Where is Freedom?

Where do we find our Freedom? An interesting thing about freedom: we are free only as long as we have limitations. I speak of freedom in an earthly sense. I have Freedom because I live in the United States. However, my freedom is limited. I don’t have freedom to break into another family’s home and take their things. That would violate their freedom to live peaceably in their home. I don’t have freedom to physically harm other people simple because they disagree with me. That would violate their freedom to live peaceably without fear of harm.

What about the Christian life? Do we live a free people in a Spiritual sense? Not always as we should. Some people believe that if only they will “Live Right” then God will be happy enough with them to allow them into heaven. Maybe if they score enough good points and not enough bad points, then it will all be okay. But that is not what Jesus teaches at all. He says the only way to truly be free is to be bound. We must be bound to Jesus. Not to complex ideologies. Not to causes or ideas. But we must be bound to Jesus and Jesus alone. All else is secondary. This Sunday, as we honor those who so selflessly fought for the freedom of a nation, let’s examine what makes us free as individuals.

Thank you and Welcome

I’ve often used this forum to discuss topics of the upcoming Sunday’s message. I’m taking a couple of weeks off from sermons. My silence will be filled with messages from some important people. Fairhope United Methodist Church is changing. The Rev. Joe Bullington will retire on June 21. He’s served Fairhope faithfully for 15 years. We honor Joe and his wife Marilyn for being faithful to God’s call.
On June 28 we welcome the Rev. Mike McKnight to Fairhope. He and his wife Rene’ bring a wonderful set of gifts to this church and this community. Mike assumes the role of Senior Pastor at a very exciting time. As one person put it recently, Fairhope UMC is no long a Sunday/Wednesday church. We’re an everyday church. When we open our doors, and step out of them into the community, we bring God’s Love to a people in need. People at Fairhope are doing just that.
So my posts may be hit or miss for the summer. Nonetheless, I hope we can continue to partner in saying “thank you”, saying “welcome” and being faithful to God’s call to Reach, Equip, and Serve.

Back to the Beginning

Isn’t it interesting how precious we treat things when they are new to us? Think of the last time you bought something new. I mean a big purchase. Do you remember how you treated it delicately? How you protected it? How you spent extra time making sure it stayed “new”? Then things unplanned things happen. It gets a little nick, a ding, a scratch. Time goes by and your attention is turned elsewhere. That new thing becomes not-so-new. One day you look at it and realize that you don’t hold it in such high esteem as you once did.
This Sunday I want to invite you to go with me “Back the Beginning.” We’ll examine the excitement that the first followers of Jesus had. The church was new. The idea of living together in Christian community was new. Individual devotion to Jesus on a large scale was new. Let’s examine what it would take to recapture that “New-ness.” Let’s go Back to the Beginning.

Taking a deep breath

I want to thank all of you who have engaged in our discussion about Relationships. I know I have been blessed by the journey. I hope you have as well.

This week we take a deep breath. I won't be preaching this week. I know you will be blessed by the message that God will bring through Joe and Musial this week.

But I will be back the following week. And we're going to go Back to the Beginning. Do you remember what it was like when your most prized things in life were shiny and new? Oh how we treasured them and kept them from harm. Then life comes along and the shine wears off. Soon the objects of desire when they were new become objects of scorn when they appear old to us.

What if we went back to the beginning in many areas of our lives? What would happen if we recaptured our first love? How would we view the gifts God has given us?

So take a deep breath this week and try to go back to the beginning. I know I will.

Relationships|Healthy Conflict

What if we were to examine the conflict in our relationships in the way God intended? What if we stopped to ask God how to deal with difficult situations in our lives? In week four of our Relationship Series we talk about How to Fight Right: How to have Healthy Conflict.

Relationships|Mother and Child

This Sunday we take a look at the relationship between mother and child. Sometimes, those look like a greeting card commercial. Many times those relationships are less than perfect. What would God have us do with those relationships? What does the Bible say about how to honor those who have done so much for us?




You can hear the messages online at www.fairhopeumc.org

Relationships|Dealing with Hurts and Anger

Relationships

Who are you looking for?

Who are you looking for?

