Stuff...

I ran across this quote while doing my morning bloglines scan of blogs that I currently subscribe to...Now, sometimes I read them all and sometimes I take a look at the first few lines then move one. I was in a scanning mood this morning, but this quote from the blog Conversations that Matter stopped me..."Sometimes we think that the color of the carpet is more important than the people who walk on it."

Wow...How true is this and I wonder if it is a statement that only churches ponder...I mean, does a corporation really care or do they even have time to deal with these questions? And I suppose "color of the carpets" could be interchanged with any other small detail kind of issue rather than focusing on the big picture.

I was having a conversation with a friend earlier this month who had recieved some criticism for changing an office procedure. The procedure made things more economical and was really the best decision, but she recieved a label from others that was unflattering and unacceptable. Now, why cling to something that is intangible and can be worked around and through and throw barbs at an individual who is doing the best job that can possibly be done? Why is the color of the carpet more important that the person walking on it?

I also think that we have no idea what is going on in others' lives and often make assumptions based on what we think we see. There is always more happening underneath the surface than meets the eye. I personally find it frustrating, especially when someone will say one thing to my face and something completely different to another, but I have come to realize that I can only deal with what people are willing to give me. I try really hard not to jump based on rumors or gossip, but there are times when it happens. But in all cases, there is something going on that individuals don't want people to have access to...Which makes things that much more difficult. Does one ask, "Gosh that person who ran the red light must have an emergency, I hope everything is okay?" or "What an idiot!" There is usually something else going on...

But we hide everything so well in order to save face both with others and I think to ourselves sometimes. Because if someone knew what was really going on, it becomes real and not just something that is in my mind...What would happen if we approached people with this assumption, or with a truly, "innocent until proven guilty" mindset rather than a react first, ask questions later mindset? What if we cared about the people walking on the carpet rather than the color of the carpet?

I don't suppose that I have one specific situation in mind over this question, but rather a collection of incidents over the course of the last 8 years or so...I'm growing weary of it as well...I have heard from friends who have chosen to totally leave the church because of the way that church members have treated them and reacted and it makes me incredibly sad that the Body of Christ has abused people to the point of their desire to no longer be a part of the Body. What does that say about the Church? I suppose this comes in reaction to several of my friends who have chosen this route because they have been so abused by the church and to be fair, the places that are abusive are not the church, but they claim the name in a perverted way. Maybe they think that they are, but well...I don't remember Jesus being abusive, but if you have Scriptural reference, I'm willing to entertain that notion...

I recently heard Adam Hamilton say that in order to evangelize, one needs to ask these three questions first: "Why do people need Jesus Christ?"; "Why do people need the church?" ; and "Why do people need this church?"...I think those are great questions and important for each and every congregation to answer. I think for me personally, I am starting to fall in line with a majority of my generation in saying that I love Jesus and I believe people need Jesus, but I'm starting to fall out of love with the church....Not the Body of Christ, but what church has become.

I suppose that a good majority has to do with my feelings of burning out...I have very poor habits in self care and need to do much better about that. I am entering into a time of vacation and training and I can't tell you how badly my soul needs it. I hope to come back from that invigorated and ready to tackle the challenges and move forward. I can't continue to do what I'm doing while I'm running on empty...

Ty Inbody's quote still speaks volumes to me, "Any Christian that does not love and hate the church at the same time simply does not understand the church." I wish that I didn't understand the church so well...And please be very clear that I am not talking specifically about one singular congregation, but the church as a whole, but knowing full well that the church as a whole does include particular congregations. I am speaking from my personal experience in congregations as well as my perception and hearing from others' church experiences...It is incredibly difficult for me to say that I don't have one particular instance or congregation in mind because really these are my thoughts and my experiences. And as such, congregations and instances have factored into that.

I still very much believe that people need Jesus Christ....I still very much believe that people need the Church...I just wonder when the church will realize that.

