Who was the person who first decided to eat an oyster? Was that an act of bravery or starvation? Personally, I like oysters in a variety of forms: stewed, fried, and scalloped or on the half shell, but I admit that my first try was challenging. An oyster is not an attractive option as sea food goes. There are a number of foods which are not attractive at first taste that I have learned to enjoy. Blue Cheese is one of those. Still others have never reached my level of appreciation. There are other things which I did not appreciate at first that later gave me pleasure. Some music at first hearing offended my ears that later I came to enjoy. Most often the difference has been what I experienced with other people. Tastes, sounds, and sights that I have experienced with people I love seem to find a permanent place in my heart. Music that I have experienced in religiously meaningful settings with God’s people often raise feelings in me far beyond just the quality of the music. In fact the music often calls back into my mind those sacred experiences of fellowship with God and God’s people. Even some hymns and spiritual songs which I did not respond to at first, have over time, become those most meaningful old favorites filled with experiences and memory.
06/02/2019
It is true that the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6 is one of the best known passages in all of scripture. It is used in the liturgy of Christian churches and is available in countless published forms and engraved on all manner of objects. It is the form of prayer that Jesus taught his disciples and for that reason could also have been called the disciple’s prayer. What is not realized as often is the number of times in the New Testament that Jesus is described as praying himself. We have only a few examples of the content of those prayers, but many examples of Jesus praying. “The Lord’s Prayer” is an ideal example of the basic elements of prayer and can serve as a model for our prayers. While it is appropriate to recite it together in worship, it is best used when it informs us of how we might shape our own prayers. The mixture of praise and petition, of intercession and instruction are vital in our prayers as well. When we truly pray rather than merely repeat the words we have entered into the Jesus way of prayer. Then our conversation is truly with the Creator of the Universe to whom belongs glory and honor forever and ever. Amen.
05/25/2019
Dotted all over my desk and planner are examples of failure. Many years ago scientists at 3M (Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing) were working at developing a new adhesive for commercial use. The initial results were positive, but in the end it was a failure. It was sticky but not sticky enough. There was no permanent holding ability. Just a small tug released the adhesive. What good is an adhesive that only holds a little bit? Somewhere along the line the question was asked what could this new adhesive be used for? After some further research the “sticky note” was born. This failed adhesive became a new product in all kinds of shapes and colors. Sometimes what seems a failure is just a stage along the way to a future success. In the life of faith there are moments when what we hoped for does not come to fruition in the way we anticipated, but God continues to work even in our failures to bring about blessings. We often learn more from our failures than from our successes. It would be good to let go of our fear of failure and venture out. Of course, we want to plan for the best result and avoid foolish pitfalls, but whatever happens we have the promise of God’s care. The words, “Be not afraid I am with you always” applies whether we succeed or fail. So rejoice in the successes and worry less about the failures. God is with us.
05/19/2019
Psalm 121: 1-2
I lift my eyes to the mountains-
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord
the Maker of heaven and earth.
- International Version
When we visit our family in Centenniel, Colorado, I am reminded of how much I love the mountains. I always find them inspiring. They never fail to remind me of the Creator who made them. It is then I can answer the question “Where does my help come from?” The answer is as majestic as the mountains, “My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth!” The King James Version’s reading “ I lift up my eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help, “ could easily be misunderstood as my help comes from the hills. Clearly, while the Psalmist seems inspired by the mountains to think about the Creator, it is clear to him that help comes from the Lord. It is always easy for human beings to confuse the Creator with the creation. So let the glory of the mountains, the color of the sunset, the tranquility of a mountain lake, the power of the surf pounding a rocky shore, the majesty of the night sky, and all other things of grandeur and beauty remind you of the Creator from whom our help comes.