A common scene in our house is me going through drawers, looking under stacks of paper and riffling through things my children have left lying around. I’m looking for something. It might be my cell phone, a book I’ve been reading, or a scrap of paper where I wrote down a reminder. It is something of uttermost importance at that moment. And I can’t find it. I get antsy. I go crazy with the thought of losing something.
Then my wife will ask me, “What are you looking for?”
When I tell her, she usually can tell me with a high degree of accuracy. I grab the object of my search, thanking God for giving me a wife that can keep me so balanced.
On the morning that Jesus rose from the dead, a lady named Mary (who lived near Magdela) went out to the Jesus’ tomb. She probably went out there to mourn. She probably felt like she was all out of tears. Someone she loved deeply was gone. She had seen him die a horrible death on Friday. She probably spent all night Friday, all day Saturday, and all night Saturday numb from the shock. On Sunday morning she went to go see how she might cope with this pain at the tomb. When she got there, the tomb is empty. Jesus speaks to her, though at first she doesn’t recognize him. Her tears and grief are consuming her. And then Jesus asks the important question: “Who were you looking for?”
Jesus is probably the most discussed figure in history. Many times he is the most misunderstood. This Easter, who are you looking for? Are you looking for a good teacher, a moral giant, a good example of how to live? Are you looking for a scapegoat, someone to blame, or an object of someone’s wrath? Or are you looking for what Mary found: A God who loves us with such a great love that He would give his only Son to overcome that which we cannot overcome ourselves. Would you go with me to the Empty Tomb this week to look for this Jesus?

Silent Stones

The other morning my five-year-old daughter asked me if we could listen to the sunrise. She wanted to look for the sun to rise—specifically to see if it had spikes on it like in the cartoons. We watched while the sky turned from black to grey to light blue. Then she told me to listen to the sunrise. She wasn’t listening to the celestial object move across the sky. We listened to birds begin their songs. We listened to the nearby dogs and cats begin to explore in the early daylight. We listened to the wind rustle through the trees. We listened to the events of the sunrise.
I am amazed by the small things that we seem to miss when the big things go on around us. Now that it is spring time there is much to consider in this realm. Spring thunderstorms roll through our area and we all talk about the rain. But we don’t often notice the new life on the trees or the flowers of the fields that follow such rains. We may notice the days getting longer, but we don’t look for the new life that the extra hours of sun bring. When I do take time to notice such things I often wonder how I missed them before.
The Bible tells an interesting story about Jesus on the Sunday before the crucifixion. One week before Jesus rose from the dead, He rode into town on a humble donkey colt. His followers shouted his praises as He rode down into the Kidron Valley and up the opposite hill into Jerusalem. Some real self-righteous thinking religious leaders told Jesus to silence His followers. He told them He couldn’t. If they stopped praising what God was doing, then the very rocks would cry out. What if we stopped thanking God for what He has done in our midst? The stories of the Bible and history tell us that God always has a witness to speak on His behalf. As I “hear” the things of creation lift up praise to God, I wonder how loudly they would cry out if we stopped? Will we let the rocks take our rightful place?

This Sunday let's engage in a conversation about those silent stones.

We want to see Jesus

If someone asked you to show them Jesus, what would you say? What would the picture look like? How would you do it? Maybe a picture from a children’s Bible—you know the smiling Jesus who pats little kids on the head. Maybe the morose Jesus in the coffee table Bible who looks all somber and serious.

The book of John tells us about some people who were not yet followers of Jesus who came to Philip—one of Jesus closest followers. They told Philip that they wanted to see Jesus. So Philip goes to the master and tells him that he has some people who want to see him. John doesn’t tell us if Jesus invites them in or if he goes out to see them. But what he does tell us is important. Jesus responses with some vivid language on what he would do to show himself to the world. He talks about how a seed is planted. In order for it bring life, it must die. This, he says is why he came—to die to bring life.

Do you want to see Jesus? What are the things we must die to in order follow him? What is the life Jesus is trying to bring to us? We’ll talk about these things and more this Sunday. Would you join me as we go to see Jesus?