Choosing Frontier Over Fortress

Choosing Frontier Over Fortress
Well, here we are again…It’s now our 5th of 6 weeks of Lent…Lent is a time of reflection and questioning as we look forward to the celebration of Easter…As part of our reflection, our Lenten series has been working through Rev. Paul Nixon’s book, I Refuse to Lead a Dying Church…Throughout these past weeks, we’ve looked at the six critical choices that every church and every individual need to make…These choices have been choosing life over death, choosing community over isolation, choosing fun over drudgery, and choosing bold over mild. Last week, I had said that the first three weeks, although the choices had some difficulty to them, they were relatively easier choices to make…Last week began the first of the final three choices which are a little bit more difficult to make…They’re not difficult in that we don’t know what the choice should be, but they’re difficult in that they’re harder to make and they might push us a little bit more out of our comfort zone than what we like…This week is one of those choices as we examine our choice “choosing frontier over fortress.”
What does the choice frontier over fortress really mean? What do you think of when you hear the word “frontier”? wild west, untamed, scary, unknown etc… What do you think of when you hear the word “fortress” safety, secure, imposing, etc… Well, the choice between frontier and fortress is about choosing out verses in…The unknown verses the known…
There was a computer game that was played in the 80’s called “Oregon Trail”…Has anyone ever heard of it or played it? There’s been a recent resurgence of the game on other Internet sites like facebook…In the game, you played a pioneer on the trail heading west…Leaving home and venturing into the great unknown…Along the way you encountered a lot if different and sometimes difficult situations…Foraging rivers, hunting, gathering, and even illnesses…It was an adventure to try and get through! The game itself was choice of choosing frontier over fortress…
The whole idea of choosing frontier can be very scary for some people…It’s venturing into new territory…Into something that’s unknown…It’s outside of comfort zones…In many cases, it’s just outside! Many of you may be thinking, “Yeah! That is scary!” And for those who think that way, the idea of a fortress seems like a good idea, it’s safe…It’s secure…It’s not dangerous…And yet…
Choosing fortress really takes all of the previous choices at their word…Because if we say that we choose life, community, fun, and boldness…Well, in those decisions we really have to choose frontier…Because if we choose life, that means that we really have to live and can you live when you’re stuck behind walls? And if we choose community, well…can you be in community when you’ve sequestered yourself in a fortress? And how fun can it really be to be cooped up in some imposing structure…And can you be that bold with the same people over and over again? I mean it’s important to encourage others in their faith journey, but if that’s all the folks that we interact with…isn’t that kind of a problem?
As Jesus talks with his disciples on the top of the mountain and he’s telling the disciples what their responsibilities are in what is referred to as the great commission…Jesus tells the disciples “All authority has been given to me.” And in that statement is a boldness from Jesus…That he has all the authority on earth and in heaven…Not only does he have that, but he’s passing the torch to the disciples…Now, he’s not giving up any of his authority, because certainly Jesus is Lord! But, he’s giving the disciples an authority to continue to share the message of the Gospel and to continue to share his teachings with the world!
The first thing that Jesus gives the disciples to do is in that very first word in the great commission… “Go.” Jesus doesn’t say “Wait for people to come to you.” Jesus says, “Go.”
Chuck & Krissie Cilano are missionaries currently serving in Thailand…One of the pieces of advice that they give the teams they work with is to first and foremost pray…Prayer is not something that’s that unusual or something that would be that out of the ordinary really…But what they also say is to pray for opportunities to be able to minister and not just for the opportunities, but also to recognize when those opportunities arise…In almost every one of those opportunities, it takes us to get outside of ourselves to be able to minister…To get outside of the fortress of our own comfort zone…
And at the same it’s not just a figurative getting outside of the fortress…But it’s also a literal getting outside of the fortress…In the chapter in I Refuse to Lead a Dying Church, Rev. Nixon shares some of the history of the United Methodist Church….From 1790 to 1830 the members of the Methodist movement grew from 58,000 to 501,000 in 40 years which is a 900% growth…That’s pretty amazing! Of those 501,000 people who made up congregations of the Methodist Episcopal church…about a third of them had no building whatsoever…In just 10 years in the 1840’s the number of new members joining had stopped and in those same 10 years, more church buildings were built…Is there a correlation?
The Methodist movement was founded on people who were willing to get outside of both themselves and out of the church buildings to meet people where they were…John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement spent just as much time, if not more outside of the sanctuary preaching in fields as he did in the sanctuaries and churches…What are we doing as a church to encourage people to meet Jesus? What are we doing to tell them that Jesus meets them right where they are…that Jesus is present in their very lives? That Jesus is calling to them…That Jesus is calling to us? How do they know? Do we give people the impression that they need to come to us to know about Jesus or do we give people the impression that they need to make the first move?
Now, please don’t get the impression that having a building is a bad thing…But, how is it that we use the building as a tool for ministry rather than the entire ministry itself? Meaning that if we woke up tomorrow and the building just vanished, would the ministries of the church still happen? How do we ensure that happens?
After Jesus told the disciples to “Go,” he game them the rest of the instruction… “Go and make disciples of all nations”…Go and make disciples of all people….ALL PEOPLE ARE WELCOME! We are to invite all people into a relationship with Jesus…Baptizing them in the name of God three-in-one…The triune God…The Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost…And teaching to obey the commandments of Jesus…The commandments where Jesus said, “Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as you love yourself.” And all of the teachings that Jesus shared with his disciples that helped to give examples of those commandments and those that challenged the society of the day…And those are things that we all should be diving into to work at understanding our faith…Jesus asks us to enter the frontier…
The frontier can be an intimidating place, but the last part of the passage from Matthew says a lot…Jesus gives this commission and then he says…And I will be with you always…Remember that I am with you always…We’re not left alone in the frontier to flounder or to be alone…We’re in the frontier with Jesus…With the One who has sent us…we are not alone…We have heard the commission to Go and make and create disciples of Jesus Christ…And we go in the strength of Jesus Christ…The same Jesus Christ who is God made flesh…The same Jesus Christ who entered the frontier to live among us…The same Jesus Christ who lived and died for us…The same Jesus Christ who rose again and calls to us still…As we go into the frontier, we know that we are entering with Jesus…As we go with Jesus, let us also go together!

