Pilgrims Sermon Luke 7:1-10

Luke 7:1-10 When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum.  There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this,because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.”So Jesus went with them.

He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof.That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed.For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.”Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.

My sister is absolutely the worst at introducing new people to each other.  Every time I’m back in the states she wants me to meet some new friends.  So – she begins by telling her new friends about me at least once a week for at least a couple of years.  She mentions me in stories – she talks about how cool I am.  And she tells me all about her new friends.  And she tells me about the funny jokes they tell and the funny situations they find themselves in.  She talks about how cool they are. 

And then the day comes along when I’m back in the states and I finally get to meet these new friends that I have learned so much about.  And it’s always so awkward – because I’m meeting these people for the first time … but I know everything about them.  I know about their families and the marital problems they’ve had.  I know their funny jokes and about the terribly painful warts on their feet. 

And it’s awkward for them because they’ve heard all the stories about me – about my time in Ukraine and my childhood hip surgeries.  They’ve read things I’ve written and seen my picture.

 

We know so much about each other that it is awkward when we finally get to meet.  She has hyped us up so much to each other – that there is a huge letdown.  She promised how much we would laugh at the others jokes and we end up just waiting to see who will say something funny first.

 

I end up just dreading returning to the states and meeting all of the people that she promised I will “just love.” 

The centurion is promised a lot out of today’s interaction. 

First, let’s step back and look at the situation.  The centurion is a wealthy, powerful, military man who represents in every way the oppressor.  The Jewish people were a small, repressed minority – and the centurion soldiers were the ones walking around reminding them of their occupied status.  The scripture states that he “sent some elders of the Jews” to go to Jesus.  These were not his friends, these people did not work for him - these were Jewish men who were important and respected in their culture and religion.  But, he had the power to order them around and to tell them what to do.  And this day he ordered them to go and find this Jesus.

He had heard about Jesus. 

Well, what exactly had he heard about Jesus?   

Who is this man?  What does he have to offer?

He had heard of the great and powerful miracles Jesus had performed.  He had heard of Jesus healing the sick, and he had heard that Jesus was gaining a large following.  But, more than that, this Roman centurion had heard that he should fear this great and powerful man – his job security would be destroyed when the messiah led the uprising against the Romans.  The roman centurion had overheard the hushed tones as the Jews talked about how the Messiah would destroy the invading Romans. 

And what is most interesting is that this Roman centurion ignores all of the warnings, and focuses entirely on his present need.  He hears that this wandering preacher is also some kind of magician and medicine man and maybe Jesus can heal his trusted servant. 

Because this man hasn’t heard the full story about Jesus; he doesn’t know that Jesus will be brought before Pilate and will be executed by the government this soldier represents.  This soldier doesn’t know that Jesus came to die for the forgiveness and restoration of the whole world.

What’s interesting about today’s scripture is that two groups of people are interacting around Jesus.  Officials representing the Roman occupation and the Religious Elite of the Jewish faith.  At the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry we see these two groups coming together again to plot and see who would take the blame for Jesus’ death.   

But this man was different than the other Roman soldiers.  This man respected the Jewish culture and faith.  He had spent his own money to build a synagogue.    

And so the Jewish leaders gladly went on his behalf.  This was also an opportunity for them to meet this wandering preacher without having to confront him directly. 

These religious elite – they really wanted to trick Jesus.  We see this again and again throughout scripture.  These men were insightfully brilliant.  If Jesus didn’t go and heal the servant – they could tell the people not to believe in him because he couldn’t really heal.  If Jesus did go and heal the servant – they could go to the people and share that Jesus was on the side of the oppressors. 

This is a perfect trap – and the Jewish leaders didn’t even have to set it. 

Because everyone is asking the same question.  “Who is this man?”  The people in their town had heard of his miracles – and they so desperately wanted to believe that the Messiah was finally here.  The Roman centurion was interested in this small, antiquated religion called Judaism and he was interested to see if this man coming toward his house was the promised future of it. He built a house of worship for them because he didn’t think that the God of the Jews was any threat to the Roman rule – but this Jesus was promised to have some power. And these Jewish leaders, they desperately wanted to hold on to their power by proving that this man was a fraud.   

