I love new beginnings. I love New Years and the First Sunday in Advent and the First Day of School (Yes, I capitalized that on purpose!) and Spring Cleaning and even the start of Daylight Savings Time. I love any opportunity to start over, to start fresh, to experience the grace of a new beginning.
I know that all of you are not looking forward to the New Year with the same kind of enthusiasm I am. I know that financial news is grim. I know that many of you will enter 2009 unemployed or underemployed. I know that many of you have endured broken hearts and broken dreams this year and it seems that even a thousand new years will not ease the pain.
I know that some of you carry the guilt of having hurt or failed others. Some of you walk daily under the burden of feeling that you will never be good enough for your partner, your children, your parents, or your associates.
On this New Year's Eve, I hope you will allow yourself the grace of a new beginning. Just for this day, know that you are created in the image of a God who is love, who is goodness, who is kindness, compassion, joy, hope and every good and beautiful thing. Know that you cannot destroy that, void it, ruin or renounce it. Just for this day, believe that with all your heart. Speak from that knowledge, act from that knowledge, and love from that knowledge.
Just for today, let your heart believe this promise from 2 Corinthians 5:17: Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it!
Look at it! Celebrate it! Believe it!
Happy New Year,
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Unbelievable
Unbelievable.
That's the word I usually reserve for informing basketball referees that what I've seen doesn't match up with what they've called. The volume and length of the word usually grow in proportion to my disbelief.
But I've had a different experience with that word lately. In fact, I think I've whispered it half a dozen times this week alone. Unbelievable that we just decorated the sanctuary for Advent and here it is Christmas Eve. Unbelievable that Thanksgiving is a distant memory. Unbelievable that in less than two months we will enter the Lenten season.
So many things that are hard to wrap my mind around!
But Christmas time, perhaps more than any other, is a time for believing, so I want to share with you a few of the things that I believe...believe with all my heart.
I believe that our community of faith at MCC Austin is growing and maturing as disciples--followers and students--of Christ. I see it in the way we worship, the way we treat each other, the way we are trying to minister to others both inside and outside of the church proper.
I believe that we have an extraordinary group of lay leaders. The talent, the generosity, the ministry of our lay leaders inspires me daily. From our Worship Team to our Sunday School teachers to our Deacons and Communion Team and Board and musicians and on and on we are blessed and blessing others constantly. When I watch you serving each other, I am at the same time humbled and uplifted by the way God works and loves and heals through you.
I believe that the staff, both paid and volunteer, that we have gathered is a remarkable group. I believe that the genuine love and respect we have for each other, the true joy we have in working together, and the shared purpose we claim create an atmosphere in which we are open and available to the Spirit. I believe God enjoys coming to work with us as much as we enjoy coming to work together!
I believe that we as a congregation are being invited by God to do amazing things. I believe that God has been working in us and working on us, and that we're poised to take God's love, joy, peace, and hope far beyond the bounds of 8601 S. First Street.
I believe that we are ready to draw our circle wide and wider still, keeping God as the center of light and love from which we radiate.
Merry, Merry Christmas!
That's the word I usually reserve for informing basketball referees that what I've seen doesn't match up with what they've called. The volume and length of the word usually grow in proportion to my disbelief.
But I've had a different experience with that word lately. In fact, I think I've whispered it half a dozen times this week alone. Unbelievable that we just decorated the sanctuary for Advent and here it is Christmas Eve. Unbelievable that Thanksgiving is a distant memory. Unbelievable that in less than two months we will enter the Lenten season.
So many things that are hard to wrap my mind around!
But Christmas time, perhaps more than any other, is a time for believing, so I want to share with you a few of the things that I believe...believe with all my heart.
I believe that our community of faith at MCC Austin is growing and maturing as disciples--followers and students--of Christ. I see it in the way we worship, the way we treat each other, the way we are trying to minister to others both inside and outside of the church proper.
I believe that we have an extraordinary group of lay leaders. The talent, the generosity, the ministry of our lay leaders inspires me daily. From our Worship Team to our Sunday School teachers to our Deacons and Communion Team and Board and musicians and on and on we are blessed and blessing others constantly. When I watch you serving each other, I am at the same time humbled and uplifted by the way God works and loves and heals through you.
