In Light of the Resurrection

This blog is MOVING...

2010-06-09T14:31:00.001-07:00

Same blog, different place... be sure to check it out @
www.tonyjeck.wordpress.com

2010-06-03T14:42:00.001-07:00

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Starting Galatians

2010-05-29T08:51:00.000-07:00

It is our plan that me and my friend, Torey will be collabratively reading and discussing Galatians in order to make our discussion time w/ the youth this summer that much more focused and sharp. We'll see how that goes! We have discussed doing that through using YouVersion -- a kind of community focused bible study blog site. It's pretty cool.

My plan is to post some links to what Torey and I are discussing here in hopes that you might join in w/ us in reading and discussing!

So here we go...

http://www.youversion.com/contributions/58170/galatians

Summer Reading

2010-05-28T22:05:00.000-07:00

I'm the kid who NEVER did his summer reading for school. It seemed like a bad deal... I mean its not like I got to take the best parts of summer into the long school year (sleeping in, random games of sandlot baseball and home run derby breaking out at any moment, ice cream trucks, etc.), so why should I have to take such a unfortunate part of school and let it be part of my glorious summer?

However, I did do some pretty serious summer reading one summer... the summer of 1998. That was about the time I began reading the Bible daily. Since that time I wish I could tell that I've always love to read Scripture and that each time I open that old book God whispers really cool stuff in my ear and my hair turns bright white (like in the old ten commandments movie) and I know exactly what God wants me to do. But that hardly ever happens!

what I usually find is that I hear God speak most clearly through Scripture when I read it together with other people and we look into that book and take it seriously enough to ask questions about what we read in it and seek to find ways to put into practice what we discover God inviting us to do and be.

This is what we'll be doing together during the Summer HUB.

Last summer we, the youth of Aldersgate, read through the book of Acts together. And that is something that I think we'll do again sometime soon. But this summer we'll be spending our time reading through two shorter epistles, Galatians and Colossians.

In the month of June we'll take on Galatians.

And what I will be doing... and what I challenge each of our youth to do... is to read through the whole letter every two days. There's 6 chapter in Galatians -- that just 3 short chapters each day.

If you'll commit to this practice then our time of discussion at the HUB will be exciting, deep, and helpful to us as we seek to be not only hearers but doers of God's word.

Living the Resurrection: Be a Dorcus

2010-04-26T19:33:00.000-07:00

As we continue celebrating the great 50 days of Resurrection, they even let the youth pastor preach! If you've got 15 mins. on your hands take a listen!

Living the Resurrection: Be a Dorcus

Acts 9:36-43

Devotions for the Great 50 Days of Resurrection

2010-04-20T12:25:00.000-07:00

Each week the staff of Aldersgate gets to write a little devotional for the 50 days of the Easter Season. This week was my week.

The Shepherd Who Leads Us

Revelation 7:9-17

John 10:22-30

Psalm 23

As we move toward the fourth Sunday of this season of resurrection, the Scriptures that come from the lectionary talk an awful lot about Jesus as a shepherd. With that in mind I recommend all of them for your reading this week, but would like to focus specifically on the passage from Revelation chapter seven.

A careful and responsible reading of the book of Revelation does a lot to help form and stretch our imaginations regarding how we should live in a world where God, in Jesus, has overcome the enemies, sin and death, even when (especially when) it doesn’t look like those enemies have really been defeated.

In the season of Lent we spend time reflecting on the ways in which sin and death still clamor to take hold of us. We come face-to-face with our mortality, our weakness, and all those things of which our conscience is most afraid. We spend forty days in this wilderness, and as it draws to a close and we think it couldn’t get any darker, we walk into Holy Week. And there we watch carefully as Jesus marches resolutely to the cross where sin and death do their worst to him. Like a sheep to the slaughter he is crucified, killed, dead.

But thanks be to God that this season of Lent gives way to the Easter season. And the picture painted for us here in the book of Revelation is one that is informed by the Easter season. It’s a picture of a reality that can only exist because early on that first day of the week Jesus, the crucified One, rose from the dead… VICTORIOUS over sin and death!

And what we see here in chapter seven is a glimpse of what it’s like to REALLY go to church, to REALLY worship the Risen Jesus. Here we see the fulfillment of God’s ancient promise to Abraham. Remember that promise?

God promised to make a people for God’s self that would be from every tribe and nation – that it would be too great a number to count. And that is precisely what we see here as those dressed in white worship saying, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

And this enormous group of people are formed and gathered around that Lamb, the Lamb who was slain. And this Lamb, still bloodied and bearing the marks of his suffering, stands alive, victorious with God, waving the banner of God’s triumphant kingdom.

And we, most especially during these Great 50 Days, are invited into this scene, as the Lamb who was slain stands risen and full of life and now like a shepherd leads us in a grand parade of great celebration and victory as we worship the God who has come to us and saved us!

During these Great 50 Days let us worship God with renewed passion and serve God day and night, “for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be our shepherd; he will lead us to springs of living water.”

Let us Pray:

Savior, like a Shepherd lead us through these days of celebrating your resurrection – your victory over sin and death. Give us your Holy Spirit that we might follow you without fear or reservation, that we might live the resurrection, here and now. Amen.

Confirmation Sunday & Stories from the Faithful

2010-04-16T07:55:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday we celebrated Confirmation Sunday at Aldersgate. After more than four months of preparing, we received 5 sixth graders who professed their faith in Christ and committed to be a vital part of our faith community.

That's a pretty tall order for a 12 year old (and anyone really)! If it were not for God's remarkable ability and desire to take open and willing hearts and make them into faithful witnesses and disciples of the Risen Jesus, confirmation would be a silly thing for us to do w/ sixth graders.

But as I was reminded this week... God loves to do this very thing!!!

I had the chance to sit down and talk w/ some of the eldest members of Aldersgate. They were a part of Aldersgate before it was Aldersgate... when it was Forest Ave. Methodist Church. As I asked them to recount the way God had worked in their lives and how they came to surrender their lives to Christ, one by one they said things like, "Well, you know I've just never known anything else. I've always known God's love for me and always been a part of the church. I guess if I had to say when that really began for me I would have to say when I was 12 years old I joined the church."

As we talked together they kept saying things like, "Oh, I just love Him!" and "Oh, I just talk to Him everyday... ALL day." They'd look me intently in the eye and say, "If you could only know all the things God has led me through!"

Though not one of them could point to some kind of dramatic experience in which God saved them, each of their long lives lived in humble faithfulness, to me, bears a much more substantial and radical testimony.

And I could not help but hope and pray this same kind of life w/ God for our five confirmands -- who for the most part have spent their whole lives up to this point in the church. I hope that they will be able to look back on a life so entrenched in God's love and work that they will say in their old age, "I've always know God's love and I guess if I had to say where that really started for me... I joined the church on April 11, 2010, when I was 12."

When the Novelty Wears Off Part 2

2010-03-05T09:11:00.000-08:00

Picking up where I left off last time, w/ a couple of thoughts on what to do if you find that the newness or the novelty of worship is gone...

1. Novelty is NEVER a good reason to do anything in the church. If we do what we do in worship simply because we are seeking some kind of new experience, than it is NOT God we are worshipping.

2. The novelty wears off so quickly w/ the church seasons because they lead you carefully along the road w/ Jesus. And Jesus takes you all kinds of places you would prefer not to go. When you begin the season of Lent w/ a cross of ash on your foreheads that reminds you that the goal of this journey is the CROSS.

When, on Ash Wed., we receive that cross many of us were also told to "repent and believe the Gospel." No one wants the cross, no one wants to "repent" -- admit their faults, sins, fears, selfishness and give those up for new ways of thinking, speaking, and living, no one wants to walk through the wilderness, no one wants the journey of lent!

And yet Jesus' words are pretty plain in this regard, "If anyone would come after me," if you want to be my disciple, if you want to follow me, "you must deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it." (Matthew 16:24-25)

Jesus' words are far more literal than we typically think. He is literally saying there is no way to follow him and keep your life the way you want it.

We become disciples of Jesus when we open ourselves up to God's transforming work through the practices of self-denial and cross bearing. This is precisely what these 40 days come to remind us.

