salvagedfaith

Lots to Brag About

Posted on October 31, 2016Leave a comment

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy wrote this letter of encouragement to people who desperately needed some good news, and my prayer for today is that the word of God heard this morning might be encouragement for our troubled souls, too.

Let us pray:

Holy God, speak into our midst this morning. Fill us with hope, grace, and peace. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts and minds honor You this morning. May they be worthy of your calling and accomplish your faithful work in our midst. Amen.

I thank God for you.

I do. I really do.

I thank God for you, the people of Immanuel United Methodist.

I thank God for the way that the love you all have for each other and the world is increasing.

That love is born from a common struggle.

And as we gather today… not only in worship this morning, but also at our charge conference later this afternoon, we reflect upon another year of ministry.

This year, we did some hard things…

Some of them were challenges that we set before ourselves: like raising money for Joppa or purchasing brand new books for every student at Hillis Elementary.

Some of them were difficulties that arise out of the reality of earthly life: the illnesses, the injuries, the loss of treasured members of our community whom we will celebrate next week with all the Saints.

And some of the struggles we have faced together in the last year, like trying to discern and implement new times for worship, are born out of a reality that the world we live in is changing and we as a church are trying to adapt and provide opportunities for new generations and new people.

But we did these things together… and they helped to form and shape us as the people of God.

Robert Dunham wrote that “common struggle often forges an uncommon unity and love for one another. Like the peace that holds the community fast in turmoil, love for one another and congregational unity are best received and celebrated as gifts.”

The love we have for one another is a gift… the bonds formed in the midst of common struggle are a blessing… and they should be celebrated as such.

Thank you, God.

[the numbers represent images that were projected during the worship service]

[1] Thank you God for the deeper relationships we formed with our neighborhood elementary school, Hillis, as we brought books for so many children and we have more and more people taking just an hour a week to read with those who need some extra help.

[2] And Thank you for helping us to continue efforts like Donuts for Dudes and Muffins for Moms where we can be present in our neighborhood and share God’s love with breakfast.

[3] Thank you God for the ways that young people and their mentors here at the church bonded through hard work, study, and recreation through confirmation this year.

[4] Thank you God for the impact you had on children in our church and community as we worked to help them learn more about your powerful and never-ending love.

[5] Thank you God for the ways that members of our community show up to support the work of each other… even when their efforts aren’t related to Immanuel… like these runners did in supporting the Clover Dash organized by one of our youth.

[6] Thank you God, for calling our leadership to deeper faithfulness and helping us to have hard conversations about your calling for our church in this world.

[7] Thank you God, for bringing together men of all ages in fellowship and for new relationships formed over barbeque and basketball.

[8] Thank you for challenging us to stretch beyond our own teams and ministries to build new partnerships with others, like the Interfaith Green Team Coalition.

[9] Thank you God, for those who give so faithfully of their time and energy to create this amazing space for us all to worship and learn about you in.

[10] Thank you God for the faithfulness of our predecessors like Mrs. Simser and the bibles we give our children and the faithfulness of bible partners and teachers.

[11] Thank you God for a seven year partnership and relationship with Imani church

[12] and for blessing both us and them as they moved to a new location and continue their ministry there.

[13] Thank you God for the ministry of Joppa and the relationships we are creating with the homeless in our community as we go out to where they live and bring them items they need.

[14] and thank you for challenging us to expand our ministry to provide new resources… and in the process helping us to build new and deeper relationships with each other through the MASSIVE garage sale.

[15] Thank you God for sending our VIM team back to Milwaukee to build new relationships and work again in familiar places

[16] and for the deep connections that are created when we labor together for a common good.

[17] Thank you God for those who not only prepare meals for us every week, but who care for and minister to one another in good times and in bad.

[18] Thank you God for those who knit and purl and crochet and create blankets and shawls that we distribute to those who are experiencing transition or loss or health problems… extending the love of Immanuel to those who need it the most.

[19] Thank you God for life groups that push us to try new things, including leaping off of cliffs

[20] Thank you for our nursery and for Wendi and Pat, Gretchen and Zach.

[21] Thank you for our staff

[22] Thank you for the youth and volunteers and chaperones who go out and represent us so well in the community.

[23] Thank you, God.

Thank you.

You know, I started out just trying to find a few highlights of the amazing work God has been doing here among us and the list just kept going on and on and on.

As Paul and company write to the church in Thessalonica, there really is so much to brag about. There is so much to tell about. There is so much to give thanks to God for.

But I also don’t want to gloss over the challenge that is presented within this text.

I chose our passage for this morning because it is part of what we call the Revised Common Lectionary. And each week, four texts are assigned for Sunday morning worship – something from the Old Testament, something from the Epistles, something from Psalms, and a gospel reading.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be focusing on the Epistles… the letters to the early church… and looking for all of the ways that we are called to be grateful and to give thanks in this writings.

Today’s assigned scripture skips a section of the text, however.

And the more I thought about what we have been learning over these past few weeks about discipleship and the more we lean into a life of gratitude over the next few weeks, I don’t think we have the luxury of skipping those passages.