I believe that the staff, both paid and volunteer, that we have gathered is a remarkable group. I believe that the genuine love and respect we have for each other, the true joy we have in working together, and the shared purpose we claim create an atmosphere in which we are open and available to the Spirit. I believe God enjoys coming to work with us as much as we enjoy coming to work together!
I believe that we as a congregation are being invited by God to do amazing things. I believe that God has been working in us and working on us, and that we're poised to take God's love, joy, peace, and hope far beyond the bounds of 8601 S. First Street.
I believe that we are ready to draw our circle wide and wider still, keeping God as the center of light and love from which we radiate.
Merry, Merry Christmas!
Saturday, December 20, 2008
The Fourth Week of Advent
Call this Part II.
Last week I shared some of what I think the young Mary must have been feeling as she contemplated her pregnancy, her future, and her beloved. This week I offer similar thoughts on Joseph, but my path is a little more convoluted. Stay with me...
A couple of summers ago, I heard a sermon that began this way:
I fell in love with God at a church camp in Kerrville, Texas, while two camp counselors strummed "Kumbaya" on their guitars and fireflies danced around the edges of our campfire. I was twelve years old...and God's name was...Shelley.
Once I heard those words, I couldn't track the rest of the sermon very well. I had had the same experience! The first time I fell in love so completely that not only my skin tingled, but my very soul tingled, I suddenly understood the catechism in a whole new way. Patient, kind, unconditional, life-giving, transformational--these were holy words, and suddenly, my everyday words.
Over time, though, I gave in to the constant barrage of societal disapproval about this great love, and I convinced myself that there was nothing sacred or spiritual about it. Further, I rationalized that God demanded my undivided devotion, not devotion shared with the great human loves of my life.
Thank God that I've come full circle on that.
If we're not supposed to live our lives in a delicious swirl of God's love and friends' love and partners' love and parents' love and on and on, then why did God mix it all up for us? Why did God choose messy, fleshy incarnation over, or at least along with, divine transcendence? Why has God chosen to be born in us, to be borne by us, and to dwell in us, and why has God commanded us to love one another as God loves us? Certainly it must be so that we would not create so many distinctions, separate our lives into compartments of sacred and secular, try to distill the human from the holy.
For the final time this season, let me share with you some words from Two from Galilee. In this section Marjorie Holmes gives voice to the agony Joseph feels as he wrestles with how to deal with Mary now that he knows she is pregnant. Joseph has been approached by Mary's father, Joachim, who has begged Joseph to deal mercifully with Mary.
Joseph's mother had been right. And Joachim. A man's honor and the honor of his family was involved. But neither Joachim nor any other who spoke of honor could conceive that there was a value even greater than honor--a man's love. However forsaken, bereaved, humiliated, a man's hopelessly abiding love.
He wanted her back, no matter what. Perversely, he wanted her back even more the more people talked. Yet it was so much greater than that, it went so far back and so far beyond. She was his life's purpose, his hope; she was his Messiah. At this time of miracles and magi, don't try too hard to comprehend it all. Instead, allow yourself to feel it...Emmanuel...God with us, in us, loving us, and happy to be loved by us as best we can...as best we can.
Peace and Much Love,
Last week I shared some of what I think the young Mary must have been feeling as she contemplated her pregnancy, her future, and her beloved. This week I offer similar thoughts on Joseph, but my path is a little more convoluted. Stay with me...
A couple of summers ago, I heard a sermon that began this way:
I fell in love with God at a church camp in Kerrville, Texas, while two camp counselors strummed "Kumbaya" on their guitars and fireflies danced around the edges of our campfire. I was twelve years old...and God's name was...Shelley.
Once I heard those words, I couldn't track the rest of the sermon very well. I had had the same experience! The first time I fell in love so completely that not only my skin tingled, but my very soul tingled, I suddenly understood the catechism in a whole new way. Patient, kind, unconditional, life-giving, transformational--these were holy words, and suddenly, my everyday words.
Over time, though, I gave in to the constant barrage of societal disapproval about this great love, and I convinced myself that there was nothing sacred or spiritual about it. Further, I rationalized that God demanded my undivided devotion, not devotion shared with the great human loves of my life.
Thank God that I've come full circle on that.
If we're not supposed to live our lives in a delicious swirl of God's love and friends' love and partners' love and parents' love and on and on, then why did God mix it all up for us? Why did God choose messy, fleshy incarnation over, or at least along with, divine transcendence? Why has God chosen to be born in us, to be borne by us, and to dwell in us, and why has God commanded us to love one another as God loves us? Certainly it must be so that we would not create so many distinctions, separate our lives into compartments of sacred and secular, try to distill the human from the holy.