05/12/2019
I am not overly fond of name tags. They seem to be a common part of conferences and conventions. They signal to the hosts that the wearer has paid the convention registration fee, but they serve a more important function as well. Being able to call someone by name without fumbling through brain freeze makes the event more welcoming and friendly. One of my silly jokes is that I like to wear my name tag upside down so I can look down and read it if I forget my own name. Perhaps the resistance many of us have to name tags has to do with our own identity. We like the feeling that we are known. Being a recognized part of the group gives us a sense of belonging. Some of us do not like to draw attention to ourselves and a name tag makes us feel we are open to public scrutiny. At times in church we try to get everyone to wear a name tag. This never seems to last very long. We forget the name tag at home or don’t remember to pick it up at church. After all we have been going here for years and doesn’t everyone know us? Visiting in other churches and being name tagged has given me a slightly different perspective. When I am the only one wearing a name tag I feel uncomfortable, but when everyone is wearing one it feels less like I’m the center of attention. Being called by name and calling others by name is welcoming. I would just as soon not wear a name tag, but if it makes my church more welcoming to visitors and strangers, I guess I could go ahead and do it for their comfort. It seems like a Jesus kind of thing to do.
05/05/2019
“He drew a circle that shut me out,
Heretic, Rebel and Thing to Flout,
But love and I had a will to win
We drew a circle and took him in.”
I am unsure of the source of this little poem, but it is firmly lodged in my brain. In a time when many seem intent on dividing people and closing some out of the circle of concern, this poem seems more important than when I first learned it. I much prefer circles of inclusion to circle of exclusion. My wife’s parents had special gifts for inclusion. From the very beginning of our dating they made me feel at home in their family. When Sue and I married I felt like I became another son in the family. We have experienced similar things in many of the churches I have served. The Anderson Church of the Brethren is a wonderful example of that kind of love, acceptance and inclusion. Right from the beginning Sue and I felt comfortable and accepted. The increasing friendship and love we have experienced is quite remarkable. Our church is genuinely concerned about our children and grandchildren, and they were even before they met them. Visitors often comment that our church is very friendly. I often would like to say, “Come back regularly and you may find that we are not just friendly, but loving and compassionate. We like to draw the circle takes folk in.”
04/28/2019
Beginning on Easter Eve we enter into the fifty day observance of the resurrection of Jesus known as Eastertide. Officially, this season ends with Pentecost when we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit. In Christian reality Easter never ends. We reaffirm it every Sunday during the year. It is part of the Christian memorial celebration at the death of one of the saints. It is a theme every time we share the Bread and the Cup. It is Easter again whenever we are aware of the resurrected living Lord, present with whenever two or three are gathered in His name. Easter never ends because Jesus is alive and with us. Through the Holy Spirit the Living Lord invades all our lives. It is good to have those special moments like Easter Sunday to remind us of the glory of the resurrection, but when the stone was rolled away from the tomb, a doorway was opened in heaven which can never be closed. The path is clear past sin and death. Now even the darkness is alight with the unquenchable glory of God. The special day of observance is past, but the glory is present even in every ordinary day. Easter never ends. It is always with us from that first resurrection morning all the way out into the boundlessness of eternity. Easter never ends.
04/21/2019
Easter is about life. It would be easy to think about this just in terms of life after death, but it is deeper and more profound than that. Some have made a distinction between “everlasting” life and “eternal” life. The first could be limited in some minds to length of life and the second to the quality of life. The distinction is a bit overdone, but the point is significant. Life in Christ begins in the present, not just after death. We now have the living presence of Christ with us. We are already experiencing the start of the new life in Christ that will realize its complete expression in our life with Christ in glory.Already the power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead is at work in us who are Christ’s followers.We have turned away from sin and death and turned toward life and resurrection in Jesus Christ.Easter is the celebration of what life is and what it will be.Every Sunday we celebrate the first day of the week as a remembrance of Easter and then we live the rest of the week conscious of that relationship with God which we have in Christ.It was Jesus who said, “I am come that they might have life and have it abundantly!”