This is the text in its fullness… without skipping the hard parts:

³Brothers and sisters, we must always thank God for you. This is only right because your faithfulness is growing by leaps and bounds, and the love that all of you have for each other is increasing. ⁴That’s why we ourselves are bragging about you in God’s churches. We tell about your endurance and faithfulness in all the harassments and trouble that you have put up with. ⁵This shows that God’s judgment is right, and that you will be considered worthy of God’s kingdom for which you are suffering. ⁶After all, it’s right for God to pay back the ones making trouble for you with trouble ⁷and to pay back you who are having trouble with relief along with us. This payback will come when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his powerful angels. ⁸He will give justice with blazing fire to those who don’t recognize God and don’t obey the good news of our Lord Jesus. ⁹They will pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the Lord’s presence and away from his mighty glory. ¹⁰This will happen when he comes on that day to receive honor from his holy people and to be admired by everyone who has believed—and our testimony to you was believed.

¹¹We are constantly praying for you for this: that our God will make you worthy of his calling and accomplish every good desire and faithful work by his power. ¹²Then the name of our Lord Jesus will be honored by you, and you will be honored by him, consistent with the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are reminded in this text that the journey of faith is not easy.

As Robert Dunham puts it, “the Christian calling is seldom to a vocation of ease and comfort, but to a unity with Christ in suffering.”

And this isn’t the suffering of aches and pains, of loss and difficulty that every person experiences… it is the suffering, the harassment, the struggle that comes because we claim to be people of God.

As people of faith, God is continually calling us to do hard things.

God is calling us to take unpopular stands on important issues.

God is calling us to stand with the poor and the marginalized.

God is calling us to leave our comfort zones go and be in ministry with the least and the last and the lost.

And maybe the hardest of them all… God is calling us to be honest and real about our own vulnerabilities, our own brokenness, struggle, and pain, so that this community can walk with us, can love us, can remind us over and over again about the love of God in Jesus Christ that can transform even our broken souls.

That’s what church is all about. Growing in love for each other and in love for God.

May we continue to do hard things.

May we continue to hear and be faithful to God’s call.

May we continue to be formed in love born of our common struggle to truly be disciples of Jesus Christ in this world.

Amen.

Rusty Leftovers

Posted on October 23, 2016Leave a comment

I want to start out this morning with a testimony… This is my experience and I hope and pray that my own story might somehow connect with yours and that the transformation in my own life might point to the way that God might also work in yours.

This testimony however is about a topic that makes a whole lot of us uncomfortable… but it is part of our daily lives. This morning, I’m going to talk about money.

And my testimony is this: It took me three years of serving a congregation… three years of being a pastor… before I tithed to the church.

You might hold pastors up on a pedestal or think that as a pastor I do all of the things that people of faith are supposed to do like feed the hungry, pray every morning, read the bible cover to cover all the time, and give 10% of their money to the church.

But pastors are just like everyone else. We are disciples, too. We have struggles and successes. We have places where we are explorers and beginners. Only sometimes are we truly mature in every part of our faith. There is always room to grow deeper in our relationship with God… even for pastors.

I often gave to the church… but for a long time, I made excuses about how much I should give.

When I was a teenager and had occasional part time jobs, I might have stuck a dollar or two in the offering plate – whatever pocket change I might have had that day. It was the last of my money… not the best.

When I was in college, I did not attend a church regularly on Sundays, but worshipped on campus Wednesday nights – and no one asked for a financial contribution. No one asked me to give, much less give sacrificially. So I didn’t.

As a seminary student and an intern at a church, I was spending more money on school and travel than I was making and piling up debt. I gave my time to the church and occasionally a few bucks as well.

And then I was commissioned and sent to First UMC in Marengo. I was sent to be their pastor and I knew that I could not ask them, in good faith, to give faithfully to the church and to God, if I was not also giving.

Having a steady paycheck for the first time in my life, I should have immediately started tithing. But I didn’t. I held back. I looked at my student loans and debt from college… I looked at how much our cable bill was going to be… I thought about how we wanted to travel a bit… I knew that taxes would take a chunk of my wages… And so I started out small. I gave to the church – but only a small portion.

And then, I became comfortable with that level of financial giving. I knew I was doing God’s ministry in other ways and so I didn’t worry about it.

But one day about three years into ministry, I was having a conversation with a friend, a fellow pastor, about the things that we cling to… the things we hold close and refuse to give to God.

I realized in the midst of that conversation that I had never willingly yielded my money to God.

There had been times when I had given out of guilt.

I have given because it was what I was supposed to do.

I have given out of habit as the offering place went around and each person in the pew pulled out a few bucks and dropped it in.

Sound familiar?

But never had I prayerfully thought about what God wanted me to give.

Never had I searched my heart to ask what I was willing to yield, what I was willing to joyfully give up in my life, for the sake of our Lord and our church.

This conversation was a conversion experience for me, and I really prayed about what God could do through the gifts that were placed in my hands and started giving more to the church on a regular basis…

The next year as we made our financial commitments, my heart led me to set aside a full 10% of my salary for the Kingdom of God.

In Marengo, the church struggled with finances and they didn’t have a lot of money to pay their pastor…. But I found that even… maybe especially… because I was giving, I had enough.

I joyfully gave that money to God… and I have to tell you – I didn’t miss one cent. I still don’t!

And maybe that’s because in the process I learned how to give to the church first. I make sure that the gifts I have committed come out of my paycheck before it ever comes home with me.