If we skip over them in order to get to the happy ending of resurrection, than we will never really know what it means to share in Christ's victory over sin and death. The apostle Paul puts it this way, "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow to attain to the resurrection form the dead."

There is no resurrection but through the cross. There is no Great 50 days of Easter w/o first walking through the 40 days of wilderness we call Lent.

When the Novelty Wears Off Part 1

2010-03-04T15:13:00.000-08:00

One of the things about letting the christian seasons guide how you follow Jesus is that often you have to walk through seasons you would never walk through if it was left up to you. The season of Lent is the perfect example.

For many of our youth this Lent is one of the first experiences they have in really getting into a season other than Advent or Christmas and letting it shape their worship of and walk w/ God.

I've been really proud of them. Many of them have been really creative and thoughtful in what they have decided to "give up" or "take on" during this season, they have also been really open to the way we have slowed down our time of worship on Wed. nights.

But here we are not even 1/2 way through the season and this week at the HUB I could sense that, for some, the novelty of this way of following Jesus was wearing off. And so a couple of thoughts on what to do when the novelty wears off...

Jesus' Words from the Cross

2010-02-26T08:36:00.000-08:00

During Lent we're doing things a bit differently @ the HUB. We're meeting in the chapel, we've mellowed out the music a bit, we're spending some quiet time listening to God, praying, journaling, thinking, and we're doing all of this while hearing Jesus' words that He spoke to us from the cross.

This last week we heard the scripture read, then we sang about it w/ a song that our own Dave Phillips put together, then we saw it acted out in a really moving way w/ a group of our youth put together by our own Christine Spivey.

I'm so grateful for the work so many of you did to help lead us into a deep time of hearing Jesus' words from the cross when He spoke to His Father pleading for us saying, "Father forgive them, they don't know what they're doing."

To help me prepare for these times I am reading Will Willimon's book, Thank God It's Friday: Encountering the Seven Last Words from the Cross.

If you're looking for a book to help you make the journey through lent w/ your eyes fixed on Christ and His cross, this book is very helpful.

What do you use/read to help guide you through this season of Lent?

We LOVE Our Disorders!

2010-02-23T15:13:00.001-08:00

I read a blog called "unclutterer." It gives lots of useful tips to help live/work in a simple and organized fashion, plus it has unitasker Wednesdays which are usually hilarious!

Last week I ran across their blog entitled, "Hoarding Disorder: A new disorder in the draft of the DMS-V."

In the blog they talk about "hoarding" (you know having too much stuff, not being able to throw things away, being scared about not having enough, always needing to accumulate MORE) as a disorder closely related to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

It is my social commentary of western civilization in general and of Americans in particular that we ALL have this "disorder!"

The word "disorder" now-a-days usually denotes something that we get diagnosed as having by a Dr. or our shrink. Most often this diagnosis gets our hands on some medication that is to make us "better".

The word "disorder" used to be much more @ home in church. It used to be a theological word that described our tendency to live in a way that rejects God's good intentions and desire for us and all of creation. Part of God's redeeming work in Jesus was often described as "re-ordering our affections." That is to say that part of what God does in Jesus is to take that which is "disordered" and re-order it in such a way that when we see what God has done we say things like, "God saves!"

In this sense of the word I am really comfortable saying that hoarding is a disorder... just one example of the ways in which we are in need of God's saving work. My unquenchable desire for more stuff, my unreasonable fear that me and my family will not have "enough", the things I own that I will never use but can't seem to part w/... How exactly does God "re-order" these things?

The short answer is the Church! The group of people who get together and seek to live life simply and in the light of the fact that if God has not with held his own Son from us, how much more will he not fail to give us EVERYTHING we need! This is the story of Acts 4 and continues to be the story of God's work in the Church.

I wonder how your church community is helping to re-order your life into the likeness of Jesus. What are some ways in which your church helps you to not hoard, not fear scarcity, etc.?

An Invitation To Do Something "Crazy" During Lent

2010-02-23T07:06:00.000-08:00

This post is most especially for the youth of Aldersgate.

As we continue through the 40 days of Lent, I know that many of you have decided to give things up for Lent. Some are giving up candy, caffeine, your favorite soda, favorite food, etc.

That's cool.

But I wonder, do you wanna do something crazy?

Unplug! Unplug yourself during Lent! Facebook, email, ipods, blogs (even this one!), texting (I told you it was crazy!!!), surfing the web, etc. I dare you! Try to do this even just one day a week during the rest of the season of Lent. One day a week were you are not available to those things that you so easily and thoughtlessly give yourself to nearly every hour of every day.

And then, use that time that you would normally be socially networking to connect with God or to serve those in need. I dare you!

It was mother Teresa who told us that if we are never quiet, if we never experience silence, than we will never hear God's small voice speaking to us. So unplug yourself during this season of learning to live sacrificially.

Any one out there crazy enough to take me up on it?

I dare you!!

Until We Meet Back in this Place...

2010-02-19T07:48:00.000-08:00

I love winter retreat! We had a great time last weekend. But now look -- we're back home and things are a lot like they were before we left.

There are somethings that God spoke to each of us on winter retreat that we just shouldn't ever forget. And so between now and winter retreat 2011 here's a little video of the very last thing we did together this year. I hope these words remind you of God's nearness to you and of all that God is longing to do in and through you this year. And when we meet again next year at winter retreat we'll be able to share all the ways in which God has changed our lives, our youth group, our church, our city!

The next 40 days...

2010-02-17T10:41:00.000-08:00

Today is Ash Wednesday. It marks the beginning of the season of Lent. Lent is the most difficult season for me. I think it is so difficult on purpose! I think that it's supposed to be a long and tough season -- like the journey the people of Israel were on for 40 YEARS and like the time Jesus spent at the outset of his "public ministry" where he was fasting for 40 days in the wilderness being tempted.

For me Lent is tough, not simply because its so long, but because I fail every time! I can't remember the last time I ended the season of Lent by breaking a fast I had kept faithfully the whole time or by celebrating the way that God had changed me. Instead I usually celebrate Easter by remembering that I'm regretfully the same person I was 40 days ago!

This year I'm seeking to fast in much the same way that I have the last two years. I want to get to bed a bit earlier and to rise significantly earlier each morning in order to spend time in prayer and reading Scripture and journaling. It is my hope that by doing this I will be letting God have that first part of the day before anyone else has access to me.

I can't explain all of the reasons why this is something I sense God longing to see happen in my life but the simplest way to say it is that I know that I can meet God uninterrupted from 5:30 to 6:30 AM each morning if I would only get my butt out of bed and keep that appointment.

I wonder what you sense God calling you to do in order that you might meet w/ the Lord who is so passionate about you that he ordered His whole life around being able to have the chance to meet w/ you.

What are you giving up or taking on in order to let God make you more and more into the person you see when you look into the life of Christ?

Who can help you keep this fast?

Mission and Worship

2010-01-14T12:56:00.000-08:00

This guy helped us worship last night @ the HUB.

Remember Your Baptism

2010-01-08T15:20:00.000-08:00

This Sunday is the Baptism of our Lord Sunday. It is also the Sunday on which we had our son Jonah baptized 3 years ago. For a lot of reasons Stephanie and I wanted to find a way to celebrate this w/ Jonah each year. The main reason is quite simple, really. In baptism we are told most clearly who we are. And so, at least as much as we celebrate anything else w/ our children, each year we want Jonah to hear about the great love God has for him and that God has called him to be a part of God's family.

So I wanted to share w/ ya'll what we do in hopes that it might be helpful to anyone else out there who is wanting to be able to teach their children to "remember your baptism!"

We usually do this at lunch or dinner on the Sunday that corresponds to the day he was baptized (for Jonah it's easy because he was baptized on Baptism of our Lord Sunday).