04/14/2019
There are all kinds of date book/calendars available. I have tried a variety of them, but most are poorly designed for use by ministers. Often there are large spaces for Monday through Friday but Sunday is crammed with Saturday into a shared sixth space. Since Sunday is the most important day in a pastor’s week, this does not work well. I finally found a date book calendar designed by those methodical Methodist called A Calendar and Workbook for Church Leaders. On the left side are six spaces for Monday through Saturday notes and appointments. On the opposite side there is a full page for Sunday complete with lectionary readings of scripture and other useful information. There is a special section in the book that lists special days both religious and secular.Space for advanced planning for the next year is provided along with many other useful bits.I can’t say that the book has made me organized, but it has reduced my disorganization.It is amazing how useful having the right tool is.There are so many examples that could be quoted.For example, it is possible to open a paint can with a screw driver or even a hand trowel, but nothing works as smoothly as a paint can opener.Does the same thing hold true in the religious realm?I have found the songs in the hymnal to be useful tools for life and the Bible seems always to provide what I need to deal with the issues of life.
04/07/2019
Even though in my childhood we rarely ate in restaurants, I have always enjoyed eating out. For many years I looked for something on the menu which I had never had before. This worked well because I like almost every kind of food. As a frugal foodie, I did always check the price. This is what I call reading the menu from right to left. All this changed, as it did for my daughters as well, when we discovered that we had celiac disease (gluten allergy). Now my first question is “Do you have a gluten-free menu?” With the next question being “What is in this dish?” In better restaurants I get to talk to the head chef. In lesser establishments I have to guess or rely on the “gluten sensitive” menu. This isn’t too bad since I can usually find something that I can have, but the days of food experimentation are pretty much past. What I can have is often more expensive than my frugality hopes for in terms of activities I also feel open to try things. I have now noticed a few limitations to due to age, but generally if someone suggests several possible activities, I know that I probably will enjoy any of the choices. This makes me willing to go along with the preferences of others, not because I don’t care, but because I am already pretty certain that I will enjoy any of the good choices.
03/31/2019
While I was in college, I spent most of a summer in Nigeria in a program sponsored by Experiment in International Living. It was my first experience in a culture vastly different from my own. The summer was a rich one with many new insights. I became aware of a much broader world than my own. It was the first time that I recognized the meaning of social distance and the boundary issues that it involves. At a party with a mixture of Nigerians and American students I observed the difference between the Nigerians and the Americans and the necessary physical space that was comfortable for each. I was on a balcony overlooking the large room below. It looked almost like a dance. The Nigerians were moving closer and the Americans were backing up. I have observed this sort of thing between cultures many times since. All cultures know that there needs to be boundaries, but often those boundaries vary with the culture. Much of this is unconscious behavior. Even within a culture there are often differences about boundary issues. Boundaries involve more than just physical space. For example, our personal integrity provides a kind of boundary as does our religious commitments. “Treating others as we wish to be treated” provides another example of boundaries for our behavior. It is helpful and necessary to have good personal boundaries. They can keep us safe and healthy. We need to respect our own and others’ boundaries if we expect to live together in peace and harmony.
03/24/2019
The Church of the Brethren Sunday School curriculum for children is called Shine. It has as one of its motto’s “Start small; let faith grow.” While this is appropriate for a children’s curriculum, it is also a good model for the church at large. Jesus started small with a small circle of followers. Twelve key leaders developed along the way and the circle continued to grow. A small dedicated group can often accomplish more than a large group if they are indifferent. In American society we seem to fear smallness. Success and bigness seems to many to be the same thing, yet we are also compelled by stories of ordinary people who do things which on the surface seem unlikely if not impossible: a teenager who managed to raise funds for a disabled friend’s electric wheel chair, the single voice which reveals an injustice by a large corporation, the child who mobilizes efforts to help other less advantaged children, the coach who finds housing for a Nigerian family fleeing religious persecution by Boko Haram. Small seemingly powerless people who accomplish great things. It certainly was the story of the spread of early Christianity. Certainly, there were some great leaders, but much of the real growth of the Christian movement went forth on the efforts of the first Christians. A small trickle of believers became a mighty flood of the faithful. They were ordinary faithful followers of Jesus.
