There were many people who wanted me to reprint what I had talked about in my sermon on advancing our faith walk. The scripture was from Hebrews 10:16-25. The author of Hebrews was writing for the concern of the congregation that they continue to remain faithful in their love and dedication to God through Jesus Christ. The concern he had was that people were losing some of their zeal and were not attending the meetings as they did at one time. I thought that he could be writing about the church today. As I reflected on the scripture, a concern that I had was that worship today has become more of a production rather than authentic. There are people who choose their church based on the emotional feelings that they experience and then go home and live their lives no differently than when they come to the church. John Wesley warned about laying great emphasis on "enthusiasm" and neglecting building our faith each day. As I stated, emotions come and go. Commitment requires willful choice and faith is commitment to Christ. It is in that way we advance our faith.
As I was reflecting on the Hebrews passage and what the author said, I thought about what we can do today to advance our faith. The first step would be to remember the promises that we made in our baptismal vows. We agreed to renounce the forces of wickedness in whatever form that they may take. We agreed that Jesus is our Lord and Savior. We agreed that we will repent of our sins. And we agreed to be a part of the church in prayer, presence, support, and mission.
The second step is to hold to the hope that God has given in Jesus Christ. Paul says it best when he says in Romans 8 "if God is for us who can be against us." Hope is what God has done for us and hope is what we can teach to others. This world today needs hope. Hope and Love gives us the ability to face our problems, our trials, and our lives with new meaning and possibilities. It is in that hope that we are able to accomplish the impossible.
The third step is to be concerned for others and help one another to show love and to do good. This is a two fold step. The first is that we need to live our lives in such a way people can see the love we have for one another and for the stranger among us. Next week I will be talking about living as a disciple of Jesus Christ and what that might look like. What we do speaks more of our beliefs and our character than what we say. The second part is building each other up rather than tearing each other down. To do this means we have to provide opportunities for all people to learn ways of showing love and doing good. One lesson we can learn from self-help groups is that often we become more healed in the process of helping others become healed.
The fourth step is to continue to meet with one another in worship and in study. Today in most churches including my own if one has about 40-50% of the members who attend on a regular basis you are considered successful. We need to be present with one another not just on special occasions but on all occasions. This is how we can become accountable and continue our growth in Christ. And it is not just worship though that is important. It is becoming a part of a small group that focuses on our continued faith development. Examples of such groups can be Bible studies, accountability groups, mission groups, etc. The challenge is what groups are you attending?
The last step is to continue to encourage one another. I would add to encourage one another in love. If we want to advance our faith is not done at the expense of someone else's faith. Gossip and dissension do not build faith. This does not mean we cannot disagree. That for me is healthy. It means that I respect those with whom I disagree and hope that they respect me. In that way we become more the body of Christ.
I just wanted to share in writing what we are examining in our church about living the IDEAL life.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Saturday, January 26, 2008
For your info, I am looking
I came across this in the latest issue of Homiletics on the back page. Timothy Merrill is one of the editors and has his own blog. I hope that he won't mind that I copy this for those who read this.
How to Sleep During a Sermon—Without the Preacher Noticing
At the school where my wife teaches, a high school student published a little article in their school paper called, “How to Sleep in Class—and Get Away with It” You can see the obvious parallels. So, with apologies to Tiffany Chen, I have adapted the material to offer the following, because, if you're a preacher, you might find that some of your regular, faithful worshippers are, in fact, catching up on their Saturday night sleep while you're explaining the meaning of Ephesians 2, or droning on about the relationship between faith and science, or expounding on how to live faithfully in a post-modern world.ONE: Never fall asleep flat on the pew. To keep this from happening, it's actually better to sit in a crowded pew, shoulder to shoulder with people on your left and right. Otherwise, if you fall asleep, you might lean right over on the pew and that’s not good.
TWO: When you sleep, don't fall completely asleep, but just power nap instead. If you fall completely asleep, your sleep apnea might kick up and that's embarrassing. Better to just go half-asleep, so that you're vaguely aware of your surroundings. It helps to use a Bible to prop your chin up, or lean against your head. You can close your eyes, as long as the Bible is in view because the preacher will think you’re praying. If you power nap, you'll be ready if the pastor asks you to pronounce the benediction.
THREE: Have a friend be a watcher. Sit with someone who's sympathetic to your plight. Your spouse may not be the right person. You need a friend who will nudge you if the preacher seems to be looking in your direction a lot. Make sure a Bible is open on your lap, or is prominently in view. Your friend can rouse you so that you can say and “Amen” and get back to your nap.
FOUR: Don't sit in the back pew. Believe it or not, this is the first place preachers look for sermon slackers. If you sit in the first or second pew, you can actually get more sleep in because preachers will just look right past you.
