I'm Not Like That!

I’m Not Like That!
Apples to Apples…Apples to Oranges…Tastes like chicken…We compare things a lot, because if there’s something that’s not familiar, we speak in things that are familiar. If it’s something that tastes like something else…Or looks like something else…Or acts like something else…It’s easy to speak in things that we know instead of things that we don’t know—we translate things into our own experiences.
Think about the last time that you explained something to someone else…Whether it was somewhere that you went or something that you ate or something new…How did you explain it? Did you say, “Well it’s like…” “Do you know how….well, it’s like…” And then there are those times that we use the opposite… “You know how…Well it’s not like that…”
And then there are those times when we compare ourselves to other people…And we all do it really…I was listening to comedian Jim Gaffigan and one of his bits was around this very topic. He said, “We always compare ourselves to other people…You’re doing it right now…You’re saying, ‘at least I’m not as weird as Gaffigan…And I’m thinking ‘at least I’m not as weird as the people in the loony bins’…” And while his statements are meant to be funny and meant to be a joke…They ring some truth…We compare ourselves to other people…Whether it’s a celebrity or our neighbors down the street…We compare ourselves to other people…
Sometimes those comparisons are in good fun or are harmless comparisons…but most of the time, those comparisons are mean spirited or not so harmless…Maybe there are the times when we compare ourselves to someone else to make ourselves feel bad about ourselves… “I’ll never be as good as/as rich as/as smart as/like…” and for some people that may give them motivation, but most of the time it hurts our self esteem…
And if it’s not hurting ourselves, it’s hurting someone else… “I’m so much better than/richer than/smarter than...” Maybe we say things behind someone’s back…Maybe we say it to their face, not necessarily always in words either…But sometimes actions speak louder than words…If we treat someone like less of a person because we think that we’re better than them…
And to be truthful…We’ve all done it…There have been times when we’ve all thought that we were better than someone else…Maybe it was something that we saw as harmless…Something like, “I’m a better driver than so-and-so…” which seems harmless, right? But do you treat so-and-so different in the car? Do you not let them drive you anywhere? Do you tell them how to drive? Do you make snide comments to friends? Something that seems harmless isn’t always harmless…
When I read the stories from the Bible, I like to put myself in the place of the characters that I’m reading about…To put myself in the place of the women and men that I read about and try any think about how I would react or how I would respond to God’s grace and God’s movement in my life…Would I act like one of the people that I read about or would I do something else? Is there anyway that I could do or say the same things that they did? And sometimes it’s uncomfortable to put myself in the place of some of the characters because I don’t want to think of myself in a certain way…But that’s what makes the Bible such a living document…It speaks not only to the time and place of the people then, but it also speaks to the time and place of people today…Sometimes the stories make us uncomfortable and sometimes they fill us with comfort…Jesus didn’t say that having faith was comfortable…We are always called to get out of our own comfort zone to share God’s grace with other people…
Jesus tells the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector…as the passage opens, Luke says that Jesus told this parable to some people who thought that they were more righteous than others…He doesn’t say that he preached this on a mountain or in the middle of the town…He told this to specific people who needed to hear it…And even in what may have been a private conversation…It speaks to us today, right now, in this time and place…
The Pharisee went in the temple to pray and prayed loudly, “God, I thank you that I’m not like those people…I fast twice a week…I tithe…Thank God I’m not like those people…” Now the Pharisee names who those people are for him: thieves, rogues, adulterers, tax collectors…But do we have those people that we compare ourselves to? Those people that we think we are better than? Those people who can’t measure up to our high standards? Who are those people? They may be people who look different…They may be people who act different…The may be people who talk different…Whoever those people are, we think that we are better than them…Just like the Pharisee thought that he was better than the thieves, rogues, adulterers, and tax collectors…
And there’s another person in the story that we would much rather compare ourselves with than to compare ourselves with the Pharisee…The man who went home justified…The tax collector…As the Pharisee stands in the middle of the temple, puffing out his chest and proclaiming all of the wonderful things that he does and that he is and that he’s not like…The tax collector goes into a corner, can’t look at anyone or anything and beats his chest and says simply, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.” Tax collectors at that time were one of the most despised people…There was nothing good or redeemable about a tax collector…They usually stole money from the people that they collected from, they could make up taxes on the spot…They were considered to be one of the biggest sinners, which would explain why the Pharisee would want to distance himself from them in his prayer…And the tax collector separates himself from everyone else and simply says, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” One could say that he needed to do that because he was such a sinner and he needed to confess…Which may very well be true…But didn’t the Pharisee need to confess something as well? The tax collector couldn’t even look up to make his confession…
Who do you see yourself as? Do you see yourself as the tax collector? Do you see yourself as the Pharisee? Both are uncomfortable to see ourselves as…The tax collector is a hated person and someone who is a thief, a liar, and a sinner…The Pharisee is self righteous, arrogant, and rude…Which one are you? Jesus said that the only one who went home justified was the tax collector…Because those who humble themselves will be exalted and those who exalt themselves will be humbled…
Jesus showed us what it meant to humble ourselves…Jesus practiced what he preached and reached out to the least, the last, and the lost…Jesus reached out to those people without a second thought…Right in this moment we may be like the tax collector or we may be like the Pharisee…But we can strive to be a mixture of both…We can strive to lead a life like the Pharisee claimed, but confess like the tax collector…And all the while living the way that Jesus taught us…A life full of grace and mercy…We can show the love and grace that we have experienced from God to other people…Instead of seeing them as those people we can see them as our brothers and sisters and part of the family of God…

