Return.

“O begin! Fix some part of every day for private exercises....

Do justice to your own soul; give it time and means to grow.
Do not starve yourself any longer. Take up your cross and be a Christian altogether.”

-- John Wesley

 Lent begins tomorrow with Ash Wednesday!
(Ash Wednesday Service is in the Sanctuary at 6:30pm)

Word for the Week: Return

The Hebrew and Greek words for “repent” literally mean to turn around;
to turn away from sin and evil and to turn back to where we belong.

Repentance is a return to God.

Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand;
repent and believe in the gospel." ~Mark 1:14-15

Hospitality: The Good Bad and Ugly

Walking into our church's Wednesday night dinner, I was immediately pulled aside by our church's much-beloved retired minister.

"See that couple over there?" he said. "You should probably go and say hello to them because they were really upset when you asked them to move seats last week. They left the church once when someone told them they couldn't sit in their pew--but they're back now, so you should be very nice to them. [And please don't say anything to them about moving.]"

In other words, if these people are not happy, they will leave the church.
And when I asked them to share their table with others, I upset them.
So I should go out of my way to apologize. Because the purpose of church is to keep people happy.

Seriously?

I kind of felt like this on the inside:

First of all, I did NOT ask them to move last Wednesday. We had a family of five who were brand new to the church; here for their very first church dinner and none of the tables had five empty spaces...except one. One table had two people at it (our tables seat eight) and as I walked over to speak with them, they were getting up to put their plates away.

My memory might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I said, "Oh? Are you guys leaving? Because we have a brand new family who needs five spaces to sit..."

And then when the family started sitting down, (and I KNOW I'm remembering this part right) the young mom looked at the elderly lady and said "please don't leave--we'd love to talk with you."
...but the elderly lady said "No, it's fine. We were leaving anyways."
NO ONE ASKED THEM TO MOVE!!!!!

More importantly. who cares if we did?? If you're a member of this church, I expect you to be friendly enough and Christ-like enough to give your seat to someone else who needs it more--especially if they are new and there is no where else for them to go. We have an open communion table for a reason. Share your space. 

I wanted to march over and chew them out. make it a teaching lesson.

Instead, I went with grace (see Proverbs 25:21-22) and walked to their table with a warm smile--at least on the outside. I was still inwardly seething. They answered with biting words and angry glares, but I was proud of myself for being a better person than them.

...until I remembered that my lunch conversation was about Jesus' words from the cross: "Father, forgive them. They know not what they do."
I realized later that they probably DON'T know how much hurt they're causing. Their sin--their blind selfishness--wasn't allowing them to see others. ...and I realitzed that an existence like that must be lonely.
So I DID pray for them--and this time I really meant it.
And I repented of my own Pharisaical prayer (c.f Luke 18:11)

On a positive note, we also had a little girl who came to the children's ministry for the first time. Our kids gather in the dining space and then migrate (duck-like) to the children's area, so as we started to make our way over, I introduced her to a few of the kids. Most of them said 'hello' and smiled, but ONE little girl in particular--a beautiful and occasionally awkward little girl who doesn't always know how she, herself, fits in-- she took the time to murmur a delighted "oh! you're new! Would you like me to show you the way?" ...and they walked away hand-in-hand.

I melted.
MELTED.

Almost burst into tears on the spot.

THAT, my friends, is the kingdom of God.
Aand why children will always ALWAYS be welcome there.

(and why we should welcome others)

Canadian Bacon

I'm late posting this, but I preached last Sunday on 1 Corinthians 8 (Paul's discussion about food sacrificed to idols:

Food. Meat. Thus the bacon...)

Per Allen's suggestion, I'm working hard to keep my sermons focused on ONE idea--which is hard since every text has twenty possible implications.  And even then I struggle over whether I'm faithfully preaching 'the text' or 'the theme'.And whether I'm picking the right theme for the needs of my congregation ...still struggling through all that, actually.

But last week week, there were two implications that stuck to the drawing board: 

1) faith isn't something we do alone. ("look beyond the bacon question and notice the person sitting next to you. Community is important.")

2) sometimes being right is less important than being love. ("we may have to sacrifice/inconvenience ourselves in order to welcome everyone to the table. You can have all the right answers and still miss the point. Community is important.")

The second idea is particularly relevant considering our church still has some fiesty divisions over worship etiquette (coffee refills during the sermon ruffle feathers at one service. Coffee at all would be a sacrilege at the other)--but I went with the first theme, because you have to SEE the person beside you before you're willing to sacrifice for them.  

--> full disclosure, my sermon still tried to straddle both themes a bit, but the similarity held then together. And the main idea was clearly the first theme. 

Images that resonated:

Pushing to be first. To be right. And causing others to stumble. Found online: http://www.gbcdecatur.org/sermons/Trippin.html

And my painted meditation:

In this case, painting was a LAST process (a reflection--not early exegesis) so it affirmed the direction and solidified the theme. 

"Notice the big picture. Don't get caught in black and white questions or 'choosing sides' because you'll miss the green spaces and areas of growth. Our call is to abide in Christ, the vine, and grow in faith together."