Status, access, power and stuff?

I recently heard a news story on the radio about a new way to encourage people to obey the law.  You can see the story for yourself here.  It seems that some communities are giving REWARDS for people who OBEY the speed limit.  The law-abiding citizens get to split a pot of money, if they are selected in the lottery of speed limit following drivers.  The money comes from a portion of fines levied against speeders. 

The guest for the story, Gabe Zichermann, said this type of thing is popular because we are motivated by four things: status, access, power and stuff.   Zichermann may be correct in that assertion.  But are these the principles by which we should be guided?


It is as simple as looking at the story of the Good Samaritan.  (You can read the story for yourself here.)  Jesus told the story of a man who was lying on the roadside, having been beaten and robbed, and unable to move.  The righteous and religious people passed him by--probably afraid of putting themselves in a precarious situation.  But a Samaritan stops to help.  Samaritans were despised and looked down upon by Jesus' first hearers.  A Samaritan as the hero of a story turned all their expectations upside-down.


The Samaritan picks up the victim of the road-side crime and cares for him.  Then he takes him to the an inn and pays for everything.  He puts down enough money for the man to stay as long as he needs.  The Samaritan tells the inn keeper, "Anything else he needs, put it on my tab."  


Jesus finishes the story with this charge: "Go and do likewise."  No rewards, no status, no access to special privileges, no power, no stuff.  The Samaritan decided to shun all postions of status, access, power and stuff to show true compassion and justice.


The Gospel's Call is to forgo the desires for the temporal things that come with status, access, power and stuff.  That's much easier said than done.  But Jesus commanded us to do so.  Therefore He will make the way for us to do so, when we follow His Call.  


As Brian Russell says, "The status we embrace establishes the limits of our ability to reach others with the Gospel."  Emptying ourselves of status always increases our ability to show God's compassion and justice.

What would fear drive you to do?

While waiting for a train to take him from Chattanooga to Memphis on July 4, 1956, a trip of some 400 miles, Elvis sits at the lunch counter to have some breakfast. The woman standing had ordered a sandwich for which she was waiting, but was not able to sit at the counter.

While waiting for a train to take him from Chattanooga to Memphis on July 4, 1956, a trip of some 400 miles, Elvis sits at the lunch counter to have some breakfast. The woman standing had ordered a sandwich for which she was waiting, but was not able to sit at the counter.

A part of our human condition is fear.  Fear can be a healthy thing.  It can keep us out of dangerous situations and preserve life and limb.  However, history has shown that fear can also get the best of us.  Fears, when they are out of control, can lead us to say destructive things, to hurt others, or try to eliminate entire groups of people.

Racial segregation comes quickly to mind.  We’ve suffered from this fear lived out, not just in the South, but across the nation.  We can fear that which is different from us when do not seek to understand it.  Fear of other people has lead us to war throughout time.  It led to mass persecution of Christians.  These are only to name a few.

Jesus faced the wrath of another’s fear.  In the early morning hours of the day of His crucifixion, Jesus was the subject of a farce of a trial at the home of Caiaphas the High Priest.  The religious leaders were afraid of what Jesus might be--the Messiah that did not come as they expected He should.  Jesus was so much more. They feared His words that might even condemn their self-righteousness.  They feared what His teachings might require of them. Their fears led them to condemn an innocent man to die a horrible death.

What do we do with our fears?  Do we face them with the love that Jesus taught and lived?  About this love with which Jesus responded, the Bible says: “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” 1 John 4:18.

Does Agony mean Defeat?

Vinko Bogataj of Yugoslavia at a ski jumping 

event in Oberstdorf, West Germany in 1970.

From when I was a boy, I remember weekends and watching sports with my dad.  From the television, I could hear the familiar intro music to “ABC’s Wide World of Sports.”  Jim McKay promised us that they were “spanning the globe” to bring us “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.”  I always made it in the room in time to see a great ski jumper have a bad run and wipe out on the slope and into the crowd.  I don’t remember his great jumps, but we remember him for his failed attempt that day.


We all face such agonies.  We have done our best time and time again, then we face a difficulty that sets us back.  Sometimes this is of our own doing.  Sometimes it is by things beyond our control.