And Jesus is in the center of this.  The brilliant trap is set just for him and he moves right into it and evades it entirely at the same time.  Jesus heals the servant – without even being physically present with the boy.  And he steps up to the challenge given by the Pharisees and he looks them directly in the eye and he shames them for their actions.  He doesn’t heal the soldier’s servant because the soldier has given money for a building to be built. No.  He heals the servant because the soldier has great faith. 

Jesus takes a terrible situation – a terrible trap - and he makes it a wonderful opportunity to share the good news.

Jesus answers the question that everyone is asking.

“Who is this man?”

This man is the messiah.  He is the promised one.  He is the savior.

But, Jesus expands the question.  “Who will this man save?”

Because everyone in Israel had missed the point that throughout the scripture God again and again casts a vision that the whole world would believe in the Messiah.  These Jewish leaders thought they would shame Jesus, but in the end they are shamed for not seeing the bigger picture.  They are not rewarded for their faith – but this man, this man who represents all the disgusting, bourgeois realities of the Roman occupiers, this man is rewarded for his faith(?). Jesus answers the question that everyone is too timid to ask.  Jesus is the savior – and he is the savior of all. 

He is the savior of the religiously faithful jews.  He is the savior of young men held in service by the Roman occupation.  He is the savior of the occupying forces of Rome. 

He is our savior, too.

We know the things we were taught as children.  We know the stories from the Bible.  We know the things our parents and grandparents taught us.

We know that many of our grandparents and parents were willing to risk persecution in order to follow him and to continue to be active in the church during the Soviet days. 

But it is easy to look at the easy answers – to see the painted face of Jesus and think of him belonging to ancient story books – but Jesus is our savior as well.  He died for our sins.  He calls us to follow him – he is as real to us today as he was to this soldier 2000 years ago – he is as real as our own skin. 

Jesus, the savior, who looked controversy in the face and chose to make a young boy well to prove to those around that he was the savior of all the earth.  That Jesus is the same savior who looks at the mess we make of our lives and promises to make us well, too. 

Today we place the cross on this table.  This cross is the universal symbol of Jesus.  But, let us not forget, this was a means of execution.  This was what they used to kill people. When the Roman officials and Jewish religious elite gather again to talk about Jesus – they decide to put him on a cross to die.  This is a symbol that Jesus is our savior.  Jesus takes things that are so bad and so terrible and he changes them.  He took this terrible weapon of torture and turned it into the symbol under which millions of Christians live and celebrate.  He takes the mess of our lives and changes it into the joy of being a follower of Christ. He gives us worth.

It feels like I've been too busy to post lately.

When I was in training for this position - we spoke a lot about self-care and boundaries.  I'm glad that I grew up hearing "do as I say and not as I do" because during training we did not practice - and we were not permitted to practice!- self-care and boundaries.

It's funny.  In different Christian circles the idea of self-care is treated differently.  Some consider the selfishness of taking time for yourself as a sin.  Others feel that it is a spiritual discipline to shut out everything else and to take care of your soul.

I used to feel very guilty when I would prioritize my rest over the needs of others.  It took me a long time to realize that I really can't serve others if I'm not well rested or at least running on adrenaline.  What can be poured out of a dry cup?

I was re-reading the familiar story of Jesus offering living water to the woman at the well.  What struck me this day was the idea of thirst.  They will never be thirsty again.  I'm never thirsty - well, at least not for long.

It would take a long and unpleasant cascade of events for me to remain thirsty for any period of time.  I cannot be thirsty at home where I have running water (usually!) or in the streets where my money will purchase bottled water.  My brief moments of thirst have been in situations where stores are far-removed from the side-street I have found myself on in hot summer months.  On vacation in foreign cities or walking along back roads to get places that sound more promising than they are.

I never find myself in a place of great thirst.  But - Jesus was speaking to a woman who belonged to a group of people who knew thirst intimately.  This was their life.  Their very existence hinged on aquiring enough water to provide for themselves and their animals.  For desert dwelling people - thirst is often a way of life.

This promise of never being thirsty again gets an extra punch in this context.  In our eyes, thirst is an occasional annoyance.  To this woman thirst was an all consuming fire that filled her throat, stomach, eyes, and muscles.  The promise of no more thirst was a promise of unimaginable goodness.