I learned how to give God my first and my best, instead of the change in my pocket – instead of the leftovers from my own spending and desires.

In Leviticus, we hear instructions for this early agricultural society to leave the crops on the edges and on the corners for the needy in the midst. The farmers were not supposed to harvest every last seed and kernel, but rather let them remain in the fields so that the poor could go through the fields and glean the leftovers for themselves.

A portion of the harvest, of the economic benefit earned by the farmers, was to be let go of before it was even taken out of the fields. It belongs to God… and God desires that it belongs to those who need it the most.

Today, not all of us are physically out in the fields harvesting the grain… but we can think about setting aside a portion of our income… a portion of our take home pay… for God’s use before it ever makes it into our bank accounts.

Instead of giving to God what is leftover after all of our other expenses… necessities and luxuries… we can leave that portion of our gifts in God’s hands first.

A year or so after I had this discipleship conversion and grew in my generosity, Bishop Trimble asked me to lead Imagine No Malaria.

I had just learned how to give… but I was so excited about what God could do through the dollars and cents entrusted to our care…

Maybe that made me exactly the right person to help United Methodists across the state give over $2million to help fight malaria… often $5 and $10 at a time. Millions of children are alive today because you helped purchase a net, and train a community health worker, and provide malaria medication.

In Matthew, we are invited to stop hoarding the blessings of our lives, and instead set them free for the Kingdom of God:

As The Message translation puts it: “Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.”

The old adage says, you can’t take it with you… and its true. Our time here on earth is short and piling on pleasures and wants and desires doesn’t get us anything but a house full of stuff that someone else is going to have to sort through.

Where you put your treasure is where you end up, Jesus says.

My family still has a cable subscription and a Netflix subscription… and an amazon prime subscription… and I know I still have some growth to do in my personal discipleship. Because let me tell you – I am putting some of my treasure into those forms of entertainment and almost every night I end up sitting on the couch in front of the television.

Where you put your treasure is where you end up, Jesus says.

Television and new clothes and name-brand cereal… they don’t last. They will all wear out without having made an ounce of difference in this world.

What lasts is the kingdom of God. What lasts is the word of God. What lasts is the joy that I have found through letting go of my desires to ask what God needs from me.

This week, I had the amazing experience of traveling to Atlanta to attend the first meeting of the Global Ministries Board of Directors. I was elected by the jurisdiction to serve as a Director for the next four years.

One of the executive staff members is Dr. Olusimbo Ige who heads up our Global Health ministries. Dr. Ige is trained as a community physician, which means she is not only a medical doctor, but also has background in community development, engineering, finance… she is trained to help make the entire community well.

Dr. Ige shared that she could put her extensive skills to work in a hospital and make $500 – 600,000 a year… but when she sees the lives transformed in a village where babies are surviving birth and children stop dying from malaria… she knows that she is doing the work she is supposed to do.

Today, you will be asked to help contribute funds for UMCOR blankets and health, sewing, and school kits for Ingathering.

This past week, I heard countless stories of how those kits and blankets are being used across this world. I heard about 5,000 girls in South Sudan who received school kits this year… about women in Armenia who are using sewing kits to learn a new skill and support themselves economically… pregnant moms in Liberia who had no prenatal or obstretic care… but because of the United Methodist Church… because of our gifts and resources… because we traveled to their remote village and brought life-saving interventions every single one of the 123 babies born this year lived.

Where you put your treasure is where you end up, Jesus says…

And as United Methodists, we end up all over this world, doing amazing things for the Kingdom of God.

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

You see, friends, God does not want your money, if God doesn’t have your heart.

God doesn’t have any use for your stuff, if you won’t let go of your soul.

God doesn’t care about the things that you own… even if they could be used to help other people… unless you are willing to share with God your life.

Our generosity is a deep part of our discipleship… of our relationship with and for God.

Grow in your love of God… grow in your love of neighbor… and let God grow your generosity for this world.

Salt and Light

Posted on October 16, 2016Leave a comment

Last week, I talked briefly about the root of the word, politics… how it refers to the city or the citizen… and how at its core, politics are the relations between people who live in a society. As Christians who live in this society, we have unique sympathies that guide our engagement in this society.

But there is another reason why Christians shouldn’t shy away from politics.
It is because our very faith is political.
We serve a leader who will never be in the White House.
We claim citizenship in a Kingdom that includes this country… but is far bigger than this world.
We pledge our allegiance… as we affirm in the vows of baptism … to Jesus Christ, our Savior and promise to serve him as our Lord.
Those are political statements.
Men and women through the ages have died for believing those things… and yet, we believe them anyways.
When we become disciples, we choose to serve the Kingdom of God.
As disciples, we serve… we follow… the risen Lord.

So, what does it mean to be a disciple in today’s world?
It doesn’t matter if they are man-made problems like Aleppo, or natural disasters like Hurricane Matthew… the chaos of our climate today is overwhelming and part of us wants to run inside the safety of our homes and ignore it. But as disciples, we are called to love and serve this world.
How can we, the church, serve the Kingdom today?

