Underdog Savior

There's no need to fear, Underdog is here!" You remember Underdog, a super-canine who talked in rhyme. Underdog was the alter-identity of Shoeshine Boy. He was usually called into action by his girlfriend, ace TV reporter Sweet Polly Purebred. When he heard Polly's singing plea of "Oh, where, oh where has my Underdog gone? " "Humble, lovable" Shoeshine Boy would slip into a phone booth and emerge as the champion of justice.
I loved underdog because he wasn’t an all-powerful, superman from on high. He was just a “humble, lovable dog” from down low, who responded when people were in distress, under attack, afraid. Whatever he seemed to be on the outside, bowed low before the feet of others shining their shoes. His greatness came out when he responded to the call of one in need. He was a champion of justice. When Polly sang, her underdog came. And when he was near, there was no need to fear.

I remember a young, expectant Mary singing her heart out…
Luke 1:46
“My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. 52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever."

And then my mind wanders to the story of a group of shepherds receiving the good news…

Luke 2:8
In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for see--I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11 to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger."

…, shocked awake by the sound of angels, telling good news of a messiah, reassuring them that in his presence there was no need to fear. Humble, yet lovable, this one would save the world by championing justice and responding to cries of the needy.

Oh where, oh where, has my Savior gone? Oh where, oh where can he be?

Near! No more need to fear!

Merry Christmas!!
plou

Who is your neighbor?

When Jesus said love God and your neighbor, he wasn't saying anything particularly new to his Jewish audience. He was simply repeating a rabbinical answer to the question "What is the summation of Hebrew law?" What made his comments unique was his answer to the question "Who is your neighbor?" The inclusion of the Good Samaritan story in the gospels was intended to remind us that Jesus not only had a different definition of neighbor, but a broad definition of who was able to be a good neighbor.
By using the Samaritan as the protaganist in the story he was broadening the scope of who was able to be seen as righteous. It's the Samaritan who answers the queston, "Who is your neighbor?" by crossing cultural lines with a merciful act. The people listening to the story were left shaking their heads in disbelief. Jesus was proving again with his story the radical nature of this new way of following God. Faith in God in Jesus way would supercede cultual prejudices, historic hatreds, cross old boundaries.
Is this still the Jesus way? What are we doing to answer the question "Who is your neighbor?"

attitude and abundance

Last Sunday was our congregational potluck. It was an extraordinary Sunday meal--a table loaded down with food, plenty for everyone to have a course and seconds. By the time we were done, each of us was stuffed and satisfied.
My mind wandered back to other potlucks in the life of our congregation, not so abundant. Times when we had to run to the store at the last minute to fill in the gaps in our sparse buffet. I realized in that moment that something had changed. Our congregation is beginning to act like a congregation of abundance instead of scarcity. An attitude shift has begun, God will supply our needs brimming up and overflowing beyond what we can even imagine. When we live with an attitude of abundance, satisfaction is guaranteed.

Parents--part 1: wag the dog parents

Most of us don't need to go far back into our memory banks to remember the film "Wag the Dog." In this film the president and his entourage are doing everything possible to please the electorate, leading on the basis of opinion polls. Needless to say, everything the president did was choreographed to please the people he was supposed to be leading.

Similarly, American parents have succumbed to the temptation of allowing children to take the primary seats at the family table. Parents make decisions based on family opinion polls. We have forgotten that it is a parent's job to lead his or her child(ren). Parents, it is high time for us to reclaim our roll as spiritual leaders of our children. If our children have learned that going to church is an optional activity, why should we be surprised when they decide that working on Sundays is more important to them than going to Sunday worship, choir, or youth group. When we model that our minimum daily adult requirement for church is one hour on Sunday, by leaving the church building as soon as the closing benediction sounds, why should we be surprised when they don't think even that even that one hour is well spent? Why should we be surprised when we awaken our children for church and have them say they don't want to go today, when we take Sunday after Sunday off to rest rather than showing our children that attending worship is a high priority for us as parents? The outcome of this wag-the-dog behavior will be disastrous. We shouldn't be surprised when our children who are looking for full-time jobs, take no consideration of how their spiritual life may be hampered by job schedules that prohibit worship. It shouldn't shock us when they choose working overtime ($) over worshiping regularly. We will have no basis to question our children as they raise a new generation of wag-the-dog children when soccer, tennis, jobs, band outings, etcetera take precedence over regular attendance at public worship and the joy of participating in a community of faith. I, for one, won't stand for it. I refuse to let the tail wag the dog. Our children are clamoring for us to show them what we think is important. They want to be led.