Ah, Nashville...

Well, after a delayed flight, I made! I left home early today to make sure that I had plenty of time to get to the airport so I would not miss my flight!

Until about 4 years ago, I had flown in an airplane 3 times in my entire life. 4 years ago, I started participating in the United Methodist Church on the national and international level and I have been on more planes in the past four years than my entire life! Sitting in airports is a very interesting experience. I boarded the train this morning at the O'Hare airport and I was the only person on the train who spoke English as a first language. As I sat on the train waiting for my stop to come, I could hear the voices of those who cry out, "Speak American!" It was interesting to be in my own country and yet be in the cultural minority.


Then there's the people watching…I usually try not to have to eat at the airport because food is so expensive and just unhealthy, but I left my house very early to avoid construction, traffic, and find a parking spot so I didn't have a chance to eat breakfast and I wouldn't be leaving until well after lunch. So, I decided to be brave and try out one of those reastaurants in the airport…The airport is one of those places where nobody really looks at someone funny because they're eating by themselves because so many people are flying on their own. But it was interesting to see how many people found ways to make themselves not feel alone. Of the 7 men that surrounded my table, all seven of them were on their cell phones. The two tables just outside of that circle were transfixed on the television that had no sound. And me? I was reading a book…

So, I got to Nashville a little later than anticipated, but that was okay...I do have to say though that the driver of the shuttle that I took was awful! I was scared for my life a few times! I swear that he stopped in the middle of intersections to let people out! I was so glad to be at the hotel!

After sitting for a couple minutes, checking e-mail and resting, I went out...And I smelled the air..Ah, Nashville! I really didn't go anywhere, just to Starbucks for some coffee and I sat there and read for a little bit. I didn't stay as long as I would have liked because I didn't really want to walk back to the hotel in the dark...But it was nice for what I did!

Now, I'm just waiting for the rest of the crew to arrive so that we can go get some dinner! I'm hungry! That airport burger wasn't very filling...As I was walking to get to Starbucks I realized that I knew several places around here to eat at...I haven't eaten at most of them, but I know what they serve and if they're any good...