I think that the only ones who can truly appreciate this story are those who have faced a serious addiction. [Disclaimer: I am not encouraging anyone to get a serious addicition in order to understand the Bible!]  Those who understand the enveloping thirst of wanting something so badly that they would kill for it understand the joy of the promise of water which would quench and satisfy the thirst.

I think that many people know spiritual thirst.  Some people know that pain in the pit of their stomach - that sense of despair and hopelessness.   But, just as often it materializes in not feeling anything.  Empathy is spiritual thirst without the knowledge of what thirst is. If you believe the pop-science we are all chronically dehydrated.  We don't get enough water and what fluid we get is often sugary caffeine flavored water.  Our bodies don't even know how to tell us that they are thirsty anymore.

It's the same with our spiritual thirst.  My generation is so thirsty, but most people can't even associate their feelings with what they actually need.

We are a thirsty people - our thirst is killing us - and yet we do not know our need for the living water.            

I might have already posted about this experience, and these thoughts might be review - but this thought has been in my head all week.

My friend Valya is on the cutting edge of all things hip in our Eastern European city of Lviv, Ukraine.  She runs an international film festival, her mother lives in Italy, and she could wear a trash bag on her head for only a day or two before every young person in the city was doing it.  She always knows of the new restaurant in the basement of a soviet block building in a suburb that has the most amazing food, or some new art exhibit at some abandoned house, or some "post-modern alternative experiential performance piece - with free vegan cookies" to attend.

The last item on that list is in quotation marks because that is how it was advertised.  They advertised on Facebook a "post-modern alternative experiential performance piece."  I knew that I couldn't miss that.  So Valya and I trecked to the "raw space" where they would perform their "post-modern alternative experiential performance piece" and serve their vegan, whole food, raw, locally sourced cookies.

I would like to be quite clear, I'm really down with this crowd.  While I think they could let go of the pretentious attitude and just serve fruit instead of trying to change people's culinary attitudes, I like their vegan crumb cakes and I'm glad that they enjoy expressing themselves.

We found our place behind the white girl with dread-locks and my old neighbor who smokes a lot of pot.

The performance piece began.  It was called masks.  It was about how people wear masks.  At the end, everyone had a piece of paper to open up that ended up in the shape of a mask - and a message of refusing masks was written on it.  The final words were, "Take off your masks.  Everyone, take them off before you die!"  And then the main character died - and the moth characters went into their cocoons.  Again, not for everyone - but I enjoyed it.

What struck me most, and what stays with me to this day - is that, essentially, this was a mix between an outreach event and a revival service.  Just for non-conformists instead of Christians.   They hit the formula perfectly - and they made the exact same mistake that we make.

When you advertise a "post-modern alternative experiential performance piece" you attract a certain group of people.  When your pull is "free vegan cookies" you push a lot of people out of the way.  You attract a certain group of people - people just like yourself - and then you encourage them to become more like you.

When churches advertise a revival they attract a certain group of people - Christians!  When your pull is that "this is an outreach event" you push a lot of people out of the way.

And I can't express how many revivals, outreach events, youth programs, Christian concerts, Revelation based plays, and worship services I have attended which did this exact thing.  They planned an event with the timbre and tone of outreach, evangelism, and faith-sharing; and then they advertised in such a way to ensure that only Christians would show up and then finished off by exhorting them to become Christians.

I was invited by a co-worker to attend revival services at the Southern Baptist church where her husband was pastor.  She was nice, and while theologically she believed there was a warm spot in hell for liberals and Methodists in her heart she knew that I was also a believer and passionately loved Jesus.  I had seen fliers up all over town for the event, and I decided to go.  I was the only person who wasn't a regular attender who came to the revival service during the week.  It was the last night, and as I had never been to such a service I was not aware that showing up unshaven and looking homeless - which was my look at the time - was a clear sign that I was not saved.  After we had sung the lines "Jesus is calling, Oh sinner, come home" forty-three times I quietly whispered to my co-worker that she could tell her husband that I was already saved.  We only sang it twice more before he decided to believe me.    

We are getting better at preaching to the choir.  We're getting worse at preaching to those who need to hear.        

As long as we insist on using the media which worked in the 1940s we will never be heard by people who live today.  Advertising a revival service at a church is no longer the pull for visitors that it once was.  It's easy to confuse the media and the message and we assume that "they" don't want to hear it anymore.