Choosing Bold Over Mild

Choosing Bold Over Mild
We’re in the fourth week of our Lenten series, I Refuse to Lead a Dying Church and in the 4th of 6 critical choices that need to be made…Each choice is vital and critical not only for individuals, but also for churches…Rev. Paul Nixon poses these choices to the Church universal, but also to every congregation…Our first choice is Choosing Life over Death, the second choice is choosing community over isolation, and the third choice is choosing fun over drudgery…The first 3 choices have seemed like they would be easy choices to make…Life obviously wins over death and community clearly trumps isolation and drudgery doesn’t even stand a chance against fun! But the next three choices, while it’s clear what the choice should be, the decision gets harder…Because the choices become more challenging…Which brings us to today where our choice is choosing bold over mild…
When you’re at the store and you have the option of choosing the product that’s “original” or the product that’s “new and improved”…Which one do you choose? More often than not, the product that’s new and improved wins out…There are the rare cases when it doesn’t…Like when Coca-Cola changed their name to “new Coke”—that one didn’t go over so well, but instead they went from “new Coke” to “Classic Coca-Cola” which was a bold change in and of itself as well!
Choosing Bold over Mild…Now, the choice is pretty clear which to make…We should choose Bold! But like I said the next 3 choices are more challenging…When we call something bold, it’s usually because it’s sharp or biting or harsh…Bold hasn’t been associated with many “good” ideas in more recent times…So, wouldn’t we want to choose mild? Because mild surely doesn’t offend anyone…
And therein lies the problem…Mild doesn’t offend anyone…And Jesus’ message was anything but mild…Now don’t misunderstand…Jesus’ message was about love and grace, but Jesus’ teachings weren’t easy to swallow for many people when they were first heard or when they’re heard today…Jesus’ teachings are very challenging and if you aren’t sure about that, the next time you read one of Jesus’ teachings, imagine that Jesus is talking directly to you…While Jesus’ message is one of love and grace, it is also very challenging…Jesus’ message…The message of the Gospel is very bold.
The story from this morning about the man born blind is a story filled with boldness and even within the story, there’s some mildness to be found…
Jesus & his disciples encounter this man born blind from birth and after some conversation about his condition, Jesus makes a bold statement about himself…He tells his disciples that he is the light of the world…Even more than that, Jesus says I AM the light of the world…In this short sentence, Jesus refers to himself as God simply by saying the words I AM…When Moses asked God for God’s name in the burning bush, God told Moses, “My name is I AM.” Jesus just made the bold statement, I AM the light of the world…
After Jesus makes the bold claim about himself, he then moves toward healing this man…This is another bold move…Not just because Jesus is going to heal this man, but because he’s going to heal this man on the Sabbath…According to law, no work must be done on the Sabbath—absolutely none! Jews were given specific instructions on how to observe the Sabbath and still continue the practice to this day…No cooking is to be done on the Sabbath, only a certain number of steps are allowed…Absolutely no work is to be done…So, if absolutely no work is to be done and Jesus is healing this man on the Sabbath…Jesus is doing something bold! He’s healing on the Sabbath and he knows that the Scribes & the Pharisees are not going to take kindly to this…But Jesus still spits on the ground and makes mud…then he takes that mud and puts it on the man’s eyes and tells him to go wash in the pool of Siloam…Now this man could have ignored Jesus, but instead he did what Jesus told him to do and he came back able to see…
The townsfolk didn’t believe that this could possibly be the same man that they knew who would beg…and after some questioning, they find out how this man could see again. And when word gets to the Pharisees, they are not happy…They refuse to believe that Jesus is doing this healing in the name of God because surely God of all would honor the Sabbath!
So the Pharisees started to make excuses because they didn’t want to believe many parts of this story…They didn’t want to believe that anyone from God would heal on the Sabbath, but they also didn’t want to believe that anyone but God would heal this man born blind…It’s a tough situation to be in!