It's kind of weird to be here and to be the "veteran"...I'm the only one left of the OG, so it's very strange to have no one else here with me this time...It puts things in a whole new light! I'm so very excited about the work that we're going to be doing this week and what we're going to be doing to push forward. I recieved a very encouraging e-mail from the board rep this morning and that really helped to set the mood for this week. The Young Adult Seminarians Network is an organization that I believe strongly in and I think has a lot to offer the United Methodist Church. I am so honored to be serving here and thankful to be faithful to my call through this. It has been suggested by people that I shouldn't do this anymore, but it would be unfaithful to my call not to...If I didn't have this group and the connections from this group, I probably would not be in the church anymore...It is helpful to engage in dialouge with people who are going through the same things and facing some of the same challenges. It's also amazing to see the church function beyond a building and a steeple...This is the church...This group of believers that has gathered together is the church...There are amazing things to be done and through God we can accomplish our goals. Did I mention that I was excited?!?

So, the rest of the crew should be here shortly...I'm ready to eat and hang out and then get to work!

From the Mouths of Children

From the Mouths of Children
Let’s start with a little quiz this morning…There are going to be some images on the screen and I want to see if you know who or what they are…(images)
You didn’t need that or me to tell you that the world changes…The world is not the same as it was when you were a child…When I was a child…and it won’t be the same in 10 years…The world changes…
There are events that happen that we can remember where we were and what we were doing…Pearl Harbor, Kennedy’s assassination, the Challenger explosion, the fall of the Twin Towers…Some of those events brought up puzzled expressions and some nodded and went back to that moment…Some can only remember those events by reading about them or seeing a news program…The world changes…
At Bible study on Wednesday we were talking about some of the differences in schools…Howard talked about carrying pocket knives and playing with them at recess when he was in school…I graduated high school the year that Columbine happened…A teacher in Freeport found a knife in her first grade student’s backpack and the student was suspended…The world changes…
As the world changes we can choose to do a few things…We can ignore the changes and do things the way that they’ve always been done or we can change with the world…It’s hard to do…Change is scary and it’s hard to do and it’s not always comfortable…But we’re not alone it…We as individuals aren’t the only ones who are changing…The world is changing…
There’s a short story by Sandra Cisneros about a girl who’s turning 8…and she’s had a bad day…Her insight at the end of the story is that instead of thinking that we just become a year older, we collect a year…So, there’s a part of us that’s 2, 8, 16, 26, 32, 47, 58, 64, 76, 89, and so on…Think about it…Is there a part of that wants to throw temper tantrums sometimes? Or that gets giggly and laughs at silly things? Or that gets anxious over taking a driving test?
As old as we get, there’s a part of us that is still a child…there’s a part of us that is still young. Some people embrace that and some people fight against it…But think about it, when was the last time that part of you that was 2 showed up? I would guess that part of us that’s younger shows up more times than we really realize…
There are many things that are amazing about God, but one of the things that is amazing about God is that God doesn’t really see age in the same way that we do…In the same way that God used Abraham and Sarah who were in old age when they had their babies…God used David who was anointed to be king before he was a teenager…God calls those who are old and God calls those who are young…
The two passages that we have this morning are about children, and this is Children’s Sabbath or Children’s Sunday…The passage from the New Testament is the one of Jesus welcoming the children…The passage from the Old Testament is the beginning of Moses’ story…
Moses was taken care of from the very time he was born and placed in the river…How are we caring for our children? Jesus welcomed the children who were not welcomed by the rest of society…How are we welcoming our children?
It’s often said that children are the future of the church…Not just here but all over…Children are the future of the church…I have to say that I disagree with that in part…Children are the future of the church, but children are also the present of the church….Children are just as important to the present of the church as they are the future of the church…Children are the present of the church just as much as you or I are…
Last week, I asked you to think about the person who helped to nurture your faith…And to look around over the past week and see whose faith you were nurturing without even realizing it…I don’t know about you, but when I think of the people that helped to nurture my faith, the first people that come to my mind are the ones who helped to nurture my faith when I was a child…Whose faith is being nurtured without even realizing it?
Children pay attention to a lot more that we realize…Children are affected a lot more than we realize…I worked in a church where the teens didn’t like the hymns…Because the hymns were something that you sang in church and the church told them they shouldn’t be in worship…Children are more aware than we realize…
And there are some incredible things that have been done here for children…This year at VBS there were at least 60 kids everyday…Some days were more…But there were at least 60 kids everyday…There have been some amazing seeds planted because of VBS…There are some wonderful children’s ministries happening here…
At Vacation Bible School this summer, I got to go around and take pictures which meant that I got to join in on different groups at different times…One of the nights; I sat in on Chadder’s Theater and stayed in the doorway as the kids did their lesson. Mackenzie Harris came over to me and asked if there was anything I needed prayed for…I was getting ready to leave for my sister’s wedding, so I told her that I just needed to pray for enough time to get everything done. Before they ended together, Mackenzie interrupted the leader and said that the group needed to pray for me right then and it was important…In that moment, I was reminded of God’s grace and I was ministered to by a group of children…
How much have you allowed yourself to be ministered to by a child? Because it’s one thing to minister to children, but it’s another to be ministered to…Every week during the children’s sermon, I start out by talking to the children…How their week was, the good parts, the not so good parts…Each week as they share their joys and concerns, I am ministered to and I would that you are as well…Have you asked any of those kids how their week was? And kids, have you asked anyone older how their week was? There’s your challenge for this week…Kids, ask someone older than you how their week was…Adults, ask someone younger than you how their week was…
I think that we’ll all be surprised at the responses that we get both when we allow ourselves to be ministered to and we allow ourselves to minister…Because there is the part of us that is still young…So the words that tumble out of our mouths are still from the mouths of children…