Which brings me back to my friend Valya.  She grew a lot in her faith while she was a student - and she attributes a lot of that to her time with the Pilgrims inter-confessional student ministry operated by the United Methodist Church.  She hasn't found her place in our United Methodist community yet, but as she moves in her circles of hipsters, non-conformists, artists, and outcasts; she caries her faith with her.  She share her faith openly and transparently.  The medium of our message is the same today as it was in the first century.  The medium is transformed disciples transforming the world.

This is what we advertise.  This is what we invite people to witness and join us for.

"Historically, Christianity is overburdened with lust for power and an inclination towards convincing by force. The church must relinquish power, while remaining the ferment throughout all the spheres of life.

Outside of power, the Church may be the light, sometimes barely perceptible and sometimes more evident, depending on the times, the lands and historical possibilities.

We must also reject the idea of influencing societies from the outside.  What we only have left to us are inner influences:  through minds and hearts illuminated by that light and through our various undertakings.  The role of the Christians is making the Church the ferment and not power ... God may expect Christians to be creatively spiritual, their spirituality becoming the breathing of the epoch that would imperceptibly change the society.  All this is very important because we are now tired of Christianity as the ideology of a group, a nation, or a state.  We are tired of the inquisition of the necessity to worry about influence or significance.  We may well be poor and free!" - Olivier Clement

Panni Masha clears weeds from her garden.

Sitting with the pastor of an unaffiliated  church way out in the country I try to explain just what is different about the United Methodist church. By the sheer fact that "connectionalism" isn't a real word, it probably doesn't translate. It's hard to explain our understanding of grace in simple words. I settle on our openness and promise to send some books on our theology.

And hours later I'm still bumping along on a bus built in the 80s on roads paved at Stalin's command. In America, Methodism grew because while all the other denominations focused on the big cities and building great cathedrals we rode out into the villages and started small group after small group. We didn't know which ones would survive the isolation of winter and we certainly didn't know which ones would end feeling the wind of the Holy Spirit and taking off.

American Methodism is failing today in part because we are focusing on the growth of suburban congregations. We pit our greatest preachers against the greatest preachers of the other denominations and we let them duke it out to see who will earn the nominal commitment of the suburban wealthy and elite.

Our best pastors could work miracles in small towns. In suburbs people drive thirty minutes to make the 5 mile trip for Wednesday night Bible Study. You could reach people in three counties if you gave rural people a sermon worth driving thirty minutes to hear.  We could serve so many more people by placing strong pastors in rural churches. It's counterintuitive, but it would work. We must end the habit or belief that dictates that wealthy suburbanites are more worthy of excellent pastor.

Our mission work began in the city because that is where foreigners were welcomed. Now our national leadership is moving out into smaller towns and villages.  It's exciting to be a part of work that is moving out from a central location.  We hope that over the next decade we will spin outwards even further.

I get really angry when people blame the Holy Spirit for their lack of planning, perseverance, and preparation.

The sad reality is that this is a common occurrence in Ukrainian churches.  Lazy pastors choose to not put any effort into preparing anything for a worship service - and then they simply rationalize the abject failure on the fact that the Holy Spirit didn't show up.  The thought process behind this is that after a couple of songs, the spirit will come and everyone will get very emotional and then anything the pastor says will be understood perfectly.

I hate when "the Holy Spirit" and "emotionalism" are used synonymously.  How sad it must be to only understand the Holy Spirit within the context and framework of your own petty emotions.  When people are happy and energetic the Holy Spirit is present and when people are sad or bored the Holy Spirit is absent.

Let me begin by stating for the record that I pray in tongues.

I don't know if this is something I've ever blogged about before.  This might surprise some people.  I believe very strongly in the gift of tongues and I am fully aware of what a beautiful and amazing gift it is.  In times of sorrow and pain, this gift pulls me forward.  In times of uncertainty this gift is miraculous.  It builds me up.  It prepares me for any conversation (even the difficult ones in languages that are still difficult for me) or any situation. It's also a gift that I simply don't talk about all that often.  It's a personal, spiritual discipline - and if I tried to make it public it could easily distract or divide.  It's the gift that comes into play least often in my ministry.