party time

Last night in our "Saving Jesus" class, the commentators of our video considered the question, "Did Jesus hold services or throw parties?" Their contention was that Jesus went from neighborhood to neighborhood throwing parties with expansive guest lists that included people from all social classes and even mixed religious backgrounds. This activity was considered revolutionary because it brought people together across socially, politically and religiously enforced lines. The Roman Empire effectively worked to keep these people of various classes and backgrounds separate and hating one another, thus ensuring centralized Roman power and a dis-empowered general populous.
I think it's time for the people of God to start throwing parties again--celebrations of God that bridge social, economic, political and ethnic barriers. We need to stretch our invitation list beyond our comfort zone. Anything less than a well-attended Jesus party will never accomplish the ministry and witness that Jesus did.
Jesus self-proclaimed mission is found in Luke 4:18-19, 18 when he reads a passage from Isaiah 61, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors, and that the time of the Lord's favor has come." What better way to say that than to throw a party in Jesus's honor?
p lou

Disciple Making

When we talk about making disciples, our language can so often be misunderstood. "Making" in English sometimes has the connotation of forcing. "Making disciples" isn't about clubbing people over the head, dragging them into the Jesus camp, and putting another mark on the board.

When we say "making" we are not talking about forcing someone to do anything. What we are hoping is to be a part of the spiritual formation of another person. We become participants in a work that is powered by God and accepted by a person who is choosing to learn how to live a faithful life. This is no cookie cutter operation. The resulting disciple--follower of God in the way of Jesus--will never look, act or feel exactly the same as any previous disciple of Jesus. Each of us is unique. There is no time when the operation is complete. As long as we are on this planet we remain works in process--pressed, formed, changed by a power that is at once outside ourselves, between us, and within us.

The full expression of discipleship is a person who is always seeking and renewing his/her connection with God and neighbor through acts of contemplation, mercy, forgiveness, and charity (love). Are we at CUMC making and becoming disciples? I pray that we are. I know that we are...

A Place for All God's Children

The opening page of our church website says, "A Place for all God's Children." I love watching as a phrase that was half true when we coined it begins to become more and more true. Our congregation is full of people from different social classes, diverse age groups, and ethnic backgrounds. We have people who are dependent and codependent, addicts/recovering addicts and the people who love them, happilly married people and people suffering through broken marriages, exconvicts and the people who visit the incarcerated, people who are baby Christians and life-long Christians.
When I look out over our congregation I know that I can say with integrity that our congregation is a place for all God's children. I know in my heart that that is the way Jesus wants it.

success

Who decides what it means for us to be successful? Too often we allow society, the culture, even our bosses to decide what success might look like. Jesus stepped into peoples lives and often challenged their self-perceptions. Our harsh judgments of ourselves often hold us back from realizing success as God would define it--love for God and care for our neighbor. How many of us are incapable of those two basic concepts? If we are loving God and neighbor, does it really matter how big our paychecks are or if we get the coveted positions at our work places?

Should the success of church be defined any differently? Are we loving God and neighbor with all our resources, exposing God's love to the community, fighting against injustice, raising the standard of civility, helping people change their lives for the better? If we are, then I truly believe we are succeeding as a church to be exactly what God has called us go be. If not, let's get to work!
p lou

Civility

It seems that civility has become a lost art in our society. The concept of civilization rests on the notions of mutual repect, appreciation and courtesy. I was taught in school that my freedoms stop when they begin to impinge on someone else's freedom. There was an assumption in that teaching that I would be self-limiting in my freedoms out of respect for the next guy or girl. Now, it seems, that it works almost the opposite. Each person pushes his or her freedom until someone else pushes back hard and limits it. We experience this "Make way, I'm coming through attitude," daily in traffic jams, check out lines, and school hallways.

Over the next 9 weeks I will be preaching on the nature of our spiritual life by reflecting on the bibical concept of the "fruit of the Spirit" and contrasting it with our current lives of quiet, personal desperation and resulting coercive attitudes and actions. We need our hearts changed. We need to experience love, joy, peace, patience, kindess, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Maybe then church and society will become more civilized and our hearts will be a bit more reflective of the Savior we claim to follow.