Whose Faith?

Whose Faith?
Today is World Communion Sunday which is the day around the world where churches of all denominations take communion…It’s a reminder to all of us that no matter what denomination the church that we go to, we are all a part of the Body of Christ…That we are all connected, we are all one in ministry despite all of our differences…Even though we may not believe all of the same things, we all believe in the same Triune God, God—three-in-one, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…
The letter from Paul in 1 Timothy is often viewed as the beginning of a “farewell discourse” or one of his final letters before he faced his own death. It is believed that Paul was close to his death and that he knew it and so chose to write letters to the churches and people that he met and nurtured along the way. There are words in this letter like “remember,” “charge,” “hold on”…As though Paul knows that he won’t be with them much longer and needs to get somethings out before that happens…This letter is to Timothy, one of the people that he met along his journey and nurtured him in the faith of Jesus Christ.
Paul tells Timothy that he worships God freely and with a clear conscience just as his ancestors did…Before Paul became a Christian, he was probably a Pharisee…The first time that we encounter Paul he was holding the coats for the people as they stoned Stephen to death…Stephen was the first person killed for being a Christian, or the first martyr…Paul was very strong in his faith as a Pharisee, as a Jewish man…Paul’s reminder that his ancestors worshiped God connects him not only to the Christians, but also to the Jewish people…One in ministry to all the world…
Paul continues to write to Timothy and tells him that he remembers the faith of his grandmother Lois, and his mother Eunice…Paul reminds Timothy of his past…That his mother and grandmother were believers in Jesus also…When Paul sees Timothy, he’s reminded of these women and their faith…
At the last UMW meeting, we shared people who had been helpful to us along our faith journey…Can you think of someone that you have encountered along your way who has helped to nurture you in your faith? These people that nurtured us in the faith are important especially as we remember them and what they mean to us…Sometimes they are still with us and other times they have passed on…There’s nothing that says that these people need to be a certain age, older or younger….Take a couple of minutes and turn to the person sitting next to you and share about that person for you...(wait about 3-5 minutes)…
Have you ever thought of the people who have nurture you in your faith before you knew them…Or maybe the ones who have nurtured you in your faith and you’ll never meet them? Certainly faith of people like Paul or the other disciples are ones that we won’t physically meet, but we get to know through the pages of Scripture…They’ve nurtured us in faith as they’ve kept the stories of Jesus circulating and kept telling people about Jesus and about their faith even as the persecutions were happening and Christians were being killed for the faith…People who were influencing and nurturing our faith without us knowing them…
Did you know that you nurtured my faith before I came here? 7 years ago I attended an event called Exploration which is a national conference for United Methodist students in high school and college who are feeling a calling into ministry…This conference lasts a weekend the last Exploration event in 2006 there were 860 students who attended and 200 made a commitment to take the next step in pursuing ordination…At Exploration 2000, I made that same commitment…So, how did you nurture my faith through this event? This event is funded through apportionment dollars…By paying our apportionments we are helping to nurture the faith of 860 students and giving them the encouragement to take the next step in pursuing a career in ministry…Did you realize that we were nurturing people in the faith like that?
But beyond large events and groups within the United Methodist Church that function on a large level, there are also the events that happen on a local or conference level…Did you know that you continued to nurture my faith and helped me pursue my calling? I received scholarships both from the larger United Methodist Church, but also specifically through the Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church…Without these scholarships, I wouldn’t have been able to complete seminary…Which means that I wouldn’t be standing here this morning…These scholarships were made possible by churches like ours paying their apportionments…Did you realize that you were nurturing people in their faith without ever meeting them?