I have almost no musical ability.  I have no rhythm, I can't play any instrument, and I get so nervous standing in front of people trying to lead in singing that it usually ends badly.  But, through the Holy Spirit, I have had and continue to have a wonderful ministry of music.  I've arranged pieces, written new words, found ways to connect hymns with sermons to invigorate them in new ways, and even written a few songs with my mother.

I experience the Holy Spirit most strongly when I sit down with the lectionary or Bible and begin to plan through worship experiences.  As I look through songs, scriptures, and liturgy I feel the sweet breeze of the Holy Spirit's breath.  Every time I preach I pray the single, solitary prayer, "That thing that you do between my mouth and their ears - do it again today."  God's Holy Spirit interprets the muddling, fumbling disconnected words that form in my brain into something meaningful, simple, and life-changing.  This happens routinely.  I have left the pulpit and thought, "Well, I think I'm done writing sermons for a while" only to be greeted by someone with tears in their eyes and a story of a changed heart.

The Holy Spirit is like water being poured from a pitcher - our planning and preparation is like the cup that can receive the water.  Either the cup is there (we plan and prepare) and the water is able to be received and enjoyed or the cup is absent and the water is spilled all over the floor.  Or like wind and a sailboat.  If you don't put up the sail, it doesn't matter how much the wind blows.  The reason that the Methodist movement spread quickly and lasted for centuries is that the structures, methods, and systems created by the Methodists were able to receive the goodness of the Holy Spirit and to push the church forward.  The water went into the cup and nourished the body - it didn't fall needlessly to the floor.

Yesterday I tried to sit down with one of our pastors and plan for a worship service.  He was disgusted that I wanted to plan the service - and that I wasn't willing to let the Holy Spirit plan the service.

God, like most pastors, works more than one day a week!  I'm so thankful that God honors the time we put into preparing and planning our acts of worship.  It's hard to convey that idea without simply doing it.      
          

My uncle encouraged me to invest in the stock market when I was a teenager.  It was one of those things I never got around to.  In college I finally found the time to invest a few dollars in the stock market.  Uncle Randy had explained the process and pitfalls and I felt amazingly comfortable with the idea.

Over the years I've just kept plugging away at investing money - and I'm really proud of the commitment it has  taken to continue investing.  I have invested a few dollars even while unemployed.  I've just put it down in my head that investing is buying a slice of tomorrow, today.  

"Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millenium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns." 


This poem by Wendell Berry always makes me think - these verses are especially poignant for me.   


I'm working with church planters these days - and people who are working to revive congregations that have become tiny.  I love people who are called to this.  They invest their lives in something so intangibly great.  They invest in something that they will never fully see come to fruition.  Most people will never understand what they are doing. 


In America we build new church buildings in new suburbs.  I hate being so blunt, but this is the reality of many successful new church starts.  We desperately need pastors assigned to rural areas, inner-city missions, and struggling communities - as church planters.  


We need churches to be planted - churches that have sprouted from the enthusiasm of new, young believers.


One of the hardest parts of my job is encouraging pastors to keep plugging away.  As a consultant, co-worker, and friend they hope that I can come with some magic bullet.  As an American they hope that my English language speaking tongue will wag blessing on their ministry and it will magically sprout.  This is not reality.  


The advice is constantly give is simple, common sense advice.  Set a scheduled time for the service and have it at the same time every week.  Spend time with church members and prospective church members.  Think about the felt needs of the community and figure out ways for the church plant to meet those needs.  Pray more.  Make the service better in some way every week.  Build events into the worship calendar that are worth advertising.


I haven't sold a single stock yet.  I have friends who do day-trading and lose vast sums of money.  I haven't lost a dime yet in the stock-market.  In fact, I've done rather well for myself.  I've bought at least a couple of weeks of future already!  The key is that I'm in the stock market for the long haul.  I invest as much as I can and I let it do the work that it does.  I check my stocks about once a month and no more often than that.  I don't panic with daily fluctuations of the stock market.


This isn't a direct comparison - business and church are very different.  But I try and keep these ideas in my head as I work with new church planters.  Every day, every dollar matters - we don't look for what will give the most bang for the buck - but for what will leave our grandchildren in the best position.  

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.

-----------------------------------------------------

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.