The Pharisees call in the blind man’s parents and want to make sure that this man was really born blind and if it is their son, how was it that he could see…And what do his parents do? Well, they acknowledge that this man is their son, but they give no answers as to who healed their son…Instead they say, “Ask him! He’s of age!” They don’t want to get involved with the situation, because they don’t want to be caught up in anything if there’s trouble…They’ve heard their son’s stories and they could certainly share what their son has shared, but instead they take the mild approach… “Ask him yourself.”
Now to some, their mild approach may make sense…Why would they put themselves in a position of getting in trouble? I mean seriously, they weren’t there for the actual healing…So, why would they want to put themselves in a position to get into trouble or offend anyone? So, in today’s times…When someone asks you “Why do you go to church?” Of course you say, “Figure it out for yourself.” Or “Why are you so joyful all the time?” “Figure it out for yourself.” Or “Who is this Jesus I keep hearing about.” “Figure it out for yourself.” It’s a nice, mild response…
Well, the Pharisees then go to the man born blind and he has no problem telling the Pharisees what has happened…Now this man has never seen Jesus, so he answers honestly that he doesn’t really know who it was that healed him, but instead he starts teaching the Pharisees about God! The Pharisees who are the experts—the ones who claim to know everything that can possibly known about God and this man, this formerly blind man who they consider to be a sinner starts to tell them about God…Oh this formerly blind man is bold!
The Pharisees tell this man that they don’t know where Jesus came from…And the man says to them…You say that only one from God can heal…I once was blind and now I see…I’ve been healed and you’re still asking where this man came from? If only one from God can heal and he healed me…Don’t you see the connection here…So many bold statements in that man…He was standing up to the Pharisees and teaching them! And he was making the statement that Jesus came from God…A statement that was blasphemous…he could be put to death for it…And he makes it unabashedly! Much different from the mild response from his parents!
When Jesus encounters this man again he asks him, do you believe in the Son of Man? Now, remember that this formerly blind man has never actually seen Jesus, so he doesn’t know to recognize him by sight…But Jesus tells him that he is looking at the Son of Man…And he worships him!
Did you catch that? This man never physically saw Jesus and yet, he believed! He didn’t know how to recognize the one that healed him, but he believed that Jesus was from God…He made an incredibly bold decision…And when he finally did come face to face with Jesus, he told him that he believed and he worshiped him!
Are we that bold? Are you that bold? To unabashedly believe in Jesus that we don’t have to physically see him in order to believe? To not need proof in order to say that Jesus is Lord!?!?
That’s boldness there…Jesus doesn’t call us to be mild…Jesus doesn’t ask if we believe and then say, “Oh good, keep it a secret now!” Did Jesus die and rise again to keep that news a secret?? That’s bold news…That’s the Good News of the Gospel! That Jesus died and rose again…That Jesus is Lord! It’s bold news! So, what do we do with that bold news?? Think it’s great on Sunday morning, but on Monday morning in line at the grocery store forget about it?? Are we choosing bold over mild?
Now to be sure, there is a time when boldness can cross the line into pushy or rude…And there are probably times when there will be someone who is offended when I say that Jesus is my Lord…But I’m not going to hide that and I’m not going to keep it a secret…Because I am excited and impassioned that Jesus is my Lord…That God made the bold move to send Jesus Christ because God so loved the whole world! That Jesus was so bold to die for me, for us and that the whole world was changed when Jesus rose from the dead…That there was all this boldness and all this amazing activity that happened for me and on my behalf…For us and on our behalf…How can we not be bold in proclaiming that??
And it’s still a choice that we have to make…Are we going to be bold in our belief? Or are we going to be mild? And let me say that if we choose to be mild, there will be another bold statement to come along that people will listen to more…And that bold statement may not have anything to with Jesus or with God’s love…But we have the bolder statement…We have it…Are we going to share it? Choosing Bold Over Mild…It’s not always easy, but it’s what we’re called to do. Let’s choose bold over mild together.