We light a baptismal candle (that you can find at almost any Christian bookstore) and then we do the following:

Read Aloud:

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into to marvelous light. Once you were not a people but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy.” (1 Peter 2:9)

Say to your child:

(Child’s name), (number of years since baptism) ago you were baptized, welcomed by God into his family of great love. At your baptism God declared before everyone that He loves you and that because of Jesus you have many brothers and sisters who will watch over you, pray for you, and show you how to live as part of God’s family. Let’s say a prayer for our family…

Pray Aloud:

Father of Love, you have called us, in baptism, to be your true children. We ask today that you would help us to live lives faithful to the name into which we were baptized – the name of your son, Jesus Christ. We ask especially today that you would continue to draw your child, (child’s name), into your life and love, that he/she would never know a day outside of your loving embrace. May he/she indeed declare your wonderful deeds, even now. We ask this in the name of the living God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Title of this Blog

2010-01-05T14:41:00.000-08:00

When I first began blogging one of the most difficult things for me was picking a name. A lot of that was mostly because I wanted the name to sound really cool. But part of it was also that I wanted the title to help me and whatever readers might stumble upon this blog to have a sense of context. I wanted the title to help frame whatever conversations might take place here.

As I have been greatly impacted by the Acts of the Apostles (in which the Risen Christ continues to do and teach what he began in the Gospels) and 1 Corinthians 15 (in which Paul reminds us that there are some matters of 1st importance, somethings that if we get wrong make it nearly impossible for us to live as followers of Christ in this world and among those is that Christ is Risen from the dead) as well as some of N. T. Wright's work (particularly Surprised by Hope) I guess you could say I'm kinda hung up on the Resurrection.

And I guess I feel in good company as Christians from the earliest days have been sure to gather together "early on the first day of the week" (Sunday, the morning on which Jesus rose from the dead) to worship the Risen Jesus. The amazing work that God did in their midsts (healing the sick, setting prisoners free, caring for the poor, widows, and aliens/strangers, uniting people across social, economic, and ethnic lines) was seen and understood in terms of what God began doing in Jesus' resurrection -- making ALL things NEW!

Over and over in my attempts at being a pastor to youth and young adults I am confronted with the fact that the resurrection of Christ has become a very peripheral matter. This is a problem because it is Christ's victory over sin and death that provides the very real and particular context in which we can begin to discover our way through the brokenness, pain, and confusion that can characterize so much of our lives.

It is the Risen Christ who stands as the clearest vision of God's hope and intention for us and for the whole world. Apart from the resurrection of Christ we simply do not have a full-bodied grasp of the Good News, but only a partial gospel that still leaves battle lines drawn, abusive uses of power in place, relationships fractured, and us as enemies of God -- in short, it leaves a world in which sin and death STILL get the last word.

So if God can work anything in me, let it be that I learn to see and act and speak and write "in light of the Resurrection" of Jesus. Amen.

The First to See the Baby

2009-12-30T15:32:00.000-08:00

This week while I was in Nashville for Christmas one of my good friends, Erik and his wife Andrea welcomed their first born son into the world. Since they live in Nashville, Stephanie and I got the chance to run up to the hospital to visit w/ them and to meet baby Jack!

Jack is already a pretty popular guy w/ a steady flow of visitors while we were there. As I was holding Jack I thought, "Wow, this is Erik's son! I'll get to watch this little guy grow up and to watch and see what God does in his life. And somewhere along the way I'll be able to tell Jack that I remember when he fit nicely on his dad's forearm and hand."

Friends, family, pastors, etc... these are the people who call and stop by, who bring flowers, balloons, and Starbucks and warm wishes to that hospital room.

I thought about the people who were the first to see and welcome Mary and Joseph's first born son. They tell us a lot about how the story of this baby is going to go. Shepherds, some smart pagan people w/ some gifts, Simeon and Anna are among the first to see this newborn baby. And Mary ponders all these things in her heart as she holds her son wondering what ever parent wonders, what will my child grow to be? What does God hope to do in and through this child??

Baby Jack, welcome to the world! We who were the first to see you join w/ your mom and dad hoping and wondering what work God will do in and through you. Sorry I didn't bring you any gold!

Mary's Song

2009-12-23T12:55:00.000-08:00

Mary's response to the warm welcome from her relative Elizabeth is not really help us celebrate Christmas as usual. If this is going to be read in our churches so near to Christmas shouldn't Mary say things like,

"God helps those who help themselves. God loves people who are self sufficient. From age-to-age God sides w/ the rich and the consumer and promises upon his arrival to uphold the positions of power and authority just as they are, because after all we've worked hard, so hard to get a head! And besides it just wouldn't be fair to send us away empty handed, so don't worry, we'll get what we want most!"

But that's NOT what she says. Her Spirit rejoices in a God who is called "Savior." And comes not to up hold things as they are but instead to turn the world on it's head -- to exalt the humble, fill up the hungry, to bring down rulers from their thrones, scatter the proud, and to send the rich away empty handed.

That all that God is about to do through this pregnant teenager and her child is said to be the fulfilling of a promise God made long ago to Abraham tells us that though this song is indeed shocking and, to us perhaps, a bit disturbing (we don't want to be scattered or sent away empty handed!!!) Mary reminds us that this has been God's intention and God's work from the very beginning.

In the midst of all our caroling, try as we might, we just can't drown out Mary's Song!

Be Afraid

2009-12-18T06:23:00.000-08:00

Luke 1:26-39

There are a lot of things of which we are afraid. At least I know I am. And the more I read the Bible the more I am convinced that a part of God's great work in redeeming me is to invite me to live and NOT be afraid of those things -- to live a life that is, at the end of the day, not scared about money and security and the future.

But on the other hand, the more I read the Bible the more I am convinced that there is good reason to be very concerned when God comes to you and says, "I've got a job for you to do, don't worry, I like you!" Or something like that.

Mary was a sharp teenager, she got this! When the angle of the Lord appears to her and says, "Greetings, favored one!" The Scripture tells us that she was very concerned and wonder what in world this could mean. She knows enough to know that when God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob comes for a visit you usually get invited to go on a journey out into something that will change everything else about your life. And that is scary!

And of course the angel says what all angels say, "Don't be afraid Mary, you have found favor with God." But to me, that is precisely why she IS afraid. And I think we do ourselves and our churches a disservice when pretend that God's work in us is casual and mostly concerned with making us gradually into nicer people.

God's work is SO much bigger than that and when God visits you and me, just as when God visits Mary, God comes to take us where we would never go on our own. And Mary says, "Yes" to that. She is afraid, she's in way over her adolescent head, but she is open to the God who says, "With Me, nothing is impossible!" And Mary says, "I'm in, scared to death, but I'm in!"

In this season of God's coming to us, may we say the same thing!

Seven is greater than one...

2009-12-16T08:08:00.000-08:00

I ran across this on video on a blog I read. One, I thought it was a really sweet video. Two, I think we need to be invited to use our imaginations on a more regular basis as Christians in regard to answering questions like, "How do you live as a disciple of the risen Jesus?" This video helps me use my imagination. Maybe it will help you use yours too!

Porpoise-Driven

2009-12-08T15:22:00.000-08:00

I found this posted HERE on a blog I read. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Visiting and The Advent/Christmas Seasons

2009-12-03T14:50:00.001-08:00

At Aldersgate UMC we begin the season of Advent w/ an evening called "family advent night." We get our young families, children, youth, and some others together to learn about bit about how to celebrate Advent. Our children and youth sing and we all prepare some holiday gift baskets to be delivered to those in our congregation who are "shut-in."

Last year Stephanie and the kidos and I went but we didn't take a basket to deliver. This year we decided that we would take one to deliver. When the night came to an end and it was time to take a basket I had about half dozen excuses run through my mind why we didn't need to take one. "We do a lot for the church." "We already have such a busy week." "I don't really want to impose my young, rambunctious family on a couple of senior adults who are used to peace and quiet." And I even sunk so low as to think, "Plus chances are they will want to talk our ears off forever... and that can really be awkward."

But fortunately Stephanie and Jonah were there to see to it that we went home w/ a basket to deliver.

That next night we loaded up the whole rowdy bunch and spent about an hour visiting w/ an older couple who was so happy to have the basket AND our company. Our kids WERE crazy, but I think the couple we were visiting loved the action! We did stay longer than we had planned, but we couldn't think of a better way to have spent that time!

And as we left and were invited to stop by again soon, I thought to myself, "This is what Advent and Christmas are really ALL about!" They are seasons in which we celebrate and remember the way God visited us in Jesus and we learn how to do the things he left us here to do. And I don't know about you, but I need the church to tell me that my excuses are out of season and its time to get busy living in light of God's coming to us!

