be here with you and to see God working in your lives.


I've already shared my rocky path toward loving the book of Revelation. My main problem, I discovered, was that I was separating the Book of Revelation from the rest of the Bible, but this book isn't something separate or different. We don't have The Bible over here and The Book of Revelation over here on the other side. This book is just as essential to our faith as the rest of the Bible. This book teaches us who we are and what we are dreaming, hoping, and living for. It is a book of prophecy - a book about the future of the world.

When we think of prophecy, we tend to think of sorcerers and palm readers - crazy magical things that fit better in the hallways of Hogwarts than into the hallways of Ivan Franko. This is a book of prophecy - but we must think of it in terms of active prophecy. This book is a revelation of the future- but just as much it is a call to action. It calls us forth from our slumber.

This is a book of the future - and it is a book of our future. We are the church. We are the bride of Christ. We are present at the great banquet table, we are those clothed in white singing Hallelujah. We are those bowing together to worship Christ.

It's time for us to get ready.

When my rommate's grandmother was younger she worked as a librarian. When Hannya was young and just starting at her job the head librarian was a very stern, strict, and peculiar single lady. Once the head librarian was sick at home and since Hannya was the newest employee, she was chosen to go and visit the head librarian. She showed up with some food and baked goods, but the head librarian refused to open the door. Hannya explained who she was and that she had brought food. The librarian said to leave the food by the door and to go away. Hannya was a little persistent and said that perhaps she could come in and visit for a few minutes since it was her work responsibility to visit. The head librarian left Hannya outside in the hallway for over an hour while she cleaned her apartment and put on makeup before opening the door to reluctantly receive her guest.

When the head librarian was turning sixty, the other librarians teased her that they would throw a surprise birthday party for her and host it at her apartment. They were coming soon and she needed to get ready. She stressed and stressed over the idea of people coming to her apartment. She was terrified. She cleaned every room of her home, but realized that the floor was just too dirty for guests. So she decided that it needed to be painted. The head librarian bought the cheapest paint she could find and began painting her floor. She hadn't read the instructions and didn't open any of her windows. Her coworkers found her dead in her home after she hadn't shown up for work for several days.

This story is so indicative of how so often the church has tried to prepare the world for the end times. We make everything sound so crazy - and we make these beautiful words of hope into something toxic enough to kill faith. This book, more than any other part of the Bible, has the ability to be misused and twisted. If we don't read it in context it is incredibly toxic.


But there is no need for this book to be harmful. This book is the beautiful conclusion to the love letter God has written to his children.

This book points over and over again to the central truth of the Gospel. God has a plan for the redemption of the world - and you are part of that plan.


In the dark days of the great depression US president Franklin Roosevelt told the terrified nation, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." These words apply to our understanding of this book. Although many words, images, and phrases sound confusing or scary - ultimately this book concludes the great love letter God has written for us. These words call us to live out our faith fearlessly. We are part of something so much bigger than ourselves. We are part of God's great plan to redeem the world. We have NOTHING to be afraid of except our own fear.

I hope that as you read the book of Revelation that it doesn't scare you - but that it sets you free for joyful obedience.

Today we will serve communion. This is the "marriage supper of the Lamb" written about in today's passage. You are invited. All are welcome to this table. Through the act of communion we may imagine the resplendent joy waiting for us in reward for a life well lived. This banquet is open to all people, but will only be attended by all people if we choose to live open lives, prepared to share the good news of what Christ has done in our lives.

Here is the brutal truth - if we lived into the good news of the Kingdom of God, and if we spend the rest of our lives living for the redemption of the world ... our lives may be difficult. There are scary images and thoughts in this book because when we live out the good news there are many people who will be unhappy about that. This is the reward that we receive for choosing God over this world. We feast together this day to remind us of the banquet that God has waiting for us.

Fearless - 2nd sermon in a series of 4 on the book of Revelation

This is my 666th post on blogspot. I genuinely considered posting a blank post in order to avoid having one of my posts be number 666 ... but, oddly enough, that mentality gets to the heart of this entire sermon series. The book of Revelation has been misused and misinterpreted to scare people into line - but Revelation is part of the canon and it is a continuation of the great love letter from God to God's people. We are unafraid.