FIVE: Don't sleep through the entire sermon. After all, the preacher has something from the Lord you probably need to hear. But when you've heard it, you have no further obligation to stay awake. Still, if you can be awake from some of the sermon, you can then refer to it when you're leaving the church and shaking the pastor's hand. “Wonderful sermon, Reverend! I especially enjoyed the part where …”
So, there you go. Hope this doesn't fall into the wrong hands.
How to Sleep During a Sermon—Without the Preacher Noticing
At the school where my wife teaches, a high school student published a little article in their school paper called, “How to Sleep in Class—and Get Away with It” You can see the obvious parallels. So, with apologies to Tiffany Chen, I have adapted the material to offer the following, because, if you're a preacher, you might find that some of your regular, faithful worshippers are, in fact, catching up on their Saturday night sleep while you're explaining the meaning of Ephesians 2, or droning on about the relationship between faith and science, or expounding on how to live faithfully in a post-modern world.ONE: Never fall asleep flat on the pew. To keep this from happening, it's actually better to sit in a crowded pew, shoulder to shoulder with people on your left and right. Otherwise, if you fall asleep, you might lean right over on the pew and that’s not good.
TWO: When you sleep, don't fall completely asleep, but just power nap instead. If you fall completely asleep, your sleep apnea might kick up and that's embarrassing. Better to just go half-asleep, so that you're vaguely aware of your surroundings. It helps to use a Bible to prop your chin up, or lean against your head. You can close your eyes, as long as the Bible is in view because the preacher will think you’re praying. If you power nap, you'll be ready if the pastor asks you to pronounce the benediction.
THREE: Have a friend be a watcher. Sit with someone who's sympathetic to your plight. Your spouse may not be the right person. You need a friend who will nudge you if the preacher seems to be looking in your direction a lot. Make sure a Bible is open on your lap, or is prominently in view. Your friend can rouse you so that you can say and “Amen” and get back to your nap.
FOUR: Don't sit in the back pew. Believe it or not, this is the first place preachers look for sermon slackers. If you sit in the first or second pew, you can actually get more sleep in because preachers will just look right past you.
FIVE: Don't sleep through the entire sermon. After all, the preacher has something from the Lord you probably need to hear. But when you've heard it, you have no further obligation to stay awake. Still, if you can be awake from some of the sermon, you can then refer to it when you're leaving the church and shaking the pastor's hand. “Wonderful sermon, Reverend! I especially enjoyed the part where …”
So, there you go. Hope this doesn't fall into the wrong hands.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
The I.D.E.A.L. life
I am going to continue my sermon series on our mission and the way we live out that mission in our church community. This Sunday is about engaging in mission. As I had stated last time, while at the clergy conference, I was reminded about the need we have of balancing our love of God with our love of neighbor.
When I read an article in the Omaha World Herald, I was amazed as to what the reporter stated. The organization Voices for Children, a well-known child advocacy agency, reported that the Nebraska's rate of child poverty rose 50% between 2000 and 2005. We pride ourselves on our work ethic and we have an higher percentage of working parents than any other state. Yet, families are falling into poverty at a rate faster than the national average. This creates more problems for struggling families. It is not rocket science to realize that the more families struggle especially financially the more social problems exist and the more that children are the most affected. The numbers are sobering to the idea that there are enough jobs for everyone and that those jobs pay what it takes to survive. What are the findings are that 15% of children are impoverished and 36% live in low-income housing. The problem is that minimum wage jobs do not pay enough to help those who are impoverished improve themselves and most of those jobs do not include health benefits. The two edged sword is that while we encourage parents to increase their job skills and to seek to become self-sufficient the jobs that they can have are not enough to raise them above poverty level. Also we take away what benefits mostly health benefits away when they are the most vulnerable.
Somehow we need to look at this differently. As Christians, we need to be empathetic to the poor. We may not be able to eliminate poverty but we are called to reach out to those who are hungry, sick, and imprisoned. I hope that we as a church can continue to become more aware of the issues of struggling families and not make judgments on their character. Most parents want to be able to provide for their children. Maybe we need to re-distribute our resources away from destruction to healing. Is this what Jesus was talking about in Matthew 25:31-40? Or when we read James 5? I would ask that you reflect on what it is we can do both as acts of compassion such as our pantry and also acts of justice to help all people who are struggling.