Choosing Fun Over Drudgery

Choosing Fun Over Drudgery
This is the third week of our Lenten series, I Refuse to Lead a Dying Church. During this series, there are 6 critical choices that the author Rev. Paul Nixon says that need to be made. The first choice is Choosing Life Over Death…The Second Choice is Choosing Community Over Isolation…Which brings us to this week where our choice is Choosing Fun Over Drudgery…Now, Drudgery isn’t a word that’s used all together that often in common conversation, but it’s a word that sounds just like what it is…As the choices are set up—if death is the opposite of life & isolation is the opposite of community, then drudgery is the opposite of fun…And in each choice as we’ve looked at the obvious choice, we’ve discovered that there are times even with the obvious choice that it is difficult…This morning we turn our attention to choosing fun over drudgery…
Whenever you meet new people or are getting to know someone better, after all of the basic info questions have been asked, one of the first questions is usually “What do you do for fun?” Well, I want to ask that question to you this morning…What do you do for fun? (Wait for responses.)
The word “fun” doesn’t appear in the Bible, but the closest word that does appear between 105-191 times is the word “joy”…Do you know what that means? It means that the Bible is a joyful book! Christianity is a happy faith! How do we do our best to convey that message? The Gospel is not called the “okay news” or the “bad news”…The Gospel is called the “Good News”…How do we convey that message? Is it one that we share with excitement and passion or as an afterthought? Do we share the message of the Gospel with as much excitement and passion as we share with someone else what we do for fun?
Choosing Fun Over Drudgery…It is a choice that we have to make and it’s an important choice to make…Now, again, the obvious choice is to choose fun…We like things that are fun…If you had a choice to attend a party where people were laughing or a party where people sat and stared at each other…What would you choose? It’s a pretty clear choice and yet it is still a choice that we have to make, so there’s some difficulty in making it for some people…
When I was in college, I began to lead a praise band in the church I grew up…We all enjoyed what we did, and the praise band lead worship at the services on Wednesday nights and occasionally joined the Sunday morning service…When I went away to school and returned one Sunday morning, the new leaders of the praise band had grown the ministry and were leading the Sunday morning service more frequently. The particular worship service that I was at, my sister & I had gotten there late and the pews and balcony were all full, so we had to sit in the very back pew…As the worship service began and the music began to play and the praise band began to lead the music, I began to worship and to join in the singing…The second song was a very upbeat and rhythmic song, so I along with a scattering of some others began to clap along with the song…There was a woman who was sitting in front of me who turned around and gave me a dirty look a couple times before she turned around again in the middle of the song and said to me… “This is church. Church is not a place for happy noises.” I was taken aback by her comment at the time, but it didn’t stop me from worshipping in body and spirit…
The church is not a place for happy noises…It’s a statement that is biting and one that I have to admit I still strongly disagree with…Church is absolutely a place for happy noises…Our call to worship this morning we sang that this is the day…We will rejoice and be glad in it…We are to worship God joyfully! Church is absolutely a place for happy noises…
In our passage from Deuteronomy, where the instructions are being given about presenting offerings to God through the priest, the passage says that even as we reflect on what has happened in the life of the Israelites, God tells them that when they bring their offering they should celebrate…The church is a place for happy noises…The church is a place where fun should be chosen over drudgery…
Drudgery can be quite an easy choice to make and we don’t even realize that we’re making it…when you share with someone what you do in coming to worship or attending meetings or attending other events of the church, how do you tell them that you come? Do you say, “I have to go to church today.” Or do you say, “I get to go to church today.” How we come to worship God or serve in ministry should be done with joy…It should be fun…
Another way that we choose drudgery is how we talk about the church, the ministries, and about God…When negativity is shared about these things, it is a very clear choice of choosing drudgery over fun…Some very clear examples of this would be…talking about an event or worship—“Nobody’s going to come.” “That’s a stupid time to do that.” “It’ll be interesting to see what happens with that, especially with so-and-so leading it.” “I can’t believe they’re doing that, that’s ridiculous…” Anytime that negativity has been shared, drudgery has just been chosen…If you were to hear from someone around town that something is ridiculous and won’t work…are you likely to attend that? It is very important to choose fun over drudgery…
Now that’s not to say that as Christians or as members of the church, we’re not allowed to share concerns or talk about things openly and honestly. That is absolutely something that we should be able to do…But who do we communicate that with first? If you have a problem, concern, or complaint with a ministry that is happening, the very first person that you should be sharing that with is the person with whom you have the issue…It is not to share that with everyone else but that person…
Now it is very true that it is a balance of fun…Let me be clear to say that joy should be at every single gathering…The wedding that Jesus attended at Cana was a joyous occasion! It was something to celebrate! Every single gathering should be joyful! There should be an element of joy that is at every single gathering…The danger can be choosing too much fun or choosing fun without a purpose…It can happen that fun becomes simply entertainment…But when we have chosen to share the Good News, that becomes our purpose…When we choose to share the message of Jesus Christ, we have a purpose and it is important to share that message through all ways—words and actions.
Fun is not something that is undignified or something that we shouldn’t do because it is irreverent or disrespectful to God…Quite the opposite! God continually calls us to celebrate or to worship joyfully…God wants us to choose fun over drudgery!
The message of grace is one that is filled with joy and celebration…The Good News of Jesus Christ is one that is filled with joy and celebration! Why wouldn’t we want to share that?? Choosing fun over drudgery—it’s an important choice to make…How are you going to make that choice in your own life? How are we going to make that choice as a church? Choosing fun over drudgery…