The Ways We Wait

2009-12-01T14:38:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday was the 1st Sunday of Advent. It was also the first time my son Jonah received communion. We typically take communion on the first Sunday of each month, but we began Advent by coming to the table together.

I always thought I would wait until our kids were older before we would invite them to receive communion, but all the reasons I had were really NOT good (or Christian) ones and so when Jonah began asking about it, it seemed like a good time to tell him that this table was for him too.

And so, as I took Jonah up to communion this week and then afterward as we watched all the people coming to eat and drink I thought about one of the ways that John Wesley liked to talk about things like prayer, searching the Scriptures, and taking communion. He use to say that these were the ways in which God had given to God's people TO WAIT.

Waiting for Christians is not a passive exercise. But God gives us ways of waiting that give us strength for the journey and that teaches our hearts and lives to hope and hunger for the great coming of God's Kingdom, when God will put to rights all that has gone wrong w/ this world so found of darkness, hate, and selfishness.

As Jonah and I sat there watching all the people come to the table I could not help but feel that, as we began another Advent season, we were celebrating and worshiping Jesus in a very fitting way. We were learning to wait in one of the main ways God has given us to wait. And it takes a lifetime of waiting in these ways to make God's people a group of people who can deeply and honestly say, "Come Lord Jesus, come!"

The Coming of Advent

2009-11-12T09:54:00.000-08:00

Advent is still a couple weeks away, but at the HUB we've already turned our attention to that season. The main reason for getting a jump on Advent is so that we get a full four weeks to sit with the themes, songs, scriptures, and message of Advent before the end of quarters, finals, and holiday travel plans disrupt our time together.

I've always celebrated Advent. I grew up Catholic and so we celebrated all the church seasons... on Sundays at mass and in our home, my Mom was (and still is) very good w/ this kinda thing.

I asked our youth last night how many of them do something to celebrate Advent w/ their families. In a room of 40 or so folks maybe 5 or 6 of them raised a hand. The ones who do celebrate in their homes do much what I have always done: Advent Calendar counting down the days til Christmas, Advent Wreath lighting a candle each of the four weeks.

I also asked what this season is for, why does the Church celebrate Advent? Why does the Church think we need Advent?

None of us, including myself, could really offer anything beyond something like, "It helps us get ready for Jesus' coming at Christmas." Which I think is a good response. But I know, for me anyway, that usually hasn't meant anything more than a kind of sentimental getting ready to see how cute baby Jesus is going to be... or something.

That seems so shallow, so weak -- and its no wonder most of us don't celebrate a season like that... cause honestly, what's the point!

But I don't think that is really Advent. I think that Advent is much more jarring than that, even kinda, I don't know, disturbing maybe -- like an untimely pregnancy or unexpected news from the doctor that sets your whole life in a completely different course where you have no choice but to prepare and get ready for the new reality that is breaking in upon you.

That's Advent. And the Church "celebrates" a season like this and thinks that I need a season like this precisely because I don't live my life in the light of the reality of God's Kingdom as it is breaking in upon us. And it is during this season that we read the parts of our Bible that remind me and you to, "Be awake, be alert, shake off your sleep, don't get caught up in the worries of this life, make straight the path, prepare the way of the Lord, stand ready, look up, your salvation is dawning!"

So count down the days! Light some candles!! Talk about it w/ your kidos when you sit down to eat!!! The Kingdom is coming, the Kingdom is coming!!!!

Happy (almost) Advent

Praying like beggars and sinners

2009-10-29T15:11:00.000-07:00

Mark 10:46-52

For the last three weeks now we have been reading through Mark 10.

Both of the first two stories, the rich man and James and John's request to sit at Jesus right and left hand in his glory, included Jesus saying strange things about the way God's Kingdom reverses the order of things. In the first story Jesus tells us that the first will be last and the last will be first. In the second story he tells us that who ever wish to be great has to be the servant and the slave of others is greatest of all.

These first two stories are remarkably similar. In the first we saw the rich man who was unable to lay down his great wealth in order to enter God's Kingdom and then in last weeks story we saw the disciples, who because they HAD laid everything down think that they are now in a position to request places of honor in God's Kingdom.

Jesus' response to both audiences was that God's Kingdom turns over everything you think you know about how things work.

Stories about God's Kingdom do not sound like the stories about other Kingdoms -- stories of the rise of the Roman Empire or stories of Kings and Queens fighting and making war to claim the throne or stories of presidential hopefuls working the campaign trail and the politics that it takes to get them to the White House.

In fact when laid side-by-side this story of Jesus’ Kingdom w/ these other stories of how kingdoms and governments are made and run and exercise their power it becomes like a really obvious game of "One of these things is not like the others."

And tonight's Scripture is that story, that story of what God's Kingdom is like and what it looks like for the first to be last and the last to be first.

The story of the rich man and the story of the request of James and John are stories about getting it wrong, stories of what it looks like when people confuse God's Kingdom w/ the way the power structures of the world work.

Tonight's story is a story of what it looks like to respond faithfully to Jesus and the Kingdom that he brings.

As this passage begins Jesus is @ it again -- he's on the move, go-go-going. Remember he is on his way to Jerusalem, to the cross. He comes into Jericho and the very next sentence he is leaving Jericho. Jesus can't stop now, he knows what lies ahead and he has set his face toward Jerusalem.

Nothing can get in his way, nothing can distract him, nothing can slow him down... nothing... that is except... a blind beggars cry for MERCY!

"Jesus, Son of David, have MERCY on me!" Over and over he cries out for mercy, "Jesus, Son of David, have MERCY on me!". Those around him are trying to quiet him but he just cries all the louder for Jesus to have MERCY on him, "Jesus, Son of David, have MERCY on me!". He knows he has no right to Jesus' time or attention, he has no claim or demand that he can use as leverage -- he's not like the disciples, he has not given everything up to follow Jesus; he is in no position to expect that Jesus will take time for him -- he's not like the rich man whose possessions and position of privilege might seem to afford him an audience w/ Jesus. This man is a poor blind beggar and all he can do is cry out for MERCY.

But the determined, cross-bound Jesus hears this blind beggars cry and the most unexpected, backwards thing happens: Mark tells us, "Jesus stood still." Jesus stops! At this poor man's cry for mercy Jesus stands still and calls for the man. We can't get Jesus to stand still in this gospel, he is always on the move and all the more so now that he has told his disciples the destination of their journey.

But when we read this story of Jesus in light of the whole story of Scripture it is no surprise that Jesus stops at this poor man's cry for mercy. God ALWAYS does this.

In the story of Cain and Able God's words to Cain is that God has heard Able's blood cry out from the ground, that this one who is a victim of violence and can no longer defend himself, God acts because he has heard his blood cry out. Again in the story of God's rescue of the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt, when God appears to Moses God says to him, "I have heard the cries of my people, their calls for help." A large portion of the Psalms, the prayer book of God's people, are filled w/ God's people crying out, "Have mercy on us!", "Save us!", "Come to our rescue!", "You alone can save us from this pit, from death, from our enemies!" And the author of Hebrew, when writing about the death of Jesus says that like Able's blood, Jesus' blood cries out to God and speaks a better word, a word of mercy on our behalf.

God always hears the cries of people for, "Mercy!" God's people are not those who don't need mercy, because they don't sin, aren't tempted, and are generally really nice people. The people who God calls his own, the people for whom God stops, are those who see themselves in light of who God is and know that all they ever have is a plea for mercy.

And in this regard the story of Blind Bartimaeus is a story of what Jesus means when he says the first shall be last and the last will be first. Bartimaeus is obviously last and least in this story, a blind beggar sitting on the road side at the feet of everyone else as they try and hush him, and yet he becomes the first -- the first to respond faithfully to Jesus and the Kingdom he brings because Bartimaeus can not even pretend to deserve or belong, he has no right to this Kingdom and hangs completely on whether or not Jesus will be merciful to him.

John Wesley said it this way, "The holiest of people still need Christ, because God doesn't give anyone a supply of holiness, but only that kind of holiness that comes moment by moment."

And what he meant is that we never get to a place where we become un-needy, where we have been Christian long enough that we earn a position of being able to relate to God in a way that isn't a cry for mercy, where we have stopped committing all the really big sins and are in a place where we can say to God, "Hey look, I gave up all those really fun sins for you, so give me whatever I ask for.