For the final time this season, let me share with you some words from Two from Galilee. In this section Marjorie Holmes gives voice to the agony Joseph feels as he wrestles with how to deal with Mary now that he knows she is pregnant. Joseph has been approached by Mary's father, Joachim, who has begged Joseph to deal mercifully with Mary.
Joseph's mother had been right. And Joachim. A man's honor and the honor of his family was involved. But neither Joachim nor any other who spoke of honor could conceive that there was a value even greater than honor--a man's love. However forsaken, bereaved, humiliated, a man's hopelessly abiding love.
He wanted her back, no matter what. Perversely, he wanted her back even more the more people talked. Yet it was so much greater than that, it went so far back and so far beyond. She was his life's purpose, his hope; she was his Messiah. At this time of miracles and magi, don't try too hard to comprehend it all. Instead, allow yourself to feel it...Emmanuel...God with us, in us, loving us, and happy to be loved by us as best we can...as best we can.
Peace and Much Love,
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
The Third Week of Advent
I'm always aware of the blessing and privilege of being an MCC pastor, but this Advent I've felt that blessing more keenly than ever. I think that part of this awareness has to do with our chosen theme for worship for this year: Sacred Desire, Spiritual Yearnings. As we've shared over the last two weeks the stories of Elizabeth and Zechariah and of their son, John the Baptist, I've been deeply moved by the depth of their desires and the extent of their yearnings. Now, as we prepare to relive Mary's story this week and Joseph's next week, I've been more aware than ever before of the freedom that I have to give voice to the Nativity story with words that so many pastors feel they must shy away from--words like knowing, covenanting, consummating, blood, flesh, birth and the holy of holies, that we somehow have come to believe we can use only on Good Friday, passion.
Last weekend I shared with you a passage from Marjorie Holmes's beautiful novel, Two from Galilee. Today I want to share another. In this scene, Mary is certain that she is, as the angel announced, pregnant. Now she is faced with the impossible task of telling Joseph, not only the one to whom she is engaged, not only the one who will literally hold her life in his hands, but the one whose love she craves body and soul.
Numb with astonishment, Joseph could only gaze at her for an eternity. Then he spoke one word. One alone, which later seemed to him almost as unbelievable as the thing she had told him.
"Whose?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know?" His hands, dangling at his sides, felt wooden...."Mary, are you mad? Or do you think I am?"
"Perhaps," she said.
"Perhaps I am mad. At first I thought so. How can it be? I asked myself that I am the chosen one? How can it be? There are fairer girls in Israel, and certainly purer ones. Girls whose only wish has been to serve in the Temple, to fast and pray. No, there had to be some mistake, I told myself. Yes, I have been very close to God--especially in childhood; there were times when I felt sure he spoke to me. But it is human love that I have longed for as I grew older." She had been staring into the darkness. Now she lifted her eyes to meet his. "Flesh and blood love, Joseph. Your hands, your arms, your lips, your body close to me even as it is close to me now."
I know, I know. The more practical among you can strike down mine and Marjorie Holmes's romantic notions on several fronts. You can speak of arranged marriages, the history of marriage as a matter of property transfer, domestic servitude, on and on. But listen! Don't allow yourself to buy into the mythology that surrounds this account of virgin birth. (Notice, I didn't say, "Don't buy into this myth of virgin birth." I said, "Don't buy into the mythology that surrounds this account of virgin birth.")
Don't allow yourself to miss the passion that invades this story from every angle, the passion that burns between Joseph and Mary, the passion that Joseph and Mary have for Yahweh and for the promised Messiah, and greatest of all, the passion that burns within Yahweh with such power that God's only release for it was to break into the human story in a way that could not be denied or explained away.
People, believe the good news: The Christmas story is not a simple purity tale; it is the greatest love story ever told, and that's the Gospel truth.
Love and Peace,
Last weekend I shared with you a passage from Marjorie Holmes's beautiful novel, Two from Galilee. Today I want to share another. In this scene, Mary is certain that she is, as the angel announced, pregnant. Now she is faced with the impossible task of telling Joseph, not only the one to whom she is engaged, not only the one who will literally hold her life in his hands, but the one whose love she craves body and soul.