Church Growth

In the age of stagnant mainline churches, it is tempting to believe that the natural order of church is status quo. In fact holding our own or maintenance too often becomes perceived as success in this environment.

In my early ministry, I read volumes on strategies for church growth and tried to stay current with the hottest new means for bringing more people to church. We implemented many of those concepts and were "successful" in bringing more people to church--but was that really making disciples.

As we look to the future of Christianity in general and our congregation in particular, I hope that we will use a broad definition of making disciples that includes bringing more people to church and bringing more to the people of the church. We need to challenge all people to think more deeply, to love more compassionately, to live more consistently their lives of faith. And we need to give people the tools to accomplish these things. Maybe then we can say that our congregation is experiencing church growth. Maybe then God will look at us and say, "Well done good and faithful servant(s)."

In the words of Nicole Noordeman's song "Brave" let's say together:

"So long status quo

I think I just let go

You make me want to be brave

The way it always was

Is no longer good enough

You make me want to be brave"

Reflections on 9/11

When we are young we really believe that someday we will be able to change the world. Over time our vision becomes a little more practical, a little more sensible, a little less vital, a little less interesting. What happens to our dreams so steeped in potential?

On September 11, a group or terrorists set out to change the world, packing box cutters and sentence prayers in their personal belongings, they in a misguided mission set off to change the world.

I know my world changed as I watched and listened. People were dying before my eyes on American soil. I wasn't safe anymore. I succumbed to the temptation to patriotism and a desire for revenge. "Something must be done," I thought. Maybe I should have defined more clearly what that something should or shouldn't be. A sense of insecurity crept into my life and the lives of others that day as the safest, richest country in the world tried to deal with being a victim.

So five years laters the world is a different place thanks to a few men who set out to change it, having learned as children that it is possible to change the world. Now we have chosen to live in this less than brave new world--a world of hate, fear, condemnation, violence and retaliation. Who said a few people can't change the world?

9/11 hold many lessons, not the least of which is that a few men and women can change the world--those plane pilots certainly rocked ours. So don't give up your childlike belief that the world can be a better place because of what you say and do. We all have a chance to change the world--for better or for worse.

Jesus said, "You are the light of the world." "You are a city on a hill." The world is looking at us. Will we be a people of darkness or a people of light? Is it possible to change the world? Yes. Is it possible to change the world into a more loving, peaceful, forgiving, generous place where citizens of diverse nations can learn not to fear each other? You tell me!

As for me, I am ready to try and be a little less practical, a lot more interesting, a little less sensible, and a lot more vital, and a lot more convinced that I can help change the world. Won't you join me?

p lou

Recently in an article by Marilyn McEntyree in Weavings called "Invitation to Insecurity," McEntryee wrote:
"To act in this world at all is to step into troubled waters without knowing their depth or the strength of the current.
Literature, from Homer and the Bible onward, provides a long rich record of those who waded into those waters, forefeiting common securities for the sake of adventure, obedience, curiosity, loyalty, or response to the call of God. Those are heroes. The villains can be recognized by, among other scurrilous traits, their appetite for control, their drive to provide for themselves and their own security over against that of the community. They protect their territory, their inheritance, their privilege, their interests."
I am grateful to be part of a spiritual community that is full of heroes who follow God obediently, curiously, adventuresomely--thinking more about others than self. We must remember that it is often in moments of crisis or trial that heroes are born. We need more heroes in the world. For the sake God and humanity we need more people stepping into the waters of insecurity, creativity, obedience, loyalty. Maybe even now you ask, "Is it I?"