In Luke's gospel Jesus tells a story a lot like this one. He tells the story of two men who go up to the temple to pray. The one is a Pharisee, you know a part of God's people, someone who is a really good person, keeps all God's laws and even so other laws that we made up cause they sound like things God might say. The other is a tax collector, you know a sinner, you don't like the tax collector because they are Jews who work for the Roman empire who tries to run your life, they are stealing from you, growing their bank account and getting in good w/ the enemy, not a good person!

They both pray.

The Pharisee sees the Tax Collector and kind shakes his head as he begins to pray, "O, God, I thank you that I am not like others, I am not a sinner, not like this Tax Collector, but I fast, I pray, I tithe. At the same time the tax collector stood far off and fell down to the ground, beating his chest he cried out, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner!"

And Jesus says, I tell you the prayer that God heard was the tax collector's, the sinner’s, the one who’s last is first and NOT the Pharisee!

And over the years the people of God have struggled to respond to this story. And maybe you can relate. What do you do when, most of the time, you don’t feel like what this story says is true? What do you do when you don’t feel like a blind beggar or a hated tax collector? How should we respond when we feel like our sins are small and mostly harmless and that we’re good Christians, that we aren’t really needy and poor before Jesus, we just need a little guidance here and there?

One way that Christians have tired to respond faithfully to this is to take the prayer of the tax collector and make it their prayer and to cry out over and over, “Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” They call it "The Jesus Prayer." And down through the years, as early as the sixth century, groups of Christians have said this prayer over and over and over, and in doing so, learn the truth that each of us sits before Jesus as a poor, broken, sinner and the only hope we have is in the depth of mercy we find in our savior.

Perhaps you can make this prayer your prayer this week. Let your this prayer become as regular to you as your breath. As you breathe in pray: "Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God." And as you breathe out pray, "Have mercy on me, a sinner." And take it up again w/ your next breath, over and over. As you pray let may you see the truth about our Savior – that He is rich in mercy and full of grace and in light of Him discover the truth about ourselves – that we are but poor beggars before the Lord.

"Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God,

Have mercy on me, a sinner."

"Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God,

Have mercy on me, a sinner."

"Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God,

Have mercy on me, a sinner."

What a peculiar King, what a strange Kingdom.

2009-10-22T14:39:00.000-07:00

Mark 10:32-45

We are in the season of Kingdomtide, also called the season after Pentecost or Ordinary time. It started the Sunday after Pentecost Sunday, Trinity Sunday, and ends in just a few weeks, the Sunday before Advent starts. Kingdomtide ends on a Sunday in which we usually celebrate as “The Hanging of the Green” – which is like a getting ready to get ready for Christmas, since Advent is our time of preparing for Christ’s coming. But really that last Sunday of Kingdomtide is called Christ the King Sunday or The Reign of Christ Sunday. There is no particular thing that is celebrated or taught during this season, it is the season in which we are challenged to live faithfully as a part of the story of Jesus that we spend the rest of the year walking through.

On that Sunday we usually read Gospel stories from Jesus’ arrest, trial, or crucifixion. And we are reminded and even celebrate that Jesus is a very peculiar King, a very different Lord, and brings a very real but very different Kingdom. He is lifted high, he enters his glory, and he is crowned not in some mighty castle, or as the leader of a powerful military force, or in an oval shaped office. Instead, He is King when he is lifted high on a cross.

This has always been a problem for those who wish to be followers of Jesus. And we spend a lot of our time, you and I, preferring to think of Jesus as the kind of savior that is big and strong and powerful and successful. That kind of savior saves us from being a failure or being insignificant and wants to bring us meaning and success and power.

In our Scripture tonight this is precisely where we find the first followers of Jesus, wrestling w/ and having the hardest time coming to grips w/ the kind of King Jesus is and the kind of Kingdom he brings w/ him.

We pick up right where we left off last week.

Remember how astonished the disciples were, they were concerned and perplexed. As we begin reading tonight they are still amazed and the Scripture tells us that the people who were following along w/ Jesus and the disciples are just flat out scared.

You might remember from last week that Jesus was about to set out on a journey. Here we find out exactly what that journey is – Jesus is marching to Jerusalem. And Jesus isn’t confused about what’s about to happen there, the cross is not sneaking up on him, it isn’t Jesus' plan gone horribly wrong… Jesus is marching to Jerusalem and to the cross. For the third time in as many chapters, he takes his disciples aside and tells them, “Look, we’re going to Jerusalem and here’s how it’s gonna play out: They’re gonna hand me over, beat me, mock me, kill me and then three days later I will rise again.”

And James and John here this and say something like, “Okay, so it’s gonna get ugly for a bit, but it’s only three days, how bad can it be and then you rise again, not sure what that means but sounds good, sounds like we win! That’s when you go storming into the headquarters of the Romans who occupy Jerusalem and basically rule over us Jews, go right up to Pilate and say, “Okay buddy, you made a big mistake, it’s pay back time!” So when that happens we want you to do something for us, Jesus. I mean we have left everything to follow you, Peter pointed that out, and he did have a good point. We wanna sit on your right and left when you enter your glory!"

But Mark wants us to know that, for Jesus the cross is not simply a rough spot in the road, a really bad day on the way to bright sunshiny things ahead. The cross is Jesus entering his glory. The cross is when he is crowned king. The cross is when we can most clearly see God’s Kingdom begin to anchor itself in this world.

Jesus calls the 12 together and says to them, “You know how the government works the ones who are the rulers lord it over everyone else and the greatest among them can do whatever they want, cause they’re in charge. BUT IT IS NOT SO AMONG YOU (and it can never be so)! The one who wants to be greatest must become the servant of all and the one who gets in first is everyone's slave. I am not looking to be served but to serve and I came not for pay back but to give my life away – that is the cup I drink from, the baptism I’ve been baptized w/ -- And It will be no different for ya'll. That’s how this kingdom of mine works. Here you are thinking you know how this is going to go, but just wait. Just wait until you see who gets to sit at my right and left, the one’s who get the positions of honor in my kingdom, as I enter my glory!”

"They crucified two robbers w/ him, one on his right and one on his left." Mark 15:27

Let us Pray:

Father, Give us courage to follow your Son, Jesus. Give us hearts eager to exchange our efforts and hopes for glory in order that we might take up our cross and follow You each day. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Steps toward stewardship

2009-10-20T14:57:00.000-07:00

As part of our stewardship month @ Aldersgate UMC our student ministry has grown by one more! We have committed to provide $38/month in order to provide care for a child in need, through compassion international. We don't yet know who this child is... I should received this information in the mail w/i the week and will be sure it along to everyone @ that point.

It will not be very costly, it will cost each youth about a dollar a month. But what I don't want is for the youth to ask your parents for a dollar to give to our compassion child. Instead I want our youth to use money that they would normally use on themselves to give it away to help someone they will most likely never meet. If they don't have a dollar, they need to find a way to earn a dollar. In this way we are putting into practice John Wesley's stewardship words to the early Methodist when he taught them to Earn all they can, Save all they can (live simply, don't spend your money in extravigant/foolish ways), in order that you may Give away all you can!

It is my hope that each year when October rolls around and our youth group continues to grow in number and passion for following the Risen Jesus that we will also grow by one more compassion child! Together we can use what God has given us to broaden God's circle of care to those in need!

Here's a link to Compassion Internationals Blog, check it out: http://blog.compassion.com/

The Rich Young Person

2009-10-15T06:47:00.000-07:00

Last night @ the HUB I got a bit choked up. This used to happen to me all the time when I first started working in youth ministry almost 10 years ago. But it doesn't happen all that much anymore. I don't know exactly why... but I do prefer NOT crying while speaking to a group of people. Any way as I was reading Mark 10:17-31, getting ready for the HUB, I can't explain the way God spoke to me regarding the lives of the youth in my care. Here's a bit of what I shared w/ them:

There are a number of stories in Scripture that I read and I think what in the world does this have to do w/ me? How is this God speaking to me?? How might the Holy Spirit be able to use this to make me more like Christ??? And I just don't know what to do w/ them.