03/17/2019
Recently, I learned the danger of renting a car in the season of Spring Break. I had planned far enough in advance that there was a car reserved for me. Unfortunately, on the morning of picking up the car the latch broke and the rental people had to scramble for a substitute vehicle. I went from a small sedan to a huge double cab white truck. With my short legs, pulling myself into the truck was a sure source of entertainment for anyone watching. Exiting the truck was easy, I just slid out and dropped the last 12 inches to the ground. It had been a long time since I had driven such a big vehicle, but it turned out to be an engaging experience. This was a dream truck with every bell and whistle. Automatic headlights, rear camera for backing up, even voice activated radio were all available. All I really needed was a horse trailer on behind to recall my early Utah roots. The ride was smooth and scarcely affected by Indiana’s land of pot holes. It really did change my perspective on driving. I could see everything from my high seat. Big trucks didn’t blow me sideways on the highway. What a delight a new experience can bring. It makes me wonder if I am as open to new experiences with God. I hope so! Meanwhile I’m looking for a modern enclosed, air conditioned tractor to give that a try to see if it would give me a new perspective.
03/10/2019
Our life story is composed of lots of smaller stories. This is most noticeable to me when I read obituaries. Mostly they contain the facts of birth and death, of survivors and social connections, but sometimes, there are small clues about the other stories: “Allen loved to work in his garden, or Beth played her violin in church, or Susan was a fan of Wrestlemania.” These are the stories I want to hear. Meeting with grieving families, I am often delighted by the funny memories they share. It is often true that laughter and tears live right next to each other. What stories will your family and friends treasure in their memory of you? My brother and I, when talking on the telephone, make jokes to help us cope with the growing threat of his cancer. To someone outside of us these may seem a bit macabre at one point and just plain silly at another, but it helps us deal with the situation we face. The shared humor says we are in this together. We are not avoiding the painful realities but we are not bowing down before them. In a strange way this seems part of our faith. We are confident in our future with Jesus in his heavenly kingdom by his grace. The humor reminds us that while we may be struck down for a time, we are not destroyed. Our future is secure in the hands of Him who holds the future.
03/03/2019
Next Wednesday, March 6 is Ash Wednesday. It is the first day of the season of Lent. Officially, the season of Lent ends on Maundy Thursday (the Thursday of Holy Week) although many will still observe the fast on Good Friday. It is a time of preparation for Easter. It may involve self- examination or repentance, but always has as its goal growing closer to God. Often it is a time of fasting or abstinence from a beloved pleasure. The goal here is to let the lack of something focus our attention on prayer that our hunger and thirst for God may be satisfied. Lent lasts for 40 days like Jesus’ time in the wilderness after his baptism. If you count the days you will notice that there are 46 days. This is because the six Sundays of Lent are not counted as part of Lent. Since Sunday is a celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus, it is appropriate that these not be fast days. A modest breaking of the abstinence on Sunday is possible on the six Sundays. Some will choose to keep the fast through the whole period of 46 days. Exceptions for those who would find it impossible for health or other suitable reasons have always been recognized. All this may seem overly complicated and churches follow differing practices. The rules are less important than the intention. If the desire is to turn away from evil and draw near to God, then Lent will have been truly observed.
02/24/2019
“He can’t see the forest for the trees,” was how a friend of mine described a mutual acquaintance. I thought at the time that the sentence described me and many others at one time or another. It is easy to be so caught in the details that are right in front of us that we lose our perspective of the big picture. Part of the problem is our differing skills. Some of us are excellent at handling the details of life while others are good at seeing the broader implications of events and experiences. It is a rarer thing to find people who combine both gifts. It is one of the many reasons why we need each other. We supplement each other’s gifts. A group with wide angle thinkers may have trouble moving beyond theory to practical action, while a group of detail thinkers may be in danger of forgetting what the day to day work does to realize our greater purposes. It can also be the case that the two styles may not understand or fully appreciate the contributions of the other style. A group is fortunate if it has those who can interpret and enable us all to work together. We always need to be sure that we are tending to both the trees and the forest.