Choosing Community Over Isolation

Choosing Community Over Isolation
We continue this week in our Lenten series, I Refuse to Lead a Dying Church. There is still an opportunity to sign up for the class or to purchase a book. Please see me after the service if you are interested in either option. As we continue in this series, I would invite you to keep an open mind and an ear towards what God is speaking. Each week there are two options that we will be looking at. Rev Nixon calls these choices our critical choices, six clear choices that will greatly amplify the impact of our lives and our churches. Last week, our choice was between life and death…Life is the obvious choice to make and we had an opportunity to during the service to make that choice publicly. The choice to choose life over death is one that we each have to do personally first in order to share that life with others…The choice to choose life is the first choice to make…The choice that we make as individuals must also be choices that we make as a church…
The next critical choice that we have to make is choosing community over isolation…Now this is another one that seems like it would be an easy choice to make…Because as much as one might need some “alone time” or time away, it’s that important to be with people…Even as God created human beings, God said, “It’s not good for one to be alone.” Community is something that we as human beings crave and do almost instinctively…We weren’t created to be isolated…We were created for community to be together…
So, if we as human beings are meant to be in community with one another…What does that make the Church? Well, the church is a gathered body of believers…The church itself is meant to be a community…In the reading from Acts, we have an idea of what the early Christian church looked like…Believers met in one another’s homes…They spent time in the temple, then they spent just as much time in one another’s homes, breaking bread…Not only did they worship together in the temple, but they also spent just as much time together outside of the temple, breaking bread together in one another’s homes…Church wasn’t just something that they did on Saturday, but it was a way of life…They weren’t just in community with one other in worship, but they were in intentional Christian community for their entire beings…
Now, those who gathered to form the early Christian church didn’t get together simply because they had something in common…They liked the same kinds of foods or talked about politics together…They gathered together because what they had in common through their Lord, Jesus Christ…Through the recognition that they were all one through Christ Jesus, they formed their communities that were open to all.
As much as community is something that seems like it’s the logical choice to make and something that typically most people would choose and would want…Even for those of us who choose community over isolation…It’s easy to slip sometimes…
I went to a movie once, and the theater sat 200 people easily…And for most of the previews, I was the only one in the theater…Until another couple came in and looked around the theater for a place to sit…In this 200 seat theater where I was the only other person in…And where did they choose to sit?? That’s right…They sat right next to me. Out of 199 other seats to choose, they chose to sit right next to me…Oh, I was so irritated! I had decided to choose isolation instead of community…
Now you may be thinking…Well, I can understand that—that’s a movie…What does that have to do with church?? Well, we’re not just Christians in worship on Sunday mornings…
I visited a church once where there were at least 200 other seats in the sanctuary…And as people came in to worship, and sat down…No one sat next to me…How is it that someone would sit next to me in a movie theater, but not in a church? Have you ever had that experience?
There was a story that was passed around the Internet awhile ago about a man who was telling his brother about a group that he had found in the town that he had just moved into…He said that people were so welcoming and friendly and when he walked in, someone offered him a seat right next them…Everyone wanted to know who he was and how he was doing…There was one person who was so easy to talk to and he ended up telling them about all of his pain and told them some of the things that he had done wrong in his life and that he was sorry about…The group of people and himself did some laughing and a little bit of singing together…Before he left, they gave him the schedule of what was going on when they would be there again and that they couldn’t wait to see him again. “Wow! That’s great!” said the man’s brother. “What church did you go to?” The man looked puzzled for a minute and said, “Who said anything about a church? I was talking about the neighborhood bar.” How do we choose community over isolation?