Revelation 7:9-14

"After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen." Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, "Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?" I said to him, "Sir, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."



I didn't start reading the Bible until I was a teenager. I read the gospels and some of the shorter books first. I was really enjoying reading through the Bible. Then I figured I should read the final book. I made it past the first few pages before I stopped.

It was like going to the movie theater to watch Titanic and part way through Saw II starts showing instead. In Swahili. What was that? Really? What is that even supposed to mean?

I finished reading the book of Revelation eventually. I didn't enjoy it and I didn't learn from it. It was bizarre and frightening somehow.

It wasn't until I was in my twenties that I had a really wonderful pastor explain Revelation to me in a way I could understand. She stated very clearly, "Revelation was written as a book of hope for a persecuted church."

One of my favorite movies involves a court scene. The two defendents have been accused of murder and their non-traditional attorney is trying to prove that they are innocent. The evidence against them is overwhelming. There are several eyewitnesses who saw them fleeing the scene of the crime.

Their attorney discredits each of the witnesses one by one. He proves that one witness needs glasses by moving to the back of the courtroom and asking her how many fingers he is holding up. He discredits another witness by showing the layers of obstacles between his house and the scene of the crime. He showed how dirty his windows were, and all the trees and bushes blocking his view.

When we read the book of Revelation, our view is blocked substantially. We have two thousand years of time seperating us from the cultural, political, and ethnographic climate of the time. Not only have we never been to the places mentioned in this book, we don't know the people or even how they really lived. We don't understand the politics in play. And perhaps most importantly we don't understand the level of persecution the church was experiencing at the time.


That same pastor explained that "When comfortable Christians get their hands on this book - they do incredibly frightening and strange things with it."

As 21st century Christians, we have seen this book be exploited to prove all sorts of falsehoods. We have seen corrupt leaders use fear to coerce people by highlighting terrifying passages. They have taken images out of context and have tried to scare people into believing in Jesus. They have tried to gain more power for themselves by manipulating the more confusing parts of this book.

I was at a gathering of young people - it was hosted by a church and the man preaching had pretty extreme views. He preached for thirty minutes from the book of Revelation and he highlighted all the parts about Hell and damnation. He mentioned politicians that he didn't like and compared them to the whore of Babylon, the anti-Christ, and other evil players from this book. He mentioned the names of politicians he did like and he compared them to the two witnesses and the victorious in this book. And he continued on with the text and ensured the terrified group of young people that the end of times was any day now - and choosing one narrow, new interpretation of the final events of the Bible he screamed at those young people that Muslims and Atheists were taking over Americ and that soon we would be asked if we believed in Jesus and if we answered, "Yes" that our new leaders would kill us for this answer. He closed out his sermon by asking the frightened group to stand up if they would be willing to die, right now, for believing in Jesus.

The faithful from his small church quickly jumped to their feet - they were used to being terrified during sermons and they knew the right response. The rest of the youth slowly got to their feet - they were partially terrified of giving the wrong answer, partially terrified that the nutjob at the front of the room was going to start actually killing people, and partially afraid that their friends who were watching would think they weren't good enough Christians. The preacher really pushed and he said, "I want you to sit down if you don't really mean it. If you're not 100% sure that you would be willing to die for Christ right now - then I want you to sit back down."

Of course no one was going to be the first to sit back down and prove that they aren't a strong enough Christian. I was one of the leaders - and although I knew at the time that my honest answer would have been "I don't know!"; I kept on standing because I felt that I needed my students to think I was a great Christian.

As I think back to that day, I wish I has sat back down. I wish I had shown the courage to be honest with my students and admit that at the time I really wasn't sure if I could be a martyr. But also I wish that someone would have been brave enough to stand up to the bully in the pulpit.

The bully in the pulpit was asking those students the wrong question. Probably, none of those students will ever be put in a position where they must choose to die for Jesus. No one will ever hold a gun to their head and ask them if they believe. But every day they will be faced with the question of whether they will live for Christ.

Most days, Christ isn't calling us to die for him - he's calling us to live for him.