Living the God Life

I usually write my own stuff, but I found this little snippet by Eyleen Farmer an apt reflection of the kind of faith I hope I have.
p lou

LIVING THE GOD-LIFE
The God-life is not about believing all the right things about Jesus. It’s not about being able to recite the creed without crossing your fingers or believing that Jonah was swallowed by a big fish or having an instant, now-you’re-saved, “born again” experience. It is about being willing to let go of everything you think you know and allowing yourself to be drawn into the mystery that is God. “Believing,” as [the Gospel of ] John uses this word, does not refer to some intellectual process that happens in your head. To “believe” in something is to give your heart to it.
The God-life then is about giving your heart to God:
Your broken heart.
Your disbelieving heart.
Your divided, angry, fearful heart.
Your hard heart.
You do not, of course, have the power to transform your own heart, but you do have the power to offer it, no matter what condition it is in, to the God who is able to make all things new.
by Eyleen Farmer from “Called to Question”

Pushing the Edge

I have recently taken up Bikram Yoga. Bikram yoga involves posing in 2 sets of 26 poses over 90 minutes in 105 degree heat with 50% humidity. During that time a participant's heart beats considerable faster, he/she sweats off a good portion of his/her body's water content, one learns to manage his/her breathing and how to concentrate while in the midst of suffering.

Unlike my old basketball coach who constantly pushed me off the edge, these classes are designed to push a participant to the edge-that place between what the body has done before and has never done. At the edge you learn to balance, pushing forward but always with control, going boldly but carefully beyond the constraints and bounds of past, but being careful not to risk injury. “Achievements” are slow in coming, but over time your edge moves.

This idea of “edge” has application for a ministry like ours that desires to grow theologically and practically into a church that is poised to challenge the status quo by fully living out the motto of the United Methodist Church to have “Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors.” I invite you to the edge, not so that we can push you off. I invite you gently so that we can move forward unconstrained by the past, careful not to cause injury, discovering over time that our edge has moved.

The truth is good fences don’t make good neighbors, open doors do!
Pastor Lou

Holy Saturday

Today is the calm between the storms in the life of a UM pastor. Service after service through Holy week, special services on Easter, and then, this pause in between to ponder. Holy Saturday reminds us of the fearful waiting of the disciples, caught between disillusionment and hope--could Jesus really keep his promises?
When I awake tomorrow, a little too early, to make it to the church by 6:15 to open doors to a church dark and cold, it will be for the purpose of in some small way answering that question. It's an awesome job in every way--big, exciting, challenging, lifesaving. With the help of God lifting a sunrise in the midst of that first service, I will know that I only have a bit part in revealing the power and love of God.
But one thing for sure, I know He lives. "You ask me how I know he lives? He lives within my heart."
Hard to prove--not so hard to know.
p lou

garbage dump

Two weeks ago, I returned from a mission trip to the gulf coast region with a new appreciation for what I have and what "really" matters. It was amazing to look at the piles of garbage and imagine that anything had been done since Katrina hit seven months earlier. There seemed to be an endless pile of rubbish as we entered the New Orleans area and finally St. Bernard parish---stop lights out, signs broken, people living in condemned homes. The people left behind were, for the most part, those who because of insurance problems or limited resources were stuck with what was left of their homes and lives and making due. It will take years to clean up, and that's if they don't get hit again.
Today as I reflect on those garbage piles, I am reminded of another garbage dump called, "Golgotha." The mound on which Jesus was crucified was not just a hill, it was a garbage dump at the edge of the city where the poor sifted through garbage for food and wares that could be cleaned and hawked in the market--they were people without resources or recourse. Jesus made his stand in this unlikely place against the powers of the Temple and Rome in clear solidarity with those who had sinned, taken ill, were worn out or just plain poor.
Those garbage piles were the leftovers of a possession-infested culture that was losing sight of the orphan and the widow, of what really mattered. Jesus came, to remind us that people matter to God. If people matter to God, then we matter to God. If people matter to God, then people must matter to us.
As we wind our way through holy week, taking the last few steps toward Golgotha with Jesus, I pray we will lift our eyes to the hills--hills of garbage and marginalized ones, hills of possession and misplaced values, hills of suffering and sacrifice, hills of mercy and love.
Jesus lived and died, so that we might live a lives that matter to God and others, approach death with dignity and hope.
I pray that the garbage piles of Louisiana and Mississippi will continue to haunt us--reminding us at the deepest level of what matters and pressing us to work daily in the cause of hurting people. Jesus reminds us that to help others is to help him. To bring hope to others, brings hope to him. Helping others proves our love for him. If Jesus could climb the garbage pile to prove God's love for us, shouldn't we return the favor?
p lou

St Patty's Way

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day, a day protestants know little about except that green beer will be available in a number of local bars. Oh...and we'll muse a bit about shamrocks and the luck of the Irish.
But, St. Pat, this bishop to the celtic peoples was so much more than that. His life is shrouded in mystery and myth--but we know that he was kidnapped and sold into slavery as a youth by a group of celtic pirates. As he worked in the beauty of creation, he developed a deep appreciation for God's creation and a thorough understanding of his celtic captures.