Numb with astonishment, Joseph could only gaze at her for an eternity. Then he spoke one word. One alone, which later seemed to him almost as unbelievable as the thing she had told him.
"Whose?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know?" His hands, dangling at his sides, felt wooden...."Mary, are you mad? Or do you think I am?"
"Perhaps," she said.
"Perhaps I am mad. At first I thought so. How can it be? I asked myself that I am the chosen one? How can it be? There are fairer girls in Israel, and certainly purer ones. Girls whose only wish has been to serve in the Temple, to fast and pray. No, there had to be some mistake, I told myself. Yes, I have been very close to God--especially in childhood; there were times when I felt sure he spoke to me. But it is human love that I have longed for as I grew older." She had been staring into the darkness. Now she lifted her eyes to meet his. "Flesh and blood love, Joseph. Your hands, your arms, your lips, your body close to me even as it is close to me now."
I know, I know. The more practical among you can strike down mine and Marjorie Holmes's romantic notions on several fronts. You can speak of arranged marriages, the history of marriage as a matter of property transfer, domestic servitude, on and on. But listen! Don't allow yourself to buy into the mythology that surrounds this account of virgin birth. (Notice, I didn't say, "Don't buy into this myth of virgin birth." I said, "Don't buy into the mythology that surrounds this account of virgin birth.")
Don't allow yourself to miss the passion that invades this story from every angle, the passion that burns between Joseph and Mary, the passion that Joseph and Mary have for Yahweh and for the promised Messiah, and greatest of all, the passion that burns within Yahweh with such power that God's only release for it was to break into the human story in a way that could not be denied or explained away.
People, believe the good news: The Christmas story is not a simple purity tale; it is the greatest love story ever told, and that's the Gospel truth.
Love and Peace,
Thursday, December 4, 2008
The Second Week of Advent - Dedication Sunday
This weekend when we gather for worship, we will bring with us our pledges of time, talent, and treasure for the coming year. We've been talking for several weeks now about the wondrous things we believe God is calling our congregation to do in 2009, and now it's time for us to move from discussion to action.
You've heard my thoughts about being veterans of Christ's service. You've seen the goals that our leadership has set for increasing our financial support of MCC Churches worldwide, increasing our gifts through MCC Cares to nonprofit organizations that are truly struggling with the volatile economy, and funding not only all of our MCC Austin ministries, but also funding our next building team so that they can obtain appraisals and plans and start us toward the reality of a permanent sanctuary. Additionally, you've been offered suggestions for ways that you can grow in your individual commitments to God through the ministry of MCC Austin.
So now I want to offer some final thoughts to you as you prepare to bring your pledges to church this weekend. First, may your commitment to giving be based on your answer to this question: Realizing that everything I have is a gift from God, how much does God ask me to give back as a spiritual response of faith?
Second, trust that if circumstances change for you and you are unable to fulfill your pledge, God and this church will accept whatever you are able to give and be richly blessed by it.
Third, though it is indeed a strange and troubling time in this nation's and the world's economy, it is not the time to become fearful or selfish, but rather time to reorient ourselves toward the things that are truly important. My friend, Rev. Greg McDonell, has offered these words to the congregation of the church he serves:
I would suggest that we see this "crisis" as a time for deep reflection. . . As Christians, let us spend some time reflecting on a few theological questions.1. Are we free enough to move from a mindset of scarcity to one of abundance?2. Are we willing to move from a place of isolation to one of relationship/community?3. Can we be transformed into a people that stops trusting in our attachments and begins to trust in God's providence?
Friends, I have so much hope and excitement about how our family of faith is going to continue to advance God's dominion and share the light and love of Christ in the coming year! But enough of my talking; listen to the promise that God makes to us through the words of the prophet Malachi:
Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.
People of MCC Austin, let's bring the whole tithe into the storehouse and see what God does next!
Always in Hope,
You've heard my thoughts about being veterans of Christ's service. You've seen the goals that our leadership has set for increasing our financial support of MCC Churches worldwide, increasing our gifts through MCC Cares to nonprofit organizations that are truly struggling with the volatile economy, and funding not only all of our MCC Austin ministries, but also funding our next building team so that they can obtain appraisals and plans and start us toward the reality of a permanent sanctuary. Additionally, you've been offered suggestions for ways that you can grow in your individual commitments to God through the ministry of MCC Austin.