Every day you will face a situation that calls out the question, "Will you live for Christ?" Will you retell that racist joke, join everyone else in laughing at the outcast kid, or will you choose to live for Christ? Will you take a job that goes against your conscience or will you choose to trust Christ?

When I planned out this sermon, I had grand ideas of sharing wonderful stories of people who have died for their faith. I wanted the stories of Father Omelian Kovch, Corrie ten Boom, the apostles, and others who faced the final question and chose Christ over life itself. But as I began to think about things more, I couldn't ask you to compare yourself to those people in those situations.

If the situation came up, I'm not certain that I would be willing to die for my faith. I would like to think that I would, but I can't be certain. Even as a missionary and a leader in the church; I'm not very good at living out my faith. I mess up so very much and ignore my faith and better judgement so often. I would hope that I would be willing to die for my faith - but to prove that to myself I must be willing to live for my faith.

When I was born, there were many complications and my mother almost died. For years she underwent a series of back surgeries. It was unbearably painful for her to stand or sit. Mom had a friend from church named Althea, and every week for those painful years Althea would show up and say, "I'm here to clean the bathrooms." Cleaning the bathrooms would have been an impossibility for my mother, but for Althea it was a joy to come and help my mother as she raised two small children in difficult circumstances. Will we live for Christ?

My friends Bob and Ruth are like my second parents. Bob is a pastor and in his forty years of ministry he has served many churches and ministries very well. His wife, Ruth, is a trained teacher and counselor. She has a very good education. When Bob ended up in our central office building to help administer the life of the church, Ruth decided that she wanted a job where she could connect with young people. Although her training and experience could have landed her any number of high-paying jobs in her field, she took a job as a waitress at a popular restaurant. To many of the young waiters and waitresses Ruth has become the mom or grandma that they never had. She counsels them and helps them understand life. She talks openly about her faith, and many of the young people who had never been connected to faith are interested to hear her story. She doesn't make much money, and the work is pretty terrible - but Ruth is happy to be light in a dark world. Will we live for Christ?

This great cloud of witnesses all dressed in white referenced in today's scripture passage can be compared to being present in a church just filled with icons. All around you will be familiar faces of the faith - the apostles, church fathers, and martyrs of the faith - but also faces so much more familiar to you. We will be surrounded by those who lived out their faith every day. We will be surrounded by friends and family who spoke out on behalf of the poor and the marginalized. We will know the faces on that day of those who took unpopular positions and demanded equality for all people. We will see the faces of heroes of our faith of whom we have never heard.

We will be surrounded by the haloed faces of "God's littlests" - all of those who served, prayed, and loved with all that they had and never received an ounce of thanks or appreciation on this side of heaven.

One day a national politician showed up at Puzata Hata. As he was going through the line, one of the women working gave him a piece of fish that he ordered. He looked at her and said, "That other piece in the pan is much bigger, can I have that one instead? The woman looked at him, set his plate down and began serving the next customer. The politician was indignant. "Do you know who I am? I am a very well known politician. I am very important and serve on several committees. Now do you want to give me that bigger piece of fish?" The woman looked at him and said, "Do you know who I am? I am the woman dishing out the fish."

This world tells us to stand up proudly for who we are - to list our accomplishments and rewards as often as we can. The Gospel teaches us to stand up for whose we are - to point to Christ and to deny ourselves at every opportunity. To be a loud and clear voice for the Kingdom of God, and to use words only when we really have to. God's littlest can't help but have holes in the knees of their jeans - from praying on their knees and stooping to scrub floors in humble service.

Nate Saint, a missionary and a martyr once said, "People who do not know the Lord ask why in the world we waste our lives in Christian service to the world. They forget that they too are expending their lives ... and when the bubble has burst, they will have nothing of eternal significance to show for the years they have wasted."

Dear friends, every action we take / every word we say / every accomplishment we achieve; they all point to the reality of our beliefs. Do we believe that God is real? Do we believe that God is love? Do we believe that God is working through us to redeem the world? Do we believe the Gospel message of Jesus Christ or do we believe the lies of this world? Do we believe that we must work 70 hours a week to have enough money to buy a bigger apartment to fill with stuff that we don't care about to show off to friends we don't really like? Do we believe that or do we believe that God has better for us?