However, agony does not have to mean defeat.  What we do in the midst of the agony determines defeat or victory.  Yes, there are agonies we bring upon ourselves: the consequences of poor choices, running after things of the world, etc.  There are agonies that happen to us beyond our control, for example a change in health, the loss of a loved one, a natural disaster like in Japan recently.  But how will we respond in those agonies?

Jesus was in agony as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane late Thursday night and early Friday morning of what we call Holy Week--the week before Easter.  He was in agony in the deepest way--praying until His sweat came like drops of blood.  His response to the agony was to throw Himself into prayer and upon the will of God, His Father.

The agony did not immediately pass, but He was sustained in the middle of it.  The will of God brought forth more victory than an immediate fix to the agony.  Though it appeared that all was lost, God never abandoned His Son.

He offers the same for us and for those in the midst of agony around us and around the world.  How will we respond?  Will we, as Jesus did, throw ourselves to the will of God?  Will we offer hope and comfort to those who are in agony now?  Will we demonstrate that agony does not have to mean defeat?

United Methodists Respond to Emergency in Japan

United Methodists respond to emergency in Japan

The United Methodist Church has been at work in Japan for several years. The United Methodist Committee On Relief is connecting with our partners to assess the damage resulting from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. We are holding all affected in prayer. To support UMCOR's response to emergencies like this please give to Pacific Emergency, UMCOR Advance #3021317.

100% of your donations go directly to the relief work with

NO ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS withheld.

We continue to be respond to the needs for the months and years to come and will seek to follow God's leading to bring hope and restoration to the people of Japan.

What memories define you?

Memories are a powerful thing.  The memory of an event can alter a life.  The emotions associated with a memory can paralyze use or empower us to change the world.  How we allow those memories to define us can influence the decisions we make for a lifetime.

The Christian tradition is full of memories.  We inherit it from our roots of Judaism.  The memory is an important part of the Jewish past as well as the future.  This is apparent if you visit the Holocaust Memorials.  I’ve seen the one in Washington, D.C. and in Jerusalem. The overall message is: REMEMBER so that this will never happen again.

We also should remember certain events so that they DO happen again.  Certainly Jesus had this in mind at the Last Supper.  He was celebrating the Passover meal with His disciples.  The Passover is all about memories and tradition.  We are to remember that God’s people were slaves, but now are free.  In much the same way Jesus was declaring to the people that they were once slaves to sin and death, but He was about to set them free in ways they could never imagine.

We remember this still when we celebrate Holy Communion.  Jesus told us to do this in remembrance of Him.  He gave the disciples the cup on that Thursday night and told them it was a New Covenant offered to them.  Certainly they must have remembered the words from the prophet Jeremiah, 

31 “The days are coming,” declares the LORD,
   “when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
   and with the people of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant
   I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
   to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
   though I was a husband to them,”
            declares the LORD.
33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
   after that time,” declares the LORD.
“I will put my law in their minds
   and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
   and they will be my people.
34 No longer will they teach their neighbor,
   or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’
because they will all know me,
   from the least of them to the greatest,”
            declares the LORD.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
   and will remember their sins no more.”

What memories define us?  Hurtful memories of the past?  Or memories of a God who gave His all for us?  What will we do with those memories and how will we let God use them to change us and the world?

I look forward to exploring these with you this Sunday.

Give up or Pick Up?

For many years, I've heard my friends and colleagues talk about what they were going to "give up for Lent."  Everything from Cokes to chocolate to lima beans made the list.  It took me a while to understand why one would shun something for more than a month.  It seemed more as a badge of honor that one could be so disciplined.


These days I view the period of Lent differently.  I see it as a time of preparation and renewal.  In the early Church, those last 40 days before Easter were used for intense preparation.  For a period of time, baptisms only took place on Easter morning.  Some of the candidates for baptism had prepared for a year for this day.  The last 40 days were a time of even more serious preparation.  On the Saturday night before Easter, they would go to the church and, approaching the baptismal from the west, were baptized.  They would rise facing east, at dawn on Easter morning.  They entered in darkness and rose in the light of Easter.  They gave up themselves and picked up Christ Himself.  Those who were already Christians also entered into a time of reflection and preparation, remembering their own baptisms and the life they celebrate.