Patrick eventually escaped to feedom in England where he was schooled, we aren't sure where, and became a priest. Eventually, he requested that he be sent as a missionary to the very people who had enslaved him. The pope agreed, making him a bishop, and sending him probably with a small group of priests and other support staff to make his mark on the "Emerald Isle."
St. Pat worked tirelessly to bring the good news of the love of Jesus to these tribes that most Christians considered barbarian. Because he deeply respect and understood the history, culture and folklore of the people, he was able to make bridges between Christianity and their pre-Christian understanding.

He and his priests preached in the open-air, used songs, poetry, and ancient celtic symbols to engage the imaginations of this creative and mysterious people. In other words, he met the people where they were and encouraged them to bring the love of God in Christ translated into their unique cultural forms.

We have so much we can learn from St. Patrick. I'm sure he was far from perfect, but he did so many things as Jesus would. He learned to love his enemies, to be kind to those who had done wrong to him, packaged the faith in culturally familiar and creative ways, and spread the love of Jesus.

Ahh, that's the kind of church I dream of....

p lou

Our Minds--Open 24 hours-a-day

It's been nearly 13 years since I met with one of the most interesting groups of my ministry. It was a Bible discussion class of seven or so ladies and one or two men. All of them were over 70. We met weekly in their homes over coffee. They knew things about the past that should inform the future, but they weren't the kind of people who thought that returning to the past would solve the problems of the future. In fact, many of them were retired school teachers, so even at a golden age, they tended to be more progressive than some of their peers.
One day we had a guest instructor who spent 15 minutes railing about the evils of homosexuality and that AIDS was divine retribution for the sin of homosexuality. The women in the group sat quietly listening. When he concluded his argument, there was a slight pause and one of the some women, I think it was his wife, calmly said, "I don't believe that." There were nods and murmurs of affirmation around the room. Nobody needed to painstakingly search scripture for backing. They just knew. It wasn't reasonable. It wasn't their common experience. This was not the character of the God they worshipped.
Over the years, many of them shared their experiences of childhood segregation from their Roman Catholic neighbors. They remembered how they were taught to steer clear, make fun of, and generally ostracize their Catholic peers, because they were different. They even talked about crossing the road when they saw Catholics coming from the opposite direction. Over years, they had learned that they had much more in common with those Catholic brothers and sisters in Christ than they had imagined--but prejudice was painful and the un-learning curve had been long.
These living encylopedias of faith confidently negotiated the dips and curves of a changing world by opening their minds, hearts to new ideas and ways of being. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't always easy, and they were far from perfect, but they were open to a future informed by, but never dictated by the past.
They were people who trusted the character of their God as they shed learned prejudices in order to remain faithful to their barrier leaping God.

exercise

So, it's January 13, 2006. I got an early start on my new year's resolution. I generally have failed to keep resolutions by about this time, so I'm daring to go public as an act of accountability. I started exercising the third week in November, and I have successfully participated in my exercise of choice (generally 3 x's per week) since. That is something of an adult personal record for me.
My heart feels better. I'm learning that mind, body and soul are not as separate as I had once believed--God discovery is better done when caring for all of the physical and spiritual resources God has provided me.
I'm no super athlete! I am not overly confident of continued success. I will feel much more secure when I know that my habit has continued for three full months. For now, I'm keeping my fingers crossed (whispering a prayer) that I won't give up; that mind and spirit will invite body into harmony, so I will be able to take my next step on this life journey without fear that it will be my last.
Maybe next month I will take on the next of my resolutions...less food intake...ouch! With God, all things are possible...but cooperation is required.
p lou

New Year

We like to wish people a happy New Year. I would certainly appreciate having one, but I'm not so sure that being happy is the most important thing to wish someone, even though I did it a lot today. Maybe we should wish people a peace-filled new year or a meaning-filled new year. I think I would rather make a difference than be happy. Although, I must say, it would be great to do both. Maybe it is in making a difference that we discover the inner peace and real satisfaction for which we are all searching.

Well, have a happy new year. But get it the right way!!