God calls us to live fearlessly. This day I won't ask if you are willing to die for Christ - I will simply ask, Are you willing to live for Christ.

Amen.

Look at how Ukrainian my life is.




These are from a concert from the final day of the Christmas season. Really sad to see the month of festivities come to an end. Now it's time for some work!

Apolitical

I really should stay out of politics.

Really, I know I should. I get in all kinds of trouble when I get involved in political situations. I have nerve damage in my hands from the handcuffs if you can't think of any other good example.

The problem is: I'm good at politics. I enjoy a good debate and I have a real skill for it. I'm good at working out a compromise and making sure that everyone leaves the table happy. I've been known to throw out an impassioned speech from time to time. I think I would be a good politician.

I can answer a question without answering the question.

But I feel that when I get political, that I leave part of myself behind. I get swept up in the moment and I forget the things that really matter to me. I think this is true of most politicians.

While I'm really surprised to see that conservative Christians would gladly throw their support behind a candidate of a different religion; I think that religion doesn't matter. You can't be a good politician and a devout anything. In order to get to the places of prominence and importance in todays world - you have to be willing to betray that which you once cared about.

You have to be willing to crush your opponent with power and strength. That doesn't sound very Christian.

Christianity is essentially an exercise in powerlessness.

The marginalized on a grand march to the doors of the wealthy elite and powerful; we plead with them to understand that in the end we were winning all along. We, the meek, will inherit the earth.

It brings me great pain to see the posturing and positioning begin for General Conference. Every four years we allow the mantras of the corporate world, the slogans of the campaign trail, and the -isms of the world to enter our hearts and minds. Our doors are closed to the powerless as the powerful make decisions that we will fail to internalize and which in turn will fail to materialize the change that we all want to see.

In the corner of my heart that beats slowest; I'm still convinced that the people who are affecting real change in our denomination are people whose names we will never know. They are not politicians; they are servants.

They smile broadly and pray as they bake a casserole for someone getting out of the hospital. They break the crack of dawn to shovel snow in front of the church. They clean the church without pay and without thanks. They feed the kiddos on Tuesday afternoon. They walk 12 miles to Bible classes. They invited strangers into their apartments for a worship service. They sing Halleluiah and they mean it. They understand that the bills can be paid later, but the people need rice right now.

They are God's littlest. And they are blessed.

My new obsession

I first tried this product when I was vacationing in Warsaw with friends. We cooked borscht and fried up some vegetarian fried chicken substitute. When they pulled these hard little bricks of protein out of the bag I was absolutely disgusted. I couldn't imagine eating something so bizarre. It didn't help that we were all falling over each other to see the directions which essentially read - just add water. We coated them in egg and flour (very flexetarian of us) and fried them up. I honestly would have never guessed they were not chicken. They were light and tender, and flavorful. Just the right blend of spices and texture of meat.

Last week my flatmate told me that you could purchase the same product here. For around a dollar a bag you can buy this faux-meat product. It is used routinely in the states and goes by the acronym TVP. We never eat it in place of meat, but rather we use it as a meat extender. It extends the meat we use. Usually we use it in prisons and school systems (thank you Wikipedia for that delightful life affirmation) in order to cut costs. Just stir in some ground up flakes into real meat and they will absorb the flavor and mimic the texture of the meat being prepared. Think back to the last school taco you ate ... yep.



So, now that it's -20 outside, everyone is basically a shut in. We've already eaten everything edible - so we're down to just eating soy based protein. I'm very committed to figuring out how to make this stuff taste awesome. First you boil it.



Doesn't that look disgusting? But, honestly, I'm disgusted by raw meat, too. I guess this isn't any more disgusting.

Here it is after being pan seared and served with some mustard. It's not nearly as good as it was fried ... but it didn't taste bad. Today I made tacos with it and they were really enjoyable.



And since you made it the whole way through two disgusting pictures to get to the final product - I figured I should throw in another great picture. Here is Mefodyi begging for a bath.

A poem in the fashion of Wendell Berry

Your big-box stores will be empty someday; as empty as our main-street store- fronts and our bellies at the end of the month.  All you build will decay, it will be an eyesore some day.  You'll die in your SUV.  It protects you from the winos and beggars, but it doesn't protect you from yourself.  Your McMansion will crumble and sway in the wind and "those people" will move in next door; and  you'll find new places to build new monstrosities.  You'll convince yourself that life is better with a five hour commute.  