This morning, we find our answer in Matthew’s version of the Sermon on the Mount.
In “The Message” translation, Eugene Peterson, starts off these verses with these words:
“Let me tell you why you are here…”
You see, this whole sermon is full of instructions for the people of God. It reminds us of the attitudes we are supposed to carry with us into the world. And it tells us what we are supposed to do – how we are supposed to live. These words of Jesus are so important we are going to take the first part of next year, in January and February and dive in deep to this message.
Today, we focus on a few verses that describe our witness to the world.

Whenever we see the word “serve” or “service” we often think about the good works we perform or the ways we give and distribute goods. We think of projects like Ingathering and school kits, Joppa, CFUM, all of those ways we use our hands and feet to make a difference.
But “to serve” also means “to be of use” and points to a specific purpose for being and belonging.
“Let me tell you why you are here…” Jesus says.
Let me tell you how you can serve me, how you can serve my Kingdom…
“You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth.”
We are the salt of the earth.

I know that some of us here can’t always have salt, because of dietary restrictions, and perhaps you know better than all the rest of us about how useful salt is!
When you sprinkle salt on watermelon or on tomatoes – the flavor of those fruits become brighter and more crisp! When salt is added to soup, it becomes rich and deep. When we sprinkle salt onto roasted vegetables, or French fries…. Mmmm…
Salt takes what is already there and it brings out the flavors. It helps us to taste what was hidden.
That is our job as disciples. We point to the hidden work of God in this world and bring it out. We are supposed to help the world see and taste and experience God – even though they can’t always see him.
And one of the ways that we can be the salt of the earth is by pointing to the good news and movement of God in the world… by lifting up stories of hope and life. Remembering those stories, pointing to those stories, telling those stories to our friends and our neighbors help us to remember that there is hope even in desperate situations. And they allows us to share the source of our hope – Jesus Christ.

On our “next step discipleship” handout for today… you’ll notice that the very first step, our exploring step… is that we simply notice, we are aware of, the salty people in the world. We start to see that God is moving through in our midst and we, too, want to join in.

And once we become aware… once our eyes are opened, then we can go out and serve.

The thing about salt is that it does no good sitting on the shelf. You have to use it! Just as salt has to make contact with food to be effective, so as people of faith, we need to be out in the world, helping folks, praying with them, listening to their stories.

And the next step you can take as a disciple is to go out there and try it out. Hear that call to serve and try seasoning something!

This church has so many different ways that you can dip your toes in to a world of service. You can prepare casseroles for Under-The-Bridge. You can go to CFUM and dish out supper one night. You can join with others and package meals. You can bring in canned food items for DMARC. Next week, you can give towards the Ingathering kits which will be sent across this world to help those in need…
But your salty life isn’t confined to the church… It also happens in your own backyard.

Every time you attend a youth sporting event or concert…
Every time you mow your neighbor’s lawn…
Every time you sit down and have coffee with someone, you can be, bringing out the God-flavor in this community.

You can let people know they are important, that they matter, and that you – and God – are there.

Jesus continues by putting this message another way – you are here in this world to be light – to help the world see God.
This faith of ours is not a secret to be kept locked up – it’s meant to be made public – it’s meant to shine out wide and far.
And friends, we all shine in different ways.
Some of us are a strand of Christmas lights twinkling in the cold darkness.
Some of us are campfires that provide warmth and light and food.
Some of us are flashlights – portable, willing to go anywhere to be of service at any time.
And as we think about the next steps in our discipleship, part of what we need to do as we serve God is figure out what kind of servant we are called to be. What are the unique gifts that God has placed in my life? What are the things I can offer to this world?
Do you have a passion for food? Or art? Are you able to teach? Or called to lead? Are you an encourager? Or do you have a knack for understanding technology?
Our Lord and Savior does not want or need people who all fit the same mold. We are each here, called into community, because it is our unique gifts, fitting together, that create a light that shines far beyond what any one of us could do.

And that light is meant not for the church… but for the world.
We can’t keep the good news hidden away. We can’t keep the transforming power of God under a basket. We have to let it shine.
As disciples, we are ambassadors for God everywhere we go. The clothes you wear, the place you choose to visit and live in, the work you do, the protests you join, the types of people you eat with in public… all of these things can tell the world something about you… AND the God who you claim to follow.

The question is… what message is your light sending to the world?

“Let me tell you why you are here…”
Every day you are a living witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ… whether you want to be or not!
So, disciples… citizens of the Kingdom of God… choose today to serve Jesus.
Choose this week to go into the world loving, praying, and serving.
Choose this week to be the salt and light that will open the eyes and the heart of someone to God for the first time.
Be that salty, light-filled person that will cause someone else to say, “wow… I want to know more about why they do that.”
May we be salt. May we be light.
Amen.

Fruit that Won’t Spoil

Posted on October 9, 2016Leave a comment

Since we are continuing this morning with the gospel of John this week and Jesus’ imagery of the vine, I thought I’d share with you another story about my own garden.

It has been a very busy couple of weeks, and although I have had time to glance at the pumpkins, I pretty much have ignored the rest of the garden.

I gathered all of the tomatoes I could weeks ago and I have jars of marinara and frozen stewed tomatoes packed away in the freezer. The peppers never really grew and the lettuce was chewed away by the rabbits before we got to eat it.

This weekend however, I had the chance to do some yard work and clear out the garden, plant some perennials, and prepare for the changing seasons.