It’s something that we do without even really thinking about it…I would imagine that most of us don’t see someone and think about how we can nurture their faith…Maybe we do think that whenever we see someone…Maybe it’s just so inside of us that we just do it without realizing…For the people that you talked about that nurture you in your faith—do you think that they knew that they were nurturing you? Do you think that they woke up in the morning and thought “How can I help this person in their faith today?” or do you think that they just did it?
The truth is that the things that have happened to us in our past, whatever that past may be have helped to shape us into who we are today. Those people that we encountered along our way, both that we know and those that we don’t have helped to get us where we are today…And it’s probably just as important to point out that there have been people along our way who have been discouraging to us…Those people who have been negative influences…And those people may also be people that we know or people that we don’t know…And just as we have been nurturing to people, there have probably been times when we have been discouraging to someone else as well…
Paul is reminding Timothy about those who have nurtured him in his faith, while at the same time acknowledging that there are those who will discourage…For Paul it was a literal death, but for others that discouraging can lead to a spiritual death or a lack of belief…For most people who claim not to have a church connection or a belief in God at all, they have had a negative experience with someone in a church or an entire church…Brennan Manning, author, pastor and theologian has said, “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.” Whose faith are we nurturing that we don’t even realize? I recently received a joke about a driver who was cut off in traffic and coming up to a stoplight, the driver who had been cut off started honking at the car in front and screaming and yelling and swearing and causing a big scene…A police officer pulled up on the scene and immediately pulled the driver out of the car and began to arrest them…The driver got upset and said, “Why are you arresting me? The other driver is the one who is driving terribly and will hurt someone else.” The police officer said that he noticed the Christian bumper stickers on the car and heard the driver swearing and threatening, so figured that the car must be stolen.” Whose faith are we nurturing without even knowing it?
At some point in the journey, a person accepts their faith as their own…Because of someone else they were introduced to their faith and are continued to be nurtured, but at some point we all have made the decision to believe…That’s what Paul reminds Timothy as well…That he is reminded of the faith of Timothy’s mother and grandmother, but he sees it in Timothy as well…As a result of the nurturing of Timothy, he accepted his faith as his own and made the decision to continue to grow. Timothy didn’t worship or have faith because his mother and grandmother told him to, but because he believed for himself…Those people that nurtured us along our way…Maybe we started to have faith because they told us to, but at some point we began to believe for ourselves…And in believing for ourselves, we live our lives that way…
We don’t pay our apportionments because we’ve been told to…Although that is part of being a United Methodist Church…But we pay our apportionments to be faithful…Because we are nurturing someone in their faith without them knowing it…We are encouraging someone along their journey and we may never physically meet them…If Paul didn’t write letters because he thought that people he didn’t know would read them, where would we be? Whose faith are we nurturing without realizing it?
We are nurturing others’ faith a lot more than we realize it…Maybe it’s the cashier at the store, the car that cuts us off in traffic, or the person sitting next to us this morning…whose faith are we nurturing? How are we helping people to accept their faith as their own? We do it more than we know…
The charge can seem big and hard to do…Because there are times that we have a bad day or we wake up crabby or we accidentally hurt someone…There’s a song by the Christian group, dc Talk called What if I Stumble, Toby Mackeen wrote the song but has said that it shouldn’t really be titled “What if?” when “When I”…One of the verses says, “What if I stumble? I hear you whispering my name…you say, my love for you will never change…” There’s grace when we stumble and faith…There’s grace that helps us to pick back up and continue on…There’s grace that covers all of our mistakes…There’s grace that nurtures us in our faith without us even realizing it…
Beginning this week, in the back of the sanctuary and downstairs there are some study guides…Don’t be scared by the idea of a “study guide,” but look at it as a way to continue to be nurtured in faith this week…A way to be able to continue to reflect, refresh, and renew…A way to continue to believe and accept your faith as your own…

