sheep and coins

Luke 15:1-10
15:1 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him.And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them."
So he told them this parable:

"Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.'

Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

"Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.'

Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

As we enter this story, the tax collectors and sinners are gathering around Jesus.  If we look back a bit, we see that Jesus had just set up the sick and sinners with tremendously good news and he had just let down the rich and powerful.  

On his way to the home of a powerful relgious leader he stops and finds it a more important use of his time to heal a sick man.  They say, politely, that he had "abnormal swelling".  What this means is that this man looks like a freak.  His body is proportioned differently and everyone can see his sickness and disease.  He is cast out from society, and yet Jesus chooses to stop and help him.  

At their outrage, he tells them that at a wedding banquet they shouldn't take the most honorable place - but instead they should sit at the lowliest place and be surprised when they are invited to the head table.  

And Jesus isn't even done turning their worlds upside down:  he then tells them an epic parable about the heavenly banquet feast.  

In one chapter, Jesus puts aside the elite, wealthy, and powerful.  He chooses the sick over the healthy, he heals on the holy day and shames them for not doing the same, he tells them that every rule governing social events for high society are wrong, and then he tells them that the great heavenly banquet is open to everyone - but that some who felt they were worthy for an invitation may have already rejected their chance to get in.  

In one chapter, Jesus changes everything.  And it is after these sentences that we find the tax collectors and sinners gathering around Jesus to hear more.  And as these crowds of undesirable people crowd into the house of this powerful, wealthy religious leader; the pharisees are trapped.  In their own house, in their own party that they are throwing to try and trap Jesus.  

It's like being invited to the mayor's house for a fancy cocktail party and then inviting the residents of every dormitory and homeless shelter to come in for some free wine.  Jesus is tremendously good at wrecking a party and throwing an even better one than before.  

And so the pharisees, terrified by the crowds and seeing no solution, they begin to shame and judge Jesus for eating with sinners.  But, Jesus isn't through with them yet.  

What if one of your sheep is lost?  

It's a poignant question.  What's interesting is that Jesus asks this question to the wrong people.  I've heard many people go on and on about the shepherds of Jesus day and their lifestyle - but Jesus isn't asking this question to any shepherds.  Jesus is asking this question to a group of people who live in a large town. The people he is specifically targeting with this question is a group of religious leaders who wouldn't dare to even be seen with shepherds.    His hosts have never had blisters on their hands.  The tax collectors are wealthy and privileged men.  There might not have been a shepherd in sight for all we know.  What we do know is that these men perceived shepherds as low class, trashy Гопніки.  

It's like this: I went to a lecture given by Mayor Sadovy a few months ago.  It was sponsored by a business and government coalition and was a requirement for many business majors at the University.  He would give a short lecture on business and government working cooperatively and then entertain questions from young professionals.  

I wore my nicest clothes, and I was clearly underdressed.  These young professionals with their too big suits that make them look like 9 year olds playing dress up. And the lecture was great.  And at the end, people lined up to ask questions.  After an hour of questions, not one young business professional had found their way to the microphone.  Everyone who lined up for the microphone was an older person looking for assistance or help.  My favorite was an old man who gave a twenty minute lecture about how dirty the trams are.  

The thought process doesn't line up with the people in the room.  It's like Jesus looking around the room of young professionals and asking, "If the carborator of a 1957 Chevy is acting up, what would you check first?"

The question doesn't line up with the audience who are being asked the question. 

Jesus is speaking about God, and he is reminding them that God is a shepherd.  These people that they think so little of?... God is one of them.   

This might be an update to the story.  For us it is a little bit funny when men work at a preschool. 

If you are working at your day care and you notice that one of the kids is missing, wouldn't you leave all the other kids inside and go out into the street yelling and screaming for the lost child to return.  And when he is found, wouldn't you put him on your shoulders and parade him around the classroom for all to see that he is safely back. 

Because the religious leaders they spend all of their energy portraying that God is so far removed from the people that they can't even connect directly with God.  And Jesus portrays God as someone so close that he is just like us.  

Our God isn't afraid to get his hands dirty.  He's willing to do whatever it takes to find the lost sheep.    

Jesus launches into the next parable.  He begins the question with, "And what woman...?" and this is shocking because he is talking about God.  He is sharing a parable about the character of God and he begins by describing a woman.  