And you will declare all of this good. Good, like your grades and then your salary.  And then your wife and your kids and your minivan.  Good.  Good like the prisons full of the bad guys, and good like the children of the lazy going to bed hungry after eating their just desserts.  Let them eat cake...d on food particles that your dishwasher can't seem to get clean but your upgrade will fix.  Lock your doors; check them twice .... For they may steal for their children - from the naughty to the nice.  

We decry the Nazis and Soviets because they are past, but our own systems are better and certainly should last - and we ignore our trains running through the night as the bodies pile up. Out of mind, out of sight.  We all agree that we would have stood up for the just, while we steal from those with just enough; one  miserly tip at a time.  

But you will be happier then.  In the piles of rubble where once your house stood, you will find a home.  You will know the names of your children's friends.  You will read a book and go for a walk to escape the chaos and you will find yourself.  Laughter will be your best medicine and God your only refuge.  You will understand why all the poor people didn't need lithium to survive.  You will be free at last, free at last.  Free from yourself.  Free from the things you owned that owned you, too.  Free at last.  

Intentionally Offensive

I was preparing prayer stations for a worship service the other night. It was an impromptu worship service and everything came together very nicely.

As I was preparing one of the stations, I had the idea of using an untied shoe as a prop to help everyone visualize the point.

Now, Ukrainians have strict rules about shoes. In many Asian countries you are forever removing and replacing your shoes. Even in some stores and restaurants it is impolite to keep your shoes on. In Ukraine it's not such a big deal - we just always take our shoes off in people's apartments and homes. It's a wet and snowy climate and dirty even in the summer in the city. No one touches the ground, sits down on the ground, or places items on the ground. Shoe's are always left in the hallway.

I went back and forth about placing a dirty, untied shoe as part of a prayer station. Eventually I decided to do it.

In college we would have an annual service in which the President of the College would wash some of the students' feet. It was always titled something like "servant leadership chapel". It was a nice thought. Of course we did it because Jesus had done it - but Jesus did it because it was the lowest and most humiliating of all the task a servant could perform. If our president had cared deeply about modeling servant leadership he should have spent a weekend cleaning all of the toilets on campus or pulling hair out of the shower drains. Coming into the dorm bathroom and finding the president of the college plunging the toilet would have left far more of an impression than watching him take off his exspensive watch before dipping someone's feet in water and drying them off.

This is part f being a missionary. We don't do things because that is how they were done for us or because the Bible portrayed a scene - we try to do things to make a point that fits the culture we are working in. I feel like I often take that to mean that I am working hard not to offend anyone. But sometimes we have to be offensive.

Jesus was sometimes terribly offensive. He would draw in huge crowds to hear him speak and just as soon as the church growth gurus shine the spotlight on him as a shining example of how to really grow a church he opens his mouth and tells his predominately Jewish crowd to eat his flesh and drink his blood. These people who would never dare commit the sin of drinking blood are challenged to even drink human blood.

That's intentionally offensive. Jesus breaks the social norms and steps over boundaries all the time in the way he relates to women, people of different ethnic backgrounds, and those known to be guilty of sexual sins found repulsive by the culture.

Sometimes we play it too safe. We work hard to find the medium that will upset the fewest people. We vote democratically instead of prophetically.

The students who attended worship were shocked and disgusted by the untied shoe - but they got the point, discussed it openly after the service, and found a stronger connection to the idea of humility and grace.

The Gospel we believe in is challenging and difficult. It calls us to come and die, to give up everything we own, and to love those that society informs us we shouldn't love. Anything less is simply not the Gospel.

As Landa Cope once said, " If I offended you today ... Good! if I didn't... Come back tomorrow and I'll try again!"

Yesterday I got an email that said that my twitter account had been hacked. My only thoughts was, "I have a twitter account?"

I have not forgotten about blogging.

Really, I swear. I have not forgotten about blogging.