Have you ever had the opportunity to be on the other end of the experience? That you were the one who saw someone sitting alone and you joined them? Maybe it was a stranger…Maybe it was someone that you knew…Did you choose community or isolation?
I read an article recently where a priest talked about the American idea of individualism…And how that can unintentionally lead into isolationism…That as we try so hard to be our own person and so hard to emphasize who we are as individuals we can forget that we’re also a part of a community.
It’s up to all of us to choose community…Now, there are some people who aren’t as comfortable talking to someone new…There are certainly people who are introverted and aren’t as comfortable talking to someone new…Which would be an easy excuse to make and an easy way to choose isolation instead of community…There are many ways to choose community…
The decision to choose life is an easy step into choosing community…Why would someone choose life and then keep it to themselves? Yep, I choose life! Now, I’m not going to tell anyone about it…I’m going to keep it to myself…You know, I seem to remember that there’s a song about that…A song that maybe we learned in Sunday School…Oh, it’s in our hymnal too…This Little Light of Mine…
Choosing Community Over Isolation…Community just isn’t about the people that we know and the people that we like…Community is larger than that…All people are included in community…Jesus didn’t say, “love people as long as they look like you…smell like you…talk like you…think like you…” Actually Jesus said, whatever you do to these, you do to me…Are we welcoming Jesus into community with us?
Choosing community over isolation…It’s an important choice to make…God wants us to be in community…How are we going to do that? The first step is to make the choice…To choose community…To choose to be in fellowship with others…