Like the story in 2Kings in which Elisha gets upset at the youth for making fun of his bald head and he calls down a curse and two bears come and kill 42 of the youth. I don’t know what to do w/ that one.

But this story is NOT one of those stories! When I read this story I feel like it is so obviously about you and me. When I read this story I am filled a wide range of emotion that cuts to the very core of who we are and why we are here together.

When I read this story, I am reminded of why I am in youth ministry.

All through out the Gospels, Mark’s in particular, Jesus is on the move. He’s never in one place for very long. Go, go, go. This story begins by telling us that Jesus was about to set out on a journey. You read the gospels and you think, who could keep up w/ Jesus? But then remember that Jesus was a young man himself at this point, about my age -- 29. And most of those who followed him were young adults and tradition tells us that John, one of the inner three of Peter, James and John, was a teenager.

There is just something about Jesus that makes him love calling young people!

That’s part of what makes THIS story so hard for me. Matthew tells this same story and when he tells it the rich man was, a rich YOUNG man. And we read this story and we want to see this rich young man be able to leave behind his wealth and security and the plans that he's made or that his parents had for him – abandon it all for Jesus, we want to see him do this to give us the courage to do the same.

But it’s hard, in fact it’s impossible and yet there is just something about Jesus and the work of God that loves to do the impossible and to do it through young people. He wants to disrupt your life, take you from where you are now, take the hopes and dreams that you and your parents have and trade them in for the hopes and dreams of God’s kingdom.

God loves to do this. He did it to ME when I was 17 years old! He called me and gave me work to do and much to the amazement and confusion of my family I somehow followed Jesus and it has literally changed everything.

And I am a youth director today precisely because of God’s work in my life and because I really do believe there is just something about Jesus that makes him love to take young people and take over their lives for the sake of God’s work in the world. And w/ everything that we do here it is my hope and prayer that God will do just that. That he will do the impossible, that you will hear God calling your name and that courage will well up inside you and you will leave everything behind, that you will care for the poor, and that you will follow Jesus.

Don’t think you can do this later, that you can do this when you’re old. I know that for many of us the plan that sits before us tells us that our teenage and young adult years are to go out and do whatever you and want and then when you grow up and get a job and start a family then you can come back to church and then you can follow Jesus... But by then you might be too rich, or too tired, or too OLD to keep up this Jesus who is ALWAYS on the move and ALWAYS calling young people give up all their stuff and other ambitions and to come and follow him!

Prayer:

Lord, we are so rich, there are so many things that we are holding, so many plans that we have for our lives, so many things we want to do. May your Holy Spirit give us the courage to give away all that for the sake of following you and doing your work each day, right now. Let us be your disciples in our schools, w/ our friends, in our families, in our youth group, in this city. You love to use us, you have always loved to call young women and men to do your work in the world – let us hear your call, let us give all of our energy, passion, and excitement to your great work of making all things new. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

"Just how hard is it, Jesus?"

2009-10-06T15:04:00.000-07:00

This week I began preparing for our next discussion series at the HUB. We will be spending the next few Wed. nights walking through Mark chapter 10. We start off w/ the story of the rich man (Mark 10:17-31). After the rich man goes on his way, sad that Jesus asks so much of him, Jesus says, "Man it's hard for rich people to get into God's Kingdom!" And his disciples are shocked. Once again Jesus comments, "It is SO hard to be saved!" To which Jesus' disciples say, "Just how hard is it?!?" "Well, Jesus says, it's... impossible! Except for God. For God everything is possible, even salvation!"

Sometimes... most of the time, youth ministry is complicated and messy. It's difficult to measure growth, for every success there are five let downs. You'll see the same people worship God in one moment turn around and act and speak and treat one another horribly in the next.

And it's at those times when I feel like a huge failure, incapable of the task set before me, and I ask Jesus, "Just how hard is it?!?!" And I want him to say, "Not too hard. You just need to pray a little more or spend a few more hours reading Scripture, or have a better plan." But instead Jesus replies, "Tony, it's IMPOSSIBLE! You can't do it. It's easier for pigs to fly. BUT everything is possible for God."

And like the disciples, I'm pretty sure I don't know exactly what Jesus is talking about and I'm still pretty concerned, but I none-the-less feel the courage to continue this work, waiting and hoping to see God do the impossible right before my eyes.

I wonder what impossible thing God is doing in and around you.

The Ole' "Come to Jesus" Sermon

2009-10-01T15:51:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to read scripture and have lunch w/ a dozen or so people at the Friendship Mission, here in Montgomery. I wrote last time that this was my first time getting to share some scripture w/ homeless men and women. I really wasn't sure exactly how this would or should go and what part of scripture we should read.

We read through most of Luke 15 -- the stories about lost things -- a sheep, a coin, and a son. After we read it I asked them what they thought about these stories, what did they notice about them. Quite a few folks had things to say and one man, I believe his name was Earnest said, "I just can't believe that the dad doesn't ask for an explanation or yell at the son for what he's done." Yeah, that's weird! And we talked about how no smart shepherd leaves 99 sheep alone in the wilderness to chase after one lost sheep and no woman would tear her whole house down just to find one lost coin. These are strange stories!

But that is exactly what God is like!!! God just loves lost things and won't stop until God gets back what God is searching for. And the whole occasion for these stories in Luke 15 is that the churchy type folks are grumbling that Jesus welcomes sinners and eats w/ them! Shouldn't he just stay in the synagogue w/ the people who love to call themselves "God's people?" I mean we went to the trouble to build these lovely buildings and all Jesus seems to do is stop by periodically to say things that make us want to throw him off a cliff! And then he's off again to hang out w/ the sinners!

All of us at the mission were amazed by the God these stories describe. I got the feeling that this was a different kind of story than the folks at the mission were used to hearing. This wasn't the standard, "Hey sinners, come to Jesus!" sermon. Instead we simply read the Gospel and discovered that the Good News is not that we can come to God if we get our act together, but instead that while we are still a long way off, God in Christ has come to us! And Jesus still loves to do this same thing today and I get to see it when I take myself out of my office. I really need to do that more often!

Where the gospel is GOOD NEWS

2009-09-29T15:04:00.000-07:00

I spend my time sharing the gospel in a lot of different settings. But most of the time these settings are pretty similar -- mostly white, mostly upper middle class, mostly teenage. And I love these people! A LOT!! They are the people God has given me to walk w/ every day and it is a great joy. However, the plain truth of the gospel is that when Jesus meets people like me and the people I spend most of my time w/, a lot of times the good news doesn't sound so good. A lot of times Jesus says things to me like, "give that away and follow me." "I'll show you how much you have to suffer for my name." Man, its gonna be hard for you to enter the kingdom of heaven!"

But recently a friend of mine, Torey introduced me to the Friendship Mission, here in Montgomery. They serve the homeless and poor by providing meals, a place to sleep, and a community to worship Jesus w/.

I went over there w/ Torey for lunch last week. They do a little bibles study each day and I told the guy who usually leads it that I would love to help out w/ that sometime, thinking that he would say, "Sure, I'll get back to you about that." Instead he said, "How's next Thursday for ya?"

So this Thursday I will be leading a Bible Study w/ the homeless. I've never read the bible w/ a homeless person before. And as I have begun to prepare for it I have been reminded how much Jesus loved to tell the empty handed and poor about the kingdom of God. And the temptation for me is to go in there w/ a verse or passage where I could tell them how they should stop drinking or smoking or doing drugs or try harder to get a job. But instead I think I will read Luke 15 in a place where the gospel is nothing but GOOD NEWS!

I'm pretty nervous but excited about this! I'll let you know what happens.

Intertextual Reading

2009-09-24T14:56:00.000-07:00

James 3:13--4:4

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

John 15:9-17

During the month of September on Wednesday nights for the Hub, our mid-week worship gathering w/ the youth, we are reading through James, following the lectionary (more or less).

As I studied this part of James I found myself going back to 1 Corinthians 1 and John's gospel to read Jesus' farewell discourse. I thought I would share this exercise in intertextual reading.

All of James' letter is aimed at "practical" matters -- calling Christians to practice their faith. In that regard you could say this whole letter is concerned w/ wisdom -- practical knowledge. But here in the second 1/2 of chapter 3 and into chapter 4 James is explicitly concerned that the Christians not be fooled about what Christian wisdom really is. If they get this wrong they get it all wrong!! They treat one another badly, they are full of envy, selfish ambition, and every kind of evil springs up among them.