02/17/2019
In the spring a young man’s thoughts turn toward love, they say. Thinking about spring my old man thoughts turn to seed catalogs. I enjoy paging through and looking for exotic variations on familiar veggies and flowers. In my mind I can lay out a complete back yard homestead. I speculate about where I would place the fruit trees, what crops I would raise, and where I would put the duck pond. My reality is actually very different. In our condo situation I will be limited to container gardening and a few foundation plantings. We do have ducks and Canadian geese that visit our mini lake, but all they do is foul the sidewalks. If we could cook them for supper, they would be useful! So almost all my garden planning is fantasy. In my grandiose vision it is easy to forget just how much work farming is. Still it is fun to imagine. In the garden of my dreams I can walk with peace and tranquility, and leave behind the stresses of everyday life. Sometimes I wonder if that is a sort of longing for the Garden of Eden, or the abundant messianic abundance. Better yet it may be the pleasure of well- tended fields, open meadows and unspoiled wilderness. All this pleasure and pondering from a free seed catalog, who would have thought?
02/10/2019
We are designed to be whole beings with all our physical, mental, relational and spiritual parts integrated into one functioning whole. Greek thought divided individuals into body, soul, and spirit with soul as a particularly difficult concept to define. Hebrew thought was simpler and to my mind superior. It focused on people as whole beings. In keeping with that kind of thought, I think of soul as that which is essentially us with all the parts that make up who we are: mind, body spirit, etc. Sometimes that wholeness is fuzzy when one part is out of focus but we are still whole beings seeking more focused wholeness. I realize I may be making this more confusing than helpful.Finally, I think it best to go back to the simple Hebrew notion that we are whole beings.If we get too analytical about our spirits or bodies we may be in danger of thinking only the spirit matters or only the body matters.We might neglect the wholeness that is the real us.All of us have known people who are out of balance like the athlete who when their prowess fades discovers they have neglected other parts of who they are or some of the desert saints who thought to gain spiritual strength by letting their bodies wither by neglect.If we keep our need for wholeness in mind, we may find more of the joy God intended for us when God created us as whole beings
02/03/2019
A major religious magazine, for many years, had a reoccurring guest feature called “How my mind has changed.” Major religious thinkers revealed how their views had changed and what had prompted the change. I always found these articles interesting and insightful. Periodically, I try to assess how my mind has changed. I have old sermon notes (from back when I used notes) that reveal how much my mind has changed over the years. Most of these changes have been very much for the good. I am glad that human beings can change their minds. I am not very impressed when people say they never change their minds. It reminds me of people who never change their tooth brush or worse never change their underwear. There are good reasons for change in many areas of life. To punch the TV remote control 15 times when it has a dead battery will likely never end in a bright full color screen. It is TV insanity. When things repeatedly don’t work, it may be necessary to figure out why and perhaps employ a new strategy. Changing our minds may be a bit more difficult, but it is something which we can do. If you were asked to describe how your mind has changed over the last 30 years or even over the last five years, what would your list include?
01/27/2019
We are barely into 2019 and I am already thinking about next year. That year will the year, 2020. It almost sounds like an eye test. 20-20 is considered perfect, but it would be excellent if it was a year of improved vision on a personal, national, and international level. Even in the church we could benefit by a clear vision. Perhaps we could benefit by spiritual cataract surgery to let in more light or sacred eye drops to lower the pressure in our relationships or religious exercises to sharpen our failing vision. I know that is pushing the analogy way too far, but just maybe we could use 2019 as a year to sharpen our vision as a congregation so that we could enter 2020 with a clearer vision for our church for the future in the 21st century. God will have to be our partner if we are to find a clear and compelling vision. We may even need to employ a different lens to see what we should do and be (Sorry, I drifted back into the analogy again). The point is that the year 2020 seems ideal for examining our vision and 2020 seems ideally placed to prepare wisely for that vision. Just in case this analogy is giving you eye strain, you might consider Jesus’ words: “If your eye is single then your whole body is filled with light.”