Choosing Life Over Death

Choosing Life Over Death
This week begins our six week series on the book I Refuse to Lead a Dying Church by Rev. Paul Nixon. Rev. Nixon is a United Methodist Pastor currently serving in a new church based in Arlington, VA. Rev. Nixon works with pastors & churches of many denominations across North America. This book has been recommended by our Bishop, Hee-Soo Jung as part of the tools for Harvest 2020. Harvest 2020 is the vision for the Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church, of which we are a part… The VISION of Harvest 2020 is to plant 100 new faith communities within the Northern Illinois Conference, to grow healthy disciples in local churches, and to promote cooperation through cluster ministries. As a part of the Norther Illinois Conference, we are challenged to participate and to live into this vision. There are ways that we have engaged this vision already and there are ways that we are working towards living into this vision…
During this Lenten season, we have intentional time to practice Spiritual disciplines and to have conversations about the vision & mission of Sheridan-Norway United Methodist Church. Participating in worship, practicing a spiritual discipline, or joining a Bible study are all ways that we will have ways to connect with God and to seek to hear what God is calling and sharing with us…
We begin our Lenten series this morning…In this first week, we are talking about choosing life over death…
Now, choosing life over death seems like a no brainer, right? Would you rather have a piece of fruit that is rotten and dead or something that is ripe and juicy? Or would you buy a plant that is wilted and dry or one that is blooming and lush? Choosing life is something that seems like it would be an easy decision to make, one would think that to choose life would be a conversation that would be very short and sweet…Choosing life is something that everyone would choose, right??
It seems like an easy question to answer…It seems like an easy choice to make…And yet…For many the choice is very hard…and for many, without realizing it, they have chosen death instead of life…
In our passage from Dueteronomy, Moses is speaking to the Hebrew people…These people who were in slavery to Pharoah and who were brought out of slavery by God and lead through the dessert for 40 years where they wandered, seeking to arrive to the land which God promised, the promised land…Moses is speaking to these Hebrew people toward the end of their wandering years and asking them to make choices that honor what God has planned for them…That before them has been set life and prosperity and death and adversity…And they have been given very specific instructions on how choose life…To obey the commandments of God…To love God…To walk in the ways of God…All these things are ways that the Hebrew people choose life…
It's still a choice…It's still a choice that the Hebrew people make to choose life…They could just as easily choose to turn away…to not hear…to worship other gods…And there were times that they did that…There were times when the Hebrew people chose death over life…
But of course…We're not like those Hebrew people! We're not a people who would choose death over life! That's preposterous! Right??? And yet…Doesn't it happen?
How are there ways that you have chosen death over life? That you have not listened to God…That you have turned away from God…That you have not obeyed the commandments of God…That you have chosen death over life. Now, some of you may be sitting and thinking… "Melissa…I have never chosen death over life! Are you serious???" And maybe you're right…I mean I'm not with you 24/7 or have been present with you for your whole life…So…every day, have you listened to everything that God said? Every day have you loved God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength? Every day have you walked in the ways of God completely? Because I have to be honest…I know that there have been times when I have chosen death over life…Sometimes intentionally and sometimes unintentionally…I can think of a time when I was finishing visiting someone at the hospital and as I was leaving, I saw a familiar car in the parking lot…And I felt God nudging me to turn around and go back into the hospital, but I had to get to another meeting instead…I disobeyed what God was telling me and missed an opportunity to minister…I chose death over life…It's easier to choose death than one might think…
There are ways that we choose death unintentionally… When we have questions about what is happening or the direction of the church Jesus teaches us that we are to go directly to the leadership of the church and talk, ask, discuss…By gossiping or sharing negative attitudes, we have chosen death instead of life. Choosing death is easier than it seems…
But…Within the passage from Deuteronomy and the story of Jesus healing the paralyzed man…We're not asked to choose death…We're asked and instructed to choose life…It's about what we shouldn't choose…It's about what we should choose…We should choose life.
Life…Life is what God offers to us… To obey the commandments of God…To love God…To walk in the ways of God…To do that is to choose life…
We choose life when we spend time in prayer and meditation with God…When we listen to God…When we turn to God…When we live into what God is calling us to do and to be…We choose life…During this Lenten season, during our communion on Wednesday evenings, we'll have opportunities to practice different spiritual disciplines…To pray through art, through body prayers, through silence, through studying Scripture…These are all ways that we choose life…
The life that is given to us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ…Jesus didn't die so that we could choose death…Jesus died to destroy our death…Jesus died and was raised to give us hope…To give us life…How could we not choose that?? That Jesus gave up his life so that we may truly live…How could we not choose that life that Jesus gives??
We begin our series talking about choosing life…Because choosing life has to be something that we choose to do as individuals…As Christians…To accept the life that we have been give by and through Jesus Christ our Savior…As Christians, before we can invite others to choose that life…It's something that we need to choose for ourselves…Maybe that's a decision that you made long ago…When you chose life over death…Maybe it's a decision that you've been struggling with…Choosing life over death…Maybe you've felt like you've been choosing death more than you've been choosing life lately…Let me tell you that choice to choose life is here for you today…It's here for you now…If life is something that you would claim now…In this time and in this place…If you are choosing the life that Jesus gives…To love God…To walk in God's ways…To choose life over death…I would invite you to come forward to pray at the altar…To come down and make the choice to choose life…(song)