When we read our bibles we discover that there are two kinds of wisdom. The wisdom of God and what you might call "the wisdom of the world." These two kinds of wisdom are in direct opposition of one another all the way along.

St. Paul is articulating this very thing in the beginning of his first letter to the church in the city of Corinth. Here's what he says:

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are

being saved it is the power of God...

...God was pleased to through the foolishness of what was preached (Christ crucified) to save those who believe. You see the Jews demand a miraculous sign and the Greeks look for logic and "wisdom", but we preach Christ!... Crucified!! -- a stumbling block to the Jews and absolute foolishness to the Greeks. BUT, to those whom God has called -- both Jews and Greeks -- Christ is the power and wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than our "wisdom" and the weakness of God is stronger than our "strength"!

Need an example? Take.....yourself for instance, just look at the people Jesus calls! You were not the wisest or most influential or from the right family. BUT in you we see once more that God chose the foolish things of this world to shame the wise; God chose the weak to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things and despised things, the things that are not -- to bring to nothing the things that are. So no one can boast. It is because of God that you are in Christ Jesus (not because of yourself or a good decision or something), Christ Jesus who has become for us God's wisdom -- that is, HE is our righteousness, holiness,and salvation. Therefore it the Scripture tells us, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord!"

And I usually read this passage and think, "Good thing I'm one of the people who 'are being saved.' I get it, I'm tracking w/ God's wisdom. God does some unexpected things sometimes, yeah the cross was a pretty strange move."

But what James is reminding us and what I really think Paul was reminding the Christians in Corinth is that God's ways are NOT our ways -- NOT in the slightest, God's thoughts are NOT our thoughts -- NOT in the slightest, God's salvation in Jesus is NOT our preferred or expected salvation -- NOT in the slightest! And we are awfully good at living NOT according to the salvation that comes in Jesus Christ and him crucified but by a salvation that revolves around the good decisions we can make. If we can go to the right schools, get in w/ the right people, make a good decision to accept Jesus into my heart, get the right job, work really hard and make good decisions, store up a good nest egg for retirement, then I will be successful, happy, and I when I go to church on Sunday morning I can thank God for all the blessings He has given me.

James tells us that when Christians live this way they are cheating on God, literally having an affair w/ "the world." He says that when this is that case we have become "friends w/ the world and enemies of God."

I'd like to share w/ you a story about Jesus. As the time of his suffering was fast approaching Jesus gathered his disciples together and he said this:

I love you the same way my Father loves me! Live in my love. If you live by what I say

you will remain in my love, just as I have lived by every word that came from my Father

and remained in His love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy maybe full and complete. This is my command: Love each other as I love you. Greater love has no one than this: To lay down one's life for one's friends. You show yourselves to be my friends if you live by these words. I don't call you servants or slaves, you aren't my employees or volunteers, But... I... call... you... friends! You know everything about me and the work my Father has given me to do...

The wisdom of God is revealed in the love that Jesus brings. It is a love that is most clearly expressed not by a royal crown or a throne or a dominate army or a strong government but by a cross. The cross where he died, for sinners, for people nobody even wanted to save anyway. And in God's wisdom (Jesus) God decided to call these nobody sinners to live w/ him, to work w/ him, to be his friends in the world and to love like Jesus loved.

All the things that James sees going on among Christians -- they mistreat one another, fight w/ one another, quarreling, compete against one another for wealth and possessions, are greedy and jealous, set themselves up as better then each other -- proves that they are not living by the wisdom of God but by the wisdom of the world; not the wisdom of the cross but the wisdom of security and greed; not the salvation that comes from Jesus crucified, but the salvation that comes from ourselves.

Which wisdom do you live by? If you're like me you find yourself steeped in the wisdom of this world and needing to learn over and over the ways of Jesus, the way of the cross, the wisdom of God.

God of Wisdom, save us from our own wisdom, save us from our attempts at saving ourselves. Save us through your Son Jesus and his cross that we may live as your friends in this world! Amen.

Unexpected Good News!

2009-09-22T15:11:00.000-07:00

Do you remember the first time someone told you about Jesus? Do you remember the first time that you dared to imagine that God sees you just as you are and has nothing but love for you? Did you have a hard time w/ it? Was it hard to believe that God loved you, knowing who you are, what your like, the things you've done, the things you've thought?? Yeah, me too.

But that was a long time ago and I guess I have forgotten how unexpected and just plain shocking the Good News of God in Jesus really is. I guess I have grown accustomed to thinking of myself as someone who's on the inside, who spends what is really an inordinate amount of time w/ people "like me". Some how I have become all to comfortable and unsurprised by God's love and even more the people who are the object of that love!

But I have been reminded over the last week how out of place and strange God's love is compared w/ everything else that I've come to know and expect. I've been brought to tears by simply hearing the good news once again that "Jesus came to seek and save the lost!" That Jesus "received sinners" and "ate and drank w/ them." That from beginning to end this is God's heart and work in the world. And it is only because of God's love for sinners that this story is good news for me.

The last few days I have been listening to Bishop Will Willimon's podcast, four of them in particular, on a book he released last year called, Who will be Saved ?

If the Good News has not been too unexpected to you lately, if God's work and where it's popping up have not caused you to scratch your head, if the people who are being brought into God's kingdom have not been kind of disturbing to you than I would highly recommend you take a listen or pick up the book.

The Kind of Problems I've Always Wanted!

2009-09-18T08:25:00.000-07:00

There are some days in youth ministry, and I suppose ministry in general, where you just don't feel all the useful to God and God's Kingdom. And there are days where I feel pretty useful BUT it was all in the way of planning or organizing and there was little to no meaningful people interaction. But the days where I get in bed, close my eyes, and feel like I did exactly what God gave me to do are most often the days in which I spend time talking w/ people about their problems, sometime their problems w/ me!

Now, I have "prepared" for a life in full-time ministry more or less for the last seven years. Lots of school, studying, and internships. During a lot of that time I made a living and took care of my family by working a variety of different jobs. Two of the more notable ones involved working while most normal people sleep. And during those days it wasn't always easy and part of what made it difficult was that the day-to-day job stress was regarding stuff that I just really didn't care about. For example, while I was a supervisor @ UPS I was screamed at nightly and told that I really need to make the people I was in charge do more work, in less time, w/ fewer people than were needed to get the job done, for about $8/hr.

NOT the problems I wanted to have at work.

But twice this week I had the opportunity to sit and listen and talk w/ people about what were real problems. But all the while I could not help but feel a deep gratitude that I was getting to be a part of these peoples lives and to be invited into places of hurt and doubt and to walk w/ them through this. I don't think we solved any problems this week, but I am right smack in the middle of the kind of problems I've always wanted to be a part of... and I'm grateful!

Jesus and the Syrophoenician Woman

2009-09-10T17:22:00.000-07:00

Ever heard a sermon on Jesus and the Syrophoenician Woman? No? Well today is your lucky day! Last weekend was a holiday weekend and everyone was out of town, so they let the crazy youth pastor preach. You can find the sermon: Bread, Crumbs, and the Kingdom here.

Sorry the quality is not the best. But if you've got 15 mins. to kill this should do the trick! Let me know what you think.

The Christian needs other Christians...

2009-09-04T08:27:00.000-07:00

In preparing for our Sr. High small groups for the fall I have been reading a bit on Christian community and accountability. In re-reading Bonhoeffer's Life Together, I ran across this quote and it's been with me all week:

The Christian needs another Christian who speaks God's Word to her. She needs her again and again when she becomes uncertain and discouraged, for by herself she cannot help herself w/o ignoring the truth. She needs her sister as a bearer and proclaimer of the divine word of salvation. She needs her sister SOLELY BECAUSE OF JESUS. The Christ in her own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of her sister;

her own heart is uncertain, her sister's is sure.

While I have long subscribed to the understanding that a person cannot be a true follower of Jesus when intentionally cutting ties w/ the Christian community when Bonhoeffer say Christians need other Christians precisely because of Jesus, that seems to be saying something a bit more specific than saying you can't be a Christian w/o the Church or something like that.