I have some really great ideas - but my mind just won't cooperate long enough to write a thorough post. I have been in Ukraine for almost three weeks and still my brain has not fully re cooperated. My first trip to Russia lasted for exactly three weeks and felt like the longest dream imaginable. We did every under the sun in the city of Konakovo. We toured museums and factories. We learned the Cyrillic alphabet and a handful of words (and I remember saying, "I speak Russian" and feeling only slightly more guilty than I do when I make the same statement today.)

These last three weeks have been short and sweet. I have reconnected with old friends, rested, painted, and otherwise tried to stay out of the way.

I'm trying to spend the month of January focusing on getting readjusted and working on my Ukrainian language skills. I'm trying not to get sucked into the work of ministry responsibility just yet. I'm trying to focus on myself for a bit and to realize how important it is for me and everyone else that I take the time I need to work on learning Ukrainian better.

I would also like to take some time to blog about things going through my mind - but right now I just don't feel like I have the time for that. But, I am almost certain that at some point soon I will have the necessary motivation, inspiration, and determination.

2011 Annual Third Person Christmas Letter

Michael Airgood wonders if this tradition has worn-out its welcome. But, in the absence of proof, Michael will go ahead anyway.

2011 was a big year for Michael. It was legendary, really.

Michael spent the winter finishing out his year of service as an Individual Volunteer in L'viv, Ukraine. His final months as a volunteer where very full and fulfilling. He worked to help establish a preaching point in Stree, Ukraine that will hopefully become a new congregation soon. The English club he helped teach produced students with greater speaking skills. He was sad to return home, but received good news from the Bishop who promised to ask the United Methodist mission board to hire a new missionary in Ukraine.

Sadly, Michael wasn't able to make it home in time for his close friend Jonathan's funeral. Jon died after a long struggle with cancer, and even a continent apart Michael and Jonathan grew even closer during Jon's final months. Jonathan Pound was an inspiration to all who knew him, and the causes he cared about most continue to blaze in the hearts of all who knew Jon.

Michael worked for his parents in Kane for a few short weeks, but quickly realized that living and working in Kane would not be a long-term solution. He completed licensing school in the North Georgia Annual conference in the spring and became licensed to be a local pastor in the United Methodist church.

In June it appeared that the Mission board would not be able to create a new position. At annual conference Michael agreed to serve a small United Methodist church in Western Pennsylvania. The following week he had his take-in at Robinson Evangelical UMC. By the time he met with the committee, GBGM had unexpectedly approved a new missionary position in Ukraine, and Michael was a strong applicant.

The church in Robinson didn't know how long Michael could be their pastor - and neither did Michael! But, the church was gracious and kind to their new, young pastor and things went exceedingly well. Michael stopped blogging during this time because the town was very small, and no personal story could be shared without offending someone in the town. Even with this limitation, Michael loved every minute he served that small congregation. He participated in the baptism a young woman and her toddler son - a highlight of a lifetime!

That was sadly Michael's final Sunday with the Robinson congregation. Three months into his appointment in Robinson; Michael Airgood was hired by the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries as a standard support missionary working as a church planter and youth ministry developer in Ukraine. This is his dream job, and the answer to his lifelong calling. Michael is ecstatic about the opportunity. He immediately left to begin training before being commissioned.

Michael was arrested five days before the commissioning service. He was one of the 700 protesters arrested on the Brooklyn bridge protesting corporate greed, corporate influence in politics, and extreme wealth inequality. He spent six hours in a holding cell - and he could imagine his good friend Jonathan sitting in the cell with him. At Michael's court date he accepted an ACD - as long as he is not arrested in New York State in the next 6 months, the case will be dismissed and the record will be sealed. Michael is proud of his generation for taking a stand against the systemic issues that allow extreme poverty in America, but is thankful that the long-term repercussions will be mild!

Michael finished out the year preparing for his return to Ukraine by itinerating in over 30 churches across the US and raising support for GBGM. He leaves for his first three year term in Ukraine in a week!

He is grateful for a wonderful year full of adventure and surprise. He certainly didn't expect to get arrested, be hired for his dream job, or have the joy of sharing in the sacrament of baptism: at Christmastime we celebrate all the surprises God has in store for us.

Here's to 2012 being half as full of adventure, joy, and growth!