Poor Baby Kitten...

As soon as I typed that, I realized it was redundant, but I'm leaving it...Anyway, this afternoon while I was chatting with Nancy as she was on her way to Kansas City (insert Napoleon voice, Lucky!) when my doorbell rang and a member of the church showed me the poor baby kitten who is very injured in the front yard of the church...She was under the bushes hiding from everyone and hissed at me like no other when I tried to get her. Poor thing! She must have been hit by a car or something because her back end just does not work...I'm guessing that she's been that way for awhile because she sure knew how to get around...Although she did try to use those back legs...By the way, I'm guessing she's a she because she has 3 colors...I don't know how to tell otherwise!

So, it's been a trying experience to try and find someplace that will take this little baby in...It was late and many of the humane societies were closed and the one that I talked to said that most probably won't take her because she needs to go through animal control first...My vet will take care of her, but I'd have to pay for it...That's silly! Where is the car for these poor cats?

I feel just awful, because I wish there were something that I could do! She's in my carrier in the office because my two cats didn't like her in the house at all and she's an outdoor cat, so I don't know where she's been and what she's got...But when I was locking things up at the church I noticed that the carrier was very stinky and I think that the poor thing is laying in her own waste! I'm going to try and clean her up tomorrow but she was still very adamant about me not touching her and I did not want to get bitten, especially because she probably has not had her shots! Plus, I really don't want to do any more harm to her than I may have done getting her into the carrier! Poor baby! I want to make sure she doesn't suffer, but I have to say that I don't want to pay for it...

But it got me to thinking a little bit based on our conversation at Bible study about creation and I have to admit too...The Office...Last week's episode, Dwight put Angela's cat in the freezer to euthanize it because he was a farm kid and you don't go to extra lengths to take care of an animal...And here I am going to extra lengths for this animal! I was wondering if this was a time when I just have to say that nature should take its course and I should leave her outside and try to figure things out or just die...But I'm not sure that I want to do that! But what kind of life will she have? Will there be someone to adopt her if I can find a place to take her in? This poor kitty!

So, she's in the office at the church right now and I'll check in on her in the morning and call around to a few more places in the morning...But, if anyone wants this baby, you can certainly come and get her and take her to get fixed up! I think that she would have a sweet disposition if she weren't in pain! She's pretty-- orange, brown and white calico...It's obvious she's an outdoor cat, by the way her fur is matted and the look in her eyes, but she's just a baby!

Anyway...I should probably go to bed now...