So this Easter, I'm not only giving up (myself at a new depth I hope), but also seeking to put on more of Christ Himself.  I going to make the Wesleyan Covenant Prayer a regular part of my daily routine.  May we together embrace the light that Christ offers anew this year.


I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee, exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, thou art mine, and I am thine.
So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven.  Amen. 

Lent 2011

Many of us have different expectations or understandings of the Season of Lent. Lent can be a very meaningful time of Spiritual Growth. Lent is a time of preparation for the initiation of people into the Christian life in baptism. It is also a time for the church to journey together toward Easter and the reaffirmation of the baptismal covenant. Lent is not about being miserable, sad, and funereal in anticipation of Good Friday. The Sundays of Lent are not part of the forty days of Lent and so remain "little Easters," as are all Sundays. Fasting and giving up something can be part of Lenten disciplines, but so can taking on some things. Have you considered some ways to connect worship and daily growth in spiritual, relational, emotional, and bodily fitness?
This Lenten Season, I want to encourage to you take a new approach to this holy time. I want to encourage us to grow together again this year. Below is a great opportunity for this period of spiritual reflection.  I offer a chance for you to make a new commitment this year.  Print out this page and put it somewhere that you'll see it each day during Lent.


My Preparation for Easter
Lent is a time to prepare for Easter. It is a necessary prelude. The death and resurrection of Christ are true whether or not I prepare for Easter. However, without my heart and life being ready, I may not experience the depth and power of Christ's death and resurrection. So with my brothers and sisters, I commit myself to disciplines for conversion from sin and death to love and life in Jesus Christ. With the aid of the list below, I make the following commitments to discipline and growth for the next six weeks:
(Check the ones you desire or feel prompted to do; circle the ones you then decide to do.)


Inward and Personal Disciplines
___ Spend time in solitude each day.
___ Commit to participation in weekly worship.
___ Commit to the suggested weekly Bible readings.
___ Read twice through the Gospel of Mark.
___ Begin to keep a journal of prayer concerns, questions, reading.
___ Faithfully read and reflect upon the Lenten Devotional Guide.
___ Focus on thanksgiving, rather than on asking, in prayer.
___ Give myself a gift of three hours to do something I always say I don't have time to do.
___ Find a way to go to bed earlier or sleep in so I get enough rest.
___ Make a list of people with whom I need to be reconciled. Pray for them and let Jesus guide me in my thinking and feeling toward them.
___ Allow God to take control of my life by ______________.
___ Go to all of the Holy Week services as an act of love and waiting with Jesus.
___ Take one hour to prayerfully inventory my priorities and plan how I will reorder them.
___ Give up a grudge or a rehearsal of a past event.
___ Forgive someone who has hurt me.
___ Turn off the TV, computer, etc. for ________ hours a week that I would otherwise spend with it on.
___ Other promptings:


Outward and Social Disciplines
___ Take on some loving task:
___ Plan to visit a "shut-in" neighbor or church member weekly.
___ Agree to serve in an area of the church that God has been prompting me to do so.
___ Write a letter of affirmation once a week to a person who has touched my life.
___ Listen and respond to Christ's call to a ministry of service:
___ Go to coffee or dinner with someone I want to know better and grow together in Christ.
___ Give blood and recall the cross.
___ Call the local food pantry or homeless project and ask how I can help.
___ Say "NO" to something that is a waste of money and time.
___ Pray to God to help me resist racial prejudice and to give me courage in opposing it.
___ Decide to become a member of the church and speak to a pastor and participate in the Membership Exploration.
___ Rebuke the spirit of criticism and my own tongue out of control.
___ Find a way to live out the baptismal promise to "resist evil, injustice, and oppression" in the power and liberty God gives us by:
___ Other outward and social promptings:
As a way of being accountable, I will share my plan with at least one other faithful Disciple of Jesus and share with that person my experience of Lent during Holy Week.
(signed) __________________________ (date) _____________

Blog 2.0

I have to admit that I've neglected my blog for quite some time.  I do apologize and I appreciate those that have stopped by.

I'd like to give this another go.  In the coming weeks, I look forward to interacting with you again in the blogosphere!  Be patient with me. :)