Retracing the Story--An Unequal Exchange

When I was around 10 years old or so we lived in a great neighborhood with many kids. We always had plenty of kids for a football game, complex bicycle stunt shows, or the latest club we had schemed up that week. Our street sloped up a hill and at the top of the hill was Mr. Barber’s yard. He had about 5 acres of neatly mown lawn. All the neighborhood kids were welcome to play in his yard. It was the center of all our childhood devices. Next to the open land was a small stand of woods. There we made forts and defended our neighborhood from imaginary raiders—as soon as school was out, of course.
My friend Pete’s parents were remodeling parts of their house and his dad gave us the old medicine cabinet, sink base cabinet and other cool things for a new fort in the woods. We took great pride in hauling all that stuff down the hill. We had a great fort. It was the envy of any group of kids in the whole town. After just a few short weeks, our fort was destroyed and defaced. Someone had broken all of our things and written horrible things on them. We were crushed.
In my anger I rallied the “gang” against John. John didn’t live on our street. He lived a few houses down on a connecting street. He was something of an outsider in the tight-knit group of our street. Obviously, in my warped logic, John was to blame because he wasn’t in our group right now. He must have been mad about it and destroyed our beloved fort.
John’s dad confronted me on his behalf about my accusations. I was stunned. My bluff had been called and my baseless claims were exposed. I apologized to John, but I had done damage that I don’t think I was ever undone.
Looking back, blaming John really didn’t make any sense, it was just convenient. Our little woods backed up to the fence of the Middle School. It is quite possible that someone from the school saw our hideaway and did the damage. But I wanted someone to blame—and John was nearby. The other neighborhood kids jumped on the bandwagon of blame. John was an unequal exchange—the scapegoat for crimes he didn’t commit.
This week I begin a series of sermons on “Retracing the Story” of Jesus. We begin with “An Unequal Exchange.” In my story, John didn’t bear the punishment of the crime, but we sure tried. Jesus did bear the punishment—for crimes he didn’t commit. Would you retrace the story with me? You see I want to tell John I’m sorry—and I don’t want to make such an exchange again. But I hear the crowds in Jerusalem shouting, “Punish Him! Punish Him!” And the answer is, “But he didn’t do anything.” The crowd shouts only louder, “Punish Him!” And the innocent is exchanged…and equality is mocked.

We're going to make it

I am working on a message this week about operating in God’s economy. God’s economy doesn’t work like our economy. In our economy, we can only operate on the things we see. We try to make forecasts and predictions. Everything has to make sense even before we can begin.

Not so with God’s economy. In God’s economy, we act in faith. We act with the long term in mind. We act with the interest of others in mind first. When we operate in that economy those around us are enriched. We are too are enriched—far beyond what we could ever hope or imagine.

So in the week that I’m preparing this, the stock market tanks 300+ points twice, GM says it probably won’t make it, and AIG is still looking for billions of dollars. It looks like the economy around us is falling apart before our very eyes. I have to admit that sometimes those little nagging doubts creep in my head too. “You’re preparing this message, and the visible evidence seems otherwise. Do you really believe what you’re trying to say?” That’s how it went in my head—over and over again.

The other day, a couple of friends and I were relating stories of our grandparents’ generation. We told stories of the Great Depression. How our grandparents did the best they could with what they had. They learned to use the blessings they had been given—from the simple to the profound. They knew how to rely on their sense of how to grow a garden, to rely on each other as a family, to be frugal, to remember our ultimate source of our blessings in God. And this light bulb went off in my head. It sent those shadows of doubt away. It was, quite simply, “We’re going to make it.” I’ve heard that before and I’ve said it before. But it was a truth that drove down even deeper. We’re going to make it. We aren’t the first to face tough times. We aren’t the first ones to feel uncertainty. And more importantly, we aren’t alone. God is with us.

So I pray this week that I’ll remember how to operate in God’s economy. May I act in faith, to act with the long term in mind, to act with the interest of others first. May I not get caught up in what the numbers on a TV screen say as they float around screaming “experts.” May I look to the One who is far more than I can ever hope or imagine. May I always answer those creeping doubts with this simple truth: “We’re going to make it.”

The Trap

I was talking to a dear friend tonight about the trap. You've seen the trap a hundred times. Your at a wedding reception or some party like that. As you meet new people, you want to find out more about them. Often times, one of the first questions asked is, "What do you do?" And the trap has been sprung.

Our society seems to hone in on the notion that our identity is tied up in our jobs, our careers. We are the job that we do and the money that we earn. I throw people off when I meet them. Often times I ask people how they spend their time, what things are important to them, or what they enjoy doing. It alarms them. I don't think they are often asked that question.