And I discovered tomatoes on the vines again!

There are probably 100 little cherry tomatoes currently ripening on the vines, and a few romas as well.

But here is the thing. Some of those tomatoes have been there a while. I reached out to grab one that looked red and juicy and… well… it was juicy all right. And rotten to the core. As soon as I touched it, the tomato burst open with a foul smelling mess.

Sometimes, fruit stays on the vine too long.

The entire purpose of being a part of the vine… being a branch connected to the source is to bear fruit. And as we learned last week, the closer to the core of the vine you are, the sweeter and more abundant the fruit will be.

But that fruit is meant for a purpose!

The grapes on the vine are meant for eating and juice making, sustenance and community. They are meant to be dried into raisins or pickled and preserved. The fruit is not for the sake of the vine. The fruit is for the sake of the world!

As Jesus says in verse 16 – I chose you… YOU… and I appointed you so that you could GO and produce fruit and so that your fruit would last. Or as the Message translation puts it… “I put you in the world to bear fruit… that won’t spoil.”

If we take a step back from these few verses, we find that the vine and the branches are part of a larger speech Jesus is sharing with the disciples at the last supper. They have broken bread together, and share the cup, and Judas has left the table to betray him.

As Jesus looks around at each of the disciples… those people who have been with him, learning from him, walking in his footsteps, closely connected to God in thought, word, and deed, he wants to prepare them for what comes next.

Yes, Jesus will be handed over to the authorities. Yes, Jesus will die. Jesus will be resurrected, but will no longer be physically present with this rag tag bunch of followers in the same way.

What are they supposed to do then? What are WE supposed to do… those of us today who have never met Jesus, never seen his face or heard his voice?

We are to love.

A new command I give to you, Jesus says, Love one another.

Remain in my love. Abide in my love. Live in my love.

Love each other just as I have loved you.

Last week, we talked about many of the ways we can stay connected to Jesus and remain part of the vine. We can read the scriptures, we can pray, we can study and learn from others on the journey.

But at some point, we have to take what we read and put it into practice.

If we simply learn the words of Jesus… if we spend all of our time reading the bible or in prayer and we don’t go out into the world to share the fruit that has been formed in us… then we are just like those tomatoes on my vines. We are going to rot in place.

Every time we pray…

Every time we read the scriptures…

Every time we gather in a small group to learn from each other…

Every time you sit in this sanctuary and listen to a sermon here is what I want you to do…

Something!

Do something!

And friends, there are two questions that will get you started:

First, how does this apply to my life?

Second, what am I being asked to do?

At some point, we have to take what we read and put it into practice.

At some point, being connected to the vine means we have to bear fruit… and that fruit has to go out into the world.

At some point, God’s love in us needs to spill out into love for others.

“I give you these commandments so that you can love each other.”

And that means that what we read in the bible about how we should treat strangers and refugees we need to put into practice.

It means that when we read in the bible that the church should visit the sick and pray with them, we need to do it.

When we read in the bible the call to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God, we need to ask – how does this apply to my life? What should I do?

“I chose you and appointed you so that you could go and produce fruit and so that your fruit could last.”

You and I are called to bear fruit… fruit of love, grace, and mercy… fruit that will transform this world.

This fruit is not meant for us to hoard… it is meant for the widow and orphan. It is meant for the rich and the powerful. It is meant for the stubborn and addicted. It is meant for people of every color and ability. It is meant for friend and for foe. It is meant for all.

I’ve been thinking a lot about our responsibility as Christians to bear fruit that will last during this election cycle.

Politics might seem like a dirty word, but the truth is that it comes from the Greek words that mean the citizen or the city. Politics at is core are simply the relations between people who live in a society. Politics are the political opinions or sympathies of a person. (Mirriam-Webster)

And as Christians who live in this society, as people who follow in the footsteps of Jesus and bear the fruit of the gospel to the world, we have political opinions and sympathies.

I cannot, and will not every tell you who to vote for or which party, if any, to align yourselves.

But I do firmly believe that as citizens of a nation in which every person has a voice and a vote that one of the ways we bear fruit that lasts… fruit that doesn’t spoil… is by participating in the democratic process. And I believe the votes you cast should be a reflection of the faith that has been formed by these scriptures.

Every vote matters, and every race, from city council to the highest office in the land matters.

The people we elect will influence the economic lives of our neighbors, the institutions of education that form our children, the health care systems that care for the least among us. They will uphold or create laws that govern life and death. They will impact if we have sidewalks next to our streets, whether or not mental health care is provided, and our relationship with other nations.

One of the realities is that our faith does not fit neatly into one political party or platform over and above others. And so the hard work for people of faith this time of year is to spend time in prayer and discernment before casting our votes.

But perhaps as our scripture reminds us today there is really only one word that we need to remember… only one command that Jesus says will shape every facet of our life together.

Love.

We are called to love.

Not to hoard love, but to share it.

May this world reflect the love of Christ because we have been fruit bearers.

Amen.

The Sweetest Grapes are Closest to the Vine

Posted on October 2, 2016Leave a comment

This spring when I planted my garden, I included some pumpkins for my husband.

Typically, I try to avoid plants with vines, because they tend to take over the entire garden. I plant bush varieties of cucumbers and squash and beans to keep everything more compact.