When I was growing up, I really believed that my mom hid things just so after I was finished searching she could saunter in and show me exactly where it was the whole time.  

After searching the cupboards for an hour, my mom could brush past and say - "It's right there, third shelf up, fourth from the right." and pick out the necessary object.  

Or I woudl be searching my room for a toy for an hour and mom would walk in and move a pile of dirty clothes, lift up the carpet, and retrieve the toy from it's spot.  

I really thought that mom hid things so that she could find them later.  

This is apparently a universal gift that God has given to women.  If you can't find something around here, just ask Erica Tatchyn and she will tell you where it is.  Even at my own apartment, I sometimes can't find something and my first thought is which female friend I should call and ask first.  

Jesus describes God as a woman who has lost something and searches everywhere to find it.  

The ten coins would be worth 10 days worth of work.  She lit a lamp to search for the coin.  Either this tells us that the search was so important that she couldn't wait until morning, or this tells us that this woman was so poor that her house was actually an internal room of a larger space - she is too poor to even have her own window.  

And Jesus looks at this room full of educated, important men and the sinners that they despise and Jesus says, "God is like this woman.  This poor woman.  This lowly woman."  

God is for us.  

The Pharisees have been teaching for hundreds of years that God is against us - and we better be good or he is going to get us.  

Jesus teaches that God is for us.  God supports and loves us.  God will search for us when we are lost.  


There's something really special in the way Luke tells these stories.  Matthew tells the story of the sheep - but he uses a different verb.  He says that the sheep have wandered off.  We are the sheep and we have wandered off.  Luke uses "lost" as in "the shepherd lost the sheep."  The woman clearly announces to her neighbors and female friends that she lost her coin.  

Sometimes we feel lost.  We don't feel connected to God.  We feel hurt and betrayed.  

And the Gospel of Luke takes the shame and the guilt away from us.  It's not God's fault that we are lost - but God takes responsibility.  God takes the shame and the guilt away from us.  

Just like everything else.  We are the ones who sinned - and yet Jesus took the pain and the suffering from us and made it his own.  Jesus took it to the cross and left it there.  

God is for us.  

When we feel lost - there is no shame or judgement from God.  There is only welcome and acceptance.  

God is searching us out.  God is searching that we may be brought back to God.  

  

It's the celebration part that upsets them.  They feel that there should be shame for the lost - but God feels that there should be celebration for the found.     

  

Confidential Decisions

In my last week at Robinson Evangelical UMC I had a particularly sad moment.

I loved serving that little community.  I fit right in and was so happy being part of small town life.  The news from the General Board of Global Ministries that I had been hired as a standard support missionary came quickly and unexpectedly.  On Thursday I told our lay leader that I would be announcing my departure on Sunday ... and that the following Sunday would be my last.

I lived in a beautiful house with a big garage which belonged to a church member.  It had been her parent's house and had sat empty for a while.  It was perfect except it lacked a stove.  I had a crock-pot which helped, but I really needed a stove top.  One of the dearest church members told me that her daughter had a stove top range that I could use.  On the Friday before I made my announcement, I was at this woman's house and she proudly announced that her daughter had finally brought it over.

I knew that it wouldn't be right for me to take it and give the impression that I would be using only to return it on Monday.  I couldn't share yet with the congregation that I would be leaving.  I told her that it wasn't what I was looking for and apologized and left.  She seemed a little hurt.

She called the lay leader and complained that I hadn't taken the appliance and kept asking the lay leader why she was crying.

On Sunday she understood why I had refused the cooker.  She cried and hugged me for a long time.

I hate making decisions that can't be immediately shared.  I hate holding any information from people - especially when someone else tells me that I have to.  These days of working with lawyers and property and everything else just hold a lot of information that is "need to know only."  It's not a bad thing.  Most of the information is more positive than negative - but I hate the burden of bearing information.

Again, I am brought back to the adage that "love and time heal all things."  We just keep working for the best solution and I look forward to when I can share all the good news!

Roar!

My cat yawns most of the day.  Mefodyi yawns in such a dramatic, over-sized fashion that I have been trying to take a picture of it.  But, they all end up looking like he is furiously roaring (and maybe a little bit slow.)  I have appreciated having this dumb cat to greet me at the door when I come home after long days.  

I also love how soviet my apartment looks in this picture.  

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.