So now I want to offer some final thoughts to you as you prepare to bring your pledges to church this weekend. First, may your commitment to giving be based on your answer to this question: Realizing that everything I have is a gift from God, how much does God ask me to give back as a spiritual response of faith?
Second, trust that if circumstances change for you and you are unable to fulfill your pledge, God and this church will accept whatever you are able to give and be richly blessed by it.
Third, though it is indeed a strange and troubling time in this nation's and the world's economy, it is not the time to become fearful or selfish, but rather time to reorient ourselves toward the things that are truly important. My friend, Rev. Greg McDonell, has offered these words to the congregation of the church he serves:
I would suggest that we see this "crisis" as a time for deep reflection. . . As Christians, let us spend some time reflecting on a few theological questions.1. Are we free enough to move from a mindset of scarcity to one of abundance?2. Are we willing to move from a place of isolation to one of relationship/community?3. Can we be transformed into a people that stops trusting in our attachments and begins to trust in God's providence?
Friends, I have so much hope and excitement about how our family of faith is going to continue to advance God's dominion and share the light and love of Christ in the coming year! But enough of my talking; listen to the promise that God makes to us through the words of the prophet Malachi:
Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.
People of MCC Austin, let's bring the whole tithe into the storehouse and see what God does next!
Always in Hope,
The First Week of Advent
I thought I was prepared for what I would see when I walked into the sanctuary this morning. I've been here for five or six Advent seasons now; I know how amazing our sacred space looks adorned in royal blues and gold and silver and greenery and garland.
I thought I was prepared after weeks of working with the worship planning team and listening to their ideas come together.
But I wasn't prepared.
The beauty of it all, the meaning of it all, took my breath away.
Come see for yourself and give yourself the gift of worshiping with us as we begin a new year in the Christian liturgical calendar. Our over-arching theme for the coming year is "Sacred Desire~ Spiritual Yearnings." As we begin the journey through the year with Advent, we will be incorporating traditional themes of Hope, Love, Joy, and Peace. Additionally, we have woven in and among those traditional themes some new images and ideas about circles--thus the sermon titles you will see for the four weeks in Advent and for Christmas Eve:
"Where Does a Circle Begin?"
"Widening the Circle"
"The Circle Within"
"Outside the Circle"
"Full Circle"
To help you fully enter this blessed time of Advent and help you prepare your heart and mind for the coming of the Holy Child, we will be sending you daily devotionals for each week of Advent beginning this Saturday.
I'll close this with a quote that I discovered when preparing last week's sermon about worship. It is taken from the Didascalia Apostolorum and quoted in John E. Burkhart's book, Worship.
"Now when thou teachest, command and warn the people to be constant in assembling in the Church, and not to withdraw themselves, but always to assemble, lest any person diminish the Church by not assembling, and cause the body of Christ to be short of a member."
Please do come and worship with us this Advent. We will be less than we should be without you.
Always in Hope,
I thought I was prepared after weeks of working with the worship planning team and listening to their ideas come together.
But I wasn't prepared.
The beauty of it all, the meaning of it all, took my breath away.
Come see for yourself and give yourself the gift of worshiping with us as we begin a new year in the Christian liturgical calendar. Our over-arching theme for the coming year is "Sacred Desire~ Spiritual Yearnings." As we begin the journey through the year with Advent, we will be incorporating traditional themes of Hope, Love, Joy, and Peace. Additionally, we have woven in and among those traditional themes some new images and ideas about circles--thus the sermon titles you will see for the four weeks in Advent and for Christmas Eve:
"Where Does a Circle Begin?"
"Widening the Circle"
"The Circle Within"
"Outside the Circle"
"Full Circle"
To help you fully enter this blessed time of Advent and help you prepare your heart and mind for the coming of the Holy Child, we will be sending you daily devotionals for each week of Advent beginning this Saturday.
I'll close this with a quote that I discovered when preparing last week's sermon about worship. It is taken from the Didascalia Apostolorum and quoted in John E. Burkhart's book, Worship.
"Now when thou teachest, command and warn the people to be constant in assembling in the Church, and not to withdraw themselves, but always to assemble, lest any person diminish the Church by not assembling, and cause the body of Christ to be short of a member."
Please do come and worship with us this Advent. We will be less than we should be without you.
Always in Hope,
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