When I read an article in the Omaha World Herald, I was amazed as to what the reporter stated. The organization Voices for Children, a well-known child advocacy agency, reported that the Nebraska's rate of child poverty rose 50% between 2000 and 2005. We pride ourselves on our work ethic and we have an higher percentage of working parents than any other state. Yet, families are falling into poverty at a rate faster than the national average. This creates more problems for struggling families. It is not rocket science to realize that the more families struggle especially financially the more social problems exist and the more that children are the most affected. The numbers are sobering to the idea that there are enough jobs for everyone and that those jobs pay what it takes to survive. What are the findings are that 15% of children are impoverished and 36% live in low-income housing. The problem is that minimum wage jobs do not pay enough to help those who are impoverished improve themselves and most of those jobs do not include health benefits. The two edged sword is that while we encourage parents to increase their job skills and to seek to become self-sufficient the jobs that they can have are not enough to raise them above poverty level. Also we take away what benefits mostly health benefits away when they are the most vulnerable.
Somehow we need to look at this differently. As Christians, we need to be empathetic to the poor. We may not be able to eliminate poverty but we are called to reach out to those who are hungry, sick, and imprisoned. I hope that we as a church can continue to become more aware of the issues of struggling families and not make judgments on their character. Most parents want to be able to provide for their children. Maybe we need to re-distribute our resources away from destruction to healing. Is this what Jesus was talking about in Matthew 25:31-40? Or when we read James 5? I would ask that you reflect on what it is we can do both as acts of compassion such as our pantry and also acts of justice to help all people who are struggling.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
cont reflections on IDEAL
I have been thinking about what I am going to be talking about next Sunday. I am here at our called clergy conference. As I prepared to come to the sessions, I was not sure what to expect. To say that I was mildly surprised by what we were doing is an understatement. Sometimes attending conferences one is never sure what might be happening. I have attended the main speakers and have been excited about some of the ideas that were presented. The one breakout group on living as a United Methodist or really living as a Christian was interesting as it provided ideas for my sermon series.
We were talking about the importance of small groups and also about the three general rules that John Wesley spoke of. For those who may not remember what they are or have never been exposed to them, Wesley stated that there are three rules to live by as a methodist. The first was to do no harm. He broke that down to several examples. I have certainly thought about those at differing times and have thought about maybe reflecting on those on our Wednesday services. The second rule is to do all the good that you can. The third rule is to attend to the church's ordinances and sacraments.
In that session, we also talked about the balancing of our Christian lives between acts of personal piety and acts of social piety. As we discussed these, I realized that what we have come up with as our mission in our church speak directly to these. Too often we can become stuck with pursuing our personal piety which would include worship, spiritual disciplines, prayer, communion, my personal spiritual development and feel that is all we need to do. There is a tension between salvation by faith alone and our actions in this world. John Wesley felt that we needed to take our faith into action for compassion and justice. We talked about the I.D.E.A.L. life. The first is identifying our spiritual gifts which is an act of personal piety. The second was to discover and develop our purpose which included both personal and social. This week we will be looking at engaging in mission.
We need to take our faith and put into practice what we have stated that we are. I would suggest we read Matthew 25:31-40 and James about faith in action. When we are able to balance these two aspects of our lives I believe we are able to be more faithful to God's calling in our lives.
We were talking about the importance of small groups and also about the three general rules that John Wesley spoke of. For those who may not remember what they are or have never been exposed to them, Wesley stated that there are three rules to live by as a methodist. The first was to do no harm. He broke that down to several examples. I have certainly thought about those at differing times and have thought about maybe reflecting on those on our Wednesday services. The second rule is to do all the good that you can. The third rule is to attend to the church's ordinances and sacraments.
In that session, we also talked about the balancing of our Christian lives between acts of personal piety and acts of social piety. As we discussed these, I realized that what we have come up with as our mission in our church speak directly to these. Too often we can become stuck with pursuing our personal piety which would include worship, spiritual disciplines, prayer, communion, my personal spiritual development and feel that is all we need to do. There is a tension between salvation by faith alone and our actions in this world. John Wesley felt that we needed to take our faith into action for compassion and justice. We talked about the I.D.E.A.L. life. The first is identifying our spiritual gifts which is an act of personal piety. The second was to discover and develop our purpose which included both personal and social. This week we will be looking at engaging in mission.
We need to take our faith and put into practice what we have stated that we are. I would suggest we read Matthew 25:31-40 and James about faith in action. When we are able to balance these two aspects of our lives I believe we are able to be more faithful to God's calling in our lives.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
The Ideal life
I have been doing a sermon series on living the ideal life, as if. I know that life is often far from ideal from one's perspective. What I am not talking about is the perfect life, but rather a life that has some meaning to each of us. I don't know about you but there are times that I struggle with the question, Why am I here? There are times that I have a better insight into the answer but there are still struggles that go on that raises the old doubts. So this sermon series that is based on our mission statement in our church is of importance for me as well as any others.