But pumpkins don’t come in bush varieties 😉

I planted only four seeds… all together in one mound…

They were planted at the right depth, they were watered and weeded. And the vines grew.

As the summer went on, the vines took over the garden with their broad leaves and bright yellow flowers. Stretching the entire length of my garden were glorious vines and the beginning of fruits. The weather was perfect for vine production… maybe not so much for fruit… but definitely for vines.

But there were some scattered ugly brown vines here and there.

In the midst of all of the living, thriving vines, some were dying.

Now… the pumpkins really did take over much of my garden. And so I had to tread carefully through the chaos to trace those dying vines and find the source of the problem.

All of them were connected to a single branch… a single shoot off of the main stalk that had been severed from the vine. Perhaps it was a rabbit or a chipmunk. Maybe a bug. Maybe I stepped on it. No matter what had happened, every vine that branched off from that point was dying because it was no longer connected to the roots and stem that gave it life.

In our scripture this morning, we are reminded that we will die spiritually… that we are incapable of producing fruit when we are not attached to the vine, when we are not connected to the roots which nourish us.

And our true vine is Christ… the Christ we meet in worship… the Christ we meet in God’s Word… the Christ we meet in fellowship and in the face of the stranger.

As I studied this scripture, I set aside my paltry knowledge of pumpkins and turned to the world of grapes.

Did you know that the best and the sweetest grapes are found closest to the vine?

Nancy Blakely reflects that this is because they are closer to the source, “where the nutrients are the most concentrated.” In fact, this is why growers of grapes are so diligent about pruning their vines… because the farther away from the vine the grapes are, the bitterer and the smaller they will be.

But close in, close to the heart of the vine, abiding near the heart, they find the nourishment they need and produce bountifully.

As we have been exploring a life of discipleship, so far we have explored what it means to be people who worship and people who share in God’s hospitality towards others.

But we also need to be fed and nourished in our work. As Jesus reminds us in the gospel of John:

“A branch can’t produce fruit by itself, but must remain in the vine. Likewise, you can’t produce fruit unless you remain in me… without me, you can’t do anything.”

So today, we turn our attention towards our spiritual formation, or how we stay connected to the vine. What it means to abide in God and to remain in Jesus.

Take out the half sheet of paper that describes those various levels of spiritual formation.

Maybe you are a small bunch of grapes way out there on the edge of the vine. Many of us in worship today want to know more about God and Jesus and you are curious and getting started. And that is amazing.

We have third graders who will be learning today with their bible partners after worship… but even if you are older than a third grader, its not too late to start.

All of us should be reading the bible… it is the number one way that we stay connected with Jesus. And it is a whole lot easier when you are in a safe place where you can ask questions and learn together.

We have been trying to offer Sunday morning bible studies, and I, personally, have been disappointed that more of you have not signed up. Maybe it’s not the right time… but bible study itself is something that this church really needs in order for us to grow spiritually.

In fact, this is so important to me, that starting in November, I’m going to be leading a bible study every Wednesday night, and I’d love for you to join me.

Maybe you are a bunch of grapes that is a bit closer in to the vine. Growing a bit sweeter and bigger and fuller. Do you regularly spend time reading your bible? Are you finding other ways to connect with God through prayer or contemplation?

Maybe then your next step is to go deeper with others. Our life groups have been places where many have been formed and have grown in their faith as they connect with God or each other. They have made prayer beads, and explored topics like forgiveness and stewardship. Some of our in-depth scripture studies like Covenant or Disciple have really challenged people to take seriously the bible in a new way. If you are ready to go deeper… we have resources – either within the church or through retreats like Walk to Emmaus to help you connect more fully to the one true vine.

Maybe you are a strong bunch of grapes… ripe, sweet, and full… right up there tucked in close to the vine. Are you in a place where get up every day, ready to connect with God? Do you not simply wait for the church to offer something, but seek out opportunities to learn and to grow?

Maybe your next step is to turn your life-giving energy towards others. Whether it is a partner for our third graders, or a leader of a class or life group, or personally mentoring someone… in helping another person grow, you will grow in new ways yourself.

One limitation of our vine metaphor is that it makes us think we are fixed in and we are not.

You are not limited by wherever it is you are on the vine.

If you are a tiny, sour little bunch of grapes way out on the edge, you can take the next step and move a bit closer to God.

If you are a bunch of grapes that is not yet ripe, but growing… you can take the next step and move a bit closer to God.

And you can carry the vine itself with you wherever you might go. This vine is not meant to be stuck in the ground at 2900 49^th Street…. We are meant to move and be engaged in the world with Jesus.

Now, there is another category of people who are not listed on this sheet, but who come up in our scripture: The spiritually wilted and dying.

Maybe you were closely connected to the vine at some point, but that day has come and gone.

You know, none of us are perfect.

All of us let things besides God into the center of our lives at one time or another.

Just like my vines were cut off by critters or bugs or clumsy feet, maybe you were disconnected by work or family responsibility, disappointment or doubt.

The troubling part of this scripture for me is always the part about the pruning. It appears like God the vinedresser simply snips off those dead and wilted branches from the vine, throws them in the fire or compost pile, and forgets about them… just like I did with my pumpkin vines this summer.