I don't often think that Christ's work in me is to make me needy, to increase my dependence, to not simply turn me to my brother or sister that I may serve them, but to turn me toward them in order that they may receive me and care for me as a true brother.

It will never cease to be the case that I cannot help myself, save myself, move myself closer to God. God's work in me is not to change me so that one day I can testify and say, "I used to need God and others, but praise be to God who has worked so mightily in my heart, I have not needed any help in following Christ the last 20 years!"

Instead I am reminded of Wesley's words in A Plain Account of Christian Perfection when he says, (something like) "The holiest of people still need Christ... because God does not give a stock (giant supply) of holiness, but only a holiness that comes moment by moment."

The further along we walk w/ Christ our need of Him will only be deeper and more perpetual. And, Bonhoeffer would add, it is precisely because of this that we need our Christian brothers and sisters, more and more (not less and less).

Nashville -- Day 5

2009-07-31T20:45:00.001-07:00

In our last day of serving together in Nashville we experienced even more ways to love the people we come in contact with. It was an amazing final day of an amazing week. We got to celebrate Amy's 13th birthday and share our ideas of how we can bring what we have learned and experienced back to Montgomery. We are excited to get back and share all of our stories with you! Here are a few final pictures to tie you over until we get home tomorrow! Enjoy!

Nashville -- Day 4

2009-07-30T21:03:00.000-07:00

Our week is almost over. It seems like we just arrived. We had another amazing day full of all kinds of different ways to serve, and work, and love our neighbors on the streets of Nashville. With all of our many experiences here, our youth will soon be home ready to share their stories and to continue the work that God has begun in them this week. Here are just a few pictures from today's activities. Enjoy!

Nashville -- Day 3

2009-07-29T20:20:00.000-07:00

Today we spent the day on the streets of Nashville. We went out in teams of six w/ an extra sack lunch and one goal: to find someone in need and invite them to join us for lunch and conversation. It was an exciting, eye-opening, and emotional day for us all. Here are just a few images from our day. Enjoy!

Photos from Nashville: Days 1 and 2

2009-07-28T18:08:00.000-07:00

Day two is winding down and we've had a great trip so far! Here are just a few photos from the first two days. Enjoy!

CSM Nasville -- Day 1

2009-07-27T19:34:00.000-07:00

This morning we broke up into our three serving teams and headed out onto the streets of Nashville. Our day was full of eye opening, amazing, and in many case heart-rending encounters. My teams day began by serving a meal to hungry folks at an amazing ministry called Samaritan Ministry. While half of our team was working the food line the rest of us spent an hour sitting and talking with those who were coming to eat. Sometimes it was awkward, sometimes it was easy, sometimes it was sad, sometimes it was light and funny -- but all the time it was humbling and amazing!

We spent the afternoon working with children at a boys and girls club. This particular club has been really feeling the effects of budget cuts as they are no longer in their own facility but are sharing space in temporary trailers at a middle school. With not much to do and little staff this is a challenging place for all who are involved. This B&G club will be our anchor site, we will go there everyday this week. We will have a difficult BUT terrific opportunity to be caring and enthusiastic parts of their days.

We ended our day on a guided prayer tour through the city. As we drove through the streets our CSM guides gave us information regarding the different parts of town and helped us to pray for the city and the people of Nashville.

What a day! Long, emotional, great!!

Thank you for your prayers.

Summer of "Acts" -- Acts 9:1-20, Saul meets the Risen Jesus

2009-07-21T12:36:00.000-07:00

I was just talking to my friend Erik on the phone and told him that I was about to publish my first blog post. But I told him the hardest part about this whole thing for me is that I'm not sure who I'm talking to. I love talking to people and sharing my thoughts but only when I know who I'm talking to -- knowing who I'm talking to is what makes conversations meaningful or meaningless and so the more I think about this I keep thinking, "I'm about to do something meaningless." We'll see I suppose.

This first post is my reflections on the Scripture that we will be discussing at the Aldersgate UMC youth gathering this Wednesday night. For the summer we have been reading through the book of Acts.

Without any further qualification...

Well today we come to what is probably in the top three of most recognizable stories in the book of Acts along w/ Pentecost and the Ascension of Jesus: the conversion of Saul.

We met Saul last week, as he was an eager witness to the murder of Stephen. Today’s story tells us that Saul is still at it, “breathing out murderous threats against all the Lord’s disciples.” And we kind of know how it goes from there. He’s on his way to Damascus w/ orders to arrest any Christians.

What happens next changes Saul’s life forever. And when Saul asks who it is that is addressing him the response is perhaps a bit different than we might expect. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” The risen Jesus meets Saul, the persecutor of the church, and Jesus says you are persecuting… ME.

This is another dramatic story, a lot like the things we’ve seen before in the ascension (Jesus doing a superman and strange white robbed men appearing out of nowhere), and at Pentecost (where wind and fire and earthquakes are the precursor to the disciples declaring in all kinds of languages the mighty acts of God to Jews from all over the place, to people dropping dead at Peter's feet in the story of Anannias and Sophira. Here again in Acts 9 we have a flash of light and booming voice of the risen Jesus, visions of God appearing to both Saul and a different guy named Anannias.

And as the church has read this story down through the years it has been read in lots of different ways. But one way it has been used over and over has been as a kind of model for the way conversion happens. You’ll even hear people say things like, “I had a Saul to Paul conversion.” And you know what they mean. And I think the reason for wanting to read the story this way comes from really good intentions – We want the story of Scripture to be our story. We want to read it and say, “Yeah, that’s how it is for me too.”

And I think that is okay. But what if we wait a little longer and be a bit more patient in looking to see the way in which this part of God’s story is a part of our story too.

Every time I’ve read this story and I come to the part where Anannais is telling God that he doesn’t want to go to Saul because of all the bad things he’s done to followers of the risen Jesus and God says, “Go anyway... I will show Saul how much he must suffer because of my name,” I think I’ve always read that as a kind of punishment. You know, something like, Saul did a lot of bad things to a lot of Christians so now God’s going to do lots of bad things to him. And so Anannias is now going to go because he has the satisfaction of knowing that Saul is going to get what he deserves or something.

And that makes sense if in this story and the larger story of Scripture suffering and persecution equal punishment or payback.

But in this story, in the story of God’s coming to be with and rescue creation from sin and death that is not how it works – suffering and persecution does NOT equal divine payback. Saul is not “getting what he deserves.” This is especially clear in the story of Jesus. A story that near its end is full of suffering and persecution. And yet the story of Jesus' suffering and death is not about punishment not at all about Jesus getting what he deserves.

Instead, Jesus is persecuted and suffers because as he brings God’s perfect love into this world he is directly at odds with the world. As he comes and teaches peace and humbleness and self-giving he finds himself in all kinds of trouble w/ a world that loves war, power, and self-seeking. And this world kills him.

And so as Anannias expresses his hesitation in going to this murder, for fear that he will be persecuted by Saul, God tells Anannias that Saul now stands on the side of Jesus – Jesus, whose hands and feet and side forever remind us that he came not as a persecutor but as one who in following God through this world was persecuted.

So we find once again that Saul’s story, like Stephen’s story is a part of Jesus’ story. And just in case you missed it the connection runs a bit deeper. In his encountering the risen Jesus, Saul is struck down. And though he does not really die, the story goes that for three days he sat blind, not eating, and drinking. But “after three days” Anannias comes and his sight is restored and after being baptized in the name of the risen Jesus and taking food he finds that he has new life.

New life, not to continue breathing out murderous threats as before, but now with each breath of this new life he proclaims Jesus as Lord. His new life is lived as a marked man standing on the ever-dangerous side of the crucified and risen Jesus. This life comes to Saul as an unexpected gift, which he receives with great joy and passion.

And so maybe now we can begin to make our transition and ask God, “What ways is this story a story for us? In what ways is my story becoming a story about the risen Jesus?"

And so I asked my self...

In what ways am I at odds w/ Jesus because I like the way the world works, preferring power and position, over humility and service?

In what ways do I see that I stand against Jesus’ way of humility and self-sacrifice?

In what ways does God need to change me, convert me, and give me new life, like Saul, so that I too can stand whole- heartedly on the side of the risen Jesus?