Tomorrow I will be talking about discovering our purpose which is the second item of the sermon series. The first dealt with identifying our gifts. I was looking over some of the resources that I plan to use in the sermon which I base out of Jeremiah's call to being a prophet for the Lord. Most of the call stories in Scripture tend to have those called seriously reluctant to do what God asks. They often offer many objections for this call. Somehow I find that comforting for myself. It helps me realize that struggling with purpose and meaning is important and not just to be minimized in our lives. So when we struggle or doubt our purpose it is not something to be ashamed of or avoided. Rather it is something to continue to reflect, pray, and continue to discover. Victor Frankl in his book Man's Search for Meaning states that meaning comes from the life situations that we face. These are constantly changing and that we are to change to meet those expectations. "It does not matter what we expect from life, but rather what life expected from us." Frankl does not believe that purpose or meaning in life can be generalized but that it is real and concrete for each of us individually. Again I find that important in my reflections on call and on my relationship with God. God calls me to become who God wants me to be and to use my gifts for God's purpose. No one else is uniquely qualified to do what I can do. Likewise there are others equally qualified to do what they do. When we are able to work together we create the body of Christ more fully. In my credo at seminary, I called this the gestalt of God.
In all of my resources, what each author had to say was that love if what makes a difference in our world and in our lives. Jesus' love for us is our salvation. My use of my gifts, my purpose is to share that love with others using the unique talents that I have. So it is true of you. We are called to do this with each other in relationship with God and those whom God has created. God did not make a mistake creating us. We need to put our trust in the Divine's aim for all of creation.
Tomorrow I will be talking about discovering our purpose which is the second item of the sermon series. The first dealt with identifying our gifts. I was looking over some of the resources that I plan to use in the sermon which I base out of Jeremiah's call to being a prophet for the Lord. Most of the call stories in Scripture tend to have those called seriously reluctant to do what God asks. They often offer many objections for this call. Somehow I find that comforting for myself. It helps me realize that struggling with purpose and meaning is important and not just to be minimized in our lives. So when we struggle or doubt our purpose it is not something to be ashamed of or avoided. Rather it is something to continue to reflect, pray, and continue to discover. Victor Frankl in his book Man's Search for Meaning states that meaning comes from the life situations that we face. These are constantly changing and that we are to change to meet those expectations. "It does not matter what we expect from life, but rather what life expected from us." Frankl does not believe that purpose or meaning in life can be generalized but that it is real and concrete for each of us individually. Again I find that important in my reflections on call and on my relationship with God. God calls me to become who God wants me to be and to use my gifts for God's purpose. No one else is uniquely qualified to do what I can do. Likewise there are others equally qualified to do what they do. When we are able to work together we create the body of Christ more fully. In my credo at seminary, I called this the gestalt of God.
In all of my resources, what each author had to say was that love if what makes a difference in our world and in our lives. Jesus' love for us is our salvation. My use of my gifts, my purpose is to share that love with others using the unique talents that I have. So it is true of you. We are called to do this with each other in relationship with God and those whom God has created. God did not make a mistake creating us. We need to put our trust in the Divine's aim for all of creation.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
the new year
I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Time has a way of going by so quickly that I have neglected to keep my blog up. We are at an exciting time in our church as we begin the process of re-visioning our ministries. We will be focusing on our new mission statement and on our new vision statement. As we continue this process, we met as chairs of the various committees last night. As we began, I shared with them this scripture, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord (Jeremiah 29:11-14)."
I would encourage everyone to spend some time reflecting on this passage as we prepare to meet this Sunday to set goals for our committees. We need to remember that God truly wants us to prosper and to offer hope for the future. Paul in Romans states, "If God is for us, who can be against us." We as a church need to remember that God is for us. It is only in our own imperfections and sin that we separate ourselves from God's love and mercy. I am excited about what the future holds not only for our church but for our community as well. I would pray that we move forward remembering that it is only through God's blessing that we are able to do what we can.
If you are not a member of a committee, I would hope that you will keep the members in your prayers. Their names are posted on the web site www.springfieldmethodist.com. We will be also making a list of the goals that each committee comes up with and posting those. If you see something that you would like to help with please contact the chair of that committee.
I would encourage everyone to spend some time reflecting on this passage as we prepare to meet this Sunday to set goals for our committees. We need to remember that God truly wants us to prosper and to offer hope for the future. Paul in Romans states, "If God is for us, who can be against us." We as a church need to remember that God is for us. It is only in our own imperfections and sin that we separate ourselves from God's love and mercy. I am excited about what the future holds not only for our church but for our community as well. I would pray that we move forward remembering that it is only through God's blessing that we are able to do what we can.
If you are not a member of a committee, I would hope that you will keep the members in your prayers. Their names are posted on the web site www.springfieldmethodist.com. We will be also making a list of the goals that each committee comes up with and posting those. If you see something that you would like to help with please contact the chair of that committee.
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