So is there any hope for those of us who aren’t as connected as we would like?

No matter who you are or where you are in your relationship with God, there is always a chance to take a next step and be formed spiritually.

Even if you have broken away from the vine.

You see… the same God who talks about pruning also talks about grafting.

Grafting is a process where a branch can be attached to the trunk and roots of another tree – in many cases, different types of trees and plants are connected together for hybridization and for strength and growth.

In the scriptures, Paul talks not about vines, but about trees… the family tree of God. The gentiles were grafted on to that tree… brought into the family after some of the faithful branches broke off.

In Romans, chapter 11, he talks about those branches were broken off because of their own unbelief.

But if God could take us… gentiles who didn’t belong… and graft us on to the tree… then God has the power to reattach the broken branches, too.

Even the branches that appear to be dead and dying have the ability to be restored by God’s grace.

This morning, the bread and juice from this table will go to our homebound members who are not able to be physically present with us today, so too do we need to take the vine with us to those who are in danger of being cut off.

You are the hands and feet, the branches and leaves of Christ in this world. And maybe you are the reconnection point for someone you know. Maybe it is your own son or daughter. Or a friend. It might be a neighbor who hasn’t opened a bible or door to a church in a very long time.

With God’s grace and strength flowing through you, let the love of God that abides in you overflow into your love for them.

This World Communion Sunday reminds us that we don’t do faith all by ourselves. Every part of the Body of Christ across this globe is a branch of the one true vine. And parts of this world are broken and hurting, full of anger, pain, and grief.

But as Kate Huey puts it, “Here, up close to the vine, immersed in [God’s love and peace], we find not only nourishment but also hope and joy, and we let God’s word ‘find a home in us through faithful devotion… ‘ When we remain that close to Jesus, we attuned to him and he to us, the remarkable result is that what we want will be what God wants, and it will surely come to pass.”

And it will take all of us, living together in love, growing deeper in our love and knowledge of God, to truly transform this world into what God desires. But we aren’t alone.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Everyday, Ordinary Worship

Posted on September 18, 2016Leave a comment

It’s Sunday morning.

According to the Pew Research Center, even though 77% of adults in Iowa claim the Christian faith, only 36% of those people commit to going to church worship at least once a week.

Another 33% attend anywhere between twice a month to a few times a year.

If we are generous with our numbers, maybe half of Des Moines is not participating in a religious worship service this morning.

So what are your friends and neighbors doing?

They’re sleeping in. Or at softball games. They are relaxing on the porch with the newspaper. Or at brunch at one of the many amazing restaurants in the city. They are traveling back home after being away tailgating at a game yesterday.

I see your wheels turning. Those things sound amazing! Why didn’t I do those things? Why didn’t we stay home today?

I’m going to share with you a confession.

When I stepped away from congregational ministry to lead Imagine No Malaria, I didn’t go to church every single Sunday.

I traveled, preached, and led worship in churches on Sundays all across the state, but when I actually had the chance to be home, the temptation to actually be home and not go to worship was real.

And here is something I discovered. The more I stayed away, the easier it was to stay away.

I felt less guilty about it, not more. Honestly, I didn’t really even think about it.

But on those Sundays a couple times a month when I was back in a church, I realized how disconnected from God I had been.

Why do we worship?

Is it out of habit? Obligation?

Do we come on Sunday mornings to be fed and renewed?

Are we here to gain God’s favor? Or to hang out with those people who have the same beliefs as us?

In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he addresses the divisions in the community and how focusing our attention on God transforms every aspect of our life.

As the end of chapter 11 states in the Message translation:

Is there anyone around who can explain God?

Anyone smart enough to tell [God] what to do?

Anyone who has done [God] such a huge favor that God has to ask their advice?

Everything comes from [God];

Everything happens through [God];

Everything ends up in [God];

Always glory! Always praise!

Yes. Yes. Yes.

If that is God… the beginning and end of everything… what does it mean to worship?

It means, according to Paul, that we honor and praise God by putting our very lives into God’s hands… by discovering who God has created me to be and then by responding out of love.

Hear again our scripture for this morning from the Message translation

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what [God] wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

The time we spend in worship is about honoring God by being in relationship with God.

And you know what… relationships take work. They take time and energy. It is hard to be in a relationship with someone you don’t spend any time with.

When we gather to worship, we are saying that God is the focus of our attention, our energy, our time, our life.

It is about living out the commandment to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

In worship, we encounter the living God and allow that encounter to shape everything else.

Worship has nothing to do with you. Worship isn’t about the songs you sing or the money you put in the offering plate. It isn’t about your preferences or desires. Worship reminds us that all of it… our time, our energy, our money, our voices… they aren’t ours to begin with. Everything begins with God… everything ends with God… It all belongs to God already.

And the more time we spend with God in worship, the more we realize that worship is not about what we do for God: an obligation, a responsibility, a duty… but worship is about what God does for us.

As Paul writes in this chapter of Romans, “the only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and what God does for us… Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of [the body of Christ].”

Lisa Gungor, the singer/songwriter says – “It’s hard to truly worship and not be changed. When we are connected with our Maker, we are pulled outside of our self; we begin to live for something more. Love is the reaction to [encountering God in worship]” (http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/worship/features/25684-whats-the-point-of-worship)

And the opposite is true, too… when we are disconnected from God… when we don’t worship, then we start to turn inward on ourselves and our world becomes much smaller.