If I meet you in that setting, I want you to know that I am not interested in your job or your career first. I want to know WHO you are. What do you value? How do you spend your time? Who are the people you love? Why do you love them? (your children or your spouse or your parents, for example) And then I want you know that I truly do enjoy hearing your story. Would you tell it to me, please? Don't hold back sharing what's important to you. When people are passionate about something, then sharing that passion with others--now that's exciting stuff. I may not agree with you, but at least I know who you are, not whose time clock you punch.

Watching for the Rain

This morning finds us looking at a wet and storm ridden land. Though the storm was minor, they warned us of worse. We watched last night waiting to see when it would come. We watched for the rain and wanted to know where it was and where it was going. And then it wasn't so bad after all and it moved on.

The storms of our lives can be like that. We look for something to come and it isn't as bad as we thought it would be. We want to track the things that might cause us discomfort and know when they are coming, where they are going and when they will pass. And sometimes they pass and it wasn't so bad after all. And we can look around and maybe even see how we were nourished through the experience--the way the rain waters the earth. And then, rarely, the hurricanes come. Sometimes we're prepared. Sometimes we're not. And in the recovery of the hurricanes, we rely on our friends and our family to see us through.

I pray that I may never have to be the one in the storm. And that I may the one who is prepared if the storm comes. And that I may be the one who is quick to help others in the storm recover. Remembering always that it is God who gives the strength to endure all of these.

I am going to see an infant in the hospital today. What a storm. People all around have financial woes. The storm rages. Families are hurting everywhere. The storm howls. May we be the ones to help see them through and guide them to God's protection in the storm.

Going for a Drive

With family in town (again), it is time to take them for a drive. We're headed to see all the things to be seen in Fairhope, then over to Foley and then down to the beach. Should be some interesting times. I've got the mighty mini-van all spiffed up and I think we're ready to go. We've talked about what we wanted to see and why and now it's about time to go.

I thought about that in a spiritual realm as well. If I had the opportunity, where I would I take God in the parts of my life? What would I show Him that I am so proud of? What would I scrub clean before I allowed Him to ride with me? I know He's already there. But the point is this: I get so ready to do that with my family, what would I do with me Lord? What do I need to get rid of? What do I need to be proud of? When do I just need to be quiet and listen to what He's going to tell me? When do I just need to drive on? May God grant me the wisdom to figure out how to do just these.

Where does it begin

I've been thinking about what people have been searching for all these generations. The Greek philosophers were obsessed with the absolute Truth. I am working on a message for Sunday morning where we'll look into John 1--The Word became Flesh and dwelt among us. The Word is Logos--absolute Truth. In a world of shifting values and ideas, how great is us to remember that there is a bottom line. There are lines on the court, there are lines marked on the field that mean something. And God put those lines there for us to use and to protect us, from ourselves. And when we couldn't do that, He sent His Son to show us how to live and how to operate in such a world.

That's the Light that has come into the world. The darkness couldn't see it, but the Light is here. May we look to that light for our answers and our guidance.

Cave Time

Everyone once in a while I get where I need to crawl into a cave. I've got so much to do that I really don't need any interruptions today. And we've had about a dozen people in the house everyday since Christmas. That's great and I love them and having them here. But I need some of those hours when no one really cares what I'm doing. I need the equivalent of a long drive--right here in the house.

And here it is the end of 2008. I am always amazed that we can look back and see the road we've traveled for the last 12 months. I would have not imagined some of the places we've been. And I'm glad I didn't see them back then. I don't know that I would have agreed to go. But looking at it from this side I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I think the kids may have to get the wii remotes surgically removed from their hands soon. I don't think they've put them down yet...

Reality Sets In

We're still playing with many of the Christmas presents. That's a plus. Don't want them to begin gathering dust just hours after opening. We're settling into a routine of being here and home on this great staycation. I'm getting some honey-do's done and that always feels good.

A friend went out of town and we've been taking care of their 11-year-old boxer. We love taking care of this dog. She is so kind and sweet. Well, this is the first time the dog has come to our house to stay for a few days. The kids have been asking us about a dog for some time. And we were warming up to the idea too. But now that we have one in the house all the time...reality sets in. The reality of getting up to take her out in the cold morning. Getting up to walk one more time before bed (you get the idea). We've seen the hair around the house and the slobber on the floor. Reality sets in. We'll have a dog one day. We just need to get the right time.
Isn't it fascinating how you think you want something...until you get it?