When I chose not to spend time in worship, I found myself distracted by the world’s values and temptations. There was even a time when I doubted my call… when I started to think that I could get a job doing something outside the church and just walk away and never look back.

I was forgetting what God had done for me.

How could I just walk away from that? How on earth was that part of the great commandment to love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength?

I wasn’t part of a community, a part of a worship experience that reminded me of who God was and who God created me to be.

That’s what those people sitting next to you in the pew are for… to remind you. To tell you the story again and again. To hold that truth sacred, even if you forget it.

That’s what worship is about… It is rediscovering, over and over again, who God is and who God created us to be and responding to the good news of God’s love by being those people.

Worship in its fullest sense is about far more than simply showing up for an hour on a particular day of the week.

Worship is about taking those everyday, ordinary parts of our life… the sleeping, eating, going-to-work, walking- around life, and letting God have control of them. Letting God’s power fill them. Letting God’s love shape them. Every moment. Of every day.

All throughout this series on discipleship, we are recognizing that this journey of following of Jesus isn’t easy.

We all start in different places… like the servants in the parable who each had a different set of talents.

And the same is true of our worship experiences.

I know this room has people who fall in that category of the 33% of Iowans who only come to worship once a month or a few times a year. And I am so glad you are here today.

I know this room has people has people who show up faithfully for church every Sunday, but who are simply going through the motions and don’t ever expect to really encounter God here.

And there are people who not only show up, but bring with them the willingness to be transformed and changed through this time.

There are people in this room who not only worship on Sundays, but take time to be with God through worship and devotions in your homes and families.

I’m so glad that all of you are here.

Wherever you are… whatever has brought you to this place… you have a chance to take the next step.

You don’t have to go from attending church once a month to doing a daily devotion tomorrow. God doesn’t expect that of you. But God does invite you to take one more step. To take one step closer. To grow in your ability to love God, to serve God, to open your heart in prayer to God.

And God would love for you to take just one more step deeper in your faith life. To take the next step from wherever you are. To let go of just a little bit more… because it’s all God’s anyways…

When strangers meet in the woods..

Posted on September 16, 2016Leave a comment

I was run/walking today on a wooded path alone. Three guys were heading towards me, drinking beers, joking around. My heart rate increased. I did that mental calculus, wondering if something happened, and I screamed, would anyone hear.

As they got closer, one of the guys said: good morning, ma’am!

So I said good morning back.
Are you having fun? He asked.
Trying! I said back.
Keep at it! He responded.

Earlier in my walk, I came across a deer in the middle of the path. While I was far off, it simply watched, waited, did it’s own mental calculus. I was actually astonished at how close we came.

But them my ear buds beeped, signalling the next run interval and as I changed pace, the deer was startled and took off through the woods.

I hate that we live in a world where my first instinct was to be cautious. I wasn’t afraid, but alert and anxious… just like I’ve been conditioned to be by the friends, family, and strangers who have had their vulnerability taken advantage of. Just like that deer that turned an ran when it percieved me as a threat.

Even if I didn’t feel physically threatened, I have been cat-called enough that I was dreading the moment I came to the three guys.

I was wrong.

Today, I’m grateful for people who remind me that most people really are decent, that kind souls exist, and who appreciate a beautiful stroll on a path in the woods on a gorgeous day as much as I do.

every piece of the pie

Posted on September 11, 2016Leave a comment

I’ve always liked playing Trivial Pursuit. The questions were always so difficult, but I like that the game aims to help you be well-rounded in your knowledge. The goal is to get every single different piece of the pie filled in… only then do you win the game.

Maybe that’s because I’ve always been somewhat of a generalist instead of a specialist… I like to try a little bit of everything, learn a little here and there, get involved in as many different ways as I can.

Today in worship and in celebration, that’s how we talked about our life of discipleship. God doesn’t want us to just do one thing – like prayer or one activity like music. I firmly believe that God wants us to dive in – to take our ordinary, every day lives, and to let every part of it be part of God’s work in the world. Our volunteering, our resources, our love for people, all of it. It all belongs to God.

God wants us to love with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

God wants us to experience every single piece of a life of discipleship: worship, hospitality, spiritual formation, practicing our faith, service, and generosity. God wants us to be well-rounded as we follow Jesus into the world.

And so today at Immanuel, we had pie… lots of pie! And we heard testimonies from many different people in the church about how they have been called to serve in all these different areas and what difference they make in their lives. And we had opportunities for people to sign up for over 80 different activities, ministries, and groups as part of the ministry of our church. We worshipped with songs that were traditional and contemporary (sometimes in the same song!), we gave bibles to our kindergarten and third graders and paused for a time of remembrance of 9/11. We sang and prayed and explored the building – every nook and cranny.

I am constantly amazed by the talent and love and devotion of the people at my church. They are passionate about what they do and willing to grow and try something new. They have skills beyond measure. Their hearts overflow.

And I can’t wait to see what God is going to do when we all challenge each other to continue growing as disciples… to share the gifts we have with others and stretch ourselves in new ways